Back In London.

I'm finally back in London after time away visiting family and friends. It was good to have some time away. Went out a lot, ate too much & drank too. The big family news was my sister just getting engaged - congratulations again you two :)

Arrived back to go and see a band I'll be photographing soon. I'm also starting to lay out a book of my music & portrait work, possibly via the Blurb Online bookstore at first (I love any kind of self-publishing), so if you're interested in purchasing a copy when its ready send me an email and I'll let you know all the details.

Personal Photograph, Boston.

Boston, MA © Michael Robert Williams

Posting the portraits of Joshua Rifkin yesterday reminded I had this photograph that I took while in Boston too. I think it was the day after I did the Rifkin portrait shoot, I was just walking down by the river. I guess I just liked the scene. I always take a few photographs of the city I'm in if I'm away working, I'll try to stay an extra day if there is time. These are the photographs that usually make up the 'Personal' section on my portfolio site, photographs grabbed quickly while I'm away.

Joshua Rifkin Portraits.

Joshua Rifkin, Boston, MA © Michael Robert Williams

These are four of the portraits I shot in Boston of the American conductor, keyboard player, and musicologist Joshua Rifkin. I've mentioned the shoot in a previous post but this is the first time I could put the portraits up as I had to wait for them to run in a magazine in Spain. I think the second and third ran in the magazine feature along with a couple of others. The first and fourth are two from the shoot that I really like. This shoot was also digital, I'm used to it now and happy to use it. Seems I've got over my early issues, mainly involving colour on digital. The portraits were taken at Joshua's home in Boston, and another place nearby. The feature ran in black & white but I personally really like this first colour portrait.

Joshua Rifkin, Boston, MA

Joshua Rifkin, Boston, MA

Joshua Rifkin, Boston, MA © Michael Robert Williams

'Gee, I Don’t Know.'

Maybe because he often didn't seem to say very much people don't often comment on Andy Warhol's humour but he had a great dry sense of humour. These are two of his comments on photography;

'Photographers feel guilty that all they do for a living is press a button.'
-- Andy Warhol
'My idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person.'
-- Andy Warhol

Out Of Town For A Few Days.

Congleton, July 2008

I've left for a few days to visit family. I'm staying at my parents in the home I grew up in. They still live in the same house in Congleton, a small town in the North West, just south of Manchester.
I went for a walk last night as the sun was starting to go down. I walked down this path that leads to the fields and brook near my parents home and came to the small bridge over the brook. I used to hang around here with friends when I was a kid but I haven't been to it for years now. Its getting overgrown now but we used to hang around here some evenings, it was our private place. We could do whatever we wanted; but that usually just meant we'd talk and joke around, meet up here. I remember sometimes later drinking beer here that we’d ‘borrowed’ from home. I must have been about twelve I guess when I first went here.
There wasn't much to do in Congleton.
When you're a little older you can go into town in the evening, but this bridge was my meeting place, and still somewhere I could go as a teenager when I wanted some time on my own.
It was strange being on it again last night. Its overgrown, and looks much smaller to me as an adult, but I could sit and watch the sunset...

Nostalgic & sentimental post over. :)

'I Like To Look At Pictures...'

'I like to look at pictures, all kinds. And all those things you absorb come out subconsciously one way or another. You'll be taking photographs and suddenly know that you have resources from having looked at a lot of them before. There is no way you can avoid this. But this kind of subconscious influence is good, and it certainly can work for one. In fact, the more pictures you see, the better you are as a photographer.' -- Robert Mapplethorpe

In The Studio With The Subways

The Subways (& Me)

Recent studio session with The Subways. This is me photographing them (shot by my friend Simon) against a white background in a studio in West London. I think it must have been the hottest day in June and there we are in a studio! Still, it was a fun shoot. I like The Subways, they're really nice and professional. I've photographed them before, maybe two years ago when their first album was out. Their second is just out. I'll post a couple of my actual portraits from the session here very soon once they've run.