unlikenesshttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/en-GB2012-02-10T06:16:54ZSquarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/)The whole storyhttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/10/2/the-whole-story.htmlMarcus2011-10-02T21:32:44ZColumbia Road Shoot

Every project has its lull points, where for a while nothing much is happening. So I just tentitavely looked at my blog here and noticed in shock that the previous post was MORE THEN TWO MONTHS ago! That's what happens when Facebook makes social blogging so simple...

Anyway, something had to be done! So I swoooped on this image Thea took middle of September of our Unlikeness session in Columbia Road. I cut it into a square and in a strange way it tells the whole unlikeness story like an album cover:

Right in the centre is the half-hidden blackboard, with the participation forms people use to fill out. Then there's the queue of people building up in the background, often hanging out for half an hour waiting for their turn. In the foreground you see me chatting with Sean who'll be in front of the lens next and then to the right is my battery-powered bicycle trolley. On top are some of the unliked portraits on display and my hero printer half-way through breathing life into Thea's portrait we did a few minutes earlier.

So it's the whole story in one hit. Lovely, thanks Thea!

 

]]>UNLIKENESS is ONE YEAR OLD!http://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/7/31/unlikeness-is-one-year-old.htmlMarcus2011-07-31T16:52:40Z

Today we celebrated our one year anniversary of the ULIKENESS project. It seemed so short yet long ago, since I first wheeled out my aluminium box onto the top edge of broadway market. I was nervous and clueless how people would react, what they'd think and if they'd like or unlike their shots.

Back then on that first day I took eight portraits with three liked and five unliked. Today I took only seven portraits of which four were liked and three unliked.

Over the last year I've spent 33 days shooting for UNLIKENESs and have taken 581 portraits. 447 (77%) portraits were 'liked' and 134 (23%) portraits were 'unliked'. The gender split is 60:40 in favour of female and women are still twice as likely not to like themselves in their printed portrait then men.

The project made it around London's East End street markets, to a Bedford street art festival and to some of Berlin's weekend hotspots.

I've met many lovely people with a large cross section of trades, jobs and skills. I'm grateful for so many friends and contacts over the year and look forward to the 1000's portrait sometime in Autumn 2011.

Thank you to everyone who took part and a BIG WELCOME to everyone joining us in the year to come.

Much Love,

Marcus

]]>Flashbackhttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/6/26/flashback.htmlMarcus2011-06-26T10:10:37ZSix Degrees of SeparationIt's been a good few days since I blogged here. Unlikeness had a couple of nice shooting days in the meantime and everything is going swimmingly.

What took my breath away yesterday was the following note someone passed me in a rush while I was engaged in a nice unlikeness chat with Camilla.


The note is from someone I met on the last Saturday of July 2010 while I was out on Broadway market performing unlikeness. Back then Lucy appeared with her two friends and Jamie (who had his unlikeness portrait taken). At the end of Jamie's shoot Lucy told me about her cancer and her immanent move to Australia. This would be the last weekend they were all together. I took and printed a group shot. Lucy took it to Australia.

Getting the note made my heart leap. I hope to catch up with Lucy soon to hear the whole story and take another portrait...

]]>Liked Homeshttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/5/24/liked-homes.htmlMarcus2011-05-24T21:11:00ZStats liked homes

As many of you know I email all participants after the shoot to thank you for taking part. Everybody who liked their portrait receives another email a few days later to ask for a snap of where the print is in this very moment. I call these 'Liked Homes' and they equally become part of the UNLIKENESS project.

I'm excited to announce that I have now received my 100th 'Liked Home' picture and to celebrate I've shared my favourite one so far.

If you have not sent me your 'Liked Home' picture yet, please do so as soon as you can. Just send it to me via email to marcus@unlikeness.org

]]>Columbia Road sessionhttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/5/22/columbia-road-session.htmlMarcus2011-05-22T17:29:52ZColumbia Road ShootUnlikeness returned to Horatio Street, Columbia Road Flower Market today. Thanks to an exhausting week I only hit the little alleyway for lunchtime. Mind you it didn't take long until Xavier showed up and started off a great afternoon of portrait taking (and giving).
Of the sixteen participants today five (!) were French and and two German. We talked about economies (true and false ones), Neighbourhood feuds, TV productions and about Photography projects in some depth.
For the first time the 'unlikeness rate' went up to 50% with only eight of the sixteen taking their portrait home to pastures new.
A grateful bow to today's participants: Xavier, Simi, Andy, Pia, Leticia, Mari Cruz, Amicie, Friedrich, Rachel, Pam, Malin, Caroline, Catherine, Clelia, Piani and Laura. The chats were awesome!

