Howard Grey and Me

So some of you know that I'm in the fortunate position to be helping out Howard Grey: the dad of my friend Camilla who I met at Moving Brands. He's a photographer with a lifetimes work and I'm helping him archive it all. So- lots of scanning, cataloguing, and eventually displaying his work. It ranges from historical journalism type stuff, to portraiture, to model shoots, to fashion, to advertising and corporate work- there's a massive breadth and amount of material and it's a real joy to be able to peruse and dig out gems from someones life's work. Every day is like a treasure hunt. I'm beginning the process of designing and creating a website and blog where you can view the sort-of-archive that it's becoming. (I say sort of because it acts as more of an edited reference for the physical collection/archive which is where high quality prints and scans would be taken from when the need arises.)

This is a nice one I dug out from today. It is from a shoot for the Association of Building Societies. The man shown is a carpet fitter and this was shot at the end of 1969. People that know me will understand that this man's style is what I aspire to, I have a bit of a thing for the Fred Dibnah look.

aM Laboratory

This guy: Andre Michelle rocks. Seems to be some kind of audio code, tech master. This pic is of a tenori-on-like device which makes soaring soundscapes when you hammer at it's buttons- even if you're shit it just seems to work out somehow. Be sure to check out his other stuff too I really like these too-super ellipse and pulsate.

Death Race and Desi-Fi

I watched this film over the weekend- not exactly brain food but it's combination of guns, cars, metal and girls led by Jason Statham was exactly what I expected.

But one thing I did like was the set up for the film. It provided a background story for how the context of the film came about. They started out with a piece fairly believable information and then started to extrapolate in a fairly logical way to get to an unbelievable conclusion which was then acted out through the rest of the film: Design Fiction. (as I see it) Here's what they said:

. 2012. The United States economy collapses . Unemployment hits a record high . Crime rates spiral out of control. The prison system reaches breaking point . Private corporation now run all correctional facilities for profit . Terminal Island penitentiary streams a series of cage fights live on the internet . Prisoners fight to the death creating a ratings sensation . They are the new Gladiators and Terminal Island is their coliseum . But like the mob of ancient Rome, the modern audience soon becomes bored . They demand more... . Death race is born