NEW YORK: WEEGEE AND TICHY AT THE ICP

March 14, 2013 by stevemepstedblog

Last Summer in New York I took a trip to the International Center of Photography near Times Square to see a retrospective exhibition of Weegee’s work. Although the title of the show is “Murder is my Business” I find there is much more to Weegee’s legacy than oily prints of bloodied corpses. The deaths and disasters, photographed after chasing the police radio messages relayed to his van, are a frontispiece to a surprising array of interests which included film making. Weegees van also doubled […]

Categories: EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS • Tags: Camera, International Center of Photography, Miroslav Tichy, New York, Photograph, Photography, Photojournalism, Weegee

THE USE AND ABUSE OF POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS

February 22, 2013 by stevemepstedblog

How To Improve Your PowerPoint Presentations This funny little gem of a video takes a lighthearted but essential look at the ubiquity of the Powerpoint and the maddening misuse of it. Follow the link below and please follow the advice given – for the sake of us all!   “The term ‘Bullet Point’ means holding a gun to the heads of bad Powerpoint presenters everywhere”  

Categories: TEACHING, Uncategorized • Tags: bad presentation, Microsoft PowerPoint, misuse abuse and use, powerpoint, presentation, Teaching

CLOWNS DAY OUT. JOSEPH GRIMALDI’S MEMORIAL SERVICE

February 10, 2013 by stevemepstedblog

On the first Sunday of each February around 70 clowns (and 500 photographers!) gather in Holy Trinity Church in Dalston to remember the life of Joseph Grimaldi, English actor, comedian and dancer, who became the most popular English entertainer of the Regency era. The ‘godfather’ of clowning, he created and refined many of the play forms and techniques that continue today. Three friends; variously comedian, actor/poet and nurse, prepare for the day by adopting their clown ‘selves’: ‘Tofu’, (Tony Allen) ‘Fluff’ (Jonny […]

Categories: DOCUMENTARY, REPORTAGE • Tags: church, clowns, Dalston, documentary, jonny fluffypunk, joseph grimaldi, memorial service, Performing Arts, portraits, tony allen

HOSTEL BEDSCAPES

December 15, 2012 by stevemepstedblog

A tangle of sheets and neon lit pillows, a pencil of fire creeps through a curtain. My boots tucked under and another night passes. Green mattresses, yellow walls, seven beds and five languages spoken – in sleep and dreams. Stacked allotments. Boston, El Paso, Flagstaff. A cotton land in which to drift and a boulder to rest my head.

Categories: DOCUMENTARY • Tags: Bedscapes, documentary, hostel, Hostels, Low Light, travel, USA Trip

‘Hush’ – Work in Exhibition: ‘Align’, Kensington and Chelsea College

December 3, 2012 by stevemepstedblog

‘Hush’ 2012 ‘Hush’ is a collection of Photographs I shot on a sunny September morning in 2011, very soon after the doors to Kensington and Chelsea College’s original Hortensia Road building were closed for the last time. The building stands today just next door to the new Hortensia Road building, quieted and deserted, waiting for the developers. As I roamed the building alone, I stood in classrooms and offices, studios and meeting rooms. Climbing the stone-stepped stairwells, I wondered how […]

Categories: DOCUMENTARY, EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS • Tags: disused spaces, documentary, event, Exhibition, Hush, kensington and chelsea college

BIG SOCIETY ALIVE AND WELL HERE!

