Miles Aldridge "I Only Want You To Love Me" Exhibition

I went to Somerset House today to see the fantastic "I Only Want You To Love Me" exhibition, showing photographs of Miles Aldridge.
I would recommend it highly if it comes to an area near you, but unfortunately this was the very last day of the exhibition in London.

This is the largest exhibition of his work to date and includes large-scale photographic prints from throughout his career including previously unpublished material as well as hand-drawn story-boards, drawings, polaroids and magazines, offering an  intimate insight into Aldridge’s point of view and process.

Women and colour are Aldridge’s twin obsessions.   His work is filled with glamorous, beautiful women from dazed housewives and decadent beauties to sunbathing sexpots and ecstatic Virgins. Luscious colours dazzle from every image – blood red ketchup splashes against a black and white floor; a mouth drips with gold; egg yolk oozes across a plate.  But the technicolour dream world of seemingly perfect women with blank expressions belies a deeper sense of disturbance and neurosis.  Look more closely and there is silent screaming, a head pushed down on a bed, a face covered in polythene, a woman pushing an empty swing.

Aldridge’s work has never been constrained by the demands of the fashion world. Working like an auteur filmmaker, his view of the world is wide and deep. His many influences include film directors such as David Lynch and Federico Fellini; the styled elegance of fashion photographer Richard Avedon and the psychedelic illustrations of his father, Alan Aldridge. Each image is immaculately crafted, often starting with story-board drawings so that the final image lies somewhere between cinema and photography.

Born in London in 1964, Aldridge studied illustration at Central St Martins, and briefly directed music videos before becoming a fashion photographer in the mid-90s.  He has published his work in many influential magazines including Vogue Italia, American Vogue, Numéro, The New York Times and The New Yorker. His work was showcased in Weird Beauty at the International Center for Photography in New York in 2009, and he has works in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Above description courtesy of http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/visual-arts/miles-aldridge-i-only-want-you-to-love-me
All images above are the property and copyright of Miles Aldridge©

Hastings

I've been meaning to visit Hastings for years. The area is a huge part of our UK history and I wanted to get to Battle, to see the battlefield itself, the abbey, plus the surrounding area and seafront.

The seafront is pleasant enough, although don't expect anything special. There are lots of better and more picturesque south coast towns worth visiting. However, the area does have its good points, including the funicular railways which lead to some stunning views of Hastings.

Click here to view some photographs I took on the day.

Here is some info found on the Visit England website about the funicular railways:

"The United Kingdom's steepest funicular railway is not only a structure of national importance but also a source of immense local pride.

It casts a welcoming shadow over Europe's largest beach launched fishing fleet and provides thousands of residents and visitors easy access to the Hastings Country Park and some of the most spectacular vantage points over the town.

It's become an enduring symbol of the unique charm and character of Hastings, a symbol powerful and true enough to withstand two world wars and the fast-changing tides of a turbulent century.

The lift's charming lower station is in traffic-free George Street which is full of continental-style cafés, artshops and bookshops.

The West Hill itself offers some of the town's most remarkable views, stretching round to Beachy Head in the west and out across the Channel, the busiest sea lane on the world. It was on this hilltop that Hastings resident John Logie Baird, the inventor of television, made his first radar experiments.

Better still, you can enjoy these sights from inside the West Hill Café which is open throughout the Summer and offers a wide range of drinks and meals.

The planning of the East Hill Cliff Railway was fraught with unexpected pitfalls and seemingly insurmountable problems.

Although the town's council successfully bought the land, the original owner, the Reverend Sayer-Milward, had retained a covenant through which he could prevent any construction work.

This setback was quickly compounded by the submission of a major petition from people at High Wickham protesting against any proposed development.

The Council responded with a petition of its own in which 500 residents offered their support for the idea of a cliff railway. This created the impetus for a series of complex negotiations with Sayer-Milward which, after many arduous months, concluded with him granting approval in 1898.

Construction of the Railway

If the Council had found the planning process to be tough, it was nothing compared to the nightmare of the actual construction.

Deep faults in the rocks made it extremely difficult to safely evacuate the shaft and construction workers faced all manner of hidden hazards and perils.

In the Summer of 1902 the opening of the railway had to be delayed because one of the carriages (containing several Council officials) was derailed just fifteen yards from its apex.

Despite all of this, on August 10 1902, the railway finally opened and the first chapter of a one hundred year story had been written."

Unfortunately, we arrived at the Battle Abbey quite late in the day and therefore did not have enough time to enter the abbey or to get to see the battlefield of 1066 Battle of Hastings. I was very disappointed, but will make a point of returning to the area in the near future.

Barcelona 2013

I'd been to Barcelona twice before, but haven't been back there for some years. 















I was really looking forward to revisiting some of the gems I'd "discovered" on my previous trips as well as getting to see a few places I hadn't managed to get to, such as the wonderful 
Parc Güell, an amazing place which is one of the many fantastic works of Antoni Gaudí.

Well I certainly wasn't disappointed this time around. I'd always thought of Barcelona as a city of treasures, great atmosphere and with so much to see and do - you could never be bored in this city.









Barcelona is an enchanting seaside city with boundless culture, fabled architecture, and a world-class drinking and dining scene.



You can see some more of my photographs of Barcelona on my Flickr page.

Wyn B - photography - new blog!

Well, I've been umming and ahhing about whether to start a blog for my     photography business or not - have been undecided for over a year!

So, decision made (after much procrastination) I now need to make sure that I post and blog every week, otherwise it won't really seem worth the time     and commitment, both for myself and also for any followers of my blog.

I'll be back soon with some retrospective blogs from photoshoots, travel     destinations, influences and, of course, photos and images.

Thanks for reading!

Wyn