Photography
The Radical Eye, Tate ModernThursday, 10 November 2016![]() “For me photography is a journey of discovery”, says Elton John. “I buy what I like and if it's not fashionable I don’t care. The more you collect, the more sophisticated your eye becomes.” He realised he had become a serious collector when, in 1993... Read more... |
Eyes and teeth: Conductors at the 2016 PromsMonday, 12 September 2016![]() The concert photographer Chris Christodoulou has been taking pictures at the BBC Proms for 35 years. Even more than the musicians under their baton, he spends his time watching conductors like a hawk, observing their every gesture and grimace. Every... Read more... |
First Person: Portrait of BritainMonday, 05 September 2016![]() This exhibition includes one of my images, so I hesitated when I was asked to write about it – but I only hesitated for a moment. I have learned that if you are reluctant to promote your own work other people are even more inclined in that direction... Read more... |
DVD: Mapplethorpe - Look at the PicturesFriday, 29 July 2016![]() America is a country that has always thrived on dramatic battles between "good" and "evil", God and the Devil. Demonising may have Puritan roots, but it remains a particularly American obsession. The photographer and artist Robert Mapplethorpe,... Read more... |
William Eggleston Portraits, National Portrait GallerySaturday, 23 July 2016![]() American photographer William Eggleston is famous for dedicating himself to colour photography at a time when it was still considered kitsch – acceptable for wedding and Christening photos, but not much else. The best known example of his embrace of... Read more... |
Les Rencontres d'Arles 2016Friday, 08 July 2016![]() Nous avons Brexité but we are still welcome at the 47th Rencontres d'Arles. Each summer this beautiful French town gives itself over to an international photography festival which this year features around 40 exhibitions of varying sizes with... Read more... |
Period Portraits: Snapping the OAETuesday, 31 May 2016![]() When I was first commissioned by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment I never dreamed that it would turn into a marriage of such long duration. The length and breadth of the collaboration has lasted over 20 years now, and long may it continue.... Read more... |
10 Questions for Photographer Tanya HabjouqaFriday, 27 May 2016![]() Tanya Habjouqa, winner of the World Press Photo Award 2014, is a founding member of the all-female Middle Eastern photography collective Rawiya (meaning “she who tells a story”) which focuses on raising the visibility of female Arab photographers as... Read more... |
The Best of Photo London 2016Thursday, 19 May 2016![]() Asking theartsdesk's theatre photographer to review Photo London is like asking a car mechanic to review the London Motor Show. "Remember the big picture!" I kept telling myself as I tried to deconstruct the lighting of a particular shot or measure... Read more... |
Painting with Light, Tate BritainThursday, 12 May 2016![]() Today we amuse ourselves with Facebook clips of talking cats, but in the 1850s they had stereographs, pairs of identical photographs that, viewed through special lenses, become suddenly and gloriously three-dimensional. Vistas open up as if by magic... Read more... |
Mapplethorpe: Look at the PicturesMonday, 18 April 2016![]() “Look at the pictures”, yells apoplectic Senator Jesse Helms as he brandishes a clutch of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, “a known homosexual who died of AIDS”. It's 1989 and Senator Helms is doing his level best to close down an exhibition of... Read more... |
Strange and Familiar, BarbicanSunday, 03 April 2016![]() The Barbican has built a steady reputation for almost unclassifiable large-scale art exhibitions, particularly in architecture, design and photography: they have been underestimated pioneers, often working in areas themselves under-scrutinised. Thus... Read more... |
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