culture

Festival Essentials

culture, festival, Food, holiday, music, photography

With Glastonbury this weekend, Festival season is officially with us, so I thought I’d put together a quick list of what I feel is my personal survival kit after twenty odd years of making it a summer habit (it started for me with Reading 94′).

Now this list will overlap with the countless festival guides that’ll pepper magazines, websites and weekend paper supplements every Summer, every year, but is my personal checklist that I feel can make the experience a little more civilised while keeping your luggage to a minimum. In recent years, I’ve taken to adding to this with cooking equipment , candles (dangerous, but in a lantern is a handy beacon) and an inflatable mattress (I’m getting on now), but this is intended for any upstarts embarking on what might be your first British summer festival trip.

Tent / sleeping arrangements

Yes, I know people who have made the pilgrimage to Avalon with nothing more than a blanket and the shelter of the stone circle, and you will no doubt witness a few bodies scattered about corners of fields in the morning that have clearly spent the night al fresco. I am a city dwelling wimp who needs a bit of peace and some shut eye of an evening, and if that means also sheltering from the elements, all the better. Lately I’ve also found some earplugs can help block out the madness at 4 in the morning and aid a bit of rest.

If you don’t have a tent – at least take a sleeping bag and hope one of your friends will be willing to spoon.

Warm clothes

It’s summer! So surely you can rely on wearing nothing more than a kaftan and sunglasses right? Unfortunately not. Even if you’re blessed with glorious sunshine for the weekend, the nights draw in surprisingly fast and without the warmth of ‘civilisation’ it can get pretty chilly at night. Be sure to pack a few jumpers, base layers if you’ve got them, maybe a hat and layer up.

Torch

The manic organic might do a good carrot juice, but it probably won’t help you navigate a sea of guy ropes as you stumble back to your tent in the wee hours and once you’re under canvas, it’s handy to be able to see what you’re doing.

Waterproofs & Wellies

Even if it’s forecast to be a clear weekend, some parts of the country seem to have their own micro climates, and so a shower or two during a British summer is pretty regular. A waterproof jacket (possibly even trousers to be invincible) Is a good idea.

Wellies. Goes without saying really.

Small picnic Blanket

Not so essential, but having something sit on the dewy morning grass whilst mulling over the coming day / nursing a foggy mind can make you feel damn fine. and actually using it as a picnic blanket / spot to have a drink with friends / roll a cigarette etc will make you festival royalty.

Snacks

Most festivals are a wonderful opportunity to eat some varied and delicious food, but it doesn’t come cheap. So I tend to make sure I can snack relatively healthily in the day, and treat myself to a badass meal of an evening. A couple of pot noodles won’t go amiss for those late night munchies either, providing you’ve got a…

camping stove

Okay, so this may not be slumming it, but a small camping gas stove and pan can be so handy for a pot noodle, whipping up some pasta and pesto, boiling an egg or making tea / instant hot chocolate.

Water

Hydrate! A big bottle of water back at camp is a good idea to replenish your fluids after a hot days festivaling , and a refillable bottle to have on you in the day is the smart choice against dehydration / sun stroke / alcohol poisoning.

Toiletries

Personally I can’t stand wet wipes, so I tend to take face wash to festivals. You’ll probably be near a water point wherever you camp, and the icy outdoor blast of water on your face in the morning does wonders to wash away the nights’ sins at the same time as cleaning your pores.
Don’t forget your toothbrush either – it’s the small things that keep you feeling human sometimes.

Costume

Not ‘essential’ by any means, but the festival is an opportunity to let your hair down and be someone or something else for a night or two. Yes, seeing your umpteenth surly fairy or drunk man in a in a tiger onsie before lunch can be a bit grating, but come Saturday night you might want to make sure you can rock some Fluro warpaint or flutter some silver lashes like the best of them if you feel the need.
I do not condone large novelty hats in this definition of costume however.

Drugs

However you spend your evenings, you might want to make sure you have some multivitamins to replenish lost nutrients and some paracetamol to ease a throbbing brain and aching bones (anti acids might also be needed some nights). Even if you don’t need them, invariably someone else in your tribe or a passing stranger might love you for them.

Turn off your phone

Without wanting to sound like an old man, I remember a time when if you wanted to hook up with friends you’d meet them at the stone circle at 7. If they weren’t there, then 7.30, 8 and then… oh sod it. Okay phones are useful for finding your pals, but, try and enjoy the moment (man) and a weekend without electronic information. Switch off and sure take the odd photo and text a long lost friend you think you just saw dressed as a panda, but try and save you phone for emergencies. You might even find it lasts most of the weekend without needing to charge once your data, wifi Bluetooth and location services are switched off (Keeping the screen brightness down helps too).

Have Fun / let go

It would be nice to see that one band you’ve waited your whole life to see and happen to be on the bill, but beyond a handful of must-sees, try not to worry too much about timing your day to be at the right place for such and such. Firstly, the festival site is probably bigger than you think, and if you spend the weekend planning, you’ll miss so much of what makes festivals the special thing they are and you might end up not actually seeing anything.

Enjoy being in a field with thousands of folk in the same situation, make new friends, catch up with old ones, see some bands make some memories and don’t worry if you end up seeing an Hungarian electro-skiffle band instead of the headline acts.

I didn’t get to go to Glastonbury this time round, but I’ll hopefully be at SuperNormal and GreenMan later this Summer. Give me a shout if you’re going and fancy a chai.

Taking another bite out of the apple.

Art, culture, photograph, photography, travel, U*S*A

This is the fourth time that I’ve been lucky enough to visit New York, the town named twice, and doesn’t get much sleep. Each time, it’s that little bit more familiar, which in its own way makes there even more to discover. I think all cities of a certain size have this ever unfolding sensation, with infinite pockets of history, hidden treasures held together with an expanding newness and buzz for being THE PLACE to be. This place just seems to do it more so, and it knows it

This trip is part week break and part family catch up. My parents have lived in Richmond, Virginia since moving to the states fifteen years ago. Unfortunately due to various health, pet and fiscal issues, they’ve not managed to explore this vast and varied continent as much as they perhaps would have liked. Recently they’ve caught the traveling bug and after visiting Jamaica earlier in the year, they’re finally making it to New York, NY and for my dad (who’s an architect), I know it’s kind of a big deal, so it seemed a good as place to meet up on my annual visit for a change.

My first leg of the trip was from Cardiff via Schiphol (which afforded me enough time to pop into Amsterdam for lunch and an icy beer on the Singel) then arriving in New York Friday evening.

I’ll never forget the first time I came to New York “it’s like being in a movie!” Everything about the place felt unnervingly familiar : the yellow cabs, the steam rising from the roads, the lights of Times Square, Massimo Vignelli’s subway way finding and of course the iconoclastic architecture — towering skyscrapers lifted from countless Hollywood pictures wherever you look! I fell in love with the place, and I do regret not taking advantage of the Erasmus exchange while at art college, or at least giving it a go in the Big Apple after finishing university. Every visit since, I feel an ever depleting percentage of that first rush of excitement to my senses, but there’s nothing quite like your first time. It’s one of the few places in the world I can honestly say I feel at home in – of course I’ve only popped in for fleeting stays, but it does feel as though one could be the most famous person in the world here and also anonymous at the same time, a melting pot of refuges, freaks, musicians, artists, business folk and chancers, looking to find their dream, their voice, their fortune, or outlaws simply looking to hide in the depths of the Gotham megalopolis.

