Flower Friday

...with a twist. Fading tulips in a glass vase. I hope this will meet the Friday challenge requirements.

Photo London is apparently the biggest fair of its kind - there were over 80 of the world's leading galleries exhibiting the work of some very famous photographers. There was so much to see and I barely touched the surface in the time I was there, one needs to spend a whole day there but then that would be quite exhausting. There is no guide as to which photographer is with which gallery, so if you did not know the name of the gallery representing the photographer you wanted to see it took time to find his work. I only had time to see the highlights as recommended by a review  - Don McCullin, who has been named Master of Photography, was a highlight, and his work had the biggest space which was well curated in a dark room with back lighting which was very atmospheric. Some of the work was puzzling as to why it was even there - I have seen better photos on Blip! 

I was desperate to see the work of Nick Brandt, and I was not disappointed. Huge prints from his 'Inherit the Dust' collection filled one room and I was spellbound. I bought a signed copy of this collection and as I said to Gavin when I got home, at £45 the book was a whole lot cheaper than if I had bought one of his prints at £70 000! If you don't know his work, look here. His message is powerful and his work is superb - he shoots on film using a medium format camera. This latest collection was shot in the slums around the cities of Kenya, where he installed huge billboards of 'portraits' of animals he had previously photographed. They are very evocative and thought provoking.