Paul Graham’s ‘A1: The Great North Road’ and Memory Pairings

Posted on May 15, 2012 by admin

A wee while ago when looking at Stephen Shore’s ‘Uncommon Places’ I posted a few image pairings I couldn’t help making as I looked through the book. I enjoyed it and so decided to do it again, as before the pairings seem to be made primarily based on work I have seen or revisited recently…

Paul Graham and Joel Sternfeld

Paul Graham
‘Burning Fields, Melmerby, North Yorkshire, September 1981′

Joel Sternfeld
‘McLean, Virginia December 4, 1978′

 

Paul Graham and Paul Graham

Paul Graham
‘Petrol Station, Blyth Services, Nottinghamshire, March 1981′

Paul Graham
‘from the series ‘Troubled Land‘ 1984-86

 

Paul Graham and Joel Sternfeld and Daniel Shea

Paul Graham
‘Hedge in wind, Bedfordshire, June 1982′

Joel Sternfeld
‘The East Meadows, Northampton, Massachusetts 2006′

Daniel Shea
‘Smoke Stacks, 2009′ from the series ‘Coal Work‘


Paul Graham and Donald Webber

Paul Graham
‘Ashtray on Table, Morley’s Cafe, Markham Moor, Nottinghamshire, February 1981′

Donald Webber
From the series ‘Interrogations‘

 

Paul Graham and Hanna Starkey

Paul Graham
‘Cafe Waitress, John’s Cafe, Sandy, Bedfordshire, May 1982′

Hannah Starkey
‘Untitled, October 1988′

 

Hope you enjoy my little experiment, if you have your own, put them in the comments section below…

- Matt
And if you haven’t seen the book yet…

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A1: The Road Itself

Posted on May 14, 2012 by admin

Readers from England might well know about the A1 road depicted in this months book (Paul Graham’s ‘A1: The Great North Road’), but for those who don’t, here is just a little information on the road to help with you reading of the book.

the A1 Great North Road

The route was originally used by coaches from the 17th Century (aprox) who were traveling between London, York and on to Edinburgh, Scotland. Since it’s birth it has been constantly changing route. Due to the nature of the transportation and that both horses and workers were in regular need of water, food and sleep, the early route passed through many more small towns than it’s modern day counterpart.

With the wonders of technology we can see exactly where the new ‘Great North Road’ travels, and despite it’s bypassing a great deal of towns, it is still perhaps the most interesting road to travel in the UK, not just for it’s size but for it’s uncompromising straight line through wildly disparate towns and regions.

In the 19th Century the route took around 45 hours by coach, today only 7

The modern day A1(M)

The most important information regarding the road, at least for the reading of the book is the text accompanying the book itself as it gives a few clues as to what Graham was looking out for on his trips.

From the blurb on the back cover:

The A1 was the first major road to run the entire length of England, linking the ‘two nations’ of North and South. Conceived as the central artery of the 1930′s trunk road system, the A1 travels from the Bank of England, in the very centre of London, up through the industrial midlands, North East England and the East coast of Scotland, to finish in Princess Street, Edinburgh. The 400 mile route was the busiest road in the country and quickly became known as the ‘Great North Road’, a title it aptly deserved until the late 1950′s, when it was usurped by the fast and efficient motorway system, which left the A1 in a state of atrophy, underused and decaying.

The modern day A1(M)

- Matt
And if you haven’t seen the book yet…

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The Photobook Club Presents… Ken Schles: Invisible City

Posted on May 11, 2012 by admin

Today I am pleased to announce the launch of a digital publication looking closely at Ken Schles’ photobook Invisible City. This publication is currently available as a direct download for the iPad but will be available on more platforms shortly. This publication takes on a magazine-style format, inside of which you will find not only the images and text featured in Invisible City, but a variety of personal reflections, commentary on the process of creating Invisible City from Ken Schles and even original notes from a lecture given at New York’s International Center of Photography in 1990.

If you have an iPad, you can download the publication free from the link given below, this publication is currently awaiting approval before it will be available in the iBooks store.

DOWNLOAD – ‘Ken Schles: Invisible City, A Digital Resource’ – 25mb Wi-Fi recommended
(Choose ‘Open in iBooks’ when prompted) Any issues, let me know.

The complete forward featured in the publication alongside screenshots is featured below this introductory video.

Forward
I set up the Photobook Club in 2010 as a response to both my own fascination and frustration with photobooks. My fascination was born and nurtured as a student spending thousands of hours in the University library choosing books at random by the colour of their spine, or based on recommendations from my peers and tutors. My frustration was a little harder to pinpoint but essentially stemmed from my wanting to learn more about the classic photobooks, those revered and often rare books that held a sense of mystery between their two covers; everyone agreed they were classics but there was little discussion of why.

At the time there was, and still is, a huge interest in photobooks, but predominantly in the new, the self published and the handmade, and so together with partner-in-crime Wayne Ford, I decided to open out my thoughts and learning to a wider community – just as a traditional book club. As well as promoting and facilitating this shared experience online, I was keen to encourage the generative experience the photobook offers us both in spending time with a beautifully crafted artifact, and in sharing thoughts (as well as books) in person.