I’ve spent the last few days walking the high-lines of Manhattan and the East side avenues of Brooklyn until my legs have been ready to fall off doing a number of the must-do tourist points with my folks – we got the lift to the top of the Empire State Building for a wonderful sundown view and went to the roof of the met after a picnic in Central Park, and on our last night ate Shabu Shabu in Chinatown 🙂 I know my Dad had an arm long list of things to see and do on his itinerary, and inevitably I think we probably only scraped the surface. In the throws of the mean streets and walking for blocks that seem so small on a map, each hour and day slips by until someone gets hangry in the rush to the right subway station and it’s way past everyone’s dinner time and feet and backs and minds are frayed. I know we could kick ourselves for not fitting in all in, but I guess that’s the nature of the beast.

Despite fitting in a handful of my own whimsical itinerary (not including lunch dates) I did get to spend an afternoon at PS1 at an art-book fair and saw a great performance by Gang Gang dance, had fish tacos in Williamsburg, got excited by art again at the MOMA, and generally despite myself, fell in love with New York all over again. I met up with friends who have made NYC their home for lunch and went for dinner and a beer with a couple that live round the corner from me in Cardiff — We never get round to catching up in The Welsh capital but after bumping into them at Williamsburg market on Sunday morning it made sense to that evening!

However, I did manage to not: have a hotdog at Coney Island, or drop into some of my favourite design studios while in town.

Id like to think there will be a next time in the not too distant future, and who knows – maybe one day lady liberty will come a calling me.

You can see my other New York Photos at my instagram and Flickr (in due course)

Getting Down the Garonne

Art, culture, Food, holiday, photography

As an early Summer break, my wife and I thought it would be worth taking a chill week off and visiting France. Despite having traveled to a fair few far flung places, I’d not been to France before, and felt it was high time to dredge up my pigeon language skills and bag a baguette. We also wanted to make sure we could spend some time doing nothing bar drink wine and eat fine cheese, so we booked an Air BnB stop over in Paris for two nights before heading on down to the Bordeaux region for some R&R.

Paris is certainly on my list of places to visit, so it rather exciting spending a few days traversing the tourist traps, catching fleeting views of the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel tower, Pompidou centre, dipping croissants in hot chocolate and munching on some delicious entrecôte and frites. Paris befitted all the romantic stereotypes – it was as crowded, stuffy, impersonal and urine scented as I’d always imagined and I can’t wait to visit again one day with a bit more time on my hands.

Taking the TGV down towards Bordeaux, we arrived at our home for the next four nights – the Chateau le Bosquet des Fleurs, near the petite village of La Reole. Our host Karine, kindly picked us up from the train station and upon arriving at her chateau home, left us with a bottle of her own wine. We had arrived Sunday evening, so expected the nearby village to be pretty quite, but were pleased to find a pizzaria still open. What I don’t think we quite realised was that the village would also largely be closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with cafes and restaurants finally waking up Thursday evening. If living the dream means only having a two and a half day week, I’m in.

Our first day was spent exploring the rough round the edges village of La Reole. There is a sense that it may have had it’s day, but there were some charming highlights in this medieval settlement that was once the seat of French democaracy: The fantastic crepêrie, L’échoppe serving up delicious and cheap galettes and crepes, the ever reliable boulangerie and the picturesque monastery that sits on the edge of the village looking out over the river Garrone which provides the setting for Gustav Eiffel’s first major work – the bridge across it.

Hopping on the train to travel further down the river, we visited Bordeau for a day out. Once the jewel in the wine producing region’s crown, it’s a vibrant multi-cultral city with a surprisingly unpretentious, but creative air and a laid-back atmosphere. the grey drizzle may have exposed it’s more gritty edges but we enjoyed lunch at less than half Paris prices and visited the excellent CAPC musée of contemporary art set in an old colonial warehouse
That was showing a piece by Tomoaki Suzuki.

After a rainy day schlepping about the chateau, having a chilly dip the pool, playing cards and catching up on some reading, we paid for a home cooked meal by our host. Karine cooked up a treat of wine poached egg salad, slow cooked duck and potato gratin all washed down with wine made from the vines in view from the window.

Visiting the nearby town of Marmande was unremarkable, not least due to us forgetting that the town would shut down for about three hours over lunchtime – again, something the French seem to do so well 😉 However, I did partake of a popular lunchtime delicacy – steak tartare. Not through the typical foolish Brit abroad mistake, but I genuinely wanted to try it. The plate of raw chopped beef was presented with a raw egg and herbs to mix up and I munched it down with a side of fries. Interesting!

My French trip was ever so fleeting, and I can’t wait to visit more of the country. I was surprised how quickly my terrible GCSE language skills came back to me and how accommodating and down to earth people were towards me at least attempting some Francais (yes, even in Paris). Despite being a bit cliché, The food was great overall, and far more simple than I had expected. It’s the simplicity of meat and potatoes or bread and cheese with reliable wine that make it great and far less rich and overblown than I may have been expecting.

GreenMan Sketches 2014

Art, culture, Drawing, festival, music

I got to spend a weekend in August enjoying the wonderful Greenman festival vibe, enjoying great music and catching up with friends. Here is a selection of drawings from my sketchbook. Don’t forget to check out my Tumblr for for music and miscellaneous doodles.

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My Secret 7

Art, culture, Design, music

It’s that time of year again when sweaty palmed music lovers get up one morning and queue up at their local record shop to spend lots of money on ‘rare’ pieces of fragile plastic. Yup – Record Store Day is happening on April the 19th 2014. As part of this national day of independent music love, a concurrent event called Secret 7″ takes place, a blind auction takes place with the proceeds going to charity for 700 one off pieces of Seven inch sleeve artwork with a selected track inside. The Artists and designers are a mix of invited famous names and those who happen to submit their own entries. Surprisingly, I wasn’t one of the invited artists, but I thought I’d give it crack anyway.

There are 7 tracks to choose from to create artwork for (each one is pressed 100 times). I went for Massive Attack’s Karmacoma as my choice, and eagerly began my design.

I had recently been doing some geometric line designs for the ‘Octa’ event in February, so I wanted to carry on with that flavour, and a single cover seemed a perfect excuse.

As the cover was to be a one off, I felt it would be fitting to screen print it – printing being a means to mass reproduction, so a single print seemed a poetic way of creating it.

Taking my design to the PrintHaus in Cardiff, I printed out the deisgn onto acetate, making sure it was the right size for the sleeve. It was, Just.

Next the design was burned into a freshly reclaimed screen. A few minutes in the exposure unit…

…and it’s done! (bar cleaning off the excess emulsion)

A test print needed to be done onto a fixed sheet of plastic to help aid the ‘registration’. As it was a one chance only situation to get it right, I had to make sure it lined up.

I printed out a couple onto paper for safe keeping / framing and gifting. The annoying thing was these came out pretty well. My single use 7 inch sleeve wasn’t the best pull, and lost a bit of quality in one of the corners. Note for next time – GET SPARES!

Anyway – the process was rolling, and I felt the cover needed a little something extra.

It might be that I had been swayed by my easy listening at the time so I decided to glam it up a touch. Discovering that fine line glue pens exist, I went to town. A sober onlooker would have advised I quit while ahead, but I had a vision dammit, and that vision was golden and sparkly.

Almost there, I needed to add a frame. The rules state that the track title and artist should not be included on the design, but I thought it would be a nice touch to include, but obscure them – The final owner of the sleeve could then remove the ‘frame’ and have the finished artwork.

