Colin Pantall's blog

Thanks Stan - Margaret Mead did tend to be creativ...

2012-05-25T14:48:01.212+01:00

Thanks Stan - Margaret Mead did tend to be creative with her research but I get the point. I have a great book for you - called Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote - on the what happens when capitalist, communist and traditional collide. It's cynical, brutal and hilarious.

Here we are in the very midst of capitalist failur...

2012-05-24T19:20:02.450+01:00

Here we are in the very midst of capitalist failure- and how many reforms to that system are being carried out? Not one on this side of the pond.

I remember my one anthropology class in college, seemed everywhere Margaret Mead went to study a specific indigenous culture- juvenile delinquency, prostitution, and just about every other form of criminality and social disorder was either introduced or magnified exponentialy as soon as "Western Civilzation" (ie- Capitalism) was introduced.

Thanks Deborah - in celebration, I shall re-enact ...

2012-05-24T18:21:53.259+01:00

Thanks Deborah - in celebration, I shall re-enact Kun Aguero's goal again and watch Mishka Henner's video of his dad.

Viva The Cowboy Junkies!

I love these - can't put it any better - portr...

2012-05-24T14:56:52.273+01:00

I love these - can't put it any better - portraits with feeling.

Per your description of the photos -- "...the...

2012-05-21T22:49:40.219+01:00

Per your description of the photos -- "...they're not heroic, muscular or virile." I'd have to disagree, as I think most of us would. He looks plenty muscular when compared to society's uber-obese man... and I think we can infer his status of being heroic, just by his attempting to make a go of this thing called "Life" despite the little "challenges" he's been dealt. And finally, who's to say anything about his "virility" except for his wife? My guess is that he's more than virile enough for her, and always will be, regardless of his bodily status... 'cos it's pretty much dependent on the mind more than the body, and on the heart even more than on the brain...

God bless, Take care!
-Randy in Cincy, now 49y old, with the last 26 years "disabled" by 24/7 chronic pain with cramps, spasms, and muscles that just plain won't do as they're told, and won't quit once I get 'em going, either! Throw in IBS, CFS, and insomnia/narcolepsy, and I'm the life of the party... of one. What a drag it is getting old.

Thanks Eron - I think finding that balance between...

2012-05-21T20:51:09.094+01:00

Thanks Eron - I think finding that balance between the creative and the pragmatic is the key. Soul is the goal!

Thanks for the post. As a full-time artist, someti...

2012-05-21T20:16:13.949+01:00

Thanks for the post. As a full-time artist, sometimes in the pressure to find a home (and an audience) for your work can be overwhelming from both the outside world and from within. This is a great reminder of the value past money and past all the "marketising" that seems to come with any modicum of artistic success.

Thanks Blake - then there's the whole problem ...

2012-05-21T16:47:27.586+01:00

Thanks Blake - then there's the whole problem of the word economy and the language of the market. I hear it every morning with people talking about the Dow Jones or the FTSE, inflation rates and interest rates. Basically it's newsreaders rattling their fetishes and pointing to their totems with a whole industry and way of life built around it. Perhaps we should change things round and measure things by how many flowers have blossomed (who was it who said, "every time a conservative dies a flower blooms", how many people have stopped to save the roses, how many species have been saved, how many parks have been built in city centres - a real measure of progress in other words.

This is an issue I have long struggled with. Thank...

2012-05-21T16:35:38.816+01:00

This is an issue I have long struggled with. Thanks for raising it here.

I'd recommend Lewis Hyde's The Gift (My short review: http://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2009/01/nothing-to-do-with-photography.html) for those interested in this topic. First published in the early 80s it has since established itself as the foundational text on gift economies.

It seems that sports authorities around the world ...

2012-05-18T07:50:25.718+01:00

It seems that sports authorities around the world reek of the worst kind of conservatism and greed. Too much money at stake I guess.

I was just reading about Peter Norman on BBC's website. What a courageous man. And the Australian sports authorities mistreated him for the rest of his life because he wore a badge from the Olympic Project for Human Rights that John Carlos and Tommie Smith gave him! It was also amazing to read that the 3 athletes stayed in touch with each other since that fateful day in Mexico. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7674157.stm

In the case of DOW Chemicals and the Olympics there is hardly any outrage amongst the mainstream media here in India. The great Indian middle class is not interested in the worst ever industrial accident in India! Union Carbide and then DOW were allowed to get away scot-free by successive Indian governments. While Japan and Germany are closing down nuclear plants India is trying to build some of the biggest nuclear plants in the world. There is off course stiff local opposition to these projects from local farmers, fisherfolk and others. But they are of no consequence just like those people of Bhopal.

Sorry for the long post/rant :-).

If all goes well its going to be an app that is fr...

