invited photographer: Xavier Ribas

These pictures from Barcelona by Xavier Ribas have touched me in a very special way - they speak of people with relatively free minds, still able to create a kind of paradise right in the middle of nowhere.

The great Spanish photographer Joan Fontcuberta describes it well: "Quite spontaneously, people preserve, manage and recycle these spaces, effectively keeping them out of the efficient, productive order of the city: places for walking, sunbathing, picknicking, sport and exercise…It seems paradoxical that these spaces –not yet codified, as yet without regulation- are where people still have a chance to take the initiative." (from text on Xavier Ribas’ photographs in BLINK, Phaidon Press, London 2002).

I am glad that Xavier accepted this invitation to The F Blog. As a quite frequent visitor to his city they remind me of "el Mediterráneo." I was not born there, but I have felt the magic. /Ulf

"En la ladera de un monte,
más alto que el horizonte.
Quiero tener buena vista.
Mi cuerpo será camino,
le daré verde a los pinos
y amarillo a la genista.
Cerca del mar. Porque yo
nací en el Mediterráneo."
- Joan Manuel Serrat
























Xavier Ribas was born in Barcelona in 1960. He lives and works in Brighton and Barcelona.

Studies of Social Anthropology at the University of Barcelona (1990) and Documentary Photography at the Newport School of Art and Design (1993). Since 2000 he is Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton and visiting Lecturer at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (since 2004).

Xavier Ribas has participated in numerous exhibitions in many countries. Just to mention a few from recent years:

Solo exhibitions
2006 Invisible Structures, Galeria ProjecteSD, Barcelona, Spain
2005 Espacios transitorios. Fotoencuentros, Colegio de Arquitectos, Murcia, Spain
2002 Salamanca. A Photographic Project, Centro de Arte Contemporaneo, Salamanca, Spain

Group exhibitions
2008
L'arxiu universal. La condició del document i la utopía fotogràfica moderna. Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Oct 2008- Jan 2009.
Nou-Now. Contemporary Catalan Photography. F-Stop International Photography Festival, Leipzig.
2007
Beyond The Country. Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Ireland. Curated by Matt Packer
Itinerarios Afines. 10 Fotógrafos españoles. Canton Photo Biennial. Curated by Olive María Rubio
European Parliament, Goethe Institut, Frankfurt, 2007 (touring)
Non Tutte le Strade Portano a Roma, Fotografia International Photography Festival, Rome

Please visit Xavier Ribas homepage to find out more.
All photos © Xavier Ribas
invited by ulf fågelhammar

lost in the city...

warsaw/08

Paul Strand retrospective in Galicia, Spain

the F blog
When in Galicia, Spain you should not miss the opportunity to see the first ever retrospective exhibition to be held in Spain of the work of Paul Strand (New York City, 1890 – Orgeval, France, 1976). The exhibition, is the first full retrospective of Strand’s work to be held in Europe for at least thirty years. The exhibition is presented by The Fundación Pedro Barrié de la Maza and is held in A Coruña from through 14 September and in Vigo, from 2 October to 11 January 2009.

invited photographer: Tread

"..from a series of images captured in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco Mexico a Mexican vacation spot once frequented by the Hollywood elite...now more for wealthy Canadians on tour boats. I purposely chose to not photograph the impoverished locals or day workers who make their livings based upon the tourist economy and instead just tried to capture moments that transcend locale and speak only of vacation for us members of the working class..."


















Text and photos © Tread

Tread was first invited to the F Blog in June 2007. It is good to have him back. Please visit his blog and website for more. invited by ulf fågelhammar
web: www.gotreadgo.com
blog: gotreadgo.blogtog.com

Gordon Chapman becomes an author on the F Blog

I must say that I'm thrilled to be invited to become an author on the F blog. For me, the F blog is the most exciting photography site and most of my favourite contemporary photographers are already authors here or post on the site. I've been pleased to be an invited guest and to post here from time to time - you will know me by my initials - GC.

Photographers celebrate the world with a heightened visual passion, and I believe the world responds to that enthusiasm by providing us amazing things to photograph. I live in a small village just outside of Ottawa, and almost all of my photographs are taken within walking distance of my house or workplace.