Ta Da! All done.

I posted it off before catching a flight to Texas, reasonably pleased with my glitzy tasteless sleeve.

…….

sadly, I was not accepted to the final selection, which can be seen here

Anyway – Enjoy Record Store day on Saturday the 19th – and don’t forget to support your local music emporium

Some Frequently Asked Questions

culture, Uncategorized

It occurred to me that there is a pile of (literally) Frequently Asked Questions of me and by me, some that are asked on a daily basis, or at least a handful of times a week.

I’m sure I’m not alone in addressing some of these questions asked of us by our loved ones, house mates, work colleagues etc. So these may come as no surprise….

What are you looking at? (on the internet)

None of you business. It’s probably Instagram, Tumblr or Pinterest. Or I’m catching up on the Guardian, Medium, The Next Web or… no, not THAT.

Well have you decided?

Probably not, otherwise I would have come to a decision. I’m terrible at making decisions, it’s truly one of my Achilles heels. I’m getting better as I get older, and am more inclined to go with my gut instinct, but sometimes…. Damn!

What do you want for dinner / breakfast ?

It’s usually me asking this to my dear wife, after all I tend to do a lot (but not all) of the cooking in our house, and often need to pop to the shops on my way home to pick up supplies.

Cup of Tea / Coffee?

Good lord, if I got a penny every time I asked this or got asked (both at home and the studio) I’d be a rich man. Coffee gets the machine working, and tea sustains it. I cannot comprehend a world in which these words are not uttered. Unthinkable.

Have you called…. (the doctors / vets / parents)

AAAAARGH! damn my memory!

Have You fed the Cat?

It’s common sense that dictates that whoever is up first / home first will have fed the cat. So it’s at the weekends when time is a little more fluid that this gets asked. usually I have.

What time will you be home?

When I’m done and finished. To be honest I ask this too, it’s not a one way street – pretty much like the dinner FAQ.

Austin blitz

coffee, culture, festival, Food, holiday, music, U*S*A

As an antidote to my previous rambling posts, here’s a quick fire ‘photo story’ of my SXSW / Austin snapshots, all from my phone and not really processed / cropped. WYSIWYG. There’s other pics in my posts, but I might include them all here with captions too.

For more considered photos, My Instagram lives here

And for a run down of a more composed and architecturally informed Austin, see my Flicker here

As you’re probably aware by now, I rarely take photos of people or bands, so don’t expect any ‘fun’ SXSW photos here…

El Chilito’s take away cafe on Manor Road near where I was staying. Where I experienced my first and best breakfast (Migas) Taco.

My Migas Taco! Egg, Peppers, Onion, tomato and chilli salsa in a tortilla

An abandoned establishment on Manor Road

'Progress 2' by Luis Jimerez at the Blanford Museum of American Art — ‘Progress 2’ by Luis Jimerez at the Blanford Museum of American Art

The Halcyon coffee shop where I recharged my mind and devices regularly during South by. I loved the glitter paintings by Sue Zola on the wall

Bucket drummers were a dime a dozen on the streets of Austin, but not many feature a dancing Iron Man.

I think this is an agave plant that Tequila is made from. I drank some damn fine Tequila in Austin, and I loved the fact that cactus grow wild everywhere

Queuing. You do a lot of it if you go to SXSW. I got fed up of it after a while, which is possibly why I didn't see as many bands as I'd have liked, but here's a photo in case you don't know what a queue is like. — Queuing. You do a lot of it if you go to SXSW. I got fed up of it after a while, which is possibly why I didn’t see as many bands as I’d have liked, but here’s a photo in case you don’t know what a queue is like.

SXSW Day 6. Johnny 2 gigs

coffee, culture, Design, Drawing, festival, Food, holiday, music, photography, U*S*A

I got back into the British music embassy a bit later than expected (it’s taking me a lot longer to get places than I think it should) but just in time to meet a Canadian publicist and Australian design agency director at a speed networking event. 2pm quickly comes around and the venue is packed for Gulp’s first SXSW show – for the fist gig of the day, it packs a punch with some great sound engineering in the mix. My visuals run as expected and initial feedback seems positive. Gulp’s new label manager asks if they can be put on a memory stick; sorry they can’t. A part of me was hoping she’d ask me along for the LA gig the band are heading to next week, but no such luck (one day!)

I spent a few hours that afternoon in the convention centre taking in ‘flatstock’ the annual gig poster exhibition. This is a collection of a who’s who of poster artists and designers with the big names of current poster design such as Methane studios and DKNG sat at booths hawking prints, stickers and t-shirts. I picked up a small print for burning red and got lost amongst the swathes of A2 papers and smell of acrylic ink. Admittedly much of the work almost blends into one – there is undeniably a ‘gig poster style’ which is exciting at first but does begin to feel a little generic. There were a handful of studios making some genuinely fresh work, and these really do stand out – however particular names right now escape me. I added to my business card collection (I’ve got a rather large pile which will need some serious sorting when home) and after a quick visit to south of the river on congress it was time to drop my gear off at the hideout theatre ready for the night’s gig and met the band for a pizza and glass of wine.
Having a pre-show coffee in the coffee shop at the front of the venue, the familiar faces of the Cardiff bands turned up – gruff, sweet baboo, Mr. Hawkline and Cate le bon all in the house. At least there’d be an audience!

It seems that the midnight hour wasn’t in tune with the gulp party. Gwion had to improv a drum kit without toms, Gid’s guitar didn’t have the sound he was looking for, a synth went wonky and half way through the set, I think the wound engineer accidental nudged the space that’s projector had been balancing on, sending it tumbling. I got it back up and running to a degree for the last few numbers but it did put a dampner ony last evening in Texas and the climax of why I was there. But hey – for all intents and purposes the show was a success and after bidding everyone goodbye I got back on the night owl bus out East for the last time.

SXSW Day 5. Late Pancakes, Springs and Welsh Music in a church

Art, coffee, culture, Design, Drawing, festival, Food, holiday, music, photography, U*S*A

I’m hoping that my body clock and sleeping patterns are so thrown up and sideways right now, that when I get back to the UK, I’ll sleep so well I’ll be right as rain for work Monday morning. Stranger things have happened.
Which is how I had a 2pm breakfast (despite waking at 9am) in the Kerbey lane cafe, a typically Austin take on the American diner – all fresh juice, responsibly farmed produce and tacos on the menu along aside French toast and burgers. I was proper stuffed after my short stack of buttermilk pancakes 🙂

Checking out the Guadalupe road area around the university campus, I found a few decent thrift stores and an arcade bar playing punk rock in amongst the coin-ops. Seeing as I’d had a 2 o’clock breakfast I headed south to take in some of the south of the river vibes at Barton springs — a natural spring that is open for a short period every year for the public to swim in. Unfortunately the pool was shut for cleaning, but there was an area a little along that had people paddling and soaking up the sun. Feet all refreshed, I had to get downtown to get some music in me. I wanted to catch up with gulp and some of the contingent Cymraeg, so I went along to the turnstile records party at the st. David’s epistle church. It is a bit odd going all the way to Texas and hang out having a drink with a room full of people from wales, but it was a good night. Gruff Rhys played a lovely set accompanied by kliph Scurlock on drums, and Cate le Bon blew me away, despite having seen her a number of times – the sound and energy the band produced was great.

