quirky slice of life

November 18, 2006 8:09 AM

Peter Dench is a London photojournalist whose portfolio features work on some fun and quirky themes. He won the 2004 World Press Photo for his series called drinking of england. Some other series, like nudestock, are NSFW.
posted by madamjujujive (19 comments total)

Hilarious, this makes England look like some crazy booze-fueled snogfest.

His work reminds me of another UK photographer, Martin Parr.


aside: why are nudists always the ones who shouldn't be nude?
posted by splatta at 8:15 AM on November 18, 2006

You can't take it with you, but it can take you there. Bartender! Another round for my friends here.
posted by cenoxo at 8:44 AM on November 18, 2006

metafilter: some crazy booze-fueled snogfest.
posted by fefofifum at 9:17 AM on November 18, 2006

take care drinking with them limeys , you might wind up some place with a silly paper hat on your head
posted by nola at 9:51 AM on November 18, 2006

I don't know... looking at this stuff, it just makes me think what a bloody lot of problem alcoholics they have over there. And they just seem to ignore the issue. Like the picture of that lady in the nice hat, sitting, blithely unaware of the drunken, broken slob sitting right next to her.
posted by Parannoyed at 10:22 AM on November 18, 2006

I wanted to like his photos but, aside from gratuitous cleavage shots, they kind of got a "Meh" looks like party shots on Flickr. And the Nudestock shots are gonna give me nightmares (as splatta notes above).
posted by fenriq at 10:26 AM on November 18, 2006

Statistics on Alcohol: England, 2006 [PDF report]. Like anywhere else, it's not a pretty picture.
posted by cenoxo at 10:47 AM on November 18, 2006

The real key to nudity, is proper accessorizing.
posted by StickyCarpet at 10:54 AM on November 18, 2006

The photos are good but not great. Too derivative of Martin Parr, and too reliant on our preconceived ideas: Brits are boozers, small town Americans are religious, nudists are ugly. He's trying to do the whole banality-of-culture thing, but he doesn't really have the vision of a photographer like Parr. Best shots are the warmer, funnier ones, where he gets into his own thing more.
posted by bookish at 11:20 AM on November 18, 2006

Another vote for Martin Parr kicking this guy's ass.

This guy should maybe consider learning some digital or- what's the other one?- traditional photo editing techniques to make his photos, you know, look good.
posted by elr at 1:27 PM on November 18, 2006

And his framing is wack. Actually, this gives me hope for my mediocre photojournalism.
posted by elr at 1:28 PM on November 18, 2006

Also reminded me of this, which I saw at a showing of the 2006 World Press Photo winners.
posted by thecjm at 2:23 PM on November 18, 2006

Yes. Public nudity. Because I too want to stand in front of a lot of people an expose my shortcomings.
posted by Zack_Replica at 2:29 PM on November 18, 2006

Agree with the Parr-ian smackdown.
posted by rbs at 2:46 PM on November 18, 2006

fenriq summed it up for me. a bit of a meh...
posted by Frasermoo at 3:36 PM on November 18, 2006

Ooh, like the rain pics, and there are some neat ones in the ethnic London set. Not groundbreaking stuff to my non-pro photo eyes, but engaging and spontaneous nonetheless. Thanks!

*wanders off to check out this Martin Parr chap*
posted by mediareport at 4:40 PM on November 18, 2006

Just like at Punk Rock Bowling, it is always the folks that you *Don't* want to see get naked, who get naked.

Thus, if you want to see a bunch of skinny, pimply guys from SF get naked, come to PRB.... ;o)
posted by msjen at 7:12 PM on November 18, 2006 [1 favorite]

Somebody needs to tell Magenta DeVine to put her clothes back on.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 2:51 AM on November 19, 2006

yes they do. but i'd still hit it?
posted by Frasermoo at 9:41 PM on November 22, 2006