2012-05-16T21:56:24.833+01:00

If all goes well its going to be an app that is free to download!

jon said... Are you saying that for someone to ...

2012-05-15T02:25:30.201+01:00
jon said...
Are you saying that for someone to go digital they need to go out and buy a digital camera, a PC, basic software and a printer etc?
Well, most of the population already have these things

To work at a high level with digital, requires a camera capable of producing large images and several lenses, a computer capable of handling very large files - and lots of them! And it requires more than just basic software - probably Photoshop. You can skip the printer - it's probably cheaper to get your images professionally printed on quality equipment, than it would be to try and duplicate that kind of setup on your own. If you already have those things, then you're set! But if you have a basic laptop and a point-and-shoot camera then it would take a significant investment.

To work at a high level with film most likely requires an old Hassleblad you got for under $1000 on eBay, with a couple of lenses included. Then maybe $500 for darkroom equipment you found on Craigslist, and another $100 to make your bathroom light-tight - and you're set!

Digital definitely has a quicker learning curve - you can become a capable photographer much faster using digital, but I doubt that anyone who has spent significant time working with both digital and film would claim that digital is cheaper. It's just not.

Chances? nil Will there be any freedom of thought...

2012-05-09T16:14:22.908+01:00
Chances? nil

Will there be any freedom of thought or expression on display? ...

The only political view you can display at the Olympics is one that bolsters the nation state, in addition to implicit support for the transglobal companies who have bought their way in.

The Dow justified making these chemicals as being their duty to a nation at war. The national pride we should all be feeling as our athletes compete for the glory of our nation stems from the same germ.

Philip Jones Griffiths books are excellent, I grew up leafing through Vietnam inc, I find 'Agent Orange' too harrowing, his Viet Nam at Peace is good also. His long term commitment to the country is an interesting contrast to the US which expended a vast amount of resources (euphemism) on the country and then split.

Thanks Tim D - I don't think anyone involved w...

2012-05-08T20:58:29.567+01:00
Thanks Tim D - I don't think anyone involved with the Olympics really cares about ethics - it's not on the Olympic agenda and never has been.

Agent Orange is very much a US/Vietnamese affair that has little interest here (though photographing those who have been exposed to it is something of a photojouranlistic staple -

http://colinpantall2.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/agent-orange-philip-jones-griffiths.html

But just because it has little interest or is little known doesn't take away from the fact that it is shameful. What are the odds of Mo Farah or Jessica Ennis getting a gold and unfurling a flag pointing the finger at Dow?

re Bhopal: Despite Union Carbide being a wholly ow...

2012-05-08T18:24:38.557+01:00
re Bhopal:
Despite Union Carbide being a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow they still try to avoid responsibility, this document shows you what rotten people work at that company:
http://www.dow.com/sustainability/debates/pdfs/TDCC-Response-CP-111811.pdf

re Napalm and Agent Orange:
I think its really weird that Dow's additional historical baggage isn't mentioned much in the UK - the fact that Dow manufactured Napalm and Agent Orange; widely and indiscriminately used in the Vietnam war.
Business Week February 10, 1969: 'Why Dow continues to make napalm'
http://www2.vcdh.Virginia.edu/PVCC/mbase/docs/napalm.html

Sorry,Salvo, but I can't read where anyone app...

2012-05-08T17:05:38.650+01:00
Sorry,Salvo, but I can't read where anyone applies the norms of Bath to the rest of Britain or where anyone brushes aside racial tensions (of which there are many). Occasional violence, horrific exploitation on many levels by many different groups of people, yes. But the Rivers of Blood - where are they? I can't see them. Truth is, the IRA were always a much bigger threat and caused much greater injury and loss of life than anything that came after.

Well, although this is an old post by now, this is...

2012-05-01T16:16:41.030+01:00
Well, although this is an old post by now, this is still a somewhat interesting topic and not really one that fades with time.
You live in Bath - I study here at Bath University and, as expressed in the first comment, it would be very easy to comment that Britain has reached an enlightened state of being if you lived here. Probably the safest, most polite and adjusted town for its size anywhere in the world. Ridiculously so, even.

I grew up, however, in Slough, which is essentially divided and balkanized along ethnic lines. About half of the population are South Asian or Black and the other half are white. Of course, whilst there was not exactly open and virulent hatred, we certainly 'stuck to our own'. Indeed, as the son of Italian immigrants, my friends were almost entirely also Southern European/Catholic.
It's hard to say whether this mentality occurred as a result of our surroundings or a natural tendency to form groups with similar individuals in the face of vast levels of diversity. Either way, the bottom line is that I (and lots of other kids I'm sure) grew up in a small world in which you wouldn't let someone 'brown' within 100m of your sister and so on.

