Hero worship

© Steve Pyke; Artane Boys Band, Dublin 1992

The thing for me at this festival so far hasn't been the work or the seminars but running into new and old friends. And then you meet a hero; someone who influenced you way back and actually had a hand somewhere along the line in you wanting to be a photographer.

Well last night we had such a chance encounter and hey it wasnt Martin Parr. You know kids there is a lesson in here and I am giving this one away for free. When you are out and about be sure to give your second name when introducing yourself. You know "Hi my name is Andrew" Well I could be any Andrew, right. Its a funny old thing the surname mention, it can open up some wonderful doors.

There we were out at a bar when Alison L Unterreiner from Esquire magazine introduced me to Steve from Leicester, England. No second name; can't even remember if I dropped the surname myself. A little chit chat ensued and don't ask me how it happened but it suddenly dawned on me that this was fuckin Steve Pyke. This guy was a huge influence on me starting out with one picture in particular having a lasting impression all these years. And what do you know a diamond geezer to boot.

London Calling: Part deux

So the fine folk at Blueyes Magazine have published part two of my London calling post with Chris Floyd. As I am sure you know by the now the original piece is pretty epic and its reposting has brought it to the attention of a new audience.

In the follow up we discuss the aftermath from the initial posting on the Jackanory. Yeah Chris is good damn good. Anyone who can use 'A Quantum Solace' the title of the upcoming James Bond movie in a sentence referring to the editorial trenches is genius in my book. Read it here and see for yourself.

Cheers Chris man I am lucky to have you as a friend and inspirator.

Nice one . . . . W

I have always had a keen interest in fashion photography after all I had my sights firmly set on being the next David Bailey, Peter Lindbergh or Steven Meisel during my formative years. I enjoyed some success working my way from front of book to well stories for Mademoiselle capping it off with the infamous 'Panty Raid' spread for Cosmopolitan a few years back. Realizing I had got as far as I could go on my talents things took a turn et voila a new journey of discovery and photographic endeavours began.

I used to eat up the fashion mags as part of my educational diet and had quite the collection. Although my passion for fashion has waned somewhat I am still a huge fan especially the photographic genre. Although I don't spend as much time as I once did trolling through all the fashion gutters every now and then I see a story that just blows my mind.

Long time collaborators Philip-Lorca diCorcia and W Magazine are at it again. This time the diCorcia show landed in Cairo for an epic 30+ pages of well epicness. To say this man has talent would be an understatement, cant help but make one wonder how far one has to go. As is the case in a story of this magnitude the web slide show here doesn't really do the trick. Treat yourself to a copy of the magazine itself or at least give it a good going over on the news stand where the big W pages were made for such a lavish production. Yes APE magazines are the proper vehicle for such beautiful work but I cannot help but wonder why they chose to feature it in all its entirety on their website and not just titillate us with a seductive sampling that might bring in a few extra hard copy sales.

And yes there are credits for the clothing although sometimes the fact that this a fashion shoot and not solely a fine art piece can seem a little blurry. diCorcia has done many features for W over the years in a similar vain but fuck does he still bring it. Why not help them spend some of their budget on realizing his own vision, I am sure we will see some of these pictures filter into his art portfolio or a future book project even a show as some of his previous outings for W have remained relevant to diCorcia long past the news stand sell by date.







Heres to you PLD and W magazine.

Event reminder

If you are going to treat yourself to one photo event this week I strongly recommend getting along to Aperture tonight for Parsons The New School of Design Artists Lecture series featuring the great Stefan Ruiz. As an added bonus the venerable George Pitts will be in charge of proceedings.


I have been a long time fan of Ruiz and his work. The man is a massive talent that can do it all: portrait, landscape, celebrity, music, fashion, travel, advertising, editorial; and is without out a doubt one of the names atop any photo editors / art buyers wish list.


Ruiz was born in San Francisco, and studied painting and sculpture. He took up photography while in West Africa, documenting Islams influence on traditional West African art. He also taught art at San Quentin State Prison and was the Creative Director for Colors magazine from 2003-2004. You name a magazine and Stefan has shot for them. He has also brought his skill set to some memorable advertising campaigns for Caterpillar, Camper, Diesel and Air France.


I have only had the pleasure of meeting him once and his terrific book 'People' is a personal favorite. Its a mix of everything, straddling all the genres he effortlessly moves between. And I love the text in the back giving a little personal background to all the pics. What is obviously apparent in the book is that not only is Ruiz a great photographer but he is also very aware of his subjects and in particularly the fragility of the human condition.


Rumor has it he is a little nervous over tonights presentation; so come along and show your support. I am sure we are in for a real treat, a chance to see someone truly aspirational and inspirational.


Hopefully I can be as cool and talented as Ruiz when I grow up.

Tasty titbits

We are taking off to the sun for a little spring break so in an attempt to continue to entertain here are a few bite sized treats to tide you over:

Fashionista has got the scoop on the duo behind the Marc Jacobs/Juergen Teller spoof here. Turns out the dynamic duo of Hart + Larsson are the cheeky chappies behind the faux Spring Summer '08 campaign.


The upcoming and highly anticipated New York Photo Festival has volunteer opportunities a plenty up for grabs see below:

Volunteer for New York’s first international-level festival of photography! Theinaugural New York Photo Festival (May 14–May 18, 2008) promises to deliver a dynamic, high-quality event in what is arguably the photographic capital of the world. Volunteer staff is needed preceding the festival (March-May), and during the five days of the festival. All volunteers will receive a complimentary all-access pass to the festival exhibitions and programming.

Volunteer opportunities include the following areas:

Production: Assist the Production Manager and work with the Exhibitions Coordinator with pavilion set up, art installation and de-installation.

