Tate Modern Photography Exhibitions

A few days away

I’ve just come back to Manchester from a couple of days in the capital. It was a trip mostly about food and that’s the usual focus for John and I when we go away. This trip however came up trumps for photography exhibitions with two huge ones currently running at Tate Modern. I love what I do and there’s something so real and rewarding with wedding photography. I’ve always had an interest in other forms of photography though. I do occasionally read The British Journal of Photography for some alternative inspiration and see what’s going on in the industry.

Wolfgang Tillmans

The first exhibition was Wolfgang Tillmans: 2017. Tillmans is a German fine art photographer. His work was brought to my attention since he has recently returned to magazine and press publications . He had a huge feature in Arena Homme + which I’m an occasional reader of. Curated over 14 rooms, each one was as a response to the present moment. Room 6 and one low key image in a nightclub really stood out for me. I loved his expression of the alternative narrative that exists outside of what we see in the media and commercial advertising. I found the whole thing quite inspiring.

His work also extends beyond photography as one of the rooms was dedicated to playing music in higher quality, closer to the quality it was recorded in. This spoke to me as I recently upgraded the speakers in my office along with my headphones. I’ve also started to listen to digital music at a higher bit rate, all in the pursuit of enjoying and experiencing better quality audio.

The Radical Eye

The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection is a couple of hundred pictures from his 8000 strong collection. Photography hasn’t always been taken seriously as an art form. With even the Tate Modern only getting interested seriously in photography as late as 2009, this collection is probably one of the best out there at the moment. It’s perhaps modernist in terms of fine art ,but pretty classic in terms of photography, with most of the work from the early twentieth century. There were some really notable photographs from Brassai to Irving Penn. Spanning many genres it was a complete joy to spend some time looking at this collection as see some of the greats up close.

I’m not quite sure how to express it in words, I’m far more of a visual person being a photographer. However, I do like to think that I can still take inspiration from these great exhibitions. It helps to shape my work and what I do for people with my wedding photography. It’s all about the artists response to something. For Tillmans, it would be the state of the world and for me it’s often the humble yet often beautiful story of two people coming together.

Here’s a few photos from the mini break this week. All shots were taken with my trusty Fujifilm x100. A great little camera that’s seen quite a bit of the world in the few years I’ve had it! I’ve just had to send it off to be repaired as the buttons are now starting to stick. Maybe it’s something to do with that time I was drunk and it was submerged in mud at Green Man festival?