Aye up

Hello and welcome to my photography blog.
I’m a documentary photographer from Manchester  in the UK.
You can see my work at my website: www.dunni.co.uk 
There’s a short film or three here on vimeo, or see my project about cctv I’m working on at it’s own flickrstream:
www.flickr.com/photos/ddtv

Normal service has been resumed…

Apologies if anyone has emailed me and it’s bounced back. That will teach me to treat emails from Nominet as spam. It all seems to be back working, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to get hold of anything that didn’t get through first time round  – so I’m not such an ignorant git, but you’ll have to send it again. Sorry.

Which side are you on boys?

I don’t often comment on news items on this blog (mainly as I’m never in it init?). But the British Journal of Photography brings us the news that plod may be laying off 100 police photographers. Obviously I’ll be secondary picketing as soon as the thin blue line forms. Presumably the cuts won’t be in the Forward Intelligence Teams who have the important job of hampering journalists collecting evidence. Find out more here at FIT Watch.
The photo was taken on my recent jaunt to London – I’ve no idea what the police were doing in the Elephant and Castle and didn’t think it was worth asking them.

Dirty old town

London that is not Salford. Anyway after me mingle with Magnum (see below) I did lots of other nice things including wandering around Kensal Green Cemetery with Times photographer Sue Foll who I’d met on the Martin Parr Holiday to the Isle of Wight (see below). Also met up with star of CCTV Cabaret Quiet Loner (see… you know where) who I went with to see Limitations Permitted an event by Manu  Luksch at Peckham Space. A trip to see Orwell: A Celebration completed a nicely dystopian jollyday. Now about this photo. Couldn’t pay a visit without snapping another of Banksy’s thingys – I’ll post this on my DDTV flckrstream – funny how CCTV has already got it’s own cliches.

Ta very much

Had a nice surprise – having got a taste for portfolio reviews I applied to The Arts Council to see if they’d get the spondoolicks out for me to go to Rhubarb-Rhubarb in Birmingham and pay for some other stuff to promote the project (you know the one). Anyway, the man from Delmonte he say yes. So ta very much and a special ta to the member of staff who rang me up to help me add up properly.
Just noticed a nice trilogy of logos in the last three posts – I’ll have to put a photo in the next one.

Wacky weeks

Ventured to our nation’s capital during the week for a portfolio review from three of Magnum’s photographers, which is about as good as it gets for a would-be documentary photographer. Showed my CCTV stuff (what else?) to Mr Mark Power, Mr Stuart Franklin and Mr Donovan Wylie,  the final score was I reckon 2 – 1 for Team Manchester. The event was held over two days at The Photographers’ Gallery’s new address (not that I’d ever been to their old address), which was handy for the Ben Sherman sale (not that I’m a mod you understand).

Wacky weekends

This weekend I’m at the National Photography Symposium organised by RedEye and the University of Bolton. It’s being held at Cheethams Library in the centre of Manchester. As well as hearing Chris Steele-Perkins I’ve taked about shoes to the Deputy Editor of the BJP and I’ve parked my bum on the seat Marx and Engels used to chin wag on – mind you I used to get p****d in The Crescent in Salford fairly regularly, so it’s not the first time I’ve been a fellow traveller. Not bumped into fellow Manchester Photo blogger Mark Page yet…

Crime inc.

Got a photo in the forthcoming What is Crime exhibition at the 198 ‘cultural space’ (ahem) in London. It’s been organised by The Independent and the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies and runs from 6th July to 21st August. Since you ask, the thing in the background is a chemical plant in Salford where most of my family worked. The thing in the foreground is in the retail park where I got chucked out of for taking a photo. Thanks for the memories.

Anniversary

I suppose I couldn’t let the 60th anniversary of the publication of George Orwell’s book Nineteen Eighty-Four (or indeed the 10th anniversary of Big Brother) go by without a mention, plus I’ve been waiting for a suitable occasion to publish a link to this FaceBook group. Go along – you know you want to. Talking of anniversaries, (see how I got that tenuous link in then?). I went to the launch of the new web version of Len Grant’s East magazine website. The magazine has been going for 10 years too!

This week also saw me eyeing the canapes at Manchester University’s photography degree show at Cube (which reminds me, the University wouldn’t let me photograph their CCTV control room).

Magazine

Talking of new wave bands (Magazine gettit? – [see the last post] {Hello Mary}) I’ve published a magazine on the background to my CCTV project – it’s called Reality TV and you can download a pdf of it here. There’s been a short print run, so if you know me, you might get sent a copy, then again it WAS a short print run, so you might not.

New film

I’ve uploaded a new short film (go on have a guess what it’s about) – OK it’s about CCTV again – just as bleak, though with a bit more narrative than the last one (which is art-speak for I used up my best photos making the last one). Anyways, it’s here on Vimeo, and is called ‘TV OD’ – which will only mean anything to people of a certain age who had a liking for obscure new wave bands.

I’ve spent most of this sunny (yes even in Manchester) bank holiday weekend putting together a DVD of my CCTV stuff – but b*****r me can I get it to work? More iDon’t than iDVD. STOP PRESS: It woz a corrupted sound file wot done it – normal service has been resumed.