THE F BLOG HEADQUARTERS

jr doctor in action

Gruppo F keeps the summer alive in each and everyone.

for bad and the good guys

The Gruppo F site

Please have a look at the brand new Gruppo F site. You will find Gruppo F news, posters, profiles and more to come! There is a permanent link in the sidebar as well.

Gtbg just got better

It's all about F.

celebrating a princess

About: The F Blog

Photo: Fredrik Skott, author of The F Blog

The Swedish Photo Magazine Kamera & Bild has published an article about The F Blog. It is already on the magazine´s site on the web and the paper edition of the magazin will soon be out. We decided to make a version in English based on our answers from the interview given to the magazine.

About the basic idea of The F Blog
Love of photography is the essential ingredient. The photographic image is powerful - an equally important link for communication between people as the written word or language. We want to present and promote good photography by offering a platform for photographers to show their work.

In Coa Valley, Portugal, archaeologists found stone carvings dated 25,000 BC. They exist in the open - an early exhibition of images. Pictures - the first children's drawings, Starry Night by Van Gogh, giant pictures on advertising boards, graffiti - we are surrounded every day by thousands of images.

The F Blog is about the photographic image, once explored by the ancient Greek philosophers. Aristotle wrote about the pinhole, the enigmatic dark room, and the camera obscura - the light's ability to reflect and rebuild the surrounding world in images. The magic lives on to this day, even if the technology is refined.The F Blog draws its energy from this source, fascination before the photographic image, and dedication to its performers and its ability to communicate.

Photo: Markus Andersson, author of the F blog

About why it was started
From the beginning it was supposed to act as glue between us, who were in the Gruppo F. A spot on the web where we could present our photos and tell about good photography on the net, but within a week it had evolved into something so much more… in such a large group, there was a lot of ambition and it just exploded- in a positive way!

About the name “The F Blog”
We were twelve photographers who exhibited at Gallery Korn during late winter of 2006 and the exhibition was called F12. When we started the group, we knew that twelve was an elusive number and Group F, or rather Gruppo F was more appropriate. In connection with our website, we created the blog in which only the “F” remained: The F blog.

Then there are a lot of good words (some bad too) that begin with F. As fotografi, form, färg, facts and fantasi! Not to mention förälskad, fördomsfri, folk, fresco and färdkost. A fanfare!

(fotografi=photography, färg=colour, fantasi=fantasy, förälskad=in love, fördomsfri=unprejudiced, folk=people, färdkost= lunch pack)

Photo: Anders Blomqvist, author of The F Blog

About the authors
We are 21 photographers/authors who publish on The F Blog. Two-thirds (14) of us are from Sweden, four are from the United States and three are from Poland. We are between 23 and 57 years old - nine are women. It is good that we are a diverse and large group. It gives the blog pulse, energy and variety. In addition to us who publish there are many photographers who send images or texts.

About changes of the content
The F Blog is changing all the time; developing without any specific direction, or in many different directions. We, who run the blog are far from being of the same taste when it comes to photography. The diversity is our strength.

The changes are also naturally due to that new members have joined and new formations have emerged, both within and outside the blog. Some of the blog-members have taken a timeout and then they come back with new fresh ideas. Even the communication with readers and their contribution has affected us in new directions.

Photo: Raúl Ortega, invited photographer

About invited photographers
First and foremost we think of the pictures we have seen of the photographer, what they give us as viewers. Sometimes we want to present a series of photos from his or her work. But in most cases, we ask the photographer to choose from among his or her images. It feels right. We are not "curators" and it will be a direct communication from photographer to photographer/author.

Photo: Joakim Eskildsen, invited photographer

About Graciela Iturbide winner of the Hasselblad award 2008

It was great that Graciela herself chose a few photos and that she gave us an interview. She is an example of a photographer who is not exposed on the Internet in any significant degree. It is great to be able to present such photographers for our readers-but they need not necessarily be famous.

