The three world odyssey - London

 So after two exhibitions, I still had one and a half hours to kill. So I headed to Undershaft.

To be honest, this was not my idea. I had been watching one of those You-Tube videos called London's hidden spots or something, and it suggested that this was a good photography spot, so I thought why not. 

Now I am not a great architecture photographer, but I do find modern buildings fascinating. The Undershaft is basically a group of offices and buildings creating a tight knit group of various sizes and shapes, including the Gerkin and Richard Rogers eponymous Lloyd's building.

The journey was about 20 minutes, dropping us outside the monument for the fire of London, know almost consumed by the buildings around it. From there, it was a short walk into the financial district. So it was, we moved from the temple to unbridled consumerism, to the churches dedicated to the gods of power through money.  

Behind the glass and steel, billions were being transferred at a click of a button. Outside despite being 3 O'clock on a Thursday, the bars were full of well-heeled men and women, who had realized they don't need to work too hard to become, by the gauge of most, incredibly rich. 

Still, I was here to take pictures, not a revolution. I could not help noticing a small church 14th century church, now overwhelmed by the new churches made of glass and steel.

Spot the  church...

My 1st stop was a lamppost that provided converging lines to the sky with other buildings. Unfortunately, access was somewhat limited by a Chauffeur-driven Mercedes for whom parking restrictions were for the little people. 

I then headed to the Lloyds building. This is taken by so many people, that it almost felt wrong. It has to be said however it does provide an interesting muse.

I then headed around with my head in the clouds, taking shots of converging buildings. I was lucky with the sky, with the blue sky and white clouds reflecting off the mirrored building glass. 

An hour went by quickly, but I had a few chances on the way back to take shots of cyclists on the way back. 

The three world odyssey - Japan

Back Across the River 

After a fun hour in the Dulwich museum (and as usual being tempted by some photography books, I am sure I will read one day. [I ended up buying the minimalist photographer by Antony Zacharias]) , it was still only 12 O'clock. So the question was, what now? 

Fortunately, I already had a plan B (and a plan C) 

So it was back over the river, to an part of London that made Dulwich look like an inner-city slum.

 South Kensington.  

I was here to visit Japan House who were running their first photographic exhibition showing pictures by Kawada Kikuji (川田 喜久治) and Iwane Ai (岩根愛). 

Even before I visited Japan, I had taken a great interest in all Japanese culture, and I was especially in the  photography. 

A couple of years ago I had visited a Daido Moriyama (森山 大道) exhibition in the London photographic gallery and was surprised on the rawness and darkness of the images.  On the train down, I read a short book by him called “How I take Photographs” and was inspired to try some of his ideas (It was another book buying opportunity I could not pass. I also snagged "400 images by Ansel Adams" at tghe same time. Do not tell my wife.).  

Practicing my inner Daido

Japan has a long history with photography and there is a reason why Japan is still the premier world camera manufacturer. They probably embraced photography as an art form before the west and with a different artistic foundation, it mean that Japanese photographs tend to have a different look, being brighter and rawer. 

Kawada and Iwane represent two different paths on that journey. Kawada started photographing in the 1940's, while Iwane started in the 1990's, so they also represent two different eras.  

I had assumed I had already been to Japan House before, however in fact I had been to the Japan center which is a great place for Japanese snacks. Japan House in Kensington is a totally different scene. Basically, it is a display case for luxury (and therefore overpriced) Japanese goods on Kensington High street, one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world.

The exhibition was not in the shop, but contained in the basement. However unlike the Dulwich gallery exhibition, entry was free with citizens of Kensington feeling they were rich enough already. 

The silk road

I have to say I was sort of blown away by the photos. 

It's hard not to see connections between Daido Moriyama and Kawada. Both embrace dark shadows and abstract composition and it was not a surprise to learn that Daido in his early days had some contact. 

Kawada can  be seen as the father of modern Japanese photography, founding the Vivo photographic collective in the 1950s, which although short lived was influential both in Japan and worldwide

Despite some photos being almost 70 years old, there was a modernity feeling to them, with a feeling that Japanese photography has gone through a journey, taht we in the west are only just following. 

It was also interesting contrasting with the American photographs from the Dulwich gallery exhibition, some of which are cotemporary with Kawada's images. Both sets of images are in some ways similar, with both eschewing pictorial styles for a more abstract imaging and applying harsh lighting to frame their subjects.  However, Kawada's images were rawer and, in many cases, far more abstract. It felt that in Japan, photography in the 1950s as a pure art form could be embraced, while in the US, conservative forces restricted true expression.  

One of the most impressive sets of images was the "The map". A set of images of patterns on walls and roofs, that at 1st glance would just look like random patterns, until you realise they are taken at the Genbaku Dome, that eponymous building at the epicenter of the Hiroshima atomic bomb drop. Once you know that, it is hard not to see the patterns as souls etched into the concrete by the atomic blast. 

Iwane Ai had a different vibe, but in some ways connected. In some ways she embraced two cultures. Born in Tokyo, but studying in California, her studies look at immigrant Japanese culture in Hawaii and Fukushima.  

