Beyond the obvious

Interesting art is new and different from everything that has gone before. It's impossible to break new ground and produce something fresh if you follow the rules and imitate other people's styles and techniques. We all learn from the past, our mentors and the giants who have gone before us, but true art only happens when you break free from them. Don't get me wrong. I think it is valuable to study the masters and to be aware of what your contemporaries are doing but how can you ever hope to stand out if all you do is repeat stuff that's been done before? There's a big drawback to doing innovative new stuff. If you break the mould people will not immediately associate your work with stuff they've been told is good – art that follows the rules and can be neatly categorised and classified. You lose the 'recognisability' factor and you don't fit in until the rest of the world starts to catch up. However once the world does recognise your ability, yo...

Book covers featuring photographs by Magda Indigo. Click on the image to see the large version. Today publisher Harper Collins officially launched three books, Romeo & Juliet, Pride & Prejudice and Wuthering Heights, all featuring book cover photographs by Magda Indigo (aka my dear wife). Needless to say I'm rather proud that her images were chosen for these classic novels. In the last three months Magda's images have been chosen for seven different books by a variety of international publishers. With the quality of her work she deserves every success in my opinion, and it seems that some pretty renowned art directors in the book publishing industry agree. Anyway I wanted to share this little bit of news with you and take the opportunity to brag about my favourite photographer, who I just happen to be married to. If you'd like to see more of her work head over to our website www.indigo2photography.co.uk and there are links from her portfolio page to a lot of her...

This images symbolises the way our childhood seems to pass so quickly. Childhood now seems to be a little like a dream, like someone else lived it, although inside I am still that small kid sometimes. The telephone wires and the road perhaps signify the journey we travel and how we are linked through our ability to communicate. Then again perhaps it is just an out of focus picture of a little girl running along a road. The joy of photography is that I can present you with an image. You have to also do some of the work in interpreting it. All I can say is the photograph was meant to be and I chose it. I think photographs should get people to think and to ask questions. Cheers, Paul www.indigo2photography.co.uk

This bit of industrial design/architecture resides in the far corner of a supermarket parking lot in Belgium. At first it looks like and incredibly straightforward image but the more you look the more you discover. Click on the image to see the larger version. It never ceases to amaze me how diverse audiences respond to different images. Some images have broad appeal while others have a much smaller appeal but are liked with a passion. A word of caution to my colleagues out there. Popularity is not a measure of artistic value. If it were then most of the modern art museums would have to throw their exhibits in a skip. So what is an appropriate measure of artistic value. That's a tough question. I don't know the answer but what I do know is that if a few people respond passionately to an image I've made, it makes me happy. Cheers, Paul