Tuesday, 17 November 2009
THANKS TO ALL THE BRIDE & GROOMS (CONCEPT WEDDING)
A BIG THANK YOU to all the bride & grooms and their family's i photographed this summer, it really was a pleasure to photograph you all. I am nearly booked up for next year and looking forward to another exciting year with great clients. A massive thanks to Kati who managed the wedding days magnificiently and made everyone feel relaxed and made the photography fun, as it should be. Below, in no particular order are just a few of my favourites from the thousands of special images taken.
Friday, 13 February 2009
INSTANT GRATIFICATION (SHERIDAN GALLERY)
In 2004 I produced a series of images entitled Apples Marshmallows & Hay. The series examined the culture of instant gratification and its repercusion. It seems that in the current financial climate the reprecusions have really taken hold. Below is short essay which accompanied the images.
APPLES MARSHMALLOWS & HAY
This series of constructed scenarios originate from personal experience and engage in social critique and exploration. They are an impression of a society that gives priority to instant gratification and self-obsession, what social theorist’s term infantilism. The images have an air of melancholy and isolation intended to reveal the repercussions of a commodity led escapism delivered to us through the dream machine of advertising. The works intention is to portray the gratification gained through commodities, ranging from drugs to fashion items, is short lived with no depth. “Consumption gives us the belief that we can fulfill our fantasies. But the actual pleasures afforded by consumption always fall short of that which we aspire. We are dissatisfied with reality, we therefore seize any pleasures consumption can offer. By doing so we sustain a constant longing an unfulfilled longing.”(Miles, 2001, p70)
The work questions the rationalization that brings us to consume what can gives instant gratification, with the knowledge that in the long term this consumption can be of detriment to others and ourselves. In a recent article on public health in the Guardian it was revealed that 69% of three year olds know the golden arches of McDonalds yet 50% of four year olds don’t know their own name. This statistic seems to compound where societies priorities lie, in commodities and instantaneity.
The work incorporates metaphors for temptation and instant gratification, in most scenarios avoiding any explicit representations of forms of instant gratification leaving the work open to interpretation with the intention of denying an instant reading. The work makes reference to psychological experimentation of the 60s, art history, and postmodern theory. The intention is to anchor readings and reveal the evident construction of the images and to negate photography as an evidential medium, in turn portraying photography as an emblematic, allegorical representation. The work draws an analogy to living in Plato’s cave of shadows, and not wanting to face the harsh light of reality. Also raising issues of living in an image bound culture, a world of superficiality and simulation, so avoiding a reality to which we are dissatisfied.
The work not only explores instant gratification but the reasons for this type of gratification. Research has been directed towards the “risk society”. Ironically the world represented in the security of our caves, can sensationalize the crime in our society. The world experienced through the media can lead society and especially the youth to take greater risks looking to escape the harsh realities of the represented world. “Furlong and Cartmel argue that young people have become especially vulnerable to the heightened sense of risk and individualization of experience that has characterized the move towards high modernity.” (Miles, 2001, p135). Parental concerns lead towards restricted freedom compared to the youth of the previous generation, the freedom that the parents had experienced when they were children. A response to this sense of heightened risk is to “curtail children’s activities in ways that may restrict their autonomy and their opportunities to develop the necessary skills to cope with the world.” (Scott et al, 1998, p701)
Living in an age of individualism and subjective truths, which no doubt has a positive impact on society, for example the tolerance of difference. However it is not without its negatives. There is a degradation of social values, community and a sense of belonging. According to a study Changing Britain, Changing Lives there has been a dramatic fall in participation in local communities. The study reveals that 60% of men born in 1946 were members of community and voluntary organisations in their 30s, but a dramatic drop to only 8% of those born in 1970. We are living in a society where every man is an island, increasing the individual’s pressures of everyday life, which in turn increases the desire for escapism and instant gratification. The combination of a society where individual pressures are increased and a new generation, which Scott suggests, is entering adulthood less able to cope with the harsh realities of the world is surely a matter of concern.