I have been taking pictures since I first borrowed my sister's Brownie a very long time ago. Other than as a stint as a photojournalist in the 1970's I been doing it just for my own amusement. I shot with 35mm for a very long time, and then became absorbed with digital cameras. I loved the instant feedback one can get from a digital camera and I think that more than anything, using them allowed me to really understand how one can manipulate an image by understanding a camera's unique characteristics and how they respond to different settings. Ironically, shooting with digital led me back to shooting with film more often.

A few years ago I had something of a photographic ephiphany when my friend and F blogger Rhonda Prince sent me a Diana camera. I believe that she said something like "you need one of these". I circled around it for some time - it was an odd little beast, and parts of it kept falling off. I finally loaded it - the first time I'd handled medium format film in years - and began a love affair with the Diana that continues. I really think she has a vision of her own, so I subtitle my Diana shots "Dianavision" because she really is more than a camera, she is my co-conspirator.



I'm now shooting with a mixed bag of medium format, 35mm, and digital cameras and it probably speaks to my passion (or obsession with...!) photography that I seldom go anywhere with out at least three cameras.

I'm very happy to join the F blog and look forward to enjoying the amazing images that the authors and contributors post on the blog and sharing mine with you.

Images from Dublin

Photos: Mark Granier

Bedtime reading

Trees: Surya Bai

Photo: Gyula Fazakas

Afternoon

Photographer: Anton Olin

On thinking it over...

They That Are Left

"For the past 5 years on Remembrance day I have been shooting portraits of veterans, the portraits are all shot in the same style, crop etc, I am aiming to keep shooting it for at least another 5 years. The project is based around the concept of The Unknown Soldier.















Each year they are older, and as they do indeed grow old, as age does weary them and as the years do now condemn them more to what they still remember than to our truly remembering what they fought for (which is very simple : us), they thus become unknown.

These faces then are as of unknown soldiers : no cap badges, no ribbons of spooling medals,no insignia for military rank. Faces, only. Each deep-etched with who they are and what they did, that we might look, and think -- and thank them."
Text and photos © Brian David Stevens
Have a look at: driftingcamera.blogspot.com

Trees

Photo: Szymon Kochanski (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

Face to Face (183)

Photographer: Anton Olin

Face to face (182)

Photo: Alek Lindus

extremely urgent

Photo: C.K.

New F-blog subject...just for fun!

As a young child I remember looking forward to rebus puzzles each month when my favorite children’s magazine arrived in the mail. The combination of pictures and words was always a delight to solve. And thanks to Ulf, I was reminded of them again recently.

So just for some F-un, why not create your own photo rebus puzzle? If you need some inspiration here is a site about the history of the rebus. My own very simple rebus is below. Enjoy!

Face to Face (181)

Photo: Joakim Sundkvist

It's (F)hursday!

photo: Jeanne Wells

I've been a day off all week. Usually I post the Friday Daily Print on Thursday, which is already Friday in Sweden anyway, and today is only Wednesday. Though it's Thursday in Sweden. Yesterday I went for an interview somewhere -- I thought it was Wednesday, but it was really Tuesday. So I had to go back again today, which was really Wednesday. Though honestly, it felt like Thursday.

If anybody know's who's on first, would you let me know?

Face to Face (179)

Photo: Mario Macaluso (Palermo, Italy)

invited photographer: Gerry Johansson

To me Gerry Johansson's Sverige [Sweden] is a great source of inspiration. The concept, consequence and, of course the photographs, makes the book to one of the foremost Swedish photo books. In the book Kvidinge (2007) Gerry Johansson follows the same track. But instead of Sweden he is now dealing with Kvidinge, a small town in the southern parts of Sweden. In my opinion this book is even more interesting than Sverige. Therefore, I am very happy to have the possibility to once again present Gerry Johansson as an invited photographer at the F blog. The series he has selected is from his book Kvidinge.








The book Kvidinge is only printed in 400 copies and is available from: mail@gerryjohansson.se. Soon Gerry Johansson will release a new book, Deutschland, on Steidl. Stay tuned to the F blog for more information. If you are in Stockholm sometime from September 4 to October 12 I strongly recommend a visit to Fotografins hus, where Gerry Johansson exhibit his project Deutschland. And don't forget to check out the earlier posts on The F blog about Gerry Johansson (here, here and here).

All photos © Gerry Johansson
Invited by Fredrik Skott