Manufactured Perfection

"The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection."

- Joe Orton, 1950. (British Playwright)

Captured in Topshop, Basement. Southampton.

- Domesticated Ape

My Three Ladies of Music...

Cat Power, Ebba Forsberg & Tina Dikcow / Dico

I love finding new music; I don’t mean new to the world but new to my ears. It’s the moment when I first hear a song and absolutely fall in love with it. This is usually followed with me desperately hoping that the rest of the album will follow suite. Its a great feeling when the musician is consistent and I find myself with a back catalogue of their music to catch up on.

Ebba Forsberg, Cat Power and Tina Dickow / Dico are the three ladies mentioned in the title. All of who are my favourite female musicians right now. They are authentic artists, they have style, personality and most importantly, they have soul, which is a difficult combination to find amongst musician today.

I could get all sentimental and say things like how their music moves me and stuff like that, but I won’t do that. Instead I will simply exhibit their music here and let you make your own judgment. I feel their music means something different to everyone and it would be difficult to foresee what each person would take away from these ladies. That is the nature of music after all.

Cat Power

I first heard Cat Power when she performed on ‘Live with Jools Holland’. She took me by surprise to be honest; I just didn’t expect that voice to come from her. Cat’s performance also struck me as odd, well, it’s a bit quirky! Cat Power was an instant favourite of mine.

The Greatest

Lived in Bars

Ebba Forsberg

Ebba Forsberg is a fairly obscure singer and song writer from Sweden, which is where I happened to come across her music. Her style tends to be folk to folk rock and by god she does it well! Of course her voice was what initially drew me to her music but I found the musical production accompanying Ebba worked flawlessly.

You Owe Me



Committed

Tina Dickow / Dico

I was introduced to Tina Dickow’s music by a friend via her righteous iPod. Katrine played me a great song called ‘No Time to Sleep’ and at first I was a bit sceptical, I was just unsure whether Tina’s album would live up to that song. Was it a diamond in the dirt? No way, It was a diamond in a bag of fat jewels! (don’t hate me for that one). Tina’s talent for song writing is crazy good and her vocals expresses those lyrics perfectly, I just adore her music.
It's another pretty good export from Denmark.

No Time to Sleep

You Know Better

Cruel to the Sensitive Kind

- Domesticated Ape

Meet Lennon...

“No absolute is going to make the lion lie down with the lamb
unless the lamb is inside it”

- David H. Lawrence, 1916. (British Writer).

Captured in the Emanuelson's House. Västerås, Sweden.

He is named after John Lennon, of course.

- Domesticated Ape

The Now, The Here...

"The now, the here,
Through which all future
plunges to the past."

- Jame Joyce, 1922. (Irish Writer).

Captured in Playa del Ingles, Gran Canaria. Spain.

- Domesticated Ape

Francis Bacon

I am very new to the work of Francis Bacon, but in the last few weeks I have noticed and have become fascinated by his paintings, he is fast becoming my favorite artist.

Three Figures in a Room - 1964

Head VI - 1949

Bacon is well known for his nightmarish paintings of people and animals, often distorted with splatters of paint. His paintings leave me feeling haunted and a bit weirded out but you also can't help but think what led Bacon to paint each image. Many of his painting have explanations or at least a clear concept which help us understand the painting as well as the painter.

George Dyer

I have not seen any of Francis Bacon original work as yet. However, on 11th September Tate Britain opened an exhibition showing his most famous works, including The Pope Innocent X and Three Studies for a Crucifixion. This exhibition has priority on my to do list before it moves on to New York early next year.

Two Figures - 1953

Francis Bacon 1909 - 1992

"My painting is a representation of life, my own life above all,
which has been very difficult. So perhaps my painting is very violent,
but this is natural to me."

- Francis Bacon

The Francis Bacon exhibition is now showing at Tate Britain up until 4th January 2009. Visit Tate Britain for more info or Francis-bacon.com to learn more about the man himself.

- Domesticated Ape

The Sleeping Beauties

"Your skin like dawn,
Mine like dusk,
One paints the beginning
of a certain end.
The other, the end
of a sure beginning."

- Maya Angelou, 1986. (U.S. Writer)

Captured in Topshop, Basement. Southampton.

- Domesticated Ape

Hôtel Des Invalides

“If the doors of perception were cleansed
every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.”

