Tinned tomatoes, First Thursdays, International Women's Day, the frill of passementerie and looking for a campervan
Recipes:
Haven’t cooked much this week except for a Victoria Sandwich (using Rose Prince’s fantastically rich and buttery recipe) and a pizza for Sunday lunch. I did make a simple dish, not even a recipe, with two tins: one of chickpeas and one of cherry tomatoes, tossed in a baking tray and roasted in the oven. I went Italian style and added olive oil and basil. But with the same two tins you could make it Indian, add coconut and garam masala spices for instance.
I’m obsessed with tinned tomatoes and a few years ago wrote a piece for The Guardian, trying to find the best ones (the comments are a hoot). I was sent an intriguing new cookbook ‘The Tinned Tomatoes cookbook’ by Sam Goldsmith. I loved the cover and premise of this book and the friendly approachable writing of Goldsmith (although I would have liked more vegetarian recipes). But I was disappointed with the photography by Mowie Kay. It felt like he was phoning it in.
Relax, don’t do it, when you want to draw:
I went to First Thursdays at The Royal Drawing School in Shoreditch. It’s only the second time I’ve done it (and the first was a year ago). I absolutely love life drawing. In fact I left art school because it was all conceptual and no life drawing. I’d love to start again properly but I can’t afford the lessons. First Thursdays is free.
We only have cheap kitchen paper to draw on and thin charcoal but it’s free! The models are fantastic - doing interesting yoga poses.
I like to draw big. I take a big piece of paper and draw even bigger. I looked around the class and many people drew a little figure in the corner. Art is about loosening up. Some teachers do exercises to facilitate this: drawing with the wrong hand, drawing with your eyes closed, or not allowing yourself to lift the pen/chalk/pencil from the paper. Relax, make mistakes, it’s all good.
We did several short poses, four minutes long. By about the fifth drawing I was getting into my stride, using my charcoal like a paintbrush. Then a couple of 20 minute poses. I had some aquarelle watercolour pencils which I dipped into a capful of water so I could add a little colour. Finally we returned to short poses. The difference between the initial drawings and the later ones was significant in terms of the confidence and expression of the line.
Female Photographers
On International Women’s Day, I attended a talk by a panel of female photographers, set up by the British Press Photographers Association (BPPA) at The Frontline Club in Paddington. Most panels are ‘manels’- an all male affair. This I guess was a fanel- all women.
Six women, one was the chair, two were editors and the rest were full time photographers. Sarah Lee of The Guardian was refreshingly honest - talking about how difficult it was to trust her own voice, her own style. She admitted that she had a break getting into the business- Eamonn McCabe took her on, giving her a two day a week contract.
Lucy Young worked on spec, going out every day and sending in pictures to the papers, just to get her name in front of the photo desk. Eventually she financed herself going to a war zone and got work from that. She pointed out that the decline in local newspapers means it’s even harder to get into the business. Where do you start?
AI in photography was discussed, how newsrooms are training their editors to recognise if a photo was fake. At the moment, AI isn’t good at hands, and the skin is too smooth but the technology is improving so fast.
At the end, I asked if the business had changed - was it easier for women? Because when I started training as a photographer aged 18, I worked in the dark room. The bullying was pretty awful, I was chucked into the fix (analogue days), told I was an abnormal woman for wanting to work in a dark room, put in coventry for weeks and generally undermined.
A real low point was when I photographed Princess Margaret doing the handshake down a line up of dignitaries at a fashion show one night. A tall male photographer objected to me being there and smashed a medium format camera down on my head, practically knocking me out. I was angry, humiliated and upset. Nevertheless, I continued to try to get the photo.
Princess Margaret must have seen this but said nothing. Nor did any of the dignitaries or security. I went home and cried.
Weirdly the female panel did not really respond to my question. One of them said: ‘I’m sorry that happened to you’ which I hate. It sounds so patronising. Lucy Young said there was a bit of elbowing nowadays but it was fine. I felt she was saying: ‘you weren’t tough enough’. But there is a difference between a bit of a tussle and being deliberately assaulted. Another said ‘we haven’t had a Me too moment in photography’. I’m not talking about sexual harassment, I’m talking about a career protectionism racket.
The atmosphere was awkward. Perhaps I made them uncomfortable with my question. (I was the only woman to ask a question). There were lots of male photographers in the room and perhaps they didn’t want to talk about the subject in front of them? Or perhaps it all is completely different nowadays? I doubt any male photographer would get away with bashing a woman over the head nowadays.
But – all I know is – 90% of the photographic bylines in any magazine or newspaper are still male.
The discussion on AI was very relevant because on Mother’s Day, a photo of the ‘missing’ Princess of Wales was released. The internet feverishly speculated on a ‘katespiracy’: it was pretty obvious that the photo was digitally altered. By Sunday evening, the top agencies such as Reuters ‘killed’ the photo, saying it was faked. By Monday morning, Kensington Palace admitted to it. What IS going on? Serious political astrologers (mundane astrology) note that the royal family transits are stressful over the next couple of years. Some predict that William and Kate will divorce. I feel like we are living in Tudor times in which queens can be discarded for new wives.
On the road:
I’m driving up to Scotland tomorrow to visit a supper club. It’s a long drive and the cost of the petrol and hotels means it isn’t a cheap trip. I’m looking to buy a camper van- perhaps a Mazda Bongo which is like a cheap version of the classic VW campervan. Anyone know of one for sale? I want to get into van life.
Passementerie:
This is the proper French word for trimming and tassels. There is still one workshop making these by hand in London. I went to see the fascinating Jessica Light in her Colombia Road studio and her £100 wooden loom she picked up at a car boot sale. She likes to listen to The Damned while she is weaving. Full story next week.
Ophelia pic of the week:
Ophelia loves pizza. I make the dough a couple of days before- to get a sourdough flavour- and let it rise very slowly in the fridge.
