Falo y Faro

Dos reflejos distintos

El ojo de Laura. Los labios de Madame.

Estos son apenas dos retazos minúsculos de dos mujeres a las que amé inmensamente en mi vida.

It was...

It was Sunday morning.
It was announced for nearly a week.
It was made out to be a killer storm but in the end it was sweet.
It was blue and full of footprints underneath the balcony.
It was also reminiscent of many winters past.
It was beautiful as snow always is.
It was a sign of times moving.

Portrait of Sadie Hennessy

Sadie Hennessy, local artiste and promoter of all things good in this small town in the Southeast English Coast, came this past week to the Wednesday Studio Sessions and sat for this portrait. Well, not quite this one, since it is digital and therefore anathema to my orthodox black and white film practice.
I am in the process of drying my 120 film and anxious to see what her portraits look like.
For the time being, Sadie's many fans will have to be patient and wait until the real thing comes along.

Pordioseros de aquí y de allá

Esta pequeña serie debe más a la curiosidad del fotógrafo que a la malicia del ojo inspirado por el morbo. Cerca de treinta años separan estas fotografías, tomadas en el sur de Ecuador las dos primeras y en Barcelona las segundas. Nada hay entre ellas que las distinga unas de otras, la miseria se da por igual en todas partes.

Young Spanish Girl (Marina)

Marcus (Sparky) Griffiths experimenting with light

Last year I discovered a few files left behind by some of my students from previous years.
These images here belong to the work done by Sparky close to five years ago. To see them now fills me with yearnings for the past, considering that 2008 was one of the most fertile years of my teaching life. It was a time of discovery for some very talented students (Tom, Rob, Marcus, Charlie, Alix) and also a time for entering a new space in my already long career as a photographer.
Saying goodbye to some of them every summer confirms once again the impending closing of yet another door in my life.
So I show these pictures here as an homage to my crazy boys and girls of years past. With much respect and great affection.

I dreamt I had my portrait taken by Martín Chambi

Last year I saw a great retrospective exhibition of the work of Martin Chambi. I had seen parts of his artistic legacy here and there but nothing had prepared me to be blown away by the gigantic reach of his vision. His enduring images of the Peruvian poor had stayed with me since.
These past few weeks at home have given me the opportunity to play with ideas in self-portraiture, albeit in a smaller scale, and decided to pay homage to such an artist.

Homage to Cecil Beaton

This self-portrait was taken in the spirit of the great English photographer Cecil Beaton. Needless to say it looks all a bit faulty given the meagre setting but in the end it is my own interpretation of the feathery and wildly flamboyant artist.

A day in College in the eyes of Robert Clark

I have rescued these images from an old exercise in comparing and analysing the surrounding college environment through the eyes of one of my former students. Five years ago the world seemed so much different than what it feels today.

All pictures copyright Rob Clark