Photo: Graciela Iturbide, invited photographer

About what we want to give our visitors
If we in any way can contribute to bring an interest in photography as art form,then we have succeeded with the blog. The meetings between unknown and famous photographers is very stimulating and inspiring. It is developing on a personal level.

The word inspiration is a good summary. We also want to develop our reader’s ability to "think with their eyes" borrowing a few words from Kurt Bergengren.

About the reactions
Many people have written, and praised The F Blog, which makes us happy and gives extra energy to continue this project.

About our plans for The F Blog in the future
To make a book would be fun. We talk a lot about it and we are about to establish contacts. We really hope to be able to realize the idea of a book and also strengthen the ties between our virtual blog and the physical, "real" world.

There are many ideas for exhibitions based on The F Blog. In the blog's archives there are more than 6,000 photos… The blog as such, we would like to reflect what is going on in the world, how we think in pictures, and what it means. It does not mean that we only show documentary photography. On the contrary - what we might call the “state of the world” is sometimes a glance in a portrait, a mood, and a photographer’s way to see…

We would also like to tell more about photography as an art form and its history. We do that already to some extent, but it would be great to be able to present original articles by different authors. The language of the blog is English, which opens up great opportunities. More than one billion people can read the F Blog.

About the strategy
We do not have a clue what will appear on the blog tomorrow. None of us has a direct information about what the other authors are up to, so it is just as exciting for us check out the blog every day. You never know what to expect. All are not involved even in the biggest interviews. So, there is no strategy.

We have a motto, which means that the blog should be "unpredictable, unpretentious and unmatched." We strive to be self-confident and humble at the same time. To not know what comes next is a part of the blog's charm.

Quite often a series of blog posts arises in response to images or texts that someone posted. It becomes a spontaneous chain of inspiration / associations - a creative chaos.

About our visitors
Our visitors come from all five continents. Still, about half of our visitors are from Sweden, but we are glad to see that we get more international visitors day by day. Most visitors in addition to Sweden are from the United States, Poland, Italy, Canada and Denmark. But it varies, depending on what happens on the blog. Quite a few are from Mexico, Taiwan, Hungary and France.

Remember this?

Remember this? Anno 2006. Sur Jul and something about the F blog as an autonomous organism, unpredictable and contstantly in motion. Andlöst exiting. In Swedish or Gurgle English.

New member of Gruppo F!

hello f, I love you!
© m. agejev (2007).

Things are moving on the F blog!
Gruppo F is very glad to welcome another devoted photographer.
His name is M. Agejev and he lives in Moscow, Russia.

Stay tuned for some more of his work!

Gruppo F photographer featured in NY Arts Magazine

Gruppo F photographer Marcin Górski is featured
in the September-October issue of the New York based
NY Arts Magazine Good to see you here, there
and everywhere Marcin. /urbano
Picture by Mikael Jansson

F-ers real faces

thanx Lina F-ers became recently less mysterious...

Helena Nilsson joins Gruppo F

Gruppo F is glad to welcome another woman devoted to
the art of photography. Her name is Helena Nilsson.
Things are moving on the F blog!


"Photography is pure passion to me, nothing I do
professionally, just something I have to do to survive...
like breathing or something. I´ve always created in
some way...and even at an early age I wanted to become
an artist...but when my dad discovered smudged oil paint
everywhere in the house he forbid me to make my
"masterpieces". Just as good...I don´t think I had what it
took...most of all real talant or patience.

Then I discovered photography...I remember the moment
when I first laid my hands on a camera...I was so hooked!
There´s something so immediate with taking a photograph...
it allows me to express myself in a way I´ve never felt before
...it´s addictive!!!!

So here I am at the F Blog...an exposed addict:)"
/Helena Nilsson

Lina "Umma" Nääs joins Gruppo F

I read in the paper today that by 00:00 tonight the transfer-market for European footballplayers will open. The owner of Inter, Massimo Moratti, is about to spend about 1 milion euros on new players. On top of his list is Lionel Messi of Barcelona.

