Here are a couple of night time shot taken recently in Poole, Dorset to mark the 11th November 2011. I had originally hoped to venture outside during the daytime to capture some shots but in the end had to find my inspiration after dark.
It was pretty much impossible to avoid the fact that the date could be expressed as 11/11/11 recently, with numerologists crawling out of the woodwork everywhere you looked, while getting incredibly excited at the prospect of this once in a century event (these events seem to happen far more regularly than the excitement they generate would suggest).
There was even a Flickr group created especially for the occasion, as well as numerous other sites set-up to encourage people to document the day and I decided that I wasn’t going to miss a good opportunity to create some photographs. I was quietly considering the options available to me when I suddenly remembered seeing these lights embedded into the pavement back during the summer but was unsure at the time how to make an interesting shot with them. Fortunately 11/11/11 gave me the perfect opportunity to return for another attempt.
I don’t really need much of an excuse to take a photograph, even if I am a little dubious at times about the significance of the event in question!
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There are currently 50 lion sculptures scattered around the streets of Bournemouth in a public art event called Pride in Bournemouth 2011. Each lion is sponsored by a local business and decorated by local artists before being placed at various locations around the town. The lions will be auctioned off on 18th September 2011 with the 75% of the net proceeds being donated to The Born Free Foundation and Julia’s House charities.
I couldn’t resist taking some time this weekend to try and find them all. Some were much easier to find and photograph than others! 
Find out more on the Pride in Bournemouth website.
There is a PDF document with the lion locations and some information about the lion’s name, artist and sponsor which is available on the Pride in Bournemouth website and I have also put a copy here.
NOTE:
* You may notice that there are only 49 photos in the gallery and there is supposed to be 50 lions. Well quite simply there was one lion I was just unable to find. I spent some time wandering around the area it is supposed to be but I couldn’t see it, so I am assuming it was not there for some reason. I have emailed the organisers to find out.
** You might also notice that lion number 15 is not actually in the shot, the plinth is there but the lion has been removed. I am guessing this may be due to vandalism but hopefully it will be back soon. If it returns I will update the shot.
2011/07/24 – Both of the missing lions have now been photographed and added to the gallery.
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A couple of months ago I wrote a blog post about the recently discovered but sadly deceased street photographer Vivian Maier (1926-2009). Vivian Maier spent most of her life working as a nanny but spent almost 40 years beginning in the 1950s photographing Chicago during her free time. Her huge body of work was never displayed and was unknown until being discovered after her death. You can read a little more about her here.
Well it turns out that another wonderful street photographer has recently been discovered after his death and from what we know so far this is an equally fascinating story. According to the information available on The Perfect Exposure Gallery website (who are currently exhibiting some of the work) Frank Oscar Larson (1896-1964) lived and worked in Queens NTC in the 1950s and was passionate about street photography. Like Vivian Maier he spent much of his free time wandering around the city with his Rolleiflex camera taking shots of anything that caught his eye, visiting locations such as Chinatown, Hell’s Kitchen, Times Square & Central Park. Frank developed and printed his own film but much of the work was never seen by anyone other than him. Sadly Larson died in 1968 and his work would remain undiscovered until a box of negatives would be discovered some 45 years later.
I have to say that I find this work absolutely fascinating. There is something incredibly compelling about images taken from a completely different era, especially candid shots like this rather than the iconic celebrity and landscape shots we are more used to seeing.
Here are a few examples of his work (more of the work can be seen by following the links below):
All images © Frank Oscar Larson
An exhibition entitled “Reflections of New York” featuring the work of Frank Oscar Larson has just ended at the Perfect Exposure Gallery in LA. The information is still available on the gallery website as well as lots more examples of his work. I would urge you to take a look while it is still available.
Frank Oscar Larson’s website
http://www.franklarsonphotos.com/
Information about the “Reflections of New York” exhibition
http://www.theperfectexposuregallery.com/
Examples of Frank Oscar Larson’s work
http://www.theperfectexposuregallery.com/admin/guide.php?proj=12
Happy shooting!
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I was recently reading the fascinating story of Vivian Maier (1926-2009) and wanted to take a moment talk about her here.
Vivian Maier’s photography has only recently come to light following her death in 2009. Details are still scarce but it is know that Vivian Maier worked as a nanny in Chicago for approximately 40 years starting in the 1950s. She was by all accounts a very private individual who would spent much of her free time exploring the streets of Chicago taking photos with her Rolleiflex camera, which she subsequently never showed to anybody. Oh and it also turns out that she may well have been one of the finest street photographers of the 20 century.
Vivian Maier’s work was discovered at an auction house in Chicago shortly before her death. It is believed that she fell upon hard times later in life and may have actually been homeless for a period of time. It is understod that the photographs and film were recovered from a storage locker when she had failed to maintain the rental fees and were subsequently sold at auction.
The photos were bought by John Maloof in 2007 and consisted of 100’000 medium format negatives, thousands of prints and undeveloped rolls of film. There is some debate and interest regarding the circumstances surrounding the discovery and emergence of the work shortly after her death and I’m sure that this will continue for the foreseeable future but what is clear however is that her work is striking and since being made available to the public in 2008/2009 has received critical acclaim.
Vivian Maier’s work consists predominantly of black and white street scenes of Chicago taken during the 1950s and 1960s, often depicting the less privileged individuals of the era. I easily managed to spend a couple of hours looking at her work on John Maloof’s blog dedicated to Vivian’s work. The shots are absolutely fascinating, even more so because they are from a period in time that I have did not experience, these shots really give you a feel for and an insight into what life must have been like for some of these people.
I find it incredible that such a large body of work was possibly never shown to anybody and also sad that this collection may now potentially be worth a fortune but the artist herself may have died without any recognition and very possibly without a penny to her name.
Some examples of Vivian Maier’s work
Vivian Maier’s work can be seen on John Maloof’s blog and the exciting thing is that there is still plenty more to come in the future as more negatives are developed and uploaded.
http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/
There was also an interesting article regarding Vivian Maier on the BBC News site:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12247395
Take a look at the official blog and let me know what you think about the work.