SXSW Day 4. Mary, Meetings, Cameras, Fans & Tradegy

Art, coffee, culture, Design, Drawing, festival, Food, holiday, music, photography, U*S*A

South by takes over this town, for good and not. It clearly brings an overwhelming focus and celebration of creativity to the town and generates a huge level of excitement and revenue, but also it seems a strain on the area and it’s resources.

Initially I couldn’t make it to town for a networking breakfast due to my bus running almost half an hour late (I was running late anyway) and I just about managed to make it to the convention centre for 11.30 where I was due to meet the band I’m tagging along the coat tails of, Gulp in order to pick up my music wristband. It turned out I could pick it up on my own, as as they were running late, was just as well. Without any coffee or breakfast and rather tired from however many nights little sleep it’s been now I walked past Jarvis Cocker who looked like he’d just arrived – of course I recognise him so I gave a friendly nod, smile and hello. A momentary glimmer or recognition from him faded into a confused scowl. I forgot his doesn’t know me. (but he’d probably like to).

I got to the dregs of the network breakfast and freeloaded on coffee, croissants and the strongest bloody Mary I’ve ever had (these Texans do like to free pour). A coffee shop meeting also failed to happen, so I spent the time drinking a cappuccino skyping with my wife.

At a bit of a loss, and deciding to save music for the evenings, I went to the Charles Long exhibition at the Contemporary Austin. I place of solace away from the crowds and a space to consider the impact humans are having on the planet due to our greed. An ode to Catalin – an early toxic forerunner to plastic and how our hunger for cheap and ‘safe’ substitutes has lead to the slow destruction of the ocean and our need for air conditioning and a comfortable life errodes the ice caps. There’s nothing subtle about this show, but that’s probably a good thing, and the 3D ‘datamapped’ iceberg sculptures have an ephemeral delicate beauty about them that certainly helped to centre me ready for main Congress. Towards the West or downtown, I took snaps of the area and visited Book People, local bookshop who’s had a who’s who of visitors from Simon Pegg to Timothy Leary (their photographs adorn a celebrity wall). I read a book on some interesting sketching techniques which gave me a little inspiration to get drawing (one of my personal aims of being here) . It’s not a library, so after browsing for a good hour , I bought a postcard, some chocolate and left. I LOVE American indie bookshops, well any bookshop really, I could spend all day in them browsing and feeling rejuvenated by the wealth of ideas, cover designs and knowledge (even if I’m terrible at actually getting to read of the bloody things once I buy them)

Across the road was Waterloo Records, one of the larger records shops – not first on my list as I was holding out for a smaller place, but I went in anyway, as one doe and left with a few cheap second hands: A Willie Nelson (I’m in his town afterall), A solo Todd Rundgren, and the new St Vincent album. I had a fantastical vision that if I did, somehow I’d actually get into the gig tonight and she’d be happy to sign it for me.

Another juice later (it’s all I seem to be eating and drinking here as I’ve lost my appetite in the heat, travel and sleep dysfunction) and I went into Hut’s Hamburgers, an old style joint from the 30’s with authentically delicious grass fed Longhorn burgers to match. Nothing mind blowing, but how I imagine a very good all American burger should be, with fries that have their skin on. Whilst eating I Met an LA PR agent who’s been doing SX since the 80’s. She’d had a few glasses of wine as it’s her day off, but we got on well and she insisted on walking me out to where she was heading. I drew my first band of the day, and headed to town.

The NPR showcase was tipped to be a good one, and some of the crew Cymraeg where at the venue. I discovered that they don’t allow ‘Cameras’ into the venue (more on my thoughts on this in a another post), and I pleaded and tried to work out a solution with the security and venue staff to let me in as I never take (digital) photos of bands these days, and how I was only out tonight to see St Vincent, but no. The man at the gate took a photo of me on his cameraphone and said I’d be able to jump the VIP queue if I came back after stashing it, which was really good of him. thanks to the sound engineer at the British Music Embassy, I stowed my cameras with him and heading back to Stubbs and saw Kelis then St Vincent play live. It was fantastic, despite the crowd taking lots of pictures with their cameraphones after being asked by the woman herself beforehand not to and afterwards I wandered backstage unhindered to see if she (St Vincent) would sign my record, but she was clearly upset about something and apologised before being hurried away by her people. I was the only person there, Vinyl and sharpie in hand, but no.
Wandering lonely around 6th Street, a homeless tour guide told me where to get pancakes near my house and about the oldest jazz bar in town – literally underground called the Elephant, so called because they found a wooly Mammouth bone while building it. I wasn’t sure if I beleived him, but sure enough there it was after everyone else had dumped me. I sat at the quiet bar drinking a nightcap of local bourbon on the rocks and a Spanish Austinite told me about the best burger joints in town and some super local tips as well as where Willie Nelson was playing tomorrow.

On the bus home, we drove past a street of police cars where an hour earlier a drunk driver ploughed through a crowd killing 2 people and injuring dozens. A sobering end to the day.

SXSW day 3. Film, chill and bands (finally)

Art, coffee, culture, Drawing, festival, Food, holiday, music, U*S*A

Waking up I promised myself no migas taco for breakfast. So I hopped on the metro rail ( unfortunately not a monorail as I had initially thought) after the ticket machine swallowed up 7dollars of my change and went in search of city treasure thrift. It was underwhelming, so I decided to stop in Cisco’s for breakfast. Supposedly an Austin institution where political deals have been made and broken it seemed a good cultural stop. I didn’t realise it was Mexican.

2 (good n spicy) migas tacos and a large coffee later it was time for the premiere screening of American interior , the new gruff Rhys film. Directed by Dylan Coch who also made Seperado with gruff and produced by Catrin Ramasut it follows gruff on a journey across America as he traces the footsteps of a supposed long lost relative called john Evans who first went to the new world to discover a tribe of native Americans that spoke welsh and along the way inadvertently helps to map the path to the pacific, and determines Canada’s border. It was a funny, heartwarming and enlightening film and rounded off with a special performance by gruff and kliph Scurlock followed by the magnificent Keith bear who talked about identity and played his hand carved flutes.

I met some old and new friends at the screening and accompanied them back to their house in the hot and sunny Texan afternoon which was great. It was a very ‘chill’ afternoon drinking iced mocha, supping corona while schedules and plans were made.

Following my new welsh/uk contingent back into town to latitude30 , where the British music embassy was hosting Huw Stephen’s uk music showcase, I had to watch the first half of sweet Baboo’s set from outside as I still didn’t have a wristband. Luckily Huw let me in through the stage door and I spent the night watching Alice Wolf, Prides, Bi Polar sunshine and Jungle. All in all a good evening with great company, decent music and some rather large rum and colas.

SXSW Day2 . Old Aquaintences, Tequila and Busses

coffee, culture, Design, Drawing, festival, holiday, music, photograph, photography, U*S*A, VJ

So, although I intended to get an early night, I couldn’t get to sleep until 2 am then woke up again at 4 until finally passing out at about 7. I’m not used to insomnia and pulling myself out of bed at 11am was a struggle. I don’t normally get jet lag going back in time, but somehow the day has been more of a haze than Sunday. More migas and coffee on my morning amble took me to bannau’s coffee shop . So hip it hurt, but a good friendly hurt with old sofas and chipped crockery. Almost everyone was sat at their laptops or iPads, everyone. The complimentary power supplies hanging from the roof do encourage it though. My cappuccino was a bit disappointing but the pizza slice was darn good.