September 14, 2012 by stevemepstedblog

During the Summer of 2011 I interviewed and Photographed the members of The West Eleven Housing Co-op (of which I too am a member) and talked with them about the trails and tribulations of membership and the management and maintenance of the co-operative housing project that began its journey in 1976. The results eventually formed a book and an exhibition. Below is a brief introduction and a gallery of the portraits I shot during the process. The full transcripts of interviews, […]

Categories: DOCUMENTARY, EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS, PORTRAITS • Tags: Affordable housing, documentary, England, Housing cooperative, london, North Kensington, portobello road, portraits

INDIA ON A BROKEN BONE

September 13, 2012 by stevemepstedblog

During a frenetic month in April 2009 I crossed four Indian States: Uttar Pradesh, Rajashthan, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh; and covered approximately 3800 kilometres by train, bus, horse and (broken) foot. Cycle and Auto Rickshaws transported me while in the cities. I travelled from Delhi to Varanasi on a personal mission to scatter some of my Mum’s ashes. From Varanasi by train into Rajasthan via Agra and Jaipur. From Jaipur I kept going West to Johdpur -’The Blue City’ – […]

Categories: TRAVEL • Tags: Amritsar, Auto rickshaw, Harvest Festival, Kangra Valley, Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi

AT THE SNOWLINE OF THE HIMALAYAS

September 12, 2012 by stevemepstedblog

During a frenetic month through April 2009 I crossed four Indian States: Uttar Pradesh, Rajashthan, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh; and covered approximately 3800 kilometres by train, bus, horse and (broken) foot. Cycle and Auto Rickshaws transported me while in the cities. I travelled from Delhi to Varanasi on a personal mission to scatter some of my Mum’s ashes. From Varanasi by train into Rajasthan via Agra and Jaipur. From Jaipur I kept going West to Johdpur -’The Blue City’ – […]

Categories: TRAVEL • Tags: Himachal Pradesh, Himalayan Mountains, India, Snowline, travel

AMRITSAR – THE GOLDEN TEMPLE

September 12, 2012 by stevemepstedblog

During a frenetic month in April 2009 I crossed four Indian States: Uttar Pradesh, Rajashthan, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh; and covered approximately 3800 kilometres by train, bus, horse and (broken) foot. Cycle and Auto Rickshaws transported me while in the cities. I travelled from Delhi to Varanasi on a personal mission to scatter some of my Mum’s ashes. From Varanasi by train into Rajasthan via Agra and Jaipur. From Jaipur I kept going West to Johdpur -’The Blue City’ – […]

Categories: TRAVEL • Tags: Amritsar, Golden Temple, India, Punjab, Sikh, travel

FRIENDS OF THE ORPHAN SIGNS – A ONE WORD PICTURE POEM

September 5, 2012 by stevemepstedblog

On my recent journey in the States I travelled through Albuquerque and Flagstaff. Part of my shooting series while in the US was to find old motel signs and other roadside paraphernalia to make some grids or Typologies of them. In Flagstaff and in Albuquerque I took long walks and photos of the signs, some new, some dilapidated and in ruins. On Route 66 I was spoiled by the goodly amount of crumbling yet surviving 1940′s structures that once set […]

Categories: IDEAS AND PROJECTS, REPORTAGE • Tags: black and white, friends of the orphan signs, grid format, motel signs, neon, poem, project, roadside signs, route 66, signs, typologies

JOHN HUNTER

September 5, 2012 by stevemepstedblog

Some shots of my Canadian cousin John Hunter, whom I unfortunately rarely get to see. Shot in his house and on the street in Toronto on Fujichrome Velvia daylight film and cross-processed, the images were scanned at 800dpi directly from small prints, so not of highest quality (however I quite like this). I was hoping for a painterly, textured look to these considering the film and processing and the soft interior light that was available, (my laptop screen and a soft light torch […]

Categories: PORTRAITS • Tags: cross processed, documentary, environmental portrait, family, film, medium format film, portraits, project

“THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY” – NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL 2012

August 29, 2012 by stevemepstedblog

Here is a series of street shots from the Notting Hill Carnival 2012. Held each year in West London, UK. Carnival attracts many thousands of visitors and is the second largest street carnival in the world, apart from Mardi Gras. I live pretty much smack in the middle of it so its a case of hide away or join in. Over the two days of festivities this year I went out and took some photographs. Carnival comprises two distinct days of revelry. […]

Categories: REPORTAGE, STREET • Tags: london, notting hill carnival 2012, party, street photography, the good the bad and the ugly