Distortion, 2013.

Distortion, 2013.

Description:

"I'm interested in photography as a medium. Its possibility for distortion (conscious or unconscious), people's belief in its truthfulness (or not) and how just a small shift in point of view can unveil a truth that's truer in spirit. I'm also very interested in using computers and printers in an unsophisticated way.

In this piece these two things (two out of many that interests me) have come together. The image was originally a photograph taken out the window, distorted by mistake into an array of muted colours, but with the outlines intact. I've randomly, but systematically, changed the settings for the image – to end up with an image that looks like smudged black watercolour with an outline reminiscent of a book.

This piece was made especially for the Artist's Book Yearbook 2014-1015, but as everything in my mind is a book it will be made into one too (see rareautumn.com for more)."

Nine types of flowers

Bouquet of nine types of flowers from 1935, held at Nordiska museum Stockholm. Id no: NM.0299798. Photo: Karolina Kristensson. Image source (also source for quote below, translated by me).

It's a trifecta: Midsummer eve, the summer solstice and my birthday!!


[Like Christmas night, Midsummer night has long been held to have magical qualities. Here's a bouquet of nine types of flowers that it's owneress had under her pillow* Midsummer night 1935, in Allerums socken (Sweden).]

*On their way home on Midsummer eve, girls and young women are supposed to pick seven (or nine) different types of flowers and lay them under their pillows. At night, their future husbands appear to them in a dream. Legend also has it that the night before Midsummer’s Day is a magical time for love.

Small Planet.

Small Planet. By Naoki Honjo. Sun Chiapang/Little More, 2006. 144pp., illustrated thoughout, 21cmx26,9cm. Images from here.

Book description:

" 'Small changes in point of view can lead to big changes in consciousness. I think this is the role of photography and it’s what makes photography interesting.'

Naoki Honjo’s parochial birds-eye landscapes and cityscapes appear at once familiar and removed, simple and disorienting, real and fake.

The Tokyo-based photographer ingeniously manipulates lighting, scale, perspective, focus and colour to invoke a sense of small-scale falseness about the environments we live in."

Seaside Polaroids.

Seaside Polaroids. By Jon Nicholas. Prestel, 2013. 96 pp., illustrated throughout, 17,8x23cm. Images from here.

Book description:

"The quintessential British landscape - the seaside - is the subject of these nostalgic Polaroids by the acclaimed English photographer Jon Nicholson.

Anyone who grew up holidaying on England’s beaches is familiar with the distinctive features of these historic resorts - not the exclusive haunts of the rich and famous, but the gritty, often rocky shores of the Atlantic and the Irish and North Seas, filled with amusement arcades, bathing huts, beach umbrellas, and people of all ages and classes.

Jon Nicolson’s Polaroid SX-70 camera is the perfect vehicle to capture the color and character of summers at the sea. At once immediate and ephemeral, these delicately hued, slightly muted images taken with original, out of- date film stock depict the faded glory of Yarmouth’s giant piers, Brighton’s pebbly shores, the Blackpool Pleasure Beach amusement park, and many other resorts across Britain.

Each of the 70 photographs is beautifully reproduced on its own page with descriptive captions. A foreword by Joseph Galliano provides a wry, contemporary perspective on these beloved, centuries-old locations."

Rest in Peace Esther Williams

Esther Williams magazine covers.

Rest in Peace Esther Williams - swimmer and shining star of MGM's spectacular Technicolor "aqua-musicals" of the 1940s and 1950s. (More: links, links, links, links, links).

Stockholm in my heart

Stockholm, summer in the city. ©

Today is Svenska flaggans dag (Sweden's National Day). I don't have too many feelings either way in regards to that, but a summer's day like today I do remember why Stockholm, after-all, is in my heart.