Again I walked to downtown with camera in hand soaking up the east side atmosphere and ended up in the empire club, a re-appropriated auto garage and went to a VJ meetup in the main dance floor. A handful of local beamers we’re taking about their techniques and I met Topher Sipes, a local media artist, born in Bedford, raised in Texas. He’s projecting for scrillex on Thursday night in the garage – so if I can’t get tickets to lady gaga playing in the BBQ next door (unlikely) I’ll try my hand there instead.

I met up with a friend from town who I met at a wedding in Italy last year (it’s a small world) for some margarita and tequila before he and his wife and friend had to get the ‘last’ train (at 6.30!) back up to the northern suburbs . Bleary eyed and a little legless I wandered the streets looking for my RSVP’d parties. I couldn’t get into he Wes Anderson talk and screening of Budapest hotel ( no surprise there) and I missed the party at the Jones centre contemporary gallery. Tired and disillusioned I west eastward where I’ve found the onion party in the Mohawk club. Chet faker on the decks and cymbals are out back. I thought I saw Donald Glover in the audience (it wasn’t) but it’d be fab to see him play this week. I’ve been told he’s doing an afternoon party on Wednesday, so I’ll try my luck if I remember. Now it’s bed time for reals.

SXSW Day 1. Acclimatizing

Art, coffee, culture, Design, Drawing, festival, Food, holiday, music, U*S*A, VJ

After being woken by a bird (I presume) that sounded like a Guinea pig, and not being able to figure out how to use the coffee machine I headed out to explore the ‘hood. I picked up a coffee and a migas taco and walked west toward downtown via the Blanton museum of art. Housing a permanent exhibition of art from the Americas, the contemporary galleries displayed a refreshing Latin (and female) perspective on the rise of American abstract expressionism. The temporary exhibition was a retrospective of Eva Hesse and Sol Lewitt’s drawing experiments and how their relationship spurred each other on to challenge themselves. The musum’s main Atrium houses a commisioned permenant installation by Teresita Fernández made up of thousands of tiles of incandescent turquoise, giving the space an almost Mediterranean or Arabian feel.

A postcard later, I pushed on downtown to see if I could so some sxsw. The chaos of sixth street pushed me into the halcyon coffee shop for a recharging snack of Nutella crepe and an iced coffee before wandering about the ‘interactive’ trade show in the convention centre hall. I thankfully managed to pick up some free t shirts ( I didn’t bring enough) and some temporary NASA tattoos.

As the sum went down, I went to the river to watch the bats fly in and out from under the congress bridge. They squeak a lot.

My Analogue Boxes

Art, culture, Design, photography

Cameralamadindong

Over the years, I’ve managed to build up a fair sized collection of things. Stemming from an innate inability to let go of ‘stuff’, I continuously fail to live the zen-like lifestyle I like to think I aspire to. whether it’s badges, retro games consoles (and every version of street fighter two I can find for anything I won that has a processor), pens, magazines and on the shelf above my desk at home, cameras. I haven’t set out to ‘collect’ cameras, and each one is relatively unique, be it from a historical perspective or practical use / medium or aesthetic. Most of the camera are in use and serve a particular function. Or if they don’t ‘they’ll be useful one day’… Here’s a list of (some) of my analogue 35mm and 120mm cameras.
It’s all very hip right now to use ‘real’ film cameras, and I guess I’m typical of a breed of photographer clinging onto what may well be the last gasp of easily being able to shoot with film. There is a different discipline involved, and I recommend it to anyone who only thinks digitally when it comes to photography. There’s a different impetus on pushing that shutter button, as you know it has to count, and there’s no way of telling if a picture will be any good until it’s processed. I also believe that there’s a real physical quality to film based images, I don’t know if this is an imagined ‘false nostalgia’, but it’s almost as if there’s a spectrum of experience that defies current digital sensors in the same way that vinyl recordings hold audio frequencies either end the audible scale, I think that chemical photography includes a hidden spectrum that adds to it’s immediacy that can’t be faked with a retro filter.

Minolta Dynax 500si

My first ‘proper’ 35 mm SLR camera, which was a joint birthday / Xmas present when I first got interested in photography back in ’93. Although it might have been a bit overkill in terms or spec, it’s the camera I grew with and still used it fairly regularly until about 2007 when I inherited my first ‘D’SLR (a NIKON D70, which now belongs to my Dad). It’s still in good shape, despite the hand grip has discolored.

Mamiya C330

A Twin reflex medium format camera, similar to one reputedly once favoured by Dianne Arbus. Gifted to me in a semi functioning state, I’ve since shot a couple of rolls on it with pleasing results. it’s seen better days, and is a little temperamental, but once you get a clear shot from one of these things, nothing compares. wiki

Minolta Hi-Matic 7

After spending countless years gathering dust in my Father-in-law’s attic, I’m now the proud own of this wonderful little rangefinder. The quality of the lens is breathtaking in the right circumstances and the depth of field is fantastic. It has a rather peculiar focusing method, which doesn’t lend itself to super quick shooting, but as long as you’re not too precious when snapping with it, the results can be great. I tend to use this for people snaps, as I’m terrible at taking pictures of friends and family, but using this seems to take the pressure off, especially as I feel there’s an ‘immediacy of the moment’ that 35mm manages to capture, that can be too fleeting for the digital calculations of more modern photography.
I’ve since seem a company that refurbished rangefinders like this to make them super fancy
wiki

Canon AE-1

Another hand-me-down from a family friend who was about to list it on Ebay is quickly becoming my go-to camera when I don’t need the pin-point accuracy of my Nikon D7000. This is the only Canon camera in my rosta although I’ve gone through a few canon digital compacts, which I loved, but since owning a Nikon DSLR, the modern Canon’s never quite feel right in my hand. This analogue beauty doesn’t have this issue and I find shooting with it a consistent pleasure. wiki

LOMO Lubitel 166B

Picked up from a flea market a few years back, I only bought it because it was so cheap, and still with it’s original ‘Made in the USSR’ box and instructions. I’ve not shot anything with it as yet, but I’ve got a roll of 120 film in the fridge waiting to get exposed. wiki

LOMO Colorsplash

This little compact got me back into using 35mm film in about 2004 after a good few years shooting with digital compacts. from the ‘shoot from the hip’ stable of LOMO cameras the novelty factor with this device is the flash, specifically the ‘colorsplash’ flash. a bit of fun, and adds a certain flourish to blurry toy camera prints.LOMO page

Polaroid 635 CL

I think I picked up this simple beauty with it’s retrograde 80’s carefree lines from a charity shop in the late 90’s – an era when Polaroid film was still being made and sold by Polaroid and smartphones looked like this.The only Polaroid I’ve owned, there’s very little to go wrong in the camera body itself, as the film included a battery. it’s very much plug ‘n’ play, provided you can still find the film. Impossible project page

I’ve got a bit of hunting to do to find any samples from the Polaroid, but will add then here when I finally recover them from an old shoebox in the attic.

Going South

Art, bike, culture, Drawing, festival, music, U*S*A, VJ

South by South West is one of those events that has been on my ‘one day’ wishlist for a few years now, but the excuse to fly over to Texas for a week of music, crowds, tacos and sun has always eluded me. that is until this year.

Flights are booked and a house share set up, I’m winging my way to Austin on the 9th or March for the Music week (and the end of the interactive). I’m lucky enough to be tagging along with Gulp who are one of the showcase bands, so I’ll be taking my projector along and hopefully doing some projection for their set.

