Application Submitted to "Show Me the Monet"

I have just finished making my application to Show Me the Monet, and uploded my narrative series of images titled The Mirror as my submission to be considered to exhibit in London. Good luck to me!

Show Me the Monet

Lucky Day TV are making a brand new series of 'Show Me the Monet' for BBC Two. They are looking for both amateur and professional artists from across the nation to apply. They are looking for great art - painting, drawing, photography, prints, sculpture, textile art (as hangings not textile design or fashion) - to put into their prestigious exhibition in London

For more information visit: http://online.plymouthart.ac.uk/jobwall/index.php?news=article&id_news=304

These are my images: -

Work Completed for December 2011 Deadlines

I've handed in both assignments and I'm happy with the work I have completed for them. I enjoyed both the academic and practical side of the assignments, and even feel that my presentation yesterday afternoon went well. This is not something I would normally feel confident about.

This year I am beginning to develop may creativity in more depth and with a more conceptual approach. We are being encouraged to consider our artistic identities, and this is very exciting for me. I felt that I was able to talk about my work with more confidence because I have understood the philosophies and academic texts that I am reading which are relevant to my work. I am also finding that there are aspects of traditional and contemporary art that influence me, and this is something that I will research further in the future.

I am no longer afraid to disclose my innermost thoughts and feeling because I consider this to be an integral part in reaching my potential as an artist.

The following images are my submissions for both FD201and FD202

Melancholy (1)

 Melancholy (2)

The Mirror ... A Narrative

Criticism and Sensitivity

Its been a little depressing today. I'm feeling pretty low after this morning's session. I'd taken my FD201 images in to college to ask for help with some adjustments I wanted to make. However, I got more than I bargained for. After describing that the theme for my project is longing, isolation and loneliness, I was given some constructive criticism. In short, that none of my images conveyed these emotions and that I needed to shoot again to make my images bleaker and darker. The suggestion was that I should find an urban landscape or a more solitary subject that would give a clearer picture of the emotion I want to convey to my viewer.

I was very upset; the deadline is next week and I am already feeling the pressure to get everything done. The sentiments I received were not what I wanted to hear at this time. I felt that with time rushing by, and having already shot approximately six films on the first image for the project, I needed some encouragement. However, I know that the criticism wasn't said with malice or insensitivity but only said to challenge me and improve my work.

As the day has moved on and I have thought about this, I do understand what was meant and that my images maybe don't show the emotion that I am feeling about being unable to go home. But it is very disappointing when I have put so much work and effort into this project, to hear that my work hasn't yet been as successful as I had hoped, at least in the opinion of one person.

Feeling as I did, I spoke to my other lecturers and they assured me that this is commonplace. The opinion of one person is not the opinion of all. I felt a little reassured and appreciated their support, but unfortunately being sometimes an oversensitive soul, and only recently having persuaded myself that being an artist is all about having confidence in my own work, and being strong, and occasionally single minded when others criticise my work, I am however inclined to dwell on such criticism, and it has affected my mood.

As a result of feeling knocked sideways and jaded, and once again beating myself up because of doubts I have in my abilities as an artist/photographer, I decided that I would try to take advantage of the bleakness I felt inside. I was now missing my family even more, wishing they were here to comfort me. I loaded another film into my Medium Format Camera and went for a walk in the park.

I shot a few frames until the light was too dark to shoot more, and thought that if tomorrow morning brings more rain and mist it would give me an opportunity to try and photograph the emotions I am feeling now. Had this have happened yesterday, the weather conditions this morning had been ideal.

I will have to wait and see what the results of this film are. This will be my final opportunity to shoot film as I will have to hand them in for printing, at the latest, on Monday.  My Group Crit is on Thursday afternoon, so it is unlikely that I will be able to have them processed by then.

So we'll see what happens. You never know, I may be able to thank my critic, if indeed the final submission is taken from this final film.

Busy ...Busy...

With two assigments to work on and both deadlines very near now, I'm feeling just a little harassed! I've shot quite a few films in the past few weeks, some successful, some not. I am using my Mamyia Medium Format Camera for both projects. Today I've taken the final two films for FD201, to Spectrum to process. I've got everything crossed as I simply won't have time to shoot and process any more colour film.

I have one of my final images, but did not start working on the second image early enough to enable me to experiment. As the second image is a self - portrait and I had unfortunately not been able to find a long Cable Shutter Release until last Friday, I feel a little rushed. One of my friends who is studying an MA at the Art College had helped me with two films but as he uses Digital and hasn't had much experience with Film, the images weren't good enough to use. If i had wanted silhouettes, they would have been fine. This is in no way his fault. I was grateful for a helping hand and learned a lot about the composition I wanted, the poses I should take, the conrolled lighting I would have to use, and it also reminded me of something I already knew, that I work better alone. I can focus completely on the task in hand. Working alone gives me a better opportunity to concentrate on the mood I want to create.