Marketing/Publicity: Assist in organizing festival publicity, interfacing with press, conducting research, maintaining press databases and archiving media coverage and documentation, media check-in.

General/Administrative: Assist with a wide range of Festival matters, including providing support for the Festival Directors, and liaising with development, production, exhibition, and VIP departments and sites.

Festival Staff: Guide, staff pavilions, and provide support for Festival-goers. Opportunity to help in setting up and dismantling the festival. Volunteers will be required to attend a training session before the festival.

Please download the application form here, and return to:

Rebecca Stepler
Volunteer Staff Coordinator, New York Photo Festival
Fax: 212-366-5247; email: rebecca@nyphotofestival.com


Big shout out to friend and inspirator the amazingly talented Livia Corona. As some of you may remember Livias book Enanitos Toreros was an early contender on my list for book of the year 2007 here. Unfortunately things got held up and the book is finally due for release from Powerhouse within the next few weeks, the final printed matter is on a container ship mid Pacific as we speak. Livia has consented to a little one on one in the near future here on the 'Jackanory' and I look forward to sharing with you the trials and tribulations of working on a project like this, hooking up with a publisher and the effort that it takes to getting it into a bookstore.

In the meantime though hold your breath as Livia is in the Netherlands tonight as one of six finalists in the REAL Photography Award which will be handed out to one lucky shooter this very eve. The field was narrowed down from 30 and the award ceremony coincides with an accompanying exhibition at the Las Palmas Art and Exhibition Centre in Rotterdam.

To be perfectly honest I had never heard of this competition before but it turns out it is a new and unique bi-annual photography award focusing on the themes of 'Nature, Development and Architecture'. The award is sponsored by ING Real Estate and is designed and encourage and promote contemporary photography. Oh and the winner is entitled to EUR 50,000 in prize money. Fuck yeah nice one. Fingers crossed for Livia.


We have finally updated the blogroll in an attempt to help spread the link juice.


Don't forget we are still accepting entries for the competition to win the award winning 'A Room with a View'. You still got till the end of the month so plenty of time left.

Party with the mutual admiration society

*Warning: if you aren't enamored by the photo blog mutual love fest you better stop reading now*

Joerg Colberg

Rich with all his consulting loot the godfather Joerg 'Conscientious' Colberg returned to town this weekend. Not any old visit; Herr Colberg is here to celebrate his 40th birthday with family and friends. Sporting a freshly coiffed mane Joerg invited some of us out last night to share in this momentous occasion whilst basking in our collective glories, patting ourselves on the back and talking conspiracy and how we could continue to dupe the masses.

Out on the town amongst others were Robert 'Don't get on the plane' Wright, Jonathan 'I like to tell stories' Saunders, Cara 'Ground Glass' Phillips, Ber 'Pelicula 64' Murphy, Richard Renaldi (still travelling the world for Microsoft, who said art and commerce don't mix), Shen Wei, Chris Bartlett and Peter van Agtmael.

Lots of fine beers were enjoyed and we were able to meet some more of our illustrious inspirators and badger them into posing for the obligatory portrait with the artist.

Richard Renaldi

Jonathan Saunders

Cara Phillips

Shen Wei

Peter van Agtmael

To the relief of some the blog will be silent for a couple of days as we embark on an emotionally charged whistle stop pilgrimage to my mecca. The more astute sporting types may have figured out that this life altering experience will be taking place Tuesday night in a north western English city on the banks of the river Mersey.

Bits and pieces

Many thanks to everyone who took the time to read the 'London Calling' post, it is proving to be quite popular on both sides of the pond. Special appreciation to those who commented and gave it the special link juice; Peter Marshall at >Re: Photo, Don Giannatti at It's what I do, Silas Dominey at Farang Hat, Elizabeth Weinberg at Burnt Sienna , Jeremy Leslie at magCulture, Joerg at Conscientious and Rob over at A Photo Editor.

I had some interesting happenings lined up for this week and was looking forward to reporting the goings on. Unfortunately some of the events are no more. Tonights Camera Club of New York lecture with Tierney Gearon has been canceled due to other commercial considerations on her part. I was also thrilled to have been invited to a gathering of the clandestine (joking) Nutopia Forum slated for Thursday night but that has also been postponed due the commercial obligations of founder and host Platon. Looks like it was going to be quite the night and I was really up for observing the inner workings. Hopefully we will get the nod next time out.

Oh and a big shout out to reader who gave me the 'what up' in the street last night; not once but twice. No idea who you are man but obviously the self portrait with artist series is working wonders for my visibility.

London calling

Seeing as its all the rage here on the photo blogosphere to have a 'conversation' or a Q+A with our peers; I didn't want to be left out of the party so here's my first serious contribution to the genre ! A little back and forth with inspirator and friend Chris Floyd.

AH: Hey Chris I have been trying for sometime now to come up with a decent post on the state of British photography after your comment over on APE a couple of weeks back, here. I think a lot of us would be interested to hear your take on the U.K. scene; in particular the editorial market and how it differs from your experiences working this side.

CF: To be honest, it's in a dire way these days, editorially speaking. Well it is if you're talking about paid editorial. I am working quite a bit but the lack of vision and imagination is so depressing, especially having lived in NY for over half a decade. British editorial photography is really an exercise in page filling. What's important are the ad pages, as always.

AH: From my experiences things work a little differently over on your side of the Atlantic.

CF: Thinking about it now, the most immediate reason for this is the impotency of the British editorial photo editor. The title is there on the mastheads but, by and large, the photo ed here is really just a glorified researcher who calls in pictures of teenage celebrities drunk and showing their knickers for the pap pages. Maybe that's overstating it but, at the heart of it, no one higher up the editorial publishing tree is thinking "Ooh I wonder what our director of photography will make of the fabulous shoot we are trying to set up with Mr XYZ." The commissioning and editing of photography is not a consultative or well thought out process.