Now Texas may seem a bit of a long way to travel for the sake of a handful of half hour gigs (you’d be right), but it’s said that SXSW offers up innumerable opportunities to see, meet and share a drink with a who’s who of the interactive, Music and Film worlds. I’m personally seeing the journey as an excuse to immerse myself in the alternative ‘fringe’ SXSW – aside from filling myself with free tacos and saturating my ears with music on tap, I’ll be drawing daily (every band I see), photographing and writing for the Burning Red blog.

They Ride Horses Don’t They?

As for my music itinerary, I’m probably going to worry about that when on the plane or in the fray of Sixth street, and once I’ve had time to fill up my SXSW app schedule. I have a vision of throngs of people all trying to get in to the bands that are ‘so hot right now’ so if that does turn out to be the case I’ll likely go with the flow on that one.

I’ll be living like a Texan for the week, and should I need a break from the bands, here’s my list of top things I’d like to try and see and do while ‘keeping it weird‘.

Austinomnomnom

I’ve heard Austin is the home of Tex-Mex, but I’m getting the impression that it’s a foodies paradise no matter the flavour. I’m on a mission to find the best burger, pancakes, milkshake, tacos that I stumble across. Oh yes, and a pharmacy.

Speed Demon

I will be staying in a shared house allegedly a 45 minute walk to the downtown area where many of the gigs will be in the evening. I’m used to cycling my way around Cardiff, and considering Austin is a bike friendly city (for America) I’d like to try and get hold of a bike while there. Although many bike shops rent, it’d work out pricey and the bikes on offer all seem a nit too good. I’m going to make my way to the bike farm when I arrive and see if I can pick up an oldie for under $100. (fingers crossed)

Seeing is Believing

When I feel the need to give my ears a rest, I’ll likely fancy bombarding my eyeballs and brain with some art. I’ll cetainly be after some contemporary work, but the Blanton is a museum I see cropping up so I’ll start there, and see where that leads me.

Going Down

The wrong side of the river seems to be where it’s at. The South congress looks to be a long stretch of galleries, shops, cafes and curiosities. I can’t promise that I will be able to resist picking up a pair of boots while there though.

So, only two weeks to go and I’m equally excited and vervous, but I’ll be updating this and the Burning Red blog as often as I can, not to mention my instagram and tumblr sketchbook

Photo Credit: Phillip Kromer

Whispers From the Wires – Trwbador

culture, Design, music, video

I’m currently busy finishing off the 7 inch single artwork and video for Trwbador’s next single, so I thought it’d be nice to bounce some questions over to the duo at their home in Mid Wales via email….

How important do you feel imagery and graphics are to music – does design matter? (although I know it’s all about the music really)

Music is like the tasty cake and everything else are the icings and cherries. I don’t think there is anything wrong in making music a collective experience using other elements such as visuals,design & touch.
For me I like to create a world where by people can choose to enter if they so wish, I see it more as a production as a whole, which is where I would like to take the live set furthermore too. Instead of the listener simply entering a room to watch us as people playing music, I would like for people to enter a small world to have a collective experience…..I guess.

Summer is the other side of this winter – do you have any festival plans or offers yet?

We play Dinefwr Literature Festival in June. There are a couple of others on the horizon too 😉

and finally, if you were being sent on a mission to Mars, what one thing would you take with you to keep you from going loco?

Chihuahuas

The new Trwbador single (name still under wraps) will be out in April along with a new album expected in the Autumn 2014!

Don’t Call it a Resolution

culture, holiday

Aaaah! The fresh feeling of a freshly laundered year was upon us a month ago, and like many folk I had a small stack of hopes, dreams and let’s say, ‘resolutions’ – all racked up ready for the new year.

These included most of the usual suspects – getting fitter with some daily exercise, to read more, daily meditation, learn a language and get a tattoo amongst others. Four stale weeks later and to be honest, not a great deal has stuck. They all seemed so possible for that first week / first day but now, its not all looking so optimistic.

Realistically though there are a few bigger, more practical plans and attitudes to working that are still pretty at the front of my mind and might actually be doable with a bit of planning, patience and steady practice.

Beam it Don’t Dream it

2013 was a great year for me getting to do more live video mixing and projecting with bands. I had decided the year before that I wasn’t going to go to any more music festivals unless I was invited to take part one way or another. I had the busiest festival summer since the nineties last year – I played at the blue lagoon, did three shows at Greenman and even got to Glasto. I’m hoping to do more of the same and crank it up a notch if possible. This will hopefully include the next phase of the unbuttoned project with Zwolf that was a great experience last year.

Update – I’ve managed to gather the means to visit SXSW this year, so will be taking my projector in my hand luggage with a view to beam beam beam (with Gulp!)

But it’s so Beautiful

There are a handful of aims / goals and wishes I would like to see happen this year, and in many ways I fee the best way to facilitate them would be to let go or unlearn the bad habit of screen addiction. It’s a modern day affliction that feel stops me from reading more (real books), drawing more, making music and just remembering to be in the moment and breathe more and not get sucked into the twitchy ‘pleasure refresh’ that smart devices seem to encourage.

This could be an excuse for laziness, but I’d like to at give it a try. While I don’t think going cold turkey on my iPhone is every going to be realistic, I am trying to think twice before mindlessly feeding my FOMO and letting it be the first thing I grab for when left for more than 10 seconds to my own devices. Making sure screens don’t go upstairs to bed with me is another thing I’m being careful to watch (well my phone at least – catching up on episodes of Parks and Recreation on the laptop is a pre-bedtime necessity!)

Skill is a B*m Disease

At the beginning of last year, I enrolled in an intaglio printing class at the Print Market Workshop. It was a fantastic few weeks learning the ins and outs of the printing process that I missed while at University. It sparked a new found excitement in me to get my hands dirty and actually make something tangible rather than from pixels. I had intended to fully enroll at the branch near me, but never quite got round to it, and eventually lost momentum.

This year, I’ve been bought four sessions at the Prinhaus to get me into some more making, not to mention become more familiar with screenprinting. As a focus over the coming weeks, I’ll be making a book – binding it and filling it with one-off prints, drawings and collages. Just because. As and when I make a new page for this, I’ll no doubt post it on my Tumblr where all my sketchbook work ends up.

Never Enough Time

I do have a list of projects and goals for this year as long as my arm, but I wouldn’t want to jinx them all by broadcasting my hopes here.

What I do hope to do overall though is to try and keep a momentum of personal projects rolling, even if that’s remembering to draw at least once a day.

To be more mindful and aware of opportunities as and when they arise, and not to be afraid to say yes (but know when to say no!)

Live in the NOW. Don’t let pressure run away with me, but use all experiences as opportunities to learn.

Oh yes, and finally get around to having that tattoo 😉

Mayan Calendar image by kimberlyeternal used with a Creative Commons license,

Week–a–Gig–a–Thon

Art, bike, Cardiff, culture, Drawing, festival, music, VJ

It’s October!

Unofficially the busiest time of the year. In the space if a month, Cardiff plays host to the Cardiff design festival, the welsh music prize, made in Roath, Swn festival, Cardiff contemporary, some of these in the same weeks!

