This article is reproduced from the May 1967 issue of Camera Owner magazine Issue number 35 (the precursor of Creative Camera magazine) and was written by Carl Wildeblood. It relates to the articles on this site about the modfot one exhibition published here and here.
modfot one::The frontispiece of the slim catalogue produced by Bill Jay to accompany the 1967 exhibition of the same name.
When I was seeking information on the seminal 1967 photographic exhibition Modfot One I corresponded with Sir George Pollock at some length. He was most helpful and provided a wealth of photocopied information as well as many of his own recollections in response to my queries.
It seemed most appropriate to reproduce these recollections almost verbatim, as they give a concise background to the origins of the show and the climate for photography at the time. I have included my questions, followed by Sir George’s responses.
Alexey Brodovitch (American, 1898-1971) was a graphic designer, photographer and teacher who had an immense influence on the lives of many famous photographers who have, in turn, done much to shape the way we view photography today.
You can read a good description of his background here, but perhaps equally relevant to this article are the names of some of the photographers who were fortunate enough to work with and learn from him: Tony Ray-Jones, John Benton Harris, Hiro, Lillian Bassman, Diane Arbus, Eve Arnold, Richard Avedon, Lisette Model, Gary Winogrand, the list goes on…
In January 2010, I watched a hugely entertaining TV programme about the photographer Duffy (1933-2010): ‘The Man Who Shot the 60s‘ (read about it on BBC iPlayer, watch it on YouTube – five sections). I’ve always been a great admirer of the work of Brian Duffy, who died later that same year.
In 1971, the late Peter Soar, a Cambridge solicitor and keen amateur photographer, set about recording the last days of the parts of Cambridge city centre destined to be demolished to make way for major redevelopment.
He also photographed the area during construction and after most of it was completed. The resulting photographs are published here for the first time in three sets. The first taken mostly before or at the start of redevelopment; the second during; and the third when it was nearing completion. Continue reading “Peter Soar – Cambridge 1970s”
Christopher Alexander, architect, is also the founding father of the Pattern Language movement in computer science, and author of A Pattern Language, the seminal work that was perhaps the first complete book ever written in hypertext fashion. The page on my old website that referenced his ‘Elements of Style’ got a surprising number of hits, so I’ve decided to include it here.
The cover of the exhibition catalogue for ‘The Land’.
My memory is a bit vague, but the exhibition entitled ‘The Land; Twentieth Century Landscape Photographs‘, at London’s Hayward Gallery in 1975, was most likely the first major photographic exhibition that I ever visited.
It was certainly the first exhibition to leave a lasting imprint on me – and my visual awareness.
Selected by Bill Brandt, it comprised 200 photographs of landscape from which he selected 48 to be included in the accompanying catalogue published by Gordon Fraser.
This is a fairly open category that contains articles about people, photography, and associated topics in which I have an interest and that have influenced my thinking and practice. They will usually relate to my understanding and appreciation of the medium, its history, and the way it is used. It is a kind of ‘blog’ except that these articles are often not connected to any timeline. Oh, there is a Blog too, which contains some current musings.
But first, it seems that every site must have some autobiographical statement to put the author in context, so here’s mine.
Years ago, I came across a tattered little book entitled ‘Wayside Snapshots’ in a second-hand bookshop. Looking through it, I was quite taken by the style and approach of some of the photographs. It was by a photographer I’d never heard of – Hugo van Wadenoyen. It was published in 1947, I shelved it with my other photobook curiosities and forgot about it for a while. Continue reading “Hugo van Wadenoyen (1892-1959)”
Last reviewed/updated: Wednesday, February 9, 2022
In January 2010, I watched a hugely entertaining TV programme about the photographer Duffy (1933-2010): ‘The Man Who Shot the 60s‘ (read about it on BBC iPlayer, watch it on YouTube – five sections). I’ve always been a great admirer of the work of Brian Duffy, who died later that same year.