I certainly hope that (depending on your knowledge of Invisible City), this publication will either introduce you to, or help create a greater understanding of a hugely influential modern photobook. Inside you will find not only the images and text featured in Invisible City, but a variety of personal reflections, commentary on the process of creating Invisible City from Ken Schles and even original notes from a lecture given at New York’s International Center of Photography in 1990.

Regardless of your previous experience with this book, or whether you are a lecturer, photographer, student, book lover or just curious, I would really appreciate your comments via the email address below.

Finally, thanks must of course go primarily to Ken Schles, not only for allowing all to see his wonderful images but also for kindly lending me a copy of the book to work with, and for his enthusiasm towards this project. My thanks also to the contributors listed on the following page who offered their own, personal reflections on the book.

Matt Johnston


matt@photobookclub.org

 

DOWNLOAD – ‘Ken Schles: Invisible City, A Digital Resource’ (iPad) – 25mb Wi-Fi recommended
(Choose ‘Open in iBooks’ when prompted)

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Paul Graham: An Education Resource

Posted on May 9, 2012 by admin

You gotta love the kind folk at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. Not only did they put on a fantastically rich retrospective of Graham’s work just last year, but they put together a great little education resource for anyone interested in his work. The PDF is geared towards those who are completely or relatively new to Graham and includes questions and tasks to complete.

If any readers are teaching young students, this could be fantastic to use, and on that note, if any readers do fall under this category, let me know (matt@photobookclub.org) as I would love to support the learning of photography and photobooks here (more on this very soon).

- Matt

Click on the image to download the PDF:

Paul Graham: Education Resource

 

And if you haven’t seen the book yet…

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The Photobook Club Lisbon’s innaugral Meetup

Posted on May 7, 2012 by admin

Looks like photobook lovers in Lisbon, Portugal are going to be in for a treat as the Photobook Club Lisbon held it’s first meetup this weekend and plan to have many more.

Organizer Susana Paiva will be giving a brief summary soon, but for now, here are some images from the event taken by Mario Pires, and if you want to head to their next meetup, find out more on their Facebook page.

The Photobook Club Lisbon ©MARIO PIRES

The Photobook Club Lisbon ©MARIO PIRES

The Photobook Club Lisbon ©MARIO PIRES

The Photobook Club Lisbon ©MARIO PIRES

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Paul Graham’s ‘Free Pass’?

Posted on May 7, 2012 by admin

Shortly after I posted the first ‘Food for thought’ which gave an introduction to Paul Graham’s work, Stan Banos of Reciprocity Failure commented on the amount (or rather lack of) criticism his more recent projects have been subjected to. This doesn’t just apply to Paul Graham by any means and I think important points are raised here by Stan so have included his comments below: (Thanks Stan!)

- Matt

From the series 'Troubled Land' ©PAUL GRAHAM

Stan Banos:

FWIW, I think Troubled Land one of the greatest, most innovative documentary essays ever, and full well realize that Mr. Graham is close to a photographic demigod in many an art and documentary photo circle- and yes, who am I to say otherwise. Master photographer, innovator, educator- all well earned accolades. Nevertheless, all the above should not place anyone above criticism.

I’m not the greatest fan of his latter work, most of it searching for a new voice, a new vision he never quite achieves, but continues to deconstruct on his journey- and it most certainly is his prerogative not to repeat himself. But I continue to ask- who without his pedigree, without his name appeal would have been able to secure a publisher (other than Blurb) to publish a book of… grain? All without question or critique- no artist, politician, or god that should be given that much of a free pass.

From the series 'Films' ©PAUL GRAHAM

Matt Johnston:

Stan,
I would tend to agree with you here. Troubled Land is the rare photobook that really can keep you coming back and finding new layers and new questions each and every time, for me the same is true of ‘A1′ and in a very different way ‘Beyond Caring’. His latter, more conceptual work certainly doesn’t have the same gravity as these early projects but in ‘A Shimmer of Possibility’ I still find something special (can’t really out my finger on what that is though).

The free pass is a very good question, and I think it can apply to a few photographers lately; I know it is photo-suicide to say anything against Mr R Frank but I was immensely disappointed with ‘Pangnirtung’ and suspect this 5-day documentation would not have been published by Steidl had Frank been a young and unknown author.

I think in these cases the discussion and critique or review of the projects/books should be more transparent, otherwise these authors continue to have an aura of invisibility around them; everyone says they are fantastic but no one want to say why! On top of this, so many reviews now simply take the letter of the publisher as law, and in turn the publisher points people to this ‘great new review’ and the circle of photobook love-in continues. (There are of course some fantastic reviewers and photobook commentators who do not fall into the category above – Stockdale, Colberg, Claxton etc)

Do you think Graham’s standing as an ‘Art’ photographer helps with this ‘free pass’?