Usually on the week of Swn, like clockwork I’m guaranteed to have a cold, luckily this year I mostly got it out of the way last weekend, and just as the phenylepheriine was wearing off, Thursday evening welcomed the start of Swn with the Welsh Music Prize Awards. I arrived at the kuku club just about on time cycling through a sunny Llandaff fields from a student design presentation at Cardiff Met. After sweatily wandering into a dark sober club straight from work seemed to leave everyone a bit spaced out, so after a complimentary bourbon and lemonade, Jon Rostron and Huw Stephens welcomed everyone and Adam Walton warmed us up for the nominees. As a clip and introduction to each artist was played, the tightly packed crowd of journalists, bands, friends, promoters and fans nodded along and cheered each other on.
Georgie Ruth deservedly got the honour this year, and was genuinely surprised and excited. Wolfing down a ‘mini food’ trio of canapés, I hot footed I over to the angel hotel – somewhere I hadn’t been since a fetish themed rave in the late nineties. It’s good to see such forgotten venues with magical carpets being home to festival events. Eventually I managed to line check the projector and balance it on the edge of the stage (the only place to put it) in between HMS Morris and Chlöe Howl.
Walking round the corner to clwb Ifor bach I set up my projector and laptop just in time for a fantastic set by gulp. Their disco space pop filled the packed room with Guto Pryce’s psychedelic synth bass and Lindsey Levan’s soaring vocals. I always enjoying beaming with bands in clwb as I usually get to fill the stage upstairs with moving light, hopefully helping to produce a far more immersive experience than simply using screens. As the gig finished, I ran with asthma inducing speed around the corner to plug in, borrow Owain’s Ventolin and projected above the stage for a solid Trwbador gig in the Swn venue with the best carpet.

Friday, I had other commitments in the evening, but during the day, I popped into town to have a brief look at the Cardiff Open exhibition in the Castle arcade. Happening about every 6 months, it’s an exhibition made up of artists from around Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, while the types of artists are varied, it does focus on the more ‘tangible’ side of art – paintings, sculpture, printmaking, photography and ceramics. The standard of the work does seem to be pretty high, and this year, I particularly enjoyed the huge lino print by John Abell with it’s beautifully primal depictions of medieval-wild welsh coal mining valley tales. Natasha Mayo’s blackboard painted clay sculpture of a hairless child holding a duckling standing in front of a large blackboard also caught my eye.

I went next door to chance at having my psycho analysis drawn by Casey Raymond, but probably fortuitously, he was fully booked.

Saturday saw the Made in Roath festival kick off with full steam. In its fifth year, made in Roath is a truly community led affair. Celebrating creativity in all its forms, the weekend plays host to workshops, music events, live art, exhibitions, street theatre and the hugely popular open houses, where people hold art exhibitions in their homes. In the afternoon I went over to check out ‘Inverness groove’ where there annual Roath bake off was held in spice of life, a dodgy postcard and tea room wa, cf≈ ≈s run by the SHO gallery, and artist Richard Huw Morgan DJ’d on the street with drunken miss orderly. The duo only played records from the record shops bargain crates. Rhm or ‘Mr ohm’ focused on only playing 60’s 7-inches with messages or notes scrawled on the sleeves, whilst Zia torta matched her outfit with a music diet of 80’s rock pop and early rave.

Saturday evening I was back in clwb to visualise for fist of the first man, for what may be their last going for a while (as guitarist allun Gaffy has gone to focus on other projects). With the lights off, I attempted to pummel the audiences eyes with audio reactive geometric white shapes while Mark Foley’s deep bass melted the walls to zwolf’s compositions.

After packing up my equipment, I stopped for a quick dance to the extremely loud and deep bass of clipping. While I couldn’t get on board the MC’s lyrics, his delivery got the crowd excited and the bone rattling sub’s got us wobbling.
I caught a chunk of the Wytches enthusiastic teenage pagan rock before catching the debut full band gig by Cardiff legend Foley’s sh…apes project. Simian-esque psychedelic phrases with the best use of a brass instrument in pop music I’ve ever heard (filtered and distorted into another worldly antagonistic wall of human sound).

Sunday, although I didn’t catch any more bands, going back to town via a house on my road that was housing an art exhibition (with a unicorn sign outside), I visited Paul Granjon and his ‘Thingy Robots’ at the ArcadeCardiff exhibition space in the Queens arcade. taking residencey with his automonmous electronic friends opposite a temporary electronic salvage ‘Dynamo Wreckshop’ – a space where discarded electronic goods are dismantledand reconfigured into new configurations. the room is sprawling with the innards of old scanners, printers, VCR’s and computer parts, there’s certainly a lot of dissection going on, and I was assured that plenty of new hybrid experiments are being created daily.

Weekends like this are what makes living in Cardiff such a delight. It’s small size means you can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, and you still won’t get to see everything. The city feels buzzing and creativity feels like it’s seeping out of the cracks in the pavement.

The fun still isn’t over either. There’s the Darkened Room screening of ET at g39 to look forward to followed by the now annual Roath nocturnal walk finishing up at Milgi for a Made in Roath closing party Thursday evening.

Everyone is a photographer now / Diffusion Festival Platform 1

culture, photography

Each week throughout the Diffusion festival, there are informal presentations and discussion events providing a space to explore issues facing photography today. The first of the platform evenings was looking at the idea that ‘Everyone is a photographer now’.

The main focus was around the work and a presentation by photojournalist Matt Dunham, who works for Associated Press. Due to the nature of his work, this question and discussion naturally revolved around photojournalism and news imagery rather than photography in a fine art sense for instance.

It feels as though everyone is obsessed with taking pictures all the time these days. We feverishly document all that is in front of us, often without a conceptual filter. Everyone with a mobile phone has a camera in their pocket, and therefore are potential photographers, but that does that make us more aware, discerning and capable of taking outstanding pictures?

here are iconic images that stick in our collective memory – (the Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, by Joe Rosenthal and the image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc for example) are well known because they encapsulate a particular, defining moment in time with one simple image. Such photographs are taken because somebody with the right equipment and know-how was in the right place at the right time, so by rights – the sheer number of extra eyes on the ground in the guise of the phone wielding public today means we should all be taking photographs that make the news.

So what makes ‘official’ photographers and their photographs of an event so special? Is it the access to areas that only a ‘photographers’ pass can get? Is it professional training, artistic ability, or just plain luck?

In the case of Matt Durham’s photograph of Charles and Camilla fleeing student protests, Matt claims he was essentially lucky and had his wits about him. He had seen what looked like a royal car coming his way so prepared himself to be as close as possible. Indeed those around him were also brandishing cameras, but few of them were looking for a shot to encapsulate the tension of the scenario with the added bite of showing the protest from the perspective of the privileged.
Being in the right place at the right time with a particular intent and practised eye is what bagged the image. Of course working for AP may have helped get it published in the papers the next day.

What then of ‘citizen journalists’ that are touted as the great news media democtratiser?

There are incidents when mainstream press haven’t been the first channel to deliver breaking stories. The London tube bombing was one such event that realised the potential of having millions of potential news photographers on the ground: as phone footage from inside the tunnels was the first view of the aftermath broadcast on that morning’s news. We’ve got used to shakey low bitrate video footage on our TV’s and don’t find a low resolution phone snap in a tabloid newspaper particularly surprising any more.

The recent Boston marathon bomb was a case in which most official photographers had left the main road after documenting the main race and were in hotel press hospitality suites downloading their pictures when they heard the blast. It was opportune members of the public, likely filming their loved ones coming late into the finish line that captured the actual blast moment that was then splashed across rolling news and the next day’s front pages. However, it was photographs from determined photojournalists prepared to flaunt police lines in order to get pictures showing emergency services at work, intimate portraits of the injured and in shock that provided a more human view of the aftermath of the incident.

