Isabelle Pateer

I was sent this link to a Beligian photographers site http://www.isabellepateer.com/projects/ This image is from a series called Unsettled which focusus on whats left after industry has moved on. In this case it's in the Belgian village of Doel. Collectively the photographs tell a story of loss, waste and I think a sense of betrayal. They convey a feeling of people that are abandoned, let down by what big business has to offer. They also show how in a global market business looks at costs first and communities after. I suppose what I really like about them is the fact that the focus is on the human waste, this to me makes the massage more tangible.

Deutsche Borse Photography prize

The Deutsche Borse photography prize is the annual Turner Prize for photography, in other words it is an annual prize (£30,00) which is given to the artist who has used photography in the most meaningful way in that year. Like the Turner the short-list is chosen through exhibition rather than reputation. This years prize winner is John Stezaker. For artists of my age he is something of a legend particularly if you were at college in the seventies and  interested in Conceptual art. Stezaker came after and embraced the Art and Language group and for a while enjoyed a deserved reputation as someone who produced interesting and thought provoking work. Despite his lack of notoriety over the  intervening years he has obviously kept working and now seems to be having a small but significant renaissance. You can find his work on numerous website but I can't seem to find his own. One last thought; it seems interesting that the photography prize should be given not to someone who has taken photographs but to someone who has manipulated them; perhaps this is a sign of the times.

Mustafah Abdulaziz

This is a great crowd shot by Mustafah Abdulaziz, an American photographer, this is from a series of images called Memory Loss which you can find at http://www.mustafahabdulaziz.com/memory-loss . It's not always clear to me what the photographs are saying overall, maybe about displacement, or perhaps they are just good observation; sometimes we neglect the obvious in favour of the conceptual. It's worthwhile looking at the rest of his work, especially New York Fashion Week, which has equally as astute observation.

Lens Culture

If you wake early and can't get back to sleep internet searching is a great way to pass the time; it also means that you come across little gems like this online photography magazine called Lens Culture http://www.lensculture.com/index.html It has a whole range of links to different photographers and different types of photography. If nothing else it's worthwhile going there just to see the eclectic imagery that Bertrand Fleuret has put together in his online book Landmasses and Railways http://www.bertrandfleuret.com/ Happy hunting!

Alison Brady

I know that more often than not we are told to be specific in our internet searches; but sometimes being less specific can be beneficial. I'm not sure I would have got to see the above images by Alison Brady http://alisonbrady.com/contents.html by trying to search unless of course I had known her name, However by looking at Blogs by other people you can open a new string of ideas. I found these images on a Blog by Amy Stein http://amysteinphoto.blogspot.co.uk/ . I've looked at some of the other posts on this Blog and it looks pretty good but I took a chance and chose a name and luckily came up with these images. By chance they have a look of Thorsten Brinkmann and share some of the same aesthetic; but these seem to occupy a more surreal space, perhaps they are more personal in content and on the surface at least they look more American or at least less European. Both these sites are worth visiting and it's worthwhile just taking a chance when internet  searching.

Lorna Simpson

Posting work by Thorsten Brinkmann reminded me of another artist who was in the exhibition and had stand out work, Lorna Simpson. I've been aware of her work from sometime around the eighties and have always enjoyed seeing it. This particular piece is called Please remind me of who I am and this idea of who we are and what we represent is a strong part of her working ethos, equally as strong is the desire to place herself and her work within the context of a black woman in America. You can see her work at http://lsimpsonstudio.com/ .

Thorsten Brinkmann

I find it hard to believe that I haven't posted any work by Thorsten Brinkmann before now. I first saw his work a few years ago at ICP in New York in an exhibition called Dress Codes.The work was based around images of style and personal presentation and Brinkmann's work was a small part of a group show. For me it stood out as being work that significance beyond the immediacy, yes it's striking to look at and arresting but it seems to me that it has a deeper more lasting impression based on a more historically concious thought process. If nothing else you can go to his website at  http://thorstenbrinkmann.com/ and see some knock-out work. This image is from a series called Portraits of a serial collector this particular one is called Bertha von Schwarzflug. According to Google translate Schwarzflug means black flight.