M

From the series 'American Night' ©PAUL GRAHAM

Stan Banos:

I can only speculate, Matt. Some artists build up toward greatness in slow and steady increments then maintain a persistent level of quality throughout, others have a rather meteoric rise, and then milk it- others still, try as they might, just can’t grab the golden ring again. I don’t believe Mr. Graham a slacker by any means, he has continued to create in earnest- I just don’t think anything he’s done since his initial three books has come anywhere near that level of artistic quality, confidence and authenticity. His latter work is characterized mostly by a series of hits and misses, perusing perpetually changing waters- not unsimilar to most student work. In this respect, he very much follows the Stephen Shore mode- an initial brush with photographic immortality, followed by more “personal” explorations.

Again, as to why the dearth of criticism (constructive or otherwise)- it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why certain artists and personalities become irreproachable darlings of the art world. Maybe, just maybe, because he was once called on how not to do documentary (B&W only, please) and having proved them wrong (big time) critics are now somewhat reticent to step up- particularly since he’s quite articulate and can sling the vernacular as good as any other art shark, and beyond. I still remember hearing him wax prolific on the benefits of “meditation pages” between images.

Hell if I know- what I do find curious though is that even the immortals of cinema get called out whenever they lay a turkey- and it’s usually fast and furious….

See the comments for more discussion:

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Paul Graham: Some Food for Thought #2

Posted on May 4, 2012 by admin

Food for Thought #1 looked broadly at Graham and his extensive archive with some videos, interviews and reviews. This second version is more focused on the ‘A1: The Great North Road’ publication in particular.

Firstly, while it is no substitute for the real thing, you can see a selection of images from this book on the Paul Graham Archive website. Seeing as this book is upward of £350 I will be uploading a video of the book shortly (I have it on loan from the local Uni Library and as a warning, let’s just say it has been ‘well loved’).

You might also want to check out a few of the links below:

Simon Roberts references the book when he heads back down the A1 after his ‘We English’ project in 2008.
“The photographs are a mournful document of a grey nowhere land in a country moving too fast to stop for a cup of tea”

David Chandler wrote a nice little piece on the book found at the bottom of this page on ‘Self Publish be Happy’.
“And it represents what Paul acknowledges as the spirit of new wave, the punk ethos that enabled young people to create things for themselves, on their own terms…”

©PAUL GRAHAM

On the road itself there is a site dedicated to all things ‘A1′ run by Biff Vernon here. It’s quite niche and a little geeky – but I like that.

There are also a few quotes regarding the road on this page by Oliver Merrington.
“Now let me make a statement, in plain truth, of this road – betwixt Biggleswade and Buckden. As a road of fine gravel it is unequalled” (John Byng 1974)

Plenty more comment and inspiration coming, if you want to add your thoughts on the book, or any of the links and thoughts shared, do so in the comments section or via email (matt@photobookclub.org)

And if you haven’t seen the book yet…

- Matt

 

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Paul Graham: Some Food for Thought #1

Posted on May 2, 2012 by admin

Paul Graham is by no means an obscure artist and so there are a bunch of places online to find out more about him, his work and his publications, I am just going to highlight a few.

For starters, Graham’s website is great – featuring a good selection of images from each of his projects:

There is also an interview with Richard Woodman on the site here, it’s well worth a read but might not tell those familiar with Graham, much more information.

I love Lost in Publications, if you only head to one more page from this ‘Food for Thought’ it should most definitely be to this page, featuring ALL Graham’s various publications.

Paul Graham on 'Lost in Publications'

A much more detailed interview with Paul Graham, conducted by Aaron Schumann can be found on seesaw magazine’s website.
“That type of photography had its time, and those types of social concern are still relevant, but we’ve just got to find a fresh language to express ourselves. Today, we don’t write books as we did in 1952; authors now explore the structure of a novel and what writing now means, as well as their subject matter” (PG)

Here, Peter MacGill of Pace MacGill Gallery discusses the work of photographer Paul Graham (Focusing on ‘A Shimmer of Possibility).

Alternatively, Graham himself talks us through one of the narratives from ‘A Shimmer of Possibility’

And for those who didn’t get to see the retrospective (or mid career survey as Peter MacGill would have me say) of Graham’s work as it toured Europe, here are some reviews of his output 1981-2006:

Alastaire Sooke of The Telegraph
“The secret behind their success is that they fuse an essentially American idea with a drizzly British sensibility”

Wayne Ford of Wayne Ford!
“Graham’s work remains faithful to its documentary origins – a commitment to life as it unfolds before the photographers lens”

Jonathan Dodds of The Illiterate Knife Rack
“…the photographs strike at the feelings and rage being experienced and expressed by a whole new generation of working class people in this country.”

Gerry Badger writing for the BJP
“He never repeats himself, never stands still and, while he has certain concerns revolving broadly around the nature of the photographic document (although he rightly hates the “D” word, as he calls it), treats each new project as a beginning, approaching the medium each time from first principles”

Liz Joney of The Guardian (Review of catalogue)
“”Without the energy to interrogate yourself, you’re dead,” Graham once said, and one of his strengths as an artist is his mutability. He is constantly testing what photography is capable of.

- Matt


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