I'm off to Rome for the next couple of days.

My cousin Lisa graduated last thursday with summa cum laude.
This is her art:

Jacob Holdt.

United States 1970 - 1975
In the early 1970s, when Jacob Holdt first arrived in the US with 40 dollars in his pocket, he planned to travel quickly across the country to South America. But, totally shocked and fascinated by what he discovered, he ended up staying five years. His family could scarcely believe the letters he sent them detailing the poverty he saw, so his father sent him a cheap amateur camera in order that Holdt could send home proof of his claims. Living as a vagabond, selling his blood twice a week, hitch-hiking over 100,000 miles, he depicted an incredible and unique portrait of America and its underclass. He befriended whomever offered him a lift in their car and a lift frequently became an offer to stay a few days. He never said no and ended up visiting more than 350 homes where he photographed the people he lived with: poor blacks from the ghettos, millionaires, junkies, members of the Ku Klux Klan. Holdt's images echo the pictures of the F.S.A. and together with the work of another Dane Jacob Riis, his series have widely inspired the filmmaker Lars von Trier for the movies Dogville and Manderlay.
Americanpictures.com, wikipedia

Laura Marling at Bronson, Ravenna 02/05/2008.

I'm working at SiFest in Savignano in these days and I thought why not sharing a few photographs from the exhibitions and the locations.
I'll be presenting a different photographer in each post.
I decided to start with Giacomo Brunelli and his "Creature" (Creatures)

When Giacomo Brunelli sat down in front of me and told me he liked going and photographing animals on the streets I did wonder what I was in for. But as soon as he opened his box of prints I knew that here was something rather special.

They were small, intense black and white - mainly black - prints with black borders and rounded corners. It was an unusual presentation that entirely suited the work, with dogs with glowing eyes, snarling tiger-like cats; creatures, or parts of them emerging from darkness. His is a universe of menace and strangeness, finding rather more excitement in what is probably someone’s pet than in the pictures from exotic safaris. But while some of these animals may be pets, his images remind us they are not far from the wild, and they are often shown roaming the streets or countryside in a world their ‘owners’ have no knowledge of.

Brunelli was born in Perugia (Italy) in 1977 and graduated in international communication in 2003. He was 24 when he first took an interest in photography, and the work on animals is a project he has been pursuing for two years. You can see his work on his web site at www.giacomobrunelli.com.

Brunelli uses old Miranda 35mm SLR cameras made over 30 years ago and black and white film, and likes to work in the half-light to produce his powerful personal visions. Often the subject is picked out by a limited depth of field against a blurred and indistinct background, sometimes caught in a patch of light. Light, and lighting contrast, white against black, in some images is more important than sharpness. His printing is dark and sombre.

Brunelli is truly a hunter, catching the wild lives of these animals on the run, whether a dog prowling down an empty cobbled street or a cat in full flight.Some of the pictures show a more reflective mood, more the stalker. A peacock struts on a dusk (or dawn) street, its neck and head silhouted against the glowing road, in the background the hint of a fence, a palm tree and the sinuous curve of a lamp post against the clouded sky. Another similar image (shown above) has a chicken stood across a mean street, the curve of its back rhyming with the out of focus trees against the stormy sky behind.

But more often he works by confronting, pushing his lens close, often to its closest point of focus, perhaps around half arm’s length, agressive, almost touching his subject (and the pictures have a very tactile nature), forcing flight or fight from his subject, and photographing these reactions.

This project reveals a determination to express a personal view, to probe and explore a subject in his own way. Its an attitude that will I am sure make further projects by Brunelli equally worthy of attention.
Peter Gwyn Marshall
re-photo.co.uk

zissou.

we have a new family member, she arrived last week.
I called her Zissou.





In my dad's hands, so you just get how small she actually is.

We assume it's a her, but she's probably a month a week old and hard to tell, if you know what I mean (rolls eyes).
Someone abandoned her and her brother, the lady who gave me her said they heard a car pull over, saw two blur dots being dumped and the car was gone. Like that.

whoa, weird feeling to be posting again. I've just created this blog after thinking about doing it for ages.
I'm not sure if I'll be clever enough to keep this decently updated, though it was worth a try because I've been missed some people dearly. I hope you don't tell me to sod off, even if after my looong departure you have every right.
This page looks nothing like I'd want to at the moment. One step at the time. I'm trying to understand how to make a lj syndication but I'm clueless. Do I need a paid account to do so?




ps/Do you have any blog / website running? Please write your url in a comment I'd love to add it to the list on the right.