That would be quite spectacular but nothing like what we are about to present to you now - another new member of the F Blog. Her name is Lina "Umma" Nääs and some of her earlier are to be found in the archives.

Over to Lina

Hello F Blog, Here's Umma

Joanna Kinowska joins Gruppo F

A new year, a new member of Gruppo F. Her name is Joanna Kinowska.
We are delighted. Things are moving on the F Blog. Over to Joanna!

trapani / sicilia / .it / 06

i´m art historian, specialised in photography. working at
zacheta national gallery of fine arts in warsaw. I´m coordinator
of the meetings cycle with major Polish photographers. as zachęta
representative, part of the program council of the gallery obok
ZPAF (small gallery under the direction of union of Polish
photographers). i’m author and instructor of photography workshops
for the young.member of ...już późno group (it's late) and the
international one Terzoocchio.

lodz / .pl / 03

lipari / sicilia / .it / 05

i'm interested in making some pleasant photos, nice portraits with
powerful colors. that's why i prefer to use cross processing. in
black&white photography i'm trying to picture the daily life. it's not
the reportage in it's definition, cause there's nothing important there.
just normal people, normal life, daily things.

zacheta / warszawa / .pl / 06

sometimes i'm making pictures in my work. here's a performance
of Shaun Leonardo during the opening night of "Black Alphabet"
exhibition.

archive / warszawa / .pl / 06

i'm addicted to music, of course, so i often picture some tones and
motives in my photos. lately i'm in cooperation with internet cultural
magazine as concert photographer: www.independent.pl

The F Blog - where things are moving

The F blog is a place where the unexpected constantly happens. Seventeen editors working independently of each other assure the readers that things are moving – and not just in one direction. I guess this is crucial for their ultimate goal, to make you see what you don´t notice.

The blog has become the photography blog for huge numbers of readers from all over the world. To this date, fifty photographers – famous, infamous and unknown – have been invited to exhibit their work on the blog.

Among the invited guests, one will recognise established artists like Gerry Johansson, Loretta Lux, Diego Levy, Michael Kenna, Joy Goldkind, Mika Kaurismäki, Alec Soth, Joanna Kinowska, Artur Allan Willman, and more. The F Blog is not only for the established artists, however, as many publicly unknown photographic talents and other talented photographers have been invited to participate on the blog. Again, with seventeen editors, the choice of invited guests, known or unknown, is never going to be predictable. Having a mixture of guests is the best guarantee that this will always be the case. You will find all invited guests here.

The F blog was launched in September 2006 and has already in November generated half a thousand posts. It´s a meeting place where readers find that photography is the sole and obvious focus of attention, in the photographs presented, the articles published and the guests invited. It is, in all its glorious simplicity, a blog about photography, with photographs, by photographers.

The F blog strives to maintain a creative dialogue with its readers. To do this, everyone is encouraged to make spontaneous submissions to the Gruppo F inbox. The F people tell me that they welcome photographs, articles on photography, and other things related to photography. They consider these submissions an essential and additional dialogue with the readers. Since photography in itself, is about communication, this is something that the F blog cherishes.

Of course, the seventeen editors are keen publishers and they submit posts on an almost daily basis. Clearly, there are seventeen individuals expressing their views. Some are keen writers and some prefer posting pictures only. To add to the creative diversity, some members also appear on the blog using a nickname, usually showing hilarious things.

Beside the blog, Group F is devoting time and energy to stage exhibitions, both on a national and international level.

This place is insane.

But I love it!

Nenne Gulden

Good morning Sweden from the backyard of the Queen of the Darkroom

Calling All Devoted

- Who are we? Asks Abeku
- A bunch of lonesome heroes, says Urbano

Photo: Anders Blomqvist

F12 now F17

All the sudden we are now 17. Additional members are Jeanette Hägglund, Christofer Grandin, Joakim Sebring, Fredrik Skott, and Mats Äleklint.
For a closer look at old and new members, please visit: http://abeku.web.surftown.se/f/12f_2.htm