Macedonian Diaspora Football

There has been a running competition of a team of Macedonian footballers taking on various other European amateur teams. Held mostly in London the matches are fiercely fought by players who travel quite some distances to make it. The series ends in a competition to be played in Ohrid, Macedonia in the summer. While not the official photographer (they don't have one), it has given me an opportunity to practise my sports photography.

Maja at the National Gallery

Maja has had a animation work screened at the National Gallery, the work will remain available to view for the foreseeable future on their website and probably on YouTube.

Photography at Totton College

Well this year sees me teaching at http://www.totton.ac.uk/ as well as my usual shifts at Solent I'm looking forward to it as this will be covering a structured A level and GCSE photography course, not something I've delivered before.

Skopje Zoo 2007

I would recommend that anyone who gets the chance go and visit Skopje Zoo. Unlike a lot of more modern zoos Skopje Zoo has been trapped in a previous era with an obvious lack of modernisation. A design that would have once been considered acceptable and normal throughout the world is now considered to be tortuous and cramped. Bad news for the animals is good news for me. You can quite literally touch most of the animals, including the apes, lynx, bears and if you want to loose a finger, the tigers too.

There are some uniquely strange elements as well. Certain animals can and do escape. Various herbivores simply jump over or under their fences and go parading around. A baby wolf simply squeezed through it's bars and did likewise. It's quite a sight to see a baby wolf trotting across your path.

Photographic Residency

This year saw both Maja and I going on an art residency up in the mountains for 2 weeks with a bunch of other artists including some very impressive wood carvers. I took far too many photos, now I just need to edit them all down and hopefully come up with something a bit more manageable for exhibition work. Apparently there were bears in the mountains, but I didn't find any :(

I'm just sad that the main exhibition of the combined works won't be held until after I'm long gone.

Models have regrets too

I have a very simple opinion on what levels and limits models should be prepared to work to. As long as they are above legal age then they should do whatever they are ‘truly’ comfortable with. I add in the caveat as so many models appear to allow themselves to be talked into work that they are not happy doing.

I love seeing the transformation in models as they gain confidence in themselves through their work and as they mature in the profession, I find it is very positive for them and in such it cheers me as well. Only so many seem at some point to allow themselves to enter scenarios that they are unhappy with, later to find out just how long images remain in circulation and just how small the world can be.

Of course there is no simple answer, I only wish there were, and I sometimes feel that the rise of the Internet and the digital age has made the world smaller and the problem only greater.

Facebook

Time to join the party, I now have my own Facebook account, feel free to add me as a contact!