David Oates

Blip and David Oates

It was one of these crap nights. You know? One where you wake up 100 times, have weird dreams in periods of sleep and feel knackered when the sun comes up.

Then I watched Storyville: The Expedition to the End of the World. It was about a group of scientists and artists that went to Greenland on a sailing ship. All had their interests, studies and philosophies that influenced the way they viewed the world. The cinematography by Daniel Dencik was stunning. I think he must have been a still photographer as every frame was beautifully lit and framed....the world at its very finest. The biologist's view of the world was one that resonated with me. Simply that every living organism in the world is related, that only 50% of life forms are observable and humanity is close to its end. Simply, we are evolving quicker than our environment so we will soon not be able to survive in it. There's plenty of other life forms ready to take our place.

Coombes Edge, the big hill that dominates the valley I live in. 5km from my front door to the top and another 5km down. That was my run today. It's like another world up there. Windy moorland with hardy hill sheep, a few hovering birds of prey and lots of plants and creatures that wouldn't be seen even a couple of hundred metres below. I'm glad I had my buff as it was cold up top. Stingy ear tips and steamed up glasses. There was still some snow, hard icy stuff which was hard to move on. Once back in Charlesworth going got 'fast' again and there was no pain in my recently injured calf. Always a positive.

Pace was close to 10km.h, which is good for me considering the terrain. I certainly deserved a quick espresso, the Has Bean blend Deerhunter made especially for North Tea. a rocking extraction. Just what I needed as there was no time for a seat as it was Alternative Camera Club at the Whitworth in Manchester.

David Oates, a native of Manchester, was presenting. His was a varied portfolio, influenced heavily by his Blacklab compatriot Mishka Henner. Both 'pinch' others images, manipulating them or presenting in a different context. No work is truly original, so ethically I see no harm in such an approach. Conceptually though, I don't quite get either's work and the images aren't strong enough to stand alone. Saying that, both Oates and Henner are recognised at a high level, so maybe I'm missing something.

However, I did like Oates' documentary and portrait work. His Forbidden City portraits from China were good...my blip image is an ironic take. He's holding his 'Little Red Book' from this series and adopting a typical Chinese pose that he tried to avoid in his work.he an Henner did a good collage film to tell the story of the Russian space programme and Uri Gagarin which I liked. It had the feel of an original Flash Gordon film, although I kept my mouth shut on that one.

Then I trekked through Moss Side to Chorlton to do a wee bit of shopping ay Unicorn. Maybe I should have got the bus as I'm now absolutely shattered.