Despite agencies such as AP striving to deliver ‘News’ as unbiased, honest and ‘true’ as possible, it is the artist’s subjective eye and strive to encapsulate an event or moment in the most compositionally interesting yet universally telling way that creates a newsworthy image of artistic merit. It may be naïve to think aesthetics do not play a role in the way photojournalists tell a story, they have control over composition, light and a degree of darkroom processing that all alter the semantics of an image.

Does skill and technique amount to anything anymore in the age of Instagram? It could be argued that we all have the ability to produce beautiful photos worthy of print using smartphone apps such as instagram and hipstamatic.

The photojournalist Damon Winter came under critical fire when his iphone Hipstamatic pictures of American servicemen in Afganistan were published in The New York Times. As a professional, the use of a civilian tool such as a phone app could be seen as gimmicky and a means to over-process and aestheticise news. It can be assumed it is easy to take interesting images using a phone camera, but at the core of every solid image are essential ingredients: composition, information, moment, emotion and connection. These are skills learned through formal training and practice. Damon argues that using his phone put him on more of a level playing field with his subjects and allowed him to gain a more intimate portrait of grunt life than brandishing his large professional SLR ever could.
We are all capable of great photos, and there are likely quality images being taken of events by the public that aren’t seen on front pages, but those trained in getting them are considered the most reliable, and working for a news agency guarantees to a degree that images used are trustworthy and authentic.

Many of us live life through a screen and many of us incessantly record what happens in front of us with no goal or objective. In terms of archiving modern living as a documentation of events, it seems we are all potential photographers, but it’s the few key images taken that can tell a story beyond face value that become powerful signifiers of event and iconic images in their own right.

Focus Wales

culture, music, VJ

I’m writing this on a train traveling backwards from Wrexham where I’ve spent the last thirty hours seeing a couple of gigs, providing projections for a couple of bands and catching up with people all due to focus Wales, a new annual international music gathering across the city.
No doubt spurred on by other city festivals like sonar, SXSW and Cardiff’s swn , focus Wales provides a showcase for up and coming new music and ideas with a cymgraeg focus but international awareness.

I arrived at the Glyndwr university’s Catrin Finch centre midday after an 8.30am bundle into a mini bus, (seated going backwards) with the band gulp who I was doing said video projection for that evening. Guto from the band was taking part in a discussion panel with a mix of members from the music ‘industry’ looking at issues facing new musicians- in this instance, what are currently the most effective ways to promote music.

With late capitalism having something of an identity crisis at the moment, its a mine field out there when it comes to ways of launching a new musical venture, and yes there were some great tips on using the usual social networks but between the old hand label heads, new indie labels, online digital distribution enthusiasts and even musicians there felt an underlying optimism that it is still possible to make a bit of money and get noticed. It might not be as clear cut as it once was, but the playing field is fairly wide open and producing a professional DIY project has never been easier. Punk’s not dead after all, it’s just reads the guardian. A Limited Vinyl release seems to be an effective way to target the writers of influential blogs, and subsequently more established media outlets, with digital a no-brainer.

Gulp wasn’t due to play until a quarter to midnight, so after a sound check and a polystyrene tray of complimentary curry we had a few hours to kill. Heading back to the guitarists’ house for copious cups of tea and chocolate biscuits, I walked back into town at sundown to catch a few bands. Moja were my stand out show – a girl (drums) and boy (bass) duo. They made an almighty fast and furious racket with contagious enthusiasm and rising sun politeness.

Meeting up with old friends at the main venue in time to regrettably only catch the end of violas and hear some lovely tight licks from the Rosevile band then set up my projector in a makeshift guerilla balancing act on a bass bin. Gulp played a stonking and loud set of their unmistakable psychedisco synth rock pop. The bass was belly rumbling and vocals soaring (I’m not biased or nothing), the crowd were numerous and in such good spirits too, making it all the more special.

Man without country started delightfully heavy and melodic, but my host was keen to get home and chew the fat over pizza, and who was I to argue with that?

7 hours after going to sleep on my sofa, I was back in the car on the way to town to see Trwbador play to an eager lunchtime crowd (big up the breakfast massive!) and beam some videos and graphics onto the ceiling behind and above them – which in retrospect I should’ve tried the night before, but hey. Such an early set was always going to be challenging, but Owain and Angharad picked up the baton with aplomb and dropped their trippy electrofolk effortlessly for the bleary eyed audience.
A chocolate brownie and coffee later I roamed the old market-steel-coal metropolis – taking in the towering Gothic cathedral, hidden alley ways, and rather downtrodden shopping areas before getting on this train going backwards to Cardiff.

Dr sketchy’s miss out of the world beauty pageant.

culture, Drawing

After going up to the north Wales and Chester’s Dr Sketchy’s Cream Tease last year, I was very excited to be asked back up for their fist ever miss out of this world beauty pageant life drawing event. Inn the weeks running up to the evening, the Facebook page was awash with anticipation and ideas for outfits – as this sketchy would coincide with madame ex’s birthday, so an after hours space disco was planned with a pretty much compulsory fancy dress code. So after the three hour train to Chester, I made it just in time to Don a lick of silver face paint and take my seat amongst my fellow intergalactic sketchers.

Normally the Dr sketchy events have a handful of models and burlesque performers taking part, but as this was a pageant, no less than thirteen hopefuls from around the local galaxies, some professionals, but also some first timers giving it a go for fun, were in for a chance to gain the judges favour and win the chance to be the queen and mating partner of High Priest from planet Vaginus (Neil ‘Nez’ Kendall) Needless to say the dressing room was a chaotic disarray of silver and gold body paint, clouds of glitter and the odd green bosom!

150430_443023635781166_1371864383_n — Madame Ex kicks off the Proceedings. Photograph: Karolina Skorek

The proceedings were orchestrated and watched over by Madame Ex and judged by the High Priest along with Mavis (Titsalina Bumsquash) a kindly old lady from Yorkshire who thought she’d been asked out to the bingo.

544120_443024542447742_1627601557_n — High Priest from planet Vaginus. Photograph: Karolina Skorek

With such a healthy number of contestants, each model held a small number of quick poses for approximately the length of one space themed tune. This did mean s fast turn around of sketches – much to the occasional gasp from the slower drawers, but being used to drawing quick fluid sketches of live music, it was personally a fun challenge. Posing for the drawing was the lovely Treena Angel as cosmic princess, Lolli Liqueur from the Glitterati constellation, and Miss Pepper wearing an authentic 1950’s burlesque outfit – fantastically authentic cheesecake tease. After the contestants who were purely modelling had done a turn, there was a quick break for punters to get a drink from The bar, a space cupcake from the cake stand and to fix any wonky false eyelashes.
The second half of the pageant allowed for the performers to entertain. Alfie Ordinary & LeLig – Baldonia aka The Wig Brigadeastonished onlookers with their anti-burlesque tale of lust and procreation. princess Leia performed a feat of the force. The two headed gold skinned ‘beauty’ fromChhHhkakkaherhap bemused with their conjoined savage display of strip ‘tease’. Velma Vimto from the Planet Powder Puff showed off her assets with kitsch sweetness, Uranus showed us her *ahem* and the night was rounded off by Susie Sequinleading the audience in song – glitter shorts saved my life.

Once it was over, the chairs were cleared, yet more outfits were changed and the disco rave began!

More photos from the event here

My sketches from the night: