Simon recently visisted Hawaii. It’s a fascinating place – the group of islands was formed thousands of years ago by under-sea volcanoes that erupted and formed what remains the world’s largest mountain range. It’s a land that conjures evocative images of beautiful beaches, lazy sunsets… and waves. Big waves. The sort of waves that would make you want to pick up your surfboard and run. To safety that is. Basically, anywhere but directly at them.  Obvioulsy, given Harsent’s preoccupation with stormy seas, normal rules do not apply and the results are these shots for a new Schweppes campaign…

Credit where credit’s due:

There’s more to come over the following months, so keep your eyes peeled.

The creative collective that make up POOL are launching their new publication Blow Up this week. Designed by Maud and the members of POOL, it captures beautifully the collective ethos of the group within its pages. To celebrate the launch of this exciting project, there’s a group show ending with, quite possibly, a group hug and, following that, world domination. Or a hangover. One of the two.

Friday’s launch is an invite-only affair, but the show will be running throughout the weekend for members of the public to visit. And, if you’re in the area (Sydney’s Botanical Gardens no less) it promises to be a must-see event.

Simon’s contribution is a series of shots called Into the Abyss and, following their work together on the WWF campaign, is another stunning collaboration with his father, the award-winning poet David Harsent.

For those of you not lucky enough to be near Sydney this weekend click here.

More soon, so keep checking back…

As a corollary to the theory that a poor workman blames his tools, Simon took these above Salt Lake City en route to Hawaii… on his iPhone.

[Click on each image to see a larger version]

It’s amazing what results a change in perspective can have…

Like the satisfaction of completing a soccer sticker book, or collecting all the baseball cards, the calendar collaboration between Simon and designers ohplay is now at an end and ready for you to download or print here. We hope that you’ve been able to catch them all, Pokemon style, as it really has been a special series.

Print it out or download to your desktop or iPad. Speaking of which, RIP Steve Jobs – a true visionary and a shocking loss…

Until next time kids, stay hungry, stay foolish.

For those of you who don’t know (and that could run to everyone outside Australia) Legacy Week is Australia’s annual national appeal to raise awareness of and funds for the families of deceased veterans. It’s been carrying on its good work since 1942 and, this year, Simon’s been honoured to be on board, shooting the print campaign and directing the 30-second commercial.

Part of Legacy Week is badge day, where badges are given as a token of appreciation for a donation. This year however, the badges are mp3 players complete with headphones and feature songs dedicated to the memory of Australians who have given their lives in service. For any British readers out there, it might help to think of it as Poppy Appeal with really kick-ass, interactive poppies. Then again, it might not.

We know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking, ‘Wow, those shots look great. If only we could see the commercial as well, that would be amazing. But we don’t live in Australia, so we probably never will.’

Fear not, we’re one step ahead of you… just click on the link below

Telstra_Legacy-flag

It’s a complicated concept, but one that has been made to appear beautifully simple through its execution, so big congratulations to all those involved. And they are:

Agency Droga5
Executive Creative Director: Duncan Marshall
Creative Director: Steve Jackson
Senior Art Director: Andy Fergusson
Senior Writer: Chris Berents
Creative Technologist: Andrew Knott
Producer: Anthony Martin
Business directors: Dannika Coleman, Naren Sanghrajka
Director: Simon Harsent
Photography: Simon Harsent
Digital Production: Pollen
Media agency: OMD
PR agency: Pulse Communications

A more fitting tribute we can’t imagine.

Well, that was some weather wasn’t it? Hope you all came through it OK.

If I had been that side of The Pond, I can assure you that I would have been trying my best to construct a crude concrete house. Well, perhaps not, but at least I’d have had a stab at battening down the hatches – although I’m not entirely sure what it actually entails.

Not so my big brother. Oh no. Showing true cosmopolitan character, he drew on his native London Blitz spirit, while emabracing Australia’s can-do attitude and NY’s unflappable commitment to business as usual and, no sooner had the hurricane blown over, he went out doing what he does best… taking pictures.

I love the words ‘blog exclusive’…

For those of you who are unaware of the Ship Song Project, do yourselves a favour and have a look at that link. The film and song represent a unique collaboration between some of the most amazing artists in Australia – not to mention the world – Sydney-based creative agency Three Drunk Monkeys and Sydney Opera House. The aim was to, quite literally, sing the praises of this unique and creative building and all that sails in it.

Simon was brought on board, unless you hadn’t already noticed, for the project’s poster campaign. It seems a fitting time to hand over to the man himself…

‘It was truly amazing to be part of such an awe-inspiring project. I worked with Noah Regan, ECD at Three Drunk Monkeys – I’ve worked with him before and he’s an incredible creative. When he asked me to come on board, I had just finished shooting a personal project called Into the Abyss and, when I saw the project and the direction they wanted to take the print, I knew the images I had shot would be a great direction to go in. I sat down with Noah and went through the images and we decided to incorporate one of the images into the idea of representing the opera house as sails of a ship. I’m really happy with the final image – Cream Studios  did a great job on the retouching…’

Paul Goldman’s film, shot over 10 months, feels like a labour of love; intimate, personal and affecting, following as it does one woman’s passage through the Opera House. Her journey is also ours as the camera follows, voyeuristically, taking in the various rehearsal rooms, concert halls, corridors and stages of this phenomenal building. As the film explores the lesser-known workings of this iconic building we snatch glimpses of the contributing artists singing the Nick Cave song. Some of these part performances feel beautifully restrained, some full of flourish – all are utterly unique. And for those of us who still want more (and that will be everyone) there’s Greg Appel’s fascinating 30-minute behind the scenes documentary, narrated by Australian actor Guy Pearce.

On hand to capture the feel behind the scenes of the video in some fabulous stills was Prudence Upton, who also shot this image from the opening night…

Projects of this quality don’t come around often. That’s what makes them special.

Go see.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Simon recorded an interview as part of Canon’s Seconds With series. The five minute web video is now live, so click on that cunningly inserted link to see and hear Simon talk about life, photography and the lengthy process of shooting his award-winning monograph Melt. As conversation starters go, it’s a great ice breaker.

More soon, keep checking back!

The second in Simon’s Way Home series is a blog exclusive, and we couldn’t be happier…

This new journey is altogether different. It is, for a start, unfamiliar territory, devoid of the markers, the focal points that help us to make sense of our surroundings – to process events. We are, in very real terms, in the middle of nowhere – all at sea – and this throws up some interesting questions along with the severe salt spray. Not of where we are headed – dry land surely beckons – but of where we have been.

Walls of water obscure the horizon and, after the eye comes to accept these barriers, become the landscape itself, fluid yet impenetrable. As the journey progresses, the waters shallow, the spray intensifies and, though still unseen, land that was lost is found. We are home.

2011 is almost halfway through and that can only mean one thing… 178 shopping days left till Christmas! Oh, OK, two things then. 178 shopping days* left till Christmas and the latest installment of the quarterly calendar from Simon Harsent and designers OhPlay, which is ready for you to download or print here.

Now July and August are seriously big hitters in the month industry, clocking up 31 days apiece, which makes this installment bigger and better than ever before. Not that makes any difference to the price. Oh no – as ever it’s completely free. A gift. From us to you.

You’re welcome.

If you haven’t already, make sure to bookmark this page and keep checking back as we’d hate for you to miss out on the final part of the calender…

Until next time…

*correct at time of publishing