- William Blake, 1793. (British poet, painter & mystic)

Captured in Paris, France.

These are the doors to Hôtel Des Invalides in Paris which was once a veterans home. The building also contains Napoleon’s tomb.

- Domesticated Ape

Meet Wynter...

“The mind of a cat is an inscrutable mystery, beyond human reach, the least human of all creatures and, at the same time, as any cat-owner will attest, the most intelligent.”

- Lewis Thomas, 1974. (Physician & Writer)

Captured in Stratford, East London.

Wynter is the newest feline member of 40 Chobham Road in East London. She was taken in after being found wandering aimlessly around Stratford High Street. She is now living in a lively house with two other cats, Sabin and Shelton.

- Domesticated Ape

Thou Winter Wind...

"Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As a man's ingratitude"

- William Shakespeare, 1599. (Poet & Playwright)

Captured in Suunansjö, Dalarna - Sweden.

- Domesticated Ape

Atonement - Dunkirk Beach, 1940.

Image from Dneg.com

I love beautifully captured scenes. Scenes which have the ability to flush back distant memories of emotions you forgot you ever felt. That split second reaction unfortunately doesn't happen too often for me but has given me a great love for film.

Atonement has a great scene set in 1940 on Dunkirk beach during the evacuation of British soldiers after they had been cut off by the German army (See video below). Joe Wright captures this single scene which runs for over five minutes beautifully. He manages to portray the grim reality of death, struggle and survival that these men had to face as they waited. Props to Wright for getting an important and technically challenging scene just right.

Image from Dneg.com

Of course Joe Wright deserves a great deal of credit for his skills as a director but through out the movie the cinematography, the cast and the musical score had been second to none. Visually, this movie is bad ass!

This clip is just for previewing. You can buy the DVD from Play.com

- Domesticated Ape

Summer Afternoon...The Two Words.

"Summer afternoon to me have always been t
he two most beautiful words in the English Language"

- Henry James, 1934. (British Writer & Critic)

Captured in Fullerö, Västmanland - Sweden.

- Domesticated Ape

The Chemical Brothers - Midnight Madness

So The Chemical Brothers have done it again. I heard this track for the first time on the wireless whilst cleaning the bathroom just a few weeks ago. Although I had been dispensing elbow grease big time, not to mention wearing yellow washing gloves and boxers (yes, I just wear boxers when cleaning the bathroom), I couldn't help but put the Mr Muscle aside and sit in front of the radio and have a good old listen.

As a student of music, I tend to pick apart music by imagining the creative process and the method to creating each sound. The Chemical Bro's use of samples are beyond me and I can't grasp their creative process on it. 'Midnight Madness' does just that. The sample of what sounds like a trumpet (which I'm sure I've heard in its original form before) is chopped up in to section and then reconstructed, perfectly.

Its NICE bit of electronic music along with a NICELY made 'low budget look' video, with a funky dude dancing about. Its great to see that a dance music video doesn't have to be all about tits and arse.

Check out The Chemical Brothers to download 'Midnight Madness' and more info.

- Domesticated Ape

Council Estate of Mind

“Same city, different planet from Buckingham Palace”

- Akala, 2005. (British Rapper)

Captured in Bethnal Green - Shoreditch, London.

I took this shot around Bethnal Green - Shoreditch area. It represents London’s over populated urban decay.

- Domesticated Ape

Because We All Get Lonely

“If with me you’d fondly stray,
Over the hills and far away.”

- John Gay, 1728. (English Poet & Playwright)

Captured in Topshop, Staff toilets. Southampton.
Manipulated with Photoshop.

When taking this shot, all that ran through my head was 'what would my work mates think if they walk in and I’ve got my camera pointed towards the urinals?' So I was quick to take the shot and left with my dignity.

This is my first post...congrats ME! But, this image is from a back catalog of my work. As soon as I get my life sorted I'll have day to day photography including street fashion. Until then I'm digging out my golden oldies!

- Domesticated Ape.

Greetings! (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Hey folks| Welcome to my brand-spanking new blog. I'm a music student with a love for photography. As my passion for music is getting my full attention at university, I felt my photography may be getting neglected. Which is why I have created this blog.

So check back soon (a few days-ish), and the blog should be up and running by then.

- Domesticated Ape.