DISTANCED MEMORIES - LOCKDOWN 2020 DIARY IN iPHONE THUMBNAILS / PT. 1

APRIL 2020

Notable events: Continuous blue skies; first meal in back garden; first appearance of blue and purple spring flowers.

Book read: The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre.

Additional: I spent the end of March and into April 2020 getting as much sunshine as I could, even though it was cold outside. I was very conscious of the fact that my mood would be regulated by natural light ( while adhering to the rules, obviously ). Usually this meant sitting and reading.

Luckily, in the UK we were gifted with blue skies and very favourable weather almost as soon as lockdown was announced. 

When I see these thumbnails in my iPhone, I don't even need to open the actual photographs, they represent vivid impressions of the time, and of the changing seasons during lockdown. 

...To be continued.

UNDER THE ARCHES: BIRMINGHAM NOIR

The BBC's super-hit show Peaky Blinders is set in Birmingham and more specifically, the streets of Digbeth, which have traditionally been the seat of the local Irish community.  However, thanks to the Luftwaffe in World War II, not much of the old neighbourhoods actually remain, and the production has to film elsewhere in the country. Despite that, the Digbeth area of town, where the music and arts festival takes place, still has a certain cinematic ambience if you can catch it in the right light. Below is a selection of photographs from around my studio.

( Below ) : The Old Typhoo Building, Bordesley Street

( Below ) : Lower Trinity Street

( Below ) : The Custard Factory, Floodgate Street

( Below ) : Lower Trinity Street

( Below ) : Coventry Road

( Below ) : Coventry Road

( Below ) : Electric Supply Station, Upper Trinity Street

( Below ) : Adderley Street

( Below ) : The Custard Factory, Gibb Street

HIVE MIND

While waiting for the Brooklyn train at Columbus Circle in New York City, I took several photographs of the opposite platform ( above being the best one ). I liked how all the commuters were neatly framed by the metal girders. Once I looked closely at the pictures on the computer screen, it became obvious just how many of the people were looking at their phones, to the exclusion of all else. A ubiquitous scene from modern life.

Is it purely artists, or Homeland Security that take a neighbourly interest these days? 

It's kind of depressing how dependent we are on these gadgets. Personally, I prefer to carry a book when I'm commuting. I find carbon-based media much more reliable.

Aside from that, I love the painterly rendering that zooming-in achieves on these iPhone 4 pics.* There even appears to be a faint halo/outline effect around some of the figures.

NEW EDIT ( below ): The lady in the blue jacket is a fascinating focal point, so here's a 'Portmanteau Edit' of the same scene, which looks even better!

*Self-aware alert: If I was that into carbon-based media, I would be standing there sketching, like in the good old days - not messing with an iPhone like everyone else in these pictures.

8¬[

NOW ON INSTAGRAM!

I've opened an Instagram account to document my work and travels. Just look up 'Alexi K Artist' next time you're on there!

Below: City Hall, New York, photographed on Saturday 28th October, 2017.

i [ am a ] CAMERA

I was given an iPhone recently, to use as a music player. Then I discovered the camera...

Below: Mixing colours for my 'concrete' paintings.

I'm actually shocked at how good it is. In fact, this phone is better than my actual camera. The only thing that will prevent the iPhone replacing the old camera is because no-one at Apple has thought to attach a wrist strap for those tricky leaning-out-of-a-building shots.

Below: A police helicopter, hundreds of feet above the city. No rotor blur!

Below: Birmingham reflected on a communal hand-dryer.

Below: I love the design of this poster.

Below: The Typhoo Building ( near my studio ), where Spielberg filmed Ready Player One, last year.

Below: Birmingham UK, as seen from the Custard Factory.

LONDON NIGHT SKY

FOR MORE OF MY URBAN ABSTRACTIONS SEE:

ALEXI K LONDON FIELDS

ALEXI K PARK LIFE

LONDON FIELDS

Photos taken in London, on December 30th 2016, walking between the Tate Britain and Tate Modern.

FOR MORE EXAMPLES OF URBAN ABSTRACTION, CLICK HERE

PARK LIFE

All photographs copyright Alexi K.

  

For more of my real-life abstract photography see:

DISK WORLDS ( 2012 )

A KIND OF BLUE ( 2014 )

MANCHESTER (2015 )

ABSTRACT LIFE: RHAPSODY IN BLUE

This spontaneous photo of a street scene ( Floodgate Street, Birmingham, near my studio ) is exactly how I would like my abstract works to look. Simple and uncluttered. At some point I'd like to compile a blog of real-life abstraction from my photographs.

ABSTRACT LIFE: ARACHNOPHOBIA

I'm starting a photography blog soon, dedicated to real-life abstraction. Here's a pic I took yesterday. I was walking through an underpass in my hometown, and noticed that around each light was an enormous, dense spider web. I put my camera up as close as I could, and took a snap. Inadvertently, it looks like I also captured a drug deal going down at the other end!