I reciently came accross this article by Paul Lowe describing the Masters in Documentary Photography that I am currently half way through.  Although having studies photography previously at Newport, and getting my BA.. This course is very diffrent and  Focused much more around the applcation of photography as a communicative tool.  Where Newport focused heavily on the creation of the beautiful Object, This Course has allowd me to develop my photographic style and far advance my understanding of the industry that I work in.  Take a look…

This is a awe inspiring representation of the earths place in the current known universe. Amazingly tiny, and insignificant in the scheem of the expanding mass of galixies and systems around us.

In the words of Carl Sagen…

“Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.” ( Sagan, Carl (1994). Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1st edition ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-43841-6.)

Personally, I find myself realising how very insignficant we are, which make’s life increadabley and Beatifuly important.

And Here is The Power of 10… written and directed by Ray Eames and Charles Eames in 1977, the orrignal and also amazing… This short film was als developed into an exhabition, teaching aid, game, and a “Day”… a fantastic example of the diversity of photography and film…

Tags: MA Documentary Photography

The Joys of Web design! Today and tomorrow I am updating and improving the feel and functionality of my site.  The changes will include a New lates photography section so that I can show you the latest work that i have been creating, ans well as improved galleries and usability.  This may mean that some of the galleries are not displayed correctly at the moment, and i  have discovered that there is an Issue with firefox simply not displaying some galleries at all.   I hope to have these issues resolved today.

Thanks for your patience.

Dan.

I had a commodore 64 and used to write my own programs in “Basic” just for fun… I had a disk drive, and a tape drive and My favorite game was Flimbos quest… and here it is…

What I’m trying to say is that I have been familiar with computer for a long time. I work with Mac’s and have a pretty advanced system for the management and processing of my photography… however, I have to learn allot about how to use the internet as an effective research tool. This was initiated as part of my ongoing MA in documentary Photography, and a lecture exploring the role of social networking sites and micro bloging sites in researching a topic or following the zeitgeist of the populous at large in relation to almost any issue. I have been genuinely astounded at the volume of information that cycles the web, and complete intimated in defining a process by which I can harvest the relevant information. I have had a facebook account for over a year, but rarely use it and still only have a handful f friends… mainly as I never really saw the point of face book… However, Micro blogging is completely different and incredibly powerful. It as taken me a couple of days to start getting something coherent from it though. I am using an app called EVENTBOX, which is essential in deciphering the noise. This app takes all of my feeds from twitter, blogs, websites, (RSS) , google reader, facebook, and others I don’t use. It also provides real time web searching through OneRiot.. From here I can view and evaluate the content, twitter it or bookmark it…or Blog it.. genius. From a research perspective though, this level of understanding of micro blogging seems to be essential… I am completely stunned by the amount of information that must be cycling the web on a second by second basis… If you are smart with how you structure your applications, this can be channeled into a super powerful tool for accessing the latest news and the reaction to the latest news..

This is a fantastic, funny and serious, raising some really important issues around developing a narrative and telling a story.

Tags: Narrivitive

So for those of you who I dont know, I’m currently studying for my MA in Documentary Photography. Which is the reason that I have started this blog. An action that I have initially resisted, why would i possibly want the world to know about what is going on in my head?… and maybe more importantly, why would anyone care? However, the MA is a fantastic experience, and is raising my awareness around the power of the internet in making and distributing media, and so this blog is going to be more of me taking a journey. It is also going to act as a venue for my latest work and project ideas, successes and equally important, failures. with a little commitment to the blogging process, I hope to get as much out of this as anyone… I have had my website for some time now, over 18 months, and something that I feel is that work needs to be fully formed and well seasoned before being presented on my site. I think hard about weather to place work in the galleries on my site, and the majority of what I shoot never makes it onto my site, although much of it is floating around the web on my clients websites. This space, is less formal, dare I say ,an experimental space. It can be quickly responsive to changes in work and direction. It is also a space in which I can reflect on ideas that I am exposed to, not only through the MA, but in life in general. This brings me onto the new site, redesigned, and allot more usable. including some new work in my ongoing portfolio. The site it’s self is allot more versatile that my previous site. mainly because I have been hard at work learning what I need to know to build the site I want. This will make presenting my new work a smother and more elegant process, and hopefully viewing my work will be just as pleasurable experience. So, Welcome to the site, bookmark my feed so that you can stay up to date with my latest work, adoration’s and ravings!

Hello,