AH: I noticed that myself when I went on go sees in London a few years back. A different experience then what I am used to in New York. When ever I did meet with a photo editor I always got the impression that they didn't in fact have any power to hire, there was another commissioning force responsible. I went to GQ once thinking that I was meeting with the PE but they escorted me up to see Tony Chambers the Creative Director at the time.

CF: Your mention of GQ is the perfect example. It's so perfect, as an example, they should put it in a museum. It crystallizes everything I'm thinking about. Tony Chambers is the single most influential creative director I've ever met. His influence on me in terms of aesthetic, attention to detail, approach and overall philosophy is something I shall always be thankful for. However, Tony is unique. He's very well read and that's because he's innately curious. You should see the bookshelves in his apartment. He views all these things - art, design, music, photography, graphics, use of space, writing, ideas, fashion - as strands that all converge in a place called magazines. He sees his job as fighting for the consideration of the visual. He also has a fantastic sense of history and lineage. He knows and understands how things came to be the way they did. How this person influenced that person and on and on. He is the only creative director I've met who seems to actually read the stuff in the magazines he designs. And he influenced all the people around him in that way. As much as a hard taskmaster as he could be, you learned stuff from Tony that you would use time and time again. So when you have someone like him running the art department it works because he knows how to pull all the elements together. But he is gone from there now. Modern magazine publishers don't really know or understand what qualities a great art director needs. As long as the girl on the cover is showing plenty of flesh and has her tongue hanging out it doesn't really matter. So they appoint people who are perfectly competent....graphic designers. But they are not art directors as I would define them. Yet they are given business cards that say they are art directors or creative directors so they must be those things. What a great magazine needs to make it great is an editor in chief and a creative director that must pull and push their respective sides - words and visuals. However, the E-i-C's and the publishers are appointing people who don't have the desire to be in that role. They are picking people who like and want the job title and will do the bidding of the E-i-C. It's a separation of church & state situation that's required but it's not happening here. The editor's decision is first and last, as well as everything.

It's no surprise to me that Tony is now an editor in chief (at Wallpaper*). When he got the job lots of people were surprised because the notion that someone who comes from the visual side could, heavens above, edit a magazine was a bit of a shock to some.

He's an exception though. 90% of the rest of those in the creative director position are not well read or curious about what is going on outside of their own narrow field. They don't read the copy. They're just thinking about fonts. Come on, who gives a toss about fonts ? A font is where you christen your baby. Not where you lay out the altar of your life. I have a great story that illustrates this. A friend of mine who is the features editor at one of the best selling men's mag in the UK told me how the current creative director told him that the first letter of the first sentence of a feature they were running on a female celebrity had to begin with the letter'L' because he had designed the most wicked upper case 'L' ever. When my friend laughed him off the guy had a proper hissy fit and stormed off. I mean, this is the level of intellect we are dealing with here a lot of the time.

There is a good interview with Tony on magCulture here.

AH: How has your work flow changed since you moved back to old blighty ?

CF: When I lived in NYC all my work was enviroportraiture and reportage style portraiture. No celebs at all.

Now I'm back here the bulk of my work is celebrity stuff. I can't complain, the resale of it does me well. I have a daughter and a wife who wants another so I really am not bitching at all. When I lived in NY I did ok but I was doing work there that I LOVED. Buffalo farmers in N.Dakota. Military cadets at West Point. Illegal immigrants in Arizona. Really great stories of modern America. There is nothing of that here and that is because there is no money for this stuff. It's exactly how Simon Roberts put it in his talk at KlompChing. You've got to assign yourself and then treat it as an art project almost, with books and print sales foremost in your mind.

AH: I loved your comment on how the Russians could have taken Britain with a phone call. You obviously enjoyed the vast American experience; are you just as jazzed these days by a spin up the M1 or is a lot of what you do now in London ? Or do u get around a bit ? Europe for instance.

CF: No, not really. 95% of my work is in London. Britain is not like America. The UK media market is London, London, London. Trailing a distant fourth place is London. Although, today I'm writing this in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. This is my first trip outside of London for a job since last July. Oh wait, that's a lie. I was in Toulouse, France a week ago to shoot a portrait of the chief engineer at Airbus.

AH: Following our phone discussion it would be safe to say that the U.K. has a stronger newspaper culture and that the U.S. has a stronger magazine culture. I just finished Don McCullin's terrific autobiography 'Unreasonable Behaviour'. Reading it reminded me how the British print media has had a long tradition of ground breaking photo journalism.

I remember the epic newspaper strikes growing up and subsequent shuttering of the Times for a year over its move to new printing technologies. McCullin has a great line when he noticed the shifting tides in his own career with the changing visual needs of his employer, "lifestyles rather then life were coming into fashion". I couldn't think of a better sentence to describe what was happening at the time and how relevant these words are today. Not only a description of how photography was being repackaged for the masses but also the major socio and economic changes going on throughout the country.

CF: Yes. Bang on. Please don't bring us anything that might make the advertisers baulk. The commissioning of big stories is gone. If you are working for UK mags then no one is going to send you off somewhere for a month to work on the equivalent of the great American novel. The content is kind of irrelevant. It's not important, as long as the skin looks ok. I just did a job for someone. It was a big bunch of teenagers. Real kids. Not models. What do all teenagers have the world over ? Acne ! Guess what they wanted me to do ? Retouch out the acne and smooth the skin. This isn't reportage. It's advertising interspersed with infomercials. News International (Times/Sunday Times) has just dictated this new rule: All photos are to be digital. They will not pay for film and processing or prints. You can shoot on film but your final submission must be a digital file and they will pay a maximum of £150 towards the cost of your digital equipment.