]]>The British Princehttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/4/29/the-british-prince.htmlMarcus2011-04-29T22:36:00ZVideo]]>Netil Markethttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/4/23/netil-market.htmlMarcus2011-04-23T17:00:00ZNetil Market ShootA summer's day at Netil market. Well relaxed with friends and artists, UNLIKENESS at Netil Market brought out amazing conversations about traveling the world, climbing, angels and elephants, loss and heritage, wine, TV shows and the intriguing art of location search. Of the twelve portraits five were unliked. Finally it was a great pleasure to meet the inventive photographer and artist Stephen Gill, a man of deep creative intuition and observer of the hidden.

Unlikeness in Andrew's reflection

A big cheers to Netil's lovely participants: Terry, Raae, Andrew, Titus, Sonia, Rhianna, Teri, Jo, Natalie, Sarah, Noah, Katy and Solomon. 


A Happy Easter to all.

]]>Dalston Unlikenesshttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/4/22/dalston-unlikeness.htmlMarcus2011-04-22T19:50:00ZDalston ShootToday's UNLIKENESS session took me to Dalston. A refreshingly mixed scene and community, down-to-earth, relaxed and jolly. Less then 10% of images were 'unliked' which either means the Dalston crowd was less self-critical or more expectant to 'get something' or I'm getting better at portraiture.

As always, my heartfelt gratitude to all participants, that's Robb, Courtney, Elizabeth, Aamir, Cesar, Alex, Mr B, Carol, Catherine, Ellis, Paa, Nana, Frank, Lennie, Huseyin, Lucy, Steve, Eve, Andy, Abbey, Aishat, the Keemat family, Aden, Louise, Carla and Katy.

]]>Maybachuferhttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/4/15/maybachufer.htmlMarcus2011-04-15T22:36:00ZBerlin ShootMaybachufer is a straight weekly market. People came here with a focus to get fruits and veg; maybe a bread or some cloth.
In two waves I was besieged in a frenzy by the attraction of 'free stuff'. I worked as fast as I could, but still had mums complaining that the pictures may be free, but too slow. It was much harder to get the project message across.

Unlikeness in Turkish

Between the frenzies there was still time to discuss photography, education, religion and neuroscience. I heartfelt THANK YOU to all participants of Friday: That's Lena, Ahmed, Melissa, Ali, Emirhan, Elif, Kezban, Heike, Philippe, Juan, Zerrin, Ela, Mina, Henning, Mr. Yarcan, Leonora, Vesire, Hashim, Açelya, Aysel, Lydia, Maureen, Alex, Günsel, Cornelia Iman, Omar, Gabriele, Anja, Zacharias and Sara. 

]]>Mauerparkhttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/4/10/mauerpark.htmlMarcus2011-04-10T20:51:00ZBerlin ShootUNLIKENESS kam am Sonntag zum Mauerpark zwar spät, aber noch rechtzeitig um genügend Aufnahmen zu machen. Von den insgesamt sechzehn Teilnehmern haben dreiviertel ihr Portrait genommen und vier haben es zurückgelassen. Vielen Dank wieder an Anastasija, Figen, Sandy, Simone, Lena, Barbara, Zarin, Paolina, Kerstin, Daniel, Kyle, Helena, Nina, Murat und Gaby.

Unlikeness at Mauerpark

Die Sonne und die interessanten  Gespräche von Seifenproduktion über Politik bis zur Herzoperation haben mich in bester Laune gehalten.

