The Tedlemon Gallery

Thames Delta Series

noreply@blogger.com (Jack Delmonte) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:49:00 +0000

Having moved and starting living down South Essex way I am captivated by the light, sounds and sights of the Thames Estuary. So I decided to spend my spare time on a new project entitled Thames Delta (as from the brilliant film of Canvey Island and Dr Feelgood - Oil City Confidential). This is a fun thing to do and for me a departure from the more serious travel images and portrait commissions. An extract of these photos can be found here and on my gallery at www.tedlemon.com.

Bangladesh

noreply@blogger.com (Jack Delmonte) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:21:00 +0000

This December, just passed, I ventured into the times of my earlier adventures 30 years ago, back to an environment of poverty, intense cities, and hard travelling on buses, trains and boats. The aim of the journey was to recreate an old travelling partnership with a great friend, to celebrate his 60^th birthday on the road (with mine soon to follow) and to photograph and savour what is a fascinating and beautiful place – Bangladesh. A country celebrating its 40^th anniversary of independence, after the disastrous war and famine of the early 1970’s.

In Dhaka we visited the national independence museum which has both the stark reminder of what destruction a civil war can do to a country, but also carries many individual stories of heroism performed by many unlikely participants. It also depicts the suffering and genocide as mass torture and murder were used as weapons against the countries general populace and intellectual elite.

This visit at the beginning of our journey through the country set the scene for understanding what has happened since and where the country is now with the backdrop of many natural disasters, more famine, corrupt practices and a constant struggle to get the economy going.

What is also obvious to the visitor is the intensity of population, especially in Dhaka, which is to all intents and purposes a boiling cauldron of humanity ever being topped up with migration from the outlying regions. In the North East rural areas where we travelled the land is heavily worked with people dotted throughout the landscape.

These people in the cities and rural areas make Bangladesh a great place to visit, they make it wonderfully exciting and most of all welcoming. As in many experiences of travelling in poor countries people, who live hand to mouth and day-to-day, show what true hospitality is and how to give the benefit of the doubt to the stranger in their midst.

To capture this on film (or sensor) and produce an image that communicates a view of what the people of Bangladesh meant to me was a challenge I relished and enjoyed. Hopefully you will too as these and other images of West Bengal and the region of Sikkim will soon be exhibited in March 2012 - more news on this soon. And if you ever get the chance to visit Bangladesh – do not hesitate - go!

Finding work....

noreply@blogger.com (Jack Delmonte) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:01:00 +0000

I overheard a pub conversation yesterday lunchtime. A woman chatting to her friend said that her son had got into a photography course of which 900 had applied and only 90 places were available. In the last ten years I have seen so many experienced photographers hit the dust unable to find work and here we go and produce another bunch of young people who will end up struggling to earn a living.

Of course there may be a genius among them, maybe another Mapplethorpe and some will make decent money in commercial photography. The issue is that when leaving University many have to work for practically nothing just to build up their CV’s. Same goes for, say, Architects who seek an internship with a major practice just to have a history of work.

Much has been made lately of these ‘internships’ and how young people are treated or paid. I was lucky enough to serve a working apprenticeship when I started and got paid a decent sum (well £3.17.6p a week was good in those days!). Of course times have changed but we have to look differently on how and where we train our young people and get them earning enough to live on when they come out of University. And that’s down to the profession they are going into and the government – I am looking into what The Tedlemon Gallery can do to help that process over the next few months and will keep you posted on progress.

In the meantime we have moved our photography studio and premises to a larger location with access to a physical gallery and viewing of prints by appointment– see more of this at www.tedlemon.com.

The Tic-Tac Men

noreply@blogger.com (Jack Delmonte) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:44:00 +0000

The tic-tac is not just a small mint popular with travelling salesmen. It is also a traditional method of signals used by on-course bookmakers to communicate the odds of race horses. A tic-tac man will be wearing white gloves so that the hand movements to be easily seen.

It is still used in on-course betting in the UK but being replaced by modern wireless technology. The on-course bookmakers used the tic-tac method as a way of communicating between their bookies to ensure the odds do not differ from their competitors, an advantage the punters could otherwise exploit. So, for example, a very large bet is placed with one bookmaker, this may be signalled to the others as a way of lowering the price on all the boards.

When I was eight years old my family had a day out at Sandown Races. My father, a rather keen gambler, took me over to see the tic-tac men in action. He stood behind them doing a very amusing, if somewhat rude, version of their tic-tac behaviour. We were asked to move on.

I remembered this family story recently when I saw the wonderful Bill Brandt image of tic-take men, taken in the 1930s, the image has captured the men in a statuesque pose going about their trade. You can view this image at http://www.tedlemon.com/ .

noreply@blogger.com (Jack Delmonte) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:20:00 +0000

PRESS RELEASE 001 – JULY 2011

LAUNCH OF THE TEDLEMON GALLERY WEBSITE

We are excited to announce the launch of a new website which offers a unique opportunity to purchase contemporary and vintage prints from a single source.

On the site you will find one of the world’s finest food photographers first venture into fine art with amazing microscopic images, photographs from a worldwide tour by a renowned news and sports photographer and how a former computer salesman transforms his lifelong passion for photography into producing award winning images.

The new Tedlemon Photographers Gallery features San Francisco based Caren Alpert and London based photographers Daniel Hambury and Jack Delmonte. With vintage prints sourced from private collections including images by Norman Parkinson, Bill Brandt, George Roger and others.

To view the site visit www.tedlemon.com.

For press information please email info@tedlemon.com or call Jack Delmonte on +44 (0) 7718 539794.

Launch of The Tedlemon Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Jack Delmonte) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:30:00 +0000

After months of hard work with fellow photographers including viewing private collections of vintage prints I am delighted to launch the new online Tedlemon Gallery. The launch PR and new site address will go live in mid July 2011 - so if you are not on my mailing list please send your details to info@tedlemon.com and watch this space!