Inside Out: Anton Corbijn

Out on DVD from Momentum Pictures, directed by Dutch director Klaartje Quirijns, Inside Out is a documentary about one of the most visionary and influential photographers of the late 20th century, fellow Nederlander Anton Corbijn.

Corbijn's name is one of those rare artists whose name is known the world over across many cultural forms - art, photography, cinema, music and video.  Corbijn came to prominence in the late 1970s for his photography work with Joy Division and most importantly, the fatal Ian Curtis.  Corbijn's shots of them on a snow covered bridge in Manchester helped the band migrate across the atlantic before the untimely suicide of Curtis in 1980.  Corbijn's first feature-length film in 2007 would be Control, the story of Ian Curtis and Joy Division.

Corbijn's inspiring work would continue through the 1980s with his seminal work for U2 (the War album in 1982) and Depeche Mode in 1987 culminating with his work with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana in the early 1990s.  One fact I was unaware of was that he directed the video for Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box.

Corbijn remains the go to guy for album covers and sleeve photography, as the film shows him interacting with Arcade Fire and the most recent collaboration between Metallica and Lou Reed.

Director Quirijns does not force the glamour of these rock superstars down our throat, Bono is first seen hiding behind a blacked out passenger window of a car; but what is paramount is that all these superstars treat him as an equal because his style has helped them become the stars they are.

Yet Quirijns makes clear that Corbijn is at times a loner, and through his love of music he found a place in the world - he learnt English from listening to albums, yet he is drawn to these lost souls (Curtis, Cobain) as he is one himself.  One startling moment comes when Corbijn is lying in his Dutch apartment, his amplifier is broken so he cannot listen to any music, he is lost without his music.

The director cleverly shoots the film with Corbijn never centre of the frame, he is just off centre mostly as if he is a subject in his own work.

We meet his colleagues and work associates who worry for his stamina, his workaholic ethic is putting a lot of strain on him - gallery exhibitions, meetings, album shoots, film direction - how can one man sustain himself for this level of quality.  Perhaps the need to be globally accepted and regarded comes from the lack of love he got from his father, something we are alluded to when Corbijn goes to meet his mother who tells him she did not love his father.

Insightful, entertaining and eye-opening to a world of glamour and celebrity, Inside Out is a telling document on one of the world's most revered artists whose work will be remembered for many years.

Anton Corbijn: Inside Out is released on DVD from Momentum Pictures on Monday 17th September at £12.99RRP featuring scene select with English subtitles.

Frank Day - RV Night Q&A

Following my visit to the Sony World Photography Competition, I made contact with one of the photographers Frank Day via email. Not expecting a response, I was pleased that he did make contact. I decided to ask him a few questions and here is the interview.

Firstly, have you seen any of the Sony World Photography Competition? Do you have a favourite piece in the competition yourself?

I did see it at Somerset House.  The second prize winner in Architecture...the southern California material...was excellent. (Day refers to the work of Frank Meyl, of Germany, Midcentury Modern, who took photographs of people's front porches in Southern California, near Malibu).

What is your take on photography as an artform in this current multi-media world we live in?

Photography is the only legitimate artform.  Everything else is a fraud.

You live in Washington DC, why did you decide to go to Florida and the Carolinas for 'RV Night'?

Winter avoidance

Are you happy with the outcome?

Yes, very much so...I hope to shoot more of those images this coming winter.

Do you have any influences, be they from the world of photography or another art form?

On the photo side, Todd Hido and David Lynch.  In terms of painting, the way I make the foliage look, that directionless glow, that comes from late medieval landscape...think the background in van Eyck's Adoration of the Mystical Lamb, or the backgrounds in countless miniature illuminations.  Also Rousseau, the way the RV's crouch in the jungle like his animals...

I ask, other art form, as the photos reminded me of science-fiction/fantasy films with the RV's looking like spaceships...
They do look like life support pods.  And that's what they are, actually.  Dropped inaccessibly into the middle of the jungle.

Is there a statement about nature and technology you were striving for?
To me the dark beyond the RV or caravan is the whole point...the unknown, threatening, hostile dark world beyond the pool of light.  The world at the edge of the ancient map where things lurk.  In this case, the daunting future, the possibility that things will go really wrong and we will end up surviving in little sustainment pods.

What's next on the agenda?

What's next?  More of the same I hope.

Many thanks and I wish you all the best for the future and thank you for your time in answering the questions.

Frank Day's 'RV Night'

Taking my day off to sample some culture with my beautiful girlfriend, and to appease both our tastes for said culture. We took the decision to go to Somerset House, London and go to the exhibition which complements the 2011 Sony World Photography Competition.  Paying our £10 entrance fee, we do wonder if we this over the top price will be sufficient for an exhibition of photographs.

How wrong I was to short change the exhibition, I would pay £10 again each and every time to see some of the work on display.  Covering all manner of subjects from Thailand glow lamps to feasting ants; to the world's fattest man competition to the gruesome result of gunshot wounds in Latin America, the show took my breathe away.  Of course, such an exhibition garners discussion and you voice your disapproval at some of the results - for one, I was disappointed at the sport category, The World's Fattest Man Competition, from Ethiopia, shows how men dine on cow's blood and milk to bulk themselves up, with the fattest man being declared the winner.  This was first place in the sport category, beating the work of Javier Arcenillas who did some great work looking at Cuban boxers.  A more justifiable and worthy winner in my opinion.

However, I would like to focus upon the portfolio of one Frank Hallam Day who posted some work entitled 'RV Night'.  Just one word, two letters, two syllables but a piece of work that is both quirky, intelligent and entertaining.

Sometimes when you approach photography, I take the view that it should offer a lot more than just a certain view of events it depicts; it should make you think, make you discuss connotations and what is the photographer trying to say.

Day depicts RV's (recreational vehicles) most common in America as they rest at night.  Day travelled a lot in Florida and other southern states to photo nature or greenland of these lands with RV's parked for the night whilst their owners lay inside watching the TV.  Day comments that he took the photos without the owners knowledge, which makes it feel a little bit more dirty and voyeuristic as if you are prying on something you should not see - a secret view that you are especially granted access to.

The RV's when pictured are sometimes hidden by foliage and trees (rarely are they in full view), so this clash of man's technology resting amongst mother nature gives a version of science-fiction, the vehicles look like sleeping transformers and the added significance of their jungle names, 'Cougar', 'Jaguar', 'Puma' give it added connotations.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good the pictures are and how much of an indelible impression they have left on me, but perhaps that is the beauty.  One picture will affect you a lot more than another, I feel it is only right that you share this passion for someone's work with others.  I hope my kind words will make you do the same, and whilst there is a few weeks left please do go and see the exhibition at Somerset House.