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Heidi Alexander's avatar

Thank you for these posts on your course, Ben! So generous of you and much appreciated and enjoyed. I'm definitely not the only one finding them stimulating and inspiring. 💪👍👌

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Ben Rook's avatar

Thanks, Heidi. You're very welcome! Glad you find them useful. 😊🙏🏻

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Paul Morin's avatar

I've always been fascinated by the history of places that look forgotten, ignored or repurposed. Now I know it has a name. Great post, Ben. Keep them coming.

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Ben Rook's avatar

Nice one. Cheers, Paul. Another post is in the works. :)

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Daniel Nicolas's avatar

I finally found time to read it. Really good again! I listened to his interview that you sent me. I like the way Clavarino talks and thinks. Very inspiring. I can't wait to hear what Lua Ribeira has to say. She's very intuitive and pure and a bit weird (In a good way). I like that. Good luck!

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Ben Rook's avatar

Thanks, mate. Glad you got something from it. I totally agree. Lua has a very creative mind. I was looking forward to really understanding her methods. But unfortunately, she had to pull out after the first session for personal reasons. So we have Sebastian Bruno, now.

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Daniel Nicolas's avatar

Sorry to hear that Lua had to pull out. But Bruno seems interesting as well.

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Ben Rook's avatar

Yeah. I was disappointed. But we take the rough with the smooth. Bruno has some interesting work and ideas.

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Sonia Last's avatar

'Fil rouge' and blurring the lines are very helpful concepts. Love Sebald's writing. Hope to try it some time. Thanks for this!

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Ben Rook's avatar

You’re welcome, Sonia. I’ve not read Sebald yet. But I plan to. Using narrative arcs from literature to structure photography projects is an approach I hadn't considered before. Thanks for reading. 

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Paul Jenkin's avatar

Great series, Ben. I did wonder about doing a sort of photographic 'sliding doors' type story but finding the relevant subject and being able to build an accurate and compelling narrative somehow seems too difficult.

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Ben Rook's avatar

Cheers Paul. Difficult might be what makes it worthwhile. :) These things take years. And a lot of thinking time. Funny, you mention sliding doors. That concept was in my head during the project. And there are lots of them in Japan. But I never managed to get an interesting picture of one. 

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Paul Jenkin's avatar

It's a film (and concept) that's stuck with me since I saw it. True story: I met my wife on a railway station. We commuted to London at the same time every day and we both chose, independently of one another, the same place on the platform to wait for the train - as we knew that was a quiet carriage and it was where the entry door would line up. It it's impossible to know how different our lives would have been if we had stood just a few yards apart, or got different trains.....

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Ben Rook's avatar

Nice one! Some things are meant to be. Or they certainly feel that way…

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Sajad Ahmad's avatar

Keep them coming Ben! Love this series

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Ben Rook's avatar

Hey, thanks Sajad. Glad you like it, mate!

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