My point is only to make observations; personally, I think that we will laugh at how much time and energy we invested into ideas of race and I yearn for a better future in that respect. In the meantime though, don't apply the norms of Bath to the rest of this nation. Ignoring the swirling undertones of racial tension in society is always dangerous, I believe. The more that we brush it aside and proclaim loudly that we are an adjusted society, the more resentment that people may eventually have for this undoubtedly false representation of their country and its state of affairs.

Thanks Rajiv - and so sad that is gone!

2012-04-21T15:18:48.790+01:00
Thanks Rajiv - and so sad that is gone!

Hi Colim, I have been totally away from photo blo...

2012-04-21T07:58:48.179+01:00
Hi Colim,

I have been totally away from photo blogs for quite a while now and it was great to return to your blog and to find such a fascinating post about Lauren Simonutti. Her wonderful work that seems so incredibly intertwined with the complexities of her mind is astonishing. thanks a ton.

Absolutely TimD, there's no absolute truth, we...

2012-04-20T18:40:26.338+01:00
Absolutely TimD, there's no absolute truth, we choose what to see and what to believe and all that. But at the same time, this is the picture that stands out, and this is what I choose to believe - even though my fabrications might be way off the mark. But I choose to believe things everyday of my life - so why not do the same with pictures. At the same time (see the previous post- http://colinpantall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/you-dont-look-like-victim.html ) we can be way off the mark. So, so, so...

I know what you mean about the Civil Rights comments - religion, all religions, can be a force for good when they focus on the social and economic injustices that were at the forefront of their original teachings.

Hi Colin I think share your negative views about t...

2012-04-20T17:39:34.254+01:00
Hi Colin
I think share your negative views about the pervasive nature of religion in the US, my wife if from Tennessee, I've spent a little time over there.
But religious figures have played a very positive role in the US civil rights movement. And I suspect that such figures still nucleate positive action. Its a shame that they aren't able to focus more attention onto death penalty cases, where African-American defendants receive a raw deal.

I googled Rev. Jamal Bryant to make sure I was talking about the right person, and judging by what I found, the yellow tie may be sombre attire for him.

I also agree with you that a bit of dirt is a sign of truth.

And you are right the image is the best one taken; at the point where they have just broken from their formal poses.
But I don't think we necessarily glean from it the essential natures of the people or the relationships between them.

Best wishes, Tim

This is always the danger of making assumptions an...

2012-04-20T14:04:27.659+01:00
This is always the danger of making assumptions and judgments based on the content of a photo, so much of what is revealed depends on the photographer. I've often found that the photo can say as much or more about the photographer than the subject(s).

Thanks Tim D. I've seen the other images and t...

2012-04-19T18:17:47.977+01:00
Thanks Tim D. I've seen the other images and the room they were shot in - maybe I am overinterpreting them? There's formal and there's what the reverend has on which is something else - but I think that's a fashion prejudice that kind of ties in with a pessimistic view that I have of most religious leaders. One shouldn't look too well-scrubbed. The other pictures in the set help shape what's going on, but somehow I prefer to stick with the isolated image - it's the good one, by far the best, the one that stands out - and so the one that should be looked at and over-analysed and misread.

top left is: Rev. Jamal Bryant With regard to how ...

2012-04-19T17:50:15.772+01:00
top left is: Rev. Jamal Bryant
With regard to how he's dressed, you might be making the same "informality is good" mistake Gordon Brown made when he hand wrote his apology note; though I don't claim to know how the Rev.'s yellow tie plays in the US or with African-Americans.

You are definitely over interpreting the image, Tracy Martin, the father, is looking at a TV:
http://www.apimages.com/OneUp.aspx?st=k&kw=Tracy%20Martin%20Sybrina%20Fulton&showact=results&sort=relevance&intv=None&sh=10&kwstyle=or&adte=1334852478&pagez=60&cfasstyle=AND&rids=77d6b8e27a9746098968347c68be8e9d&dbm=PThirtyDay&page=1&xslt=1&mediatype=Photo

There are other images the photographer took that show mother and father with the same expression:
http://www.apimages.com/Search.aspx?st=k&remem=x&kw=Tracy+Martin+Sybrina+Fulton&intv=None&shgroup=-10&sh=10

The image you are referring to looks like it was taken just at the end of the TV broadcast, so if you look at the link above you'll see that rather than circling they had just broken from a formal group arrangement; with Sharpton, Bryant, and Richardson stood behind father, mother and brother.

Few Americans have even heard of ALEC (which is ex...

2012-04-19T16:35:20.169+01:00
Few Americans have even heard of ALEC (which is exactly as they want it).

http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

As for terrorism, I'm afraid there's plenty in America- if I may...

http://reciprocity-failure.blogspot.com/2012/04/no-it-doesnt.html