The publishers of the Sunday supps - Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent, Observer have all taken the attitude that what they operate are platforms for advertising and new media. The content is relevant only up to a very low threshold. Ultimately people like us are merely content providers and there are millions of us.

I did a shoot for Sunday Times on the 3rd Jan. The wold champion female track cyclist. A Brit. Big hopes for the Olympics. Great ! A job immediately after the new year - it gets your confidence up and your new year is out the traps. I got £250 fee. One of my very first commissions ever was for The Sunday Times in 1993. My fee was £250. In 15 years they have held down their costs 100%. What an amazing achievement. The chief picture editor of the whole newspaper - a man I've never even heard of or met - so the boss over and above the PE's in all the sections/magazines - was so impressed with my picture that he got his p.a. to call me and "ask" me if it was alright if they could hold on to the pictures for a little bit longer as they were so good he felt that they were very syndicatable. How long for? Not long, just a while, well until after the Olympics. Is there going to be a split in it for me? We'd give you 10%. The institutional disrespect for photographers and photography cannot be over emphasised.

AH: Same as here, there has been little change in rates since I started. Have you noticed a difference in your clients usage demands too ?

CF: So they not only are paying me the same rate as they were 15 years ago. They are then demanding to take away the thing that would financially render the gig worthwhile - the right to re-sell the work elsewhere. I could barely conceal my rage at this Murdochian crushing of the little freelancer and finished by suggesting that I was being financially penalised for producing work of a sufficient quality to be noticed by the guy at the top of the photo food chain in Murdoch Towers, E1. Then I tag teamed Getty into it and he relented. However, I still need to be able to work for them so I had to give him a way out of his position by allowing News International the right to re-use the pictures in any of their own publications for 6 months for free.

I've spun away from the state of British photography here into the state of the British photography industry but there you are.

AH: No worries man, you are obviously passionate about your art, you have referred to yourself as a journeyman. I liked that, care to elaborate ?

CF: Sure. I take a great deal of pride in the fact that you can send me anywhere and I will bring you something that is a) compelling and b) will tell you something vital about the subject. I can find something to be curious about in pretty much anyone. It's like that line "How can you justify your fees ?" It only took you 20 minutes to do it!" - "Yes it did but it took me 20 years to learn how to do it in 20 minutes."

I also have a fundamental mistrust, suspicion, dislike of and animosity towards anyone who defines themselves as an artist without very good reason. It is too easy now to say "I AM AN ARTIST." All the greatest people were, to a large extent, artisans. If someone were to call me an artisan that is what I would be most proud of. If you called me an artist I would have to leave. The job Michelangelo did on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was a commission. A gig. Shakespeare was really just a guy with a quill trying to make some dough. The Mona Lisa -La Giaconda- was a commission. How possible can it be to create something so beautiful and for it purely to be inspired by something so common as a pay check ? One of my great heroes is George Orwell. Some of his greatest writing was commissioned journalism. When you try to exist in your own self defined vacuum you are entering dangerous waters. There has been this great shift towards "art" photography, particularly in New York. Some of it is good and some of it is terrible. Most of it.....what is the point ? What does it say outside of the fact that Kathy Ryan thinks it's awesome ? Gregory Crewdson ? Is it good ? I don't know. What I do know is that it is a fantastic exercise in production. What is he doing for us that Edward Hopper or Stephen Spielberg haven't done ? That's all it is to me. Edward Hopper's tableaux married to Spielberg's lighting and production values. And...?

There can be, not always - some of my best friends are artists- this weird attitude of condescension towards those of an artisinal bent from those who define themselves as artists. When I lived in New York I was commissioned by the Guardian in London to spend 2 or 3 days with this band, the Arctic Monkeys. At the same time Rolling Stone had sent along a very well known and young American photographer who takes a lot of pictures of his friends cavorting naked and jumping off of idyllic rural bridges into far below rivers on cross country summer road trips.

We got to chatting while the band were sound checking and I asked him how he came to be there. He said that he just did whatever he felt like doing and this was a band he was really into and he called up Rolling Stone and told them so. So they got him the access and hey ho... Then I asked him who else he worked for, bearing in mind I totally knew who he was, he got a little superior on me and said "well I don't really accept commissions..that's not my thing. I just tend to create my own projects. I'm self assigning."

The fact is I think his pictures really are fantastic but what I baulked at was this idea that an idea is only valid if it is self generated. A commission was like a dirty word. But what that statement also said to me was that this was someone who had never had to earn a living from his work. He was privileged. There is nothing wrong with privilege. My daughter gets what she wants all the time but if you are privileged you need to show respect towards those that need to earn a living from their trade. In France, to become an artisan is a process that takes time and ends in an official recognition and status. To call oneself an artisinal baker, for instance, means that one has been through a period of learning. There is a respect there.

AH: It would appear difficult or almost impossible then for fine art to cross over into editorial as it has done here. There simply isn't the market ? Or does it all stop @ Martin Parr ?

CF: There isn't that level of ambition. I'm convinced Martin Parr has some form of Asperger's syndrome. Can I say that ? Is that actionable ? I've met him half a dozen times. He doesn't know who I am. His eyes glaze over when he's not talking about himself.

AH: You have said Britain doesn't have a magazine culture although style bibles like Arena, I-D, Dazed and Confused and the now defunct Blitz and the Face were considered the cutting edge. Did the average man in the high street give a shit or he more inclinded towards a bit of tit and ass and a healthy dose of Maxim ?