]]>Lausitzer Platzhttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/4/8/lausitzer-platz.htmlMarcus2011-04-08T17:00:00ZBerlin ShootUnlikeness at Kurt Kurt

Für 'UNLIKENESS am Lausitzer Platz' hab ich mein Rad und Pack von der Lübecker Str. via S-Bahn weiter südlich gehieft. Zum netten Ökomarkt im Kreuzberger Kiez. Wie immer waren die schönsten Momente mit den hervorragenden Menschen und Gesprächen verbunden. Ein lautes DANKESCHÖN geht an alle die mitgemacht haben: Jens, Rosa, Mechthild, Lucie, Toan, Tanya, Corinna, Mathies, Jakob, Marco, Shirin, Alina und Elke. Von den dreizehn Teilnehmern haben zehn sich selbst gut genug gefallen um es mitnehmen zu wollen.

 

]]>Thusnelda-Alleehttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/4/6/thusnelda-allee.htmlMarcus2011-04-06T21:22:34ZBerlin ShootUNLIKENESS war heute in der kürzesten Allee Berlins. Der wöchentliche Ökomarkt liegt am Rand der 50m kurzen Thusnelda-Allee. Ich have insgesamt 14 Portraits aufgenommen, ein Duzen 'liked' und zwei 'unliked'. Vielen Dank an Steve, Ali, Hisham, Muharem, Andreas, Cornelia, Angelo, Matthias, Selina, Vanessa, Andrea, Myriam, Benjamin und Cherry. Es war ein toller Start in die Berlin-Unlikeness-Szene.

Wenn das Wetter am Freitag dichthält, werde ich den Lausitzer Platz in Kreuzberg anpeilen und dann am Sontag zum Mauerpark fahren.

]]>Berlin Berlinhttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/3/29/berlin-berlin.htmlMarcus2011-03-29T21:12:08ZBerlinUnlikeness kommt vom 30. März bis zum 16. April nach Berlin.

Wie immer stelle mich mit meiner Kamera und mobilem Drucker irgendwo in Berlin auf. Wenn Du ein kostenloses Fotoportrait möchtest, sprichst Du mich an und stellst Dich vor. Nach einem kurzen Gespräch nehme ich dann ein Foto auf und drucke es innerhalb von ein paar Minuten auf einem Hochqualitätsdrucker aus.

Wenn Du Dir in diesem Bild dann gefällst, behältst Du es (und keine weiteren Abzüge werden jemals erstellt), wenn nicht, behalte ich es. Alle 'ungemochten' Bilder werden in eine Ausstellung mit dem Thema UNLIKENESS einfliessen.

]]>Time is not Moneyhttp://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/1/30/time-is-not-money.htmlMarcus2011-01-30T22:43:00ZPrinciples not-for-moneyWe’ve all internalised it: “Time is Money”. Most our value equations go unquestioned. You pay, I serve. You serve, I pay. Payment for time. We argue about 'how much?', but never about 'why?'

Living in a service based economy amplifies this view. The services industry in the UK grew from 63% in 1992 to 73% in 2008 while UK manufacturing shrunk from 26% to 16% over the same period. Like human parking meters we feel more and more that our time is valuable in money terms. We upgrade our rates as we progress through careers.

The paying party in a service exchange represents demand; demand is supposed to be a good thing. But how much does demand in the form money shape our service? What would a service be like if no money is exchanged? Granted, we all need money to live, but how much has the colour of money dyed our human relationships outside of paid labour?

In photography, demand in the form of money creates an imperative to please. The recorded likeness must please the paying customer. Or more precisely, must please the preconditioned expectation of the paying customer.

The resulting photographs are tested against this idea of ourself and the fact that we paid for it, gives us the right to demand a certain outcome. Even if this outcome surprises us, it has to surprise us in a pleasant (pleasing) way.

So where is the value in UNLIKENESS, a not-for-money project? The value is in Free interaction. That's Free with a capital 'F' rather then free as a synonym for zero pence. 

]]>Le Group est mort, vive le Page!http://www.unlikeness.org/blog/2011/1/23/le-group-est-mort-vive-le-page.htmlMarcus2011-01-23T16:57:06ZFacebookOur facebook GROUP is now MOVING to its own UNLIKENESS FACEBOOK PAGE . Click on *LIKE* to stay in touch and read about how we're getting on

http://www.facebook.com/unlikeness.page

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