The nine images in this piece of work have no structured narrative, the intention is to give an overall impression of the aspects of society mentioned above. The use of non-diegetic inserts, a filmic terminology, such as the hay (fools gold), road kill (risk) and the garage of rubbish, disrupt the narrative flow with the intention to bring the spectator into the protagonists subconscious and emotions, also throwing light on the futility of instant gratification.
Gary Sheridan, 2004
APPLES MARSHMALLOWS & HAY
This series of constructed scenarios originate from personal experience and engage in social critique and exploration. They are an impression of a society that gives priority to instant gratification and self-obsession, what social theorist’s term infantilism. The images have an air of melancholy and isolation intended to reveal the repercussions of a commodity led escapism delivered to us through the dream machine of advertising. The works intention is to portray the gratification gained through commodities, ranging from drugs to fashion items, is short lived with no depth. “Consumption gives us the belief that we can fulfill our fantasies. But the actual pleasures afforded by consumption always fall short of that which we aspire. We are dissatisfied with reality, we therefore seize any pleasures consumption can offer. By doing so we sustain a constant longing an unfulfilled longing.”(Miles, 2001, p70)
The work questions the rationalization that brings us to consume what can gives instant gratification, with the knowledge that in the long term this consumption can be of detriment to others and ourselves. In a recent article on public health in the Guardian it was revealed that 69% of three year olds know the golden arches of McDonalds yet 50% of four year olds don’t know their own name. This statistic seems to compound where societies priorities lie, in commodities and instantaneity.
The work incorporates metaphors for temptation and instant gratification, in most scenarios avoiding any explicit representations of forms of instant gratification leaving the work open to interpretation with the intention of denying an instant reading. The work makes reference to psychological experimentation of the 60s, art history, and postmodern theory. The intention is to anchor readings and reveal the evident construction of the images and to negate photography as an evidential medium, in turn portraying photography as an emblematic, allegorical representation. The work draws an analogy to living in Plato’s cave of shadows, and not wanting to face the harsh light of reality. Also raising issues of living in an image bound culture, a world of superficiality and simulation, so avoiding a reality to which we are dissatisfied.
The work not only explores instant gratification but the reasons for this type of gratification. Research has been directed towards the “risk society”. Ironically the world represented in the security of our caves, can sensationalize the crime in our society. The world experienced through the media can lead society and especially the youth to take greater risks looking to escape the harsh realities of the represented world. “Furlong and Cartmel argue that young people have become especially vulnerable to the heightened sense of risk and individualization of experience that has characterized the move towards high modernity.” (Miles, 2001, p135). Parental concerns lead towards restricted freedom compared to the youth of the previous generation, the freedom that the parents had experienced when they were children. A response to this sense of heightened risk is to “curtail children’s activities in ways that may restrict their autonomy and their opportunities to develop the necessary skills to cope with the world.” (Scott et al, 1998, p701)
Living in an age of individualism and subjective truths, which no doubt has a positive impact on society, for example the tolerance of difference. However it is not without its negatives. There is a degradation of social values, community and a sense of belonging. According to a study Changing Britain, Changing Lives there has been a dramatic fall in participation in local communities. The study reveals that 60% of men born in 1946 were members of community and voluntary organisations in their 30s, but a dramatic drop to only 8% of those born in 1970. We are living in a society where every man is an island, increasing the individual’s pressures of everyday life, which in turn increases the desire for escapism and instant gratification. The combination of a society where individual pressures are increased and a new generation, which Scott suggests, is entering adulthood less able to cope with the harsh realities of the world is surely a matter of concern.
The nine images in this piece of work have no structured narrative, the intention is to give an overall impression of the aspects of society mentioned above. The use of non-diegetic inserts, a filmic terminology, such as the hay (fools gold), road kill (risk) and the garage of rubbish, disrupt the narrative flow with the intention to bring the spectator into the protagonists subconscious and emotions, also throwing light on the futility of instant gratification.