CF: I think that, historically, those mags (Face, Arena, Blitz, i-D, Dazed) will come to be seen as an anomaly. All those people that started those mags, and were on the outside of the establishment and vocally proud of it, are now very much a part of the establishment and they are certainly not letting anyone else in. What they did do was pave the way for popular culture to be taken seriously by broadsheet newspapers. All the broadsheets now have pop music columnists and reviewers, fashion coverage etc. Ironically, considering this discussion, not one of them has a proper, serious full time photography reviewer. And that is probably the single most defining aspect of what we are talking about when it comes to British photography and the public attitude towards it. Photography ? Paparazzi or weddings?

AH: So tell me this then why then are there so many British fashion photographers at the top ? Must be the accent right ? Goes down a treat over here.

CF: Hmmm...there is a very strong art school tradition in Britain. Some of our greatest bands came out of art school. The Beatles, The Who, Roxy Music to name 3. There is a great unofficially vertically integrated fashion scene at work in this country. Music, clubs, fashion, design. Out of that mind meld come incredibly hipped up people with cameras. However, a lot of those mags that were great in the 80's and early 90's started to eat themselves. Instead of generating great ideas at street level they started to get above themselves and they became trade mags. Fashion mags by fashion people for fashion people. They froze out the 16 year old kid in Leeds with 8 quid in his/her pocket and instead said "oh wow we have great shots by Craig (McDean) of Kate (Moss) wearing Stella (McCartney) that were styled by Katie (England) which will help all of us get a great new campaign from Karl (Lagerfeld)". The minute they started using first names only was the minute they entered Marie Antoinette territory. And at that point they all moved to New York anyway for the massive cash bonuses on offer. That's what you have now. The generation that made it big in the 90's are now shooting all the big stories and campaigns for the international fashion brands - mags and labels. I'm not sure what there is here now in the way of mags to help breed a new crop though? No one is going to make it big in Japan by shooting for British InStyle are they.

AH: Can you tell me a little about the effect the photo blogs have had on you ?

CF: Oh man ! They have opened my eyes to the fact that I....am....not.....alone. What we do, us photographers, is so solitary. To be able to engage with other people at an intelligent level of discussion is just awesome. Part of me feels like Tom Hanks. I've been sitting here growing a beard and talking to a fedex box for 15 years and now there are people that I can engage with who live time zones away.

AH: You obviously enjoy the new found interaction. This was evident when you were lamped on a little for that infamous early comment of yours over on APE, here . You know the one where you wrote talked about how fabulous your life is. The chatter with Olivier Laude and then his anonymous alter ego was great.

CF: Ha ha. Indeedy deedy !! That little contretemps was in answer to APE's post about how being a photographer can be one of the greatest jobs in the world if the chips fall in your favor. What I was saying was how right he was. However, the chips don't fall in your favor all the time. The day before that posting of APE's (can we call him Rob now?) I had just won the highest paying job of my life. Enough money to pay the mortgage and keep the wolf from the door for several months. It was a big publicity shoot with Gwyneth Paltrow for Paramount Pictures. On top of that I had several other tasty things in the pipeline. That was in October I think. From January to March of last year I just about kept my head above the parapet so this was a complete turnaround. This is a career with unutterably high highs and intolerably low lows. I said it myself in one of the back and forths with Olivier. "Sometimes weeks go by where the best part of the day is the bit where you get to go to bed intoxicated and numb with self loathing." I've been doing this for 15 years as a professional. So having had the strength of character and conviction to see out those periods which are regular visitors to my door, without bitching, then you've got to allow me the honour of feeling a little pleased with myself when the tide turns in my favor considerably from time to time. The insecurity and worry never goes away. No matter how pleased one feels at any given moment I am smart enough to know that the weather can change like that. You see, the thing about what we do that our friends with safe, secure 9 to 5's will never quite grasp is that, although, to them, our lives look sweet and easy going, we get no sick pay, no holiday pay, no guaranteed income or pay cheque and most importantly, no one to talk to or share problems with in the office or the pub after work. Those fears are always there. In the evenings, before bed, at weekends, on holiday, on Christmas Day, while you're having sex, in the shower, at dinner, in a cab, while I'm cuddling my daughter, in the garden, on and on and on and on. We do this alone, as I said just now, talking to a fedex box for company. And going back to the APE posting, if you read all the comments from people, you'll see that the vast majority responded in my defence and I felt vindicated there. Those that know what it's like...they know. The buzz from this job can be incredible but can you take the solitude and doubt ? We lay it all out there and have to survive on each and every roll of the dice. What is a photo editor after all ? A professional opinion holder, although Rob is one of the good ones it seems.

AH: Do you run into many of your peers, gallery openings etc ?

CF: What gallery openings ? That just does not exist here at any level of significance.

AH: Lets get away from all the rambling, time to answer some of the more obvious questions.

Photographers you admire ?

CF: Martin Parr & Gregory Crewdson. Seriously. For the soup they make from their base stock.

From the then: Stephen Shore, Joel Meyorowitz, Joel Sternfeld. All the bona fide canon fodder. Chris von Waggenheim, David Bailey for making me want to be a photog in the first place, Avedon, Penn, William Klein, Eggleston (duh!), Slim Aarons, Harry Callahan, Bob Richardson

From the now: Martin Schoeller, Glen Luchford, Mario Sorrenti, Simon Roberts, Larry Sultan, Chris Buck, James Nachtwey......

AH: Any pre-shoot rituals ?

CF: Coffee. No food at all. Good music.

AH: Most annoying celebrity subject ?

CF: John Mayer - by a country mile.

AH: Least annoying Most awesome celebrity subject ?

CF: Lots actually but probably Christopher Reeve for incredible warmth, humor, optimism, enthusiasm, curiosity and attention to detail in the face of the most permanent and debilitating adversity.

AH: If you weren't a photographer what would u like to be ?

CF: A good father.

AH: Any other silly/clever questions u can think of ? Don't worry I will take the credit.

