Amelie

More and more people I know seem to be using digital cameras to great creative effect. Although I tend to be something of purist and enjoy the artisan alchemical process of print making I am also thinking about going digital; for the website at least. The immediacy and ease of use afforded by this medium is particularly amenable to a more spontaneous form of reportage, a quality I desperately want to experiment with. The more complex and less forgiving nature of good film based photography is not always conducive to anything less than an over protracted studied approach. I am also interested in experimenting with the contemporary idiomatics of digital imagery, unusual colour grading effects, cinematic aspect ratios, and qualities of narrative alluding to frame grabs. I know I must do something new and different soon in order to keep this website rolling at least, things are getting a bit stale around here also running out of things to say hence the increasingly short entries.
I think my life is becoming a bit too settled and routine a situation that seems to promote a kind of mental banality that is not conducive to creativity. I always seem to be much more inventive in terms of thought when either unhappy, or angry, and I think there is a lot to be said for that so called "soul searching" mode that is supposed to be the classic predicator of artistic expression however competent or valid. Another recurring problem is the isolation from sources of inspiration and comparative disengagement from the more inventive discourses of culture (not difficult in Macclesfield). This in part though, does have a lot to do with other things impinging on my valuable introspection time and limited contact with my old creative colleagues. Many of whom are now also trying to hold on to their expressive aspirations whilst holding down non cultural occupations out of necessity.
I recently bought a copy of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie on DVD, an outstandingly beautiful and touching film, one of the best I have seen for a long time, and stylistically identifiable with Delicatessen and City of Lost Children. Jeunet seems to be something of a rare beast, a genuinely gifted and visionary Art Film director with a heart. A quality evinced by the deeply touching humanism of his work which is never mired in pure academic indulgence for its own sake, even though the first two chapters of Amelie seem to introduce a kind of existentialist subtext. Though no serious French Art film would be complete without some recourse to philosophical subtexts and narratives the important thing here is that esoterics have not overshadowed characterisation. The visual and cinematographic qualities of Amelie are consistently striking. Much of the film has been graded with a green bias and in parts evoke the qualities of early colour plates from Parisian Vogue circa 1940s. However, stylistically the film is mostly quite unique as with Jeunet's other projects.....My recommendation of the year.
My dear old friend Karen has recently been in touch with me again following a very long spell in Africa, she has been on a teaching assignment. Hopefully she may be able to contribute some interesting photos.

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