Gary Sheridan, 2004
VALENTINE GIVE AWAY (CONCEPT WEDDING)
To celebrate Valentines Concept Wedding Photography is giving away a free web gallery with your own url. for any wedding booked in February (deposit must be recieved to confirm booking ). And if thats not enough we are also giving away a 20x16 inch framed print of your choice from your wedding images ( 5 or more hours wedding photography must be booked by the end of February ). All this and the usual free gift of 100 6x6 prints in a presentation box. Offers apply to all dates in 2009/10 as long as they are booked in February 2009
Saturday, 3 January 2009
CLIENT CLOSE-UP (SHERIDAN PHOTOGRAPHY)
Touches Interiors continual brief is to create product images that let their customers see the website products in a realistic settings. "We want our product shots not only to be detailed enough to give our customers confidence in buying online but we want them to be able to see how the products may look in their home and even inspire them. The last thing we want is boring, uninspiring cutouts on a white background. We want all this, and at a price that we don't have to pass on to our customers".
Not the easiest brief to meet, but of course we like a challlenge. Infact not only does Sheridan Photography continue to meet the brief but manages to do it from as little as £5.00 per product shot.
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Not the easiest brief to meet, but of course we like a challlenge. Infact not only does Sheridan Photography continue to meet the brief but manages to do it from as little as £5.00 per product shot.
This is what the directors of touches interiors had to say, "We have worked with Gary for a couple of years now on the development of the website, catalogues and leaflets and he has always delivered fantastic images with professional input and maximum effort. Thoroughly recommend him and his work".
Below are examples of the product shots taken for touches interiors.
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Wednesday, 17 December 2008
FOOD FOR THOUGHT (SHERIDAN GALLERY)
Food For Thought is a touring exhibition of contemporary photography by the artist Gary Sheridan. The work exhibited in this exhibition, initially engages the viewer with aesthetics, and then engages the mind, revealing layers which at first glance are not exposed.
Gary Sheridan’s Art originates from personal experience and often gives rise to social debate. It is mindful of its own fabrication and whether alluding Old Masters, Advertising or Fashion photography, parody and appropriation are common threads woven into the work. The work is often ambiguous with many layers, leaving it open to interpretation, with the emphasis on destination rather than its origin. Gary understands the power of aesthetics to engage the viewer and his work is often recognized by its saturated colours and a vein of humour that runs through its body. Don’t be fooled by the aesthetics or the vein of humour, what often lies behind the facade are comments on serious social issues.
The concept behind this exhibition is to reach people who may not be familiar with conceptual/fine art photography, taking it out of the typical gallery surroundings and into a sometimes more relaxed atmosphere of a restaurant, hence the name Food For Thought. I hope you enjoy the exhibition and please feel free to contact Gary with any questions.
If you are a resturant owner and wish to take part in the exhibition and earn commision in the process, contact gary@sheridangallery.com
Below are a few examples of images in the exhibition. To view all imags available for the exhibition visit http://www.sheridangallery.com/
Gary Sheridan’s Art originates from personal experience and often gives rise to social debate. It is mindful of its own fabrication and whether alluding Old Masters, Advertising or Fashion photography, parody and appropriation are common threads woven into the work. The work is often ambiguous with many layers, leaving it open to interpretation, with the emphasis on destination rather than its origin. Gary understands the power of aesthetics to engage the viewer and his work is often recognized by its saturated colours and a vein of humour that runs through its body. Don’t be fooled by the aesthetics or the vein of humour, what often lies behind the facade are comments on serious social issues.
The concept behind this exhibition is to reach people who may not be familiar with conceptual/fine art photography, taking it out of the typical gallery surroundings and into a sometimes more relaxed atmosphere of a restaurant, hence the name Food For Thought. I hope you enjoy the exhibition and please feel free to contact Gary with any questions.
If you are a resturant owner and wish to take part in the exhibition and earn commision in the process, contact gary@sheridangallery.com
Below are a few examples of images in the exhibition. To view all imags available for the exhibition visit http://www.sheridangallery.com/
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