CF: "Can I go now ? It's 1am here."

AH: Chris it's been a real treat, I really appreciate you taking the time and making the effort. You know this has been really great for me, a meaningful creative way for us to collaborate other then doing a Mert and Marcus or an Inez and Vinoodh. Thanks man.

Person of the Year

Photo © Platon

Congrats to the 'top man' himself Platon for landing the prestigious Time Person of the Year cover. Looks like Platon had no problems sneaking his infamous portrait lens past Russian authorities as this years winner, if in fact the cover star is deemed to be such a thing, Vladimir Putin gets the special treatment.

Photo © Dan Winters.

Not that there are winners and losers but the runners up were Al Gore and Dan Winters, sorry lads but there ya go.

Out on the town

Made my way along to Dashwood last night for the Philip-Lorca diCorcia book signing. Another fine crowd in attendance. 'PLD' as he is known by his circle was in jovial form and there were plenty of 'Thousands' fleeing the store.

Good news for me is that 'Room With A View' has been selling. There are a couple of copies left and Dashwood supremo David Strettell says Bruce Weber was thisClose to buying one yesterday as he was in doing his Christmas shop.

Spotted in the crowd were Jessica Backhaus (whom I hadn't seen in 7 or 8 years and who's own wonderful book "Jesus and the Cherries" is also available at Dashwood), Jonathan Saunders (whom I finally met and had a quick drink with prior), Rafael Fuchs (recently returned from terrorizing Art Basel Miami), Joel Barhamand, Joe Fornabaio, Ber Murphy, Eric McNatt, Kreg Holt, Jeffrey Ladd aka 5B4 (I believe was in attendance), Cecilia Dean of Visionaire and James Truman former editorial director at Conde Nast.

I have been to a few of these events over at Dashwood and I got to say they have been most enjoyable. No pressure to buy but then again even if you aren't endeared by that particular special offering there are always plenty of other tasty treats to tickle ones fancy and the alcohol sure helps loosen the wallet. I didn't purchase 'Thousand' I wasn't really feeling it to be honest. I don't want to start accumulating books just for the sake of it, because they are trendy or cool or might someday be worth something, just going to keep on collecting what I like, what tickles my fancy.

How's your conscientious ?

So there I am minding my own business in the home office last week when up pops an email from 'the Jackanory' dubbed godfather himself Joerg 'Conscientious' Colberg. Fuck what does he want ? Hope I am not in trouble. No fear turns out he is coming to town and would like to meet up.

Joerg (along with Alec and John) is to blame for my jumping into the blogosphere, so you can take it out on him / them. I think I spent three or four hours on Conscientious my first time out. It was like opening a Pandora's box of unknown treasures; who was this guy and where did he find all this great work, what's he doing sharing it, he's an astro physicist or something, he's living in Pittsburgh and he's German, intriguing.

Mmmmm said I, this is a whole new world and I am not just talking photographically. I found myself thinking of new possibilities; networking, schooling, marketing etc etc. Tell you what I am going to send Joerg an email just to say thanks for opening my eyes and I think he might like the work of my friend Arun Kuplas after all I could tell he wouldn't be digging my thing. That's it folks don't get upset if you write in and your stuff doesn't get featured, it doesn't mean that your work sucks or in fact he doesn't like it. Joerg likes a certain aesthetic, in case you didn't notice, it's not personal it never is. So anyways he was decent enough to feature Arun unbeknownst to Arun who I hadn't told. So I get on the phone give Arun the news and say "hey man you may want to keep an eye on your site tracker, I think you are going to get some hits, oh and do me a favor let me know what sort of numbers you do I am curious about this whole link juice thing".

Low and behold I get the call back a few days later and the numbers are massive. Wow this is interesting and now the hits are coming from all over the planet too. Fuck yeah the potential for extended reach is huge me thinks. Of course its mostly curious photographers, but there must be others, even potential clients or some nouveau billionaire in China looking to spend his cash money on some fine photography to decorate his mistresses boudoir. I was and am fascinated by the possibilities.

So there you have it in a nut shell. I have had brief correspondence with Joerg since. He has linked me and some of my posts over the months. I passed on two other inspirators work I thought he may enjoy, Jon Naiman and Cara Phillips, both of whom he featured and was to be honest looking forward to showing him 'A Room With A View' thinking he may dig that and give me a shout out. Hey listen folks don't think that I am doing all this for the goodness of my health.

We had the big rendezvous last Saturday night. Have to say I was a little nervous, hey this is Joerg 'fuckin' Colberg after all, I was worried I was going to be way out of my depth. He's probably all German and intense and intellectual. Well what do you know he is a real cool down to earth guy who is as equally excited about our get together as I am. I don't really know what else to say but that it was a real thrill to spend time with someone so passionate and genuine. I know it sounds like a love in, yawn yawn but thats the thing I have added so many cool people to my circle since I have started this thing who's work or blogs or being have had a profound effect.

Needless to say we managed to get through quite a few pints and I thoroughly enjoyed our chatter. Thanks man for reaching out, oh and don't worry about me telling everyone how you like to write the blog in that Hugo Boss suit of yours, secrets safe with me. Ha ha.

Heres to you Joerg Colberg !

Happy 50th . . . The Fader

December sees the 50th issue of the Fader magazine. A culture and style bible with a heavy emphasis on hip-hop, reggae, rock and dance music the magazine has long been a pioneer of fresh and innovative photography. Originally art directed by Eddie Brannan and now under the guidance of the legendary Phil Bicker it continues to push boundaries both in the printed form and through its website where a downloadable pdf / mp3 version of the issue is free and easily accessible.

