Anarchy Please. Gay Pride, Brighton. 01.09.2012
Street Photography
Columbus Day Parade, USA, is a new photography series, shot a few months back, my wife and I spent an afternoon walking round Seaside Heights in the magic hour, as hundreds of people turned out for Columbus Day, and specifically, the Italian street parade, where Italian American’s in their FBI t-shirts (Full Blooded Italian) strolled about eating within the bright shine of the sun.
Processed, scanned, and edited, the three rolls of film I shot at Gay Pride, in Brighton, a few weeks back, can now be seen at my website, with a whole array of colourful characters and amusing little moments that burst out before me.
The BRIGHTON GAY PRIDE photography series
It is by no means a comprehensive list, and so I welcome the mention of any others I have missed out, but I have relentlessly searched for striking photographers. Photographers with a unique style, who put together interesting series that strike sparks inside my mind. I yearn to be moved, dazzled, wowed, and so over time I have bookmarked these in the hope to share them with others, to give people some of the delight I have found with the following list of photographers at the forefront of this art form today (with just a couple of older photographers slipped inside the list).
2. Nick Ballon
3. Jeff Bark
7. Doug Dubois
8. Max Farago
10. Daniel George
11. Jim Goldberg
12. Yulia Gorodinski
13. Yann Gross
16. Nadav Kander
17. Henrik Knudsen
18. Kalpesh Lathigra
19. Vivian Maier
20. Edgar Martins
21. Kiran Master
22. Michel Mazzoni
23. Nick Meek
24. Zed Nelson
25. Anders Petersen
26. Alex Prager
27. Richard Rowland
28. Denis Rouvre
29. Stefan Ruiz
30. David Ryle
31. Viviane Sassen
32. Lina Scheynius
33. Steffen Schragle
34. Aaron Schuman
35. Shaw and Shaw
36. Mike Sinclair
37. Alec Soth
38. David Stewart
39. Larry Sultan
40. Phil Toledano
41. Massimo Vitali
Vivian Maier, she seemed the ultimate outsider (one of the watermarks of a great artist), moving on the outskirts, aware of all the kinks and queerness of society, rapt with awareness. There is a subtle feel of Cartier-Bresson in her pictures, though they are quintessentially American, as seen through the eyes of one who has lived in Europe in their formative years. I get the feel of her as a kind of zoologist; studying, observing, documenting people in their unnatural environments. She stood on the outside, looking in, with few friends and few people who knew this intensely private person. And yet she had an eye for those brief moments of beauty, of the extraordinary and of humor, which can burst out before one, like a firework, in the most brilliant of ways.
Between these pictures are some of the most interesting self-portraits I have seen – her reflection in a mirror, or her self caught in a shop window, leaving a fleeting imprint on the reality around her, the outline of her being photographed as her real self seems hidden, behind a mask, alone.
Photography seemed her life, her everything, as she left over one hundred thousand negatives behind, most of which are still being processed and scanned. I cannot recommend the photography of Vivian Maier enough, as she left us the chance to gaze into an enthralling world of yesteryear.