Unlike Kawada's single images, Iwana images stretched as huge banners across the room as large transparencies and huge B&W panoramas. Some of the most impressive images were the meters long panorama's covering he devastation from the Fukushima tsunami and Japanese graveyards consumed by a Hawaii lava field. 

Other images, taken during Covid times, were large colour frames of traditional Japanese characters, but using ICM to add  streaks of light.

My only criticsm was there aws no opportunity to buy books or other media about the artists. Which for the sake of my bankl balance was probably a good thing.

Plan C

After a wonder around the Japan center and looking at the extrtemely expensive objects, I realised I still had almost 2 hours till my train. So it was time to get my camera out and enact plan C, which meant a short jaunt around the Circle line to my next destination...

How Much...

A wicker bag for the price of a good lens

 

The three world odyssey - America

Last week I went to see Cristopher Nolan's masterpiece The Odyssey.

 This week I went on one of my own, to try and visit two photographic galleries and also to get some camera time myself.

Will I succeed, or will I be distracted by Sirens, turned into a porcine or get waylaid by water nymphs carrying sweet nector?

Read on to find out

1. America
2. Japan
3. London

The American Adventure

Crossing the River

My love of going to  photography exhibitions has been well documented on this blog. Unfortunately, so has my recent frustrations in my ability to actuall attend any in the last few months. 

For example, the Lee Miller exhibition at the Tate had to missed due to work commitments (and my inability to plan ahead). The London Original Print Fair coincided with a holiday. Even a photography festival in my  hometown had to be missed because my wife decided we should go to the Wirral instead. All in all, it has been a frustrating year.

So, when I saw that there would be an exhibition of American photography called "Portrait of a City: A Century of American Photography", I took my chance, booked a day off and headed towards London.

So, on a steaming hot summers day (Note to any historians out there. The summer of 2026 has been one of the hottest on record, including a a record drought) I boarded a train into central London. It goes without saying that I took my camera with me as well.

The exhibition was at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. A quick look on Google maps showed it to be in uncharted territory being <please now adopt a  Cockney Accent> S'th of the river. This meant it would require crossing that historical barrier, the river Thames. As a consequence, the London Teleportation System (as I call the London underground) would not be a great help. The route from central London would therefore take almost as much time as it would take me to get to London in the 1st place. 

Dulwich picture gallery in all its glory

As you cross from North to South London, the city changes character. Gone are the steel and glass financial fortresses and historic buildings. Instead suburbia grows and you end of looking in the gardens of endless terraces and balconies of flats. Thats not to say this is a pooer area. A 1 bedroom flats here go for the same price of our 4 bedroomed house. Gone of the days where anyone, without the bank of Mum and Dad or a major lottery win could contemplate getting on even the 1st rung of the housing ladder. 

Dulwich itself is one of those areas that although consumed by London, still has a unique identity. It is a pleasant upper middle class surburban area where houses are interspersed with parkland, private schools and tennis clubs.

Dulwich picture gallery  is a bit of a non-descript brick building, looking like the cross between a school outbuilding and a rejected Adams family film set. It is alsos not very big. I picked up its history (strangely) in the mens urinals. In 1800's it was gifted to the nation after the king of Poland got deposed and therefore could not pick up his expensively ciurated art collection.

Polands loss was South Londons fgain and inside was a small art gallery showing mainly 15th to 18th century art works. It was showed the embarrassment of riches that London has. That a non-descript building hidden in Southern London boasts at least two Rembrandts and a Canaletto, along with numerous other famous painters work.is like having a A-lister actor living next to you. These are the kind of riches a Northern gallery would pull its eye teeth out for

Start 'em young

Mother and child

After I perused the paintings for a while I went for the main event.

La La La America

The exhibtion was set out in a corridor running the length of the gallery. Altough I was on a timed ticket and I had arrived 1 hour early, no on seemed to be too bothered, and I just wandered in. 

The exhibition covered the golden (silver halide surely - Ed) age of American street photography from the early 1920's to the 1970's. Many of the images were easily recognisable such as Dorotea Lange's Migrant Mother, however many I was not aware off. As well as providing a chance to see the images at first hand, the most important aspect was putting the images in a historical context and order, together with the social history it was recording ,so you could see the progression through the decades both in technique, but also how the subject matter was handled and approached.

A number of things stood  out. Firstly how much US photography owed to immigrant photographers, often refugees from Nazi persecution. Secondly I was surprised how abstract some of the images actually were, even those almost 100 years old. For example the photographer often made bold use of shadow to express their subjects, something modern photographers with increased dynamic range are loathed to do.  

It was also interesting to read that the Photo League, a group set up to experiment in photography, was heavily persecuted by the McCarthy communists witch hunt and black listed. With the present state of the US, and the right wing attempts to control the media and therefore expression, it feels a good time to remind ourselves that these things have a circular nature.

While providing a great review of a critical time in American photography, and probably the 1st time in which the US led a cultural art form, there were some gaps.For example I would of included some of the lessor known social work of Ansel Adams. Also it was surprising Vivian Maier was not represented. It would also be nice to bring it up to the modern day with such photographers as Joel Meyerowitz, but I guess there is only so much room and photographers