As well as breaking new blood The Fader has been very loyal to a trusted band of extremely talented photographers who's own careers have developed as the magazines visual language has evolved. The commemorative issue is chock full of memorable imagery from the archives and includes work by some of my favorite photographers; Johnathan "Mr Hip-Hop" Mannion, Liz Johnson Artur, Andrew Dosunmu, Jason Nocito, Phil Knott, Michael Schmelling, Lauren Fleishman, Todd Cole and Joshua Wildman.

Its a real treat, be sure to check it out.

And the winners are ?

Award winning big heads © Martin Schoeller

Last night I went along to the 2nd annual awards bash for American Photo's 'Images of the Year Competition' at Splashlight Studios. And yes I did get invited, there was I thinking that I was there because of "Whats the Jackanory's ?" reporting of such events and subsequent roll call of attending industry players. Everyone loves to read their name in print right ? So feeling all good about myself and my new status there I was with pen in hand scouting the crowd.

Well d'oh idiot ! So as I am talking to the magazines online editor Jay DeFoore thinking he had a hand in my invitation as a result of my services to the blogosphere he managed to put me straight "Hey man I had nothing to do with it, your in the issue, your an award winner" well fuck said I confused and embarrassed hey I didn't even know I had entered and no one had given me the heads up as to my honorable mention in the Photojournalism category for a pic from my 'East Bay Rats' series for GQ. So there I am in the mix with Lauren Greenfield, Vincent Laforet, Antonin Kratochvil, Danny Wilcox Frazier and others. Nice one.

Unfortunately my image didn't make it to the events wall display but we were included in the slide show presentation. I have to say the one thing that struck me about all the fine images up was that they all somehow looked the same. Yes the content was different but all the images were printed on the same Epson paper (a competition sponsor) and it looked like the same color / sharpening profile had been used on each; taking away some of the originality and somehow homogenising the photographs in an eerily similar way.

The event was a top class affair with no end to the drink and tasty nibbles. Busy but not overcrowded it was easy to get to the bar throughout the night, just the way we like it. The gift bag comprised of a t-shirt, breath mints, fortune cookies, camera straps and a Lowe Pro camera pouch, nice.

Spotted in the crowd were photographers Henrik Olund, Mr 'Next Top Model' Nigel Barker, Eric McNatt, Christopher McLallen, Chris Bartlett, Timothy Greenfield Saunders, the big head himself and fellow award winner Martin Schoeller, David Alan Harvey, Rudy Archuleta, Matthew Rodgers, Ber Murphy aka Pelicula 64, Monte Isom laden down with his hand out award winning promos and photo reps Jasmine DeFoore and Laura Reid of Redux Pictures and Jed Root of yes Jed Root.

Oh and as is the norm these days at such an event a lot of the chatter revolved around the identity of the anonymous 'A Photo Editor' and their contributions.

On the town with . . . . Robert Wright

Photo © Robert Wright

As I have said before one of the great things about this blog has been all the new photographer friends and inspirators I have made. I do get some nice emails from time to time and have enjoyed meeting up with some (Chris Floyd, John Loomis, Lisa Wyatt, Cameron Wittig, Michael Sugrue to name a few) for pints along the way.

One of the photo bloggers that most inspired me to jump in to cauldron and share my own experiences on the web was Robert Wright. His seminal post 'What comes next: Editorial Photography in the new media age' where he wrote those now infamous words "don't get on that plane" is a terrific piece that I urge everyone to read. It was this posting and the inspiration behind it ('Dollars and Sense' by John Loomis) that really struck a chord with me. These postings encouraged me to find my own voice and in turn prompted my own rantings on this and other topics.

It was a real treat to finally meet up with Robert last night. Although he has neglected his own blog, a real shame as his writing although infrequent was quite precious, he has contributed many well crafted comments over at APE. Not only an extremely talented photographer Robert has a unique insight in to the business side of things. He is refreshingly open and forthright with his knowledge and experiences. I have to say I really like the way he fuckin thinks ! He is extremely smart and has made clever and inspired choices in his own career. I strongly encourage him to get back to writing on his own blog, I for one have very much missed his musings and would welcome an irregularly regular return to programming.

Here's to you Robert Wright !

The Nutopia Forum is now free for all

Many of you may have heard about the Nutopia Forum created by friend and inspirator Platon. It is and I quote a safe haven dedicated to nurturing photographic and graphic talent. They are a humble group of photo enthusiasts committed to artistic sharing, openness and exploration. It has no land, no boundaries and no passports, only people.

The Forum was the subject of a revealing piece on the American Photo web site back in March, go here, with writer Miki Johnson enjoying a behind the scenes look at the inner workings. Membership is limited to around 20 creatives, who meet in NYC on a regular basis. This number is deliberately kept low to encourage constant support and conversation with in the group and the get togethers involve presentations, guest speakers, portfolio reviews and critiques. Perhaps perceived to be somewhat secretive and exclusive in nature by some; that is in fact far from the case as anyone who knows Platon and his democratic ideals will attest.

So in keeping with tradition here on 'The Jackanory' with bringing you good things first we are pleased to announce that the forum is now open here for all. Along with the main site there is a monthly online magazine here and blog here. It will be interesting to see how this community develops as they share their photography, ideas and inspirations.

For the record I am not a member although I have been invited to attend the next gathering. Stay tuned.

Congrats DM

Photo © Domingo Millela

Congratulations to friend and inspirator, the Italian with the big 8x10 camera himself Domingo Millela who has work from his catalogue of the 'Human Landscape' featured in the new issue of international photography magazine Foam. Domingo has and I quote; been developing this project over the past 6 years with the precision of a cartographer, as he charts our world the way it is: the layers of detritus, the relentless creep of the urban and our fruitless attempts to manage the force of nature. See here and here.

Heres to you Domingo ! I see you got top billing on the cover, even pushing veritable superstar Taryn Simon into second place, nice one !

American photography

As I have mentioned before my favorite awards bash to attend is the American Photography party, which as it turns out happened to be last night. I have been fortunate to have had images selected in three of the last four years. There was a particularly great mix of winning imagery this year straddling all genres and a distinguished panel chaired by Kathy Ryan is responsible for all the pickings. This time around two out takes from the East Bay Rats series I worked on for GQ made the cut (above).

The party is a top notch affair although they do charge a pricey admission ($50 this year) for the privilege of attending and admiring the successful entrants. But then the food and drink is free, right sort of kind of ? In fairness they did have the common sense to grant free entrance to the winning participants this year but you have paid to enter already right, its a huge number$ game whatever way you look at it as the ever frank BP can attest.

This is one of the events where everyone mingles freely its pretty relaxed and chill compared to some of the others where the photographer to editor ratio can be quite stifling. All the chatter of course concerned the anonymous 'A Photo Editor' and did I know who he/she is, although everyone had their own opinion: man, woman, gay, straight and were they perhaps present ?

As always its a heavy A-list photo crowd, spotted in the mix were photographers Eric McNatt, Nigel Parry, Michael Lavine, Michael Cogliantry, Christopher McLallen, Eric Ogden, Andy Ryan, Kevin Miyazaki, Q Sakamaki, Lauren Fleishman, Monte Isom, Cass Bird, Shannon Fagan, Joe Fornabaio and Rafael Fuchs, educator and erotic photographer George Pitts, photo editors a plenty; Freyda Tavin and Nara Nygoyen: Entertainment Weekly, Jeanne Graves: Best Life, Carolyn Rauch: Wired, Maisie Todd: ESPN The Magazine, Lauren Winfield: Fortune, Alison Unterreiner: Esquire, Kathy Ryan: New York Times Magazine, David Carthas: New York Times T Magazine, Erica Beckman and Katie Howe: Fortune Small Business and Lori Henzel: Bust, photo reps Laura Reid and Jasmine DeFoore: Redux Pictures, Nancy Iacoi, Marcia Kebbon and Christina Cahill: Orchard Represents, Suzanna Bransch: Bransch, Bill Hannigan: Vaughan Hannigan, stylist Jennifer Hitzges: Jed Root and the gallerist Jen Bekman who as it turns out thought that I was the Bitter Photographer for a while but now doesn't and I amn't, although I know alot of people who wish they were the BP.

Mrs H and I had a most enjoyable evening as its always a treat to be amongst so many of ones inspirators, and yes it does help the ego to be a winner.

Click here to see the winning images. Also go here to read an earlier post of mine regarding some of these competitions and my strategy.

Congratulations JT

Photo © Jonathan Torgovnik

Big shout out to inspirator and friend Jonathan Torgovnik this years winner of the National Portrait Gallerys Photographic Portrait Prize. Torgovniks powerful portrait is of Joseline Ingabire, a victim of rape during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, it is from his series 'Intended Consequences: Mothers of Genocide, Children of Rape'. Photographed with her two children, born at the height of the conflict, the portrait explores the terrible impact of the atrocities of war and aims to raise awareness of the plight of thousands of women abused in Rwanda.

The accompanying exhibition presents a selection of 60 works from the nearly 7,000 entries, including this years four shortlisted artists. The show opens in London today and runs through February 24. Torgovnik will receive a prize £ 12,000 and knowing him I am sure he will put this money along with the grant he recently received from Getty Images to good use as he continues to work on this project. Read more about Jonathans efforts here for better tomorrows for Rwanda.

I usually run into Jonathan about once a year now, when he's not jetting around the globe on assignment as a contract photographer for Newsweek or starring in adverts for Sandisk flash cards. We like alot of others met back at Printspace in the days when the mighty c-print was the medium of choice. Images from his latest project 'The Israeli Reserve Soldier' are featured in the current Aperture magazine. I hadn't checked out his site for quite a while, looks like he has given it a good reworking, check it out here.

About last night

Photo © Chris Floyd

In case you were wondering I ended up taking in Platons show and tell over at FIT and no David Maloney of Art Department was nowhere to be seen. The smart money had him over at Christian Witkins lecture although we haven't received any confirmed reports. Anyone ? At least he did the decent thing and minimized his carbon footprint by trying to be in two places at once what with that tasty big motor he's been seen driving around town in and all.

So back to Platon. As I said in the earlier post I have seen him talk on numerous occasions. I know many of the great stories behind the photographs by heart now, hey I was even there for some of them, but there were a few new ones in the mix to keep me on my toes. Fuck me one always forgets the serious depth and breath of subjects he has had straddle his portrait lens (inside but not inside joke). He is very much at ease during this sort of event, totally engaging his passion and energy are very much on display as they are when he shoots. No wonder people drop their guard even if it is only for that split second, that's all he needs. You know he is having the time life with his pictures and his enthusiasm is infectious, its like going to one of those helpy selfy seminars one cannot but leave ready to conquer the world and all your personal photo demons. Secure in himself and his work he is always gracious with the advice, nice one 'top man'.

Anyone in the know is aware that Platon is a massive Beatles fan. When asked of all the people in the world to photograph who would be the one he would most like to there is only one answer Paul McCartney. Fortunately my best new mate and fellow lecture attendee Chris Floyd has had that pleasure. A fellow Beatle fan Chris and Plat had a little apres event tet a tet regarding the 'Macca' and all things McCartney, good stuff.

Here's to you Plat and Chris !

Whats a photographer and agent to do tonight ?

Well someone over at Art Department wasn't keeping on eye on the calender with two of the agencies star photographers going head to head on the lecture circuit at the same time tonight here in NYC.