Finding a 20ft Cable Release was a wonderful find, the only problem I had was hiding the cable from the camera and only being able to use one hand for effect. I will only know if everything came together when I collect my negatives on Wednesday afternoon. Having the Calbe Release will help me in the future because my work seems to be heading towards self - portraiture as a means of finding my identity as an Artist. My work is personal. Conceptually I am looking at Ancestry, Belonging, Recognition, Longing, Isolation and Loneliness along with an array of other ideas that come to mind while I m working. My work is concentrated on the landscape and the home. I am fascinted and inspired by the painter Johannes Vermeer; his lighting effects are both elegant and exquisite in my eyes. I am also drawn to the window and especially to north ambient light. I have looked at his paintings time and again and always see something new in them.

Many of the Artists I  have researched have been inspired by Vermeer's work, Uta Barth, Tom Hunter and Erina Brotherus. All have a "painterly" style of photography that I am drawn too. The concept of Uta Barth's work is in the act of seeing and of looking. She encourages the viewers of her work to see what is not there. Every day life holds more than what we think we see. So much of what is around us, we miss, we take for granted or we simple dont see anything at all.

Elina Brotherus "The New Painting" series has soothing horizons and mounatin landscapes inspired by the German painter Caspar David Fredrick (1774 - 1840) that conveys the idea that the landscape has to be given time. The landscape is a feeling that can be internalised. (Quote from Elina Brotherus(2005) text by Susanna Pettersson).

Brotherus likes to work "close to home" as do I. I also like to look out of the window and sit in contemplation, and I love the ambient light that brings the outside, inside. Sometimes I will enter a room at home and gasp at the beauty that the light brings into the room.  I don't feel that I need to go far from home to search for a photograph as it is often the weather conditions that draw me to a scene as well as the early morning and evening light.

I love the landscape and so I do visit the countryside and coastline near our city; but for the two projects I am working on at present, one is based on a longing to "go home" to Wales and the sense of loneliness and isolation I feel living away from my family; and the other relates to my fascination with Ancestry and objects of memory, namely "the photograph."

I'm enjoying the Second Year of the Degree very much as we are being encouraged to find our niche as photographers and artists. I am trying to put some depth into my work, to give it meaning both to myself and to the viewer.

Dartmoor (Image for FD201 "Longing")



Digital Image shot At Home experimenting with light and poses for FD201 "Longing")

My Narrative

I have decided to photograph my narrative in Black and White and have been experimenting with 35mm and 120mm film.
My idea is centered around Ancestry, Nostalgia, Memory and the Object. I have been taking photographs of my family out into the landscape pegging them on to trees. I'm finding this a little troublesome as the wind keeps blowing the photographs away. I've been shooting early in the morning and late in the afternoon. The days are so short now that daylight hours are limited. I'm not sure that my idea is working. I like the idea and I want to continue with it; I want to develop the idea further but time is running out and I'm worried that I will not be able to develop the idea in enough depth. I have also considered using an old mirror, a family heirloom that has many layers of meaning for me.

There is also an element of being "close to home." The locations I am using are Central Park and Hyde Park Cemetery which are both in close proximity to our home.

These are two of the images I have taken up to the present time.

Narrative Workshop Notes

The deadlines for two of our Assignments are drawing close. I have been working steadily on both but still feel that I have much to do.

Today we had a workshop about Editing and Sequencing starting with the works of other Artists.

Simon Roberts "Motherland"

thanks to shenphotoblog.blogspot.com for this image

Firstly Simon Roberts "Motherland." A British Photographer who went to Russia and shot 30,000 frames of film. This is a huge number of images and must have taken months to edit. As with the other Artists we looked at, Roberts began the process by scanning the images and making hundreds of contact sheets. It is a process of elimination deciding at every stage which images work best and which begin to form a pattern and which ones to discard.

It was advised in this session, that we always show our work to peers or others' that we trust to give us an honest opinion about our work. Not on the Internet where the quality of image deteriorates, but to actually print images of at least a size 6 x 4 and to spread them out. This is the best way to "see" what lies before you and pick out images that sit well together.

Other artists mentioned were Anne Celine Jaeger (Image Makers, Image Takers), Mary Ellen Mark, Eugen Richards, Rankin, Alec Soth. David Hurn's book "On being a photographer" was also recommended.

Mary Ellen Mark

thanks to digitaljournalist.org for this image

Eugene Richards

with thanks to ciubuxabinaphoto.wordpress.com for this image



The things to consider for a narrative of images are:
The beginning, Middle and End, the chronological order, linear sequence, general - specific, the opening image is important as is the conclusion.

Slow down and connect to your images and notice which ones make an impact on you.

We were asked to consider who our audience will be and what we want to convey in our narrative.

Photorapher or Artist?

 Serene Morning

I have been thinking about whether I consider myself to be a Photographer or an Artist. I have come to the conclusion that I am inclined towards the title of Artist. The only true reason I can think of is that as I very seldom photograph people, and that I am always drawn to the landscape. I don't know if this makes me more an Artist, but it makes sense to me.

I want to be more creative with my images and I am moving towards taking objects out into the landscape to make “art.” This may seem pretentious to some people, I don’t mean to sound this way. I was looking at some Wedding Photographer’s work and know that I just couldn’t do this, neither am I a commercial photographer, mainly due to the fact that I don’t like enclosed spaces. The studio for me is extremely claustrophobic. This would be a bit of a stumbling block when it came to doing commercial work. So as from now, I think I will concentrate on being an Artist and not worry so much if my photographic work is not as sharp or technically perfect as I think it should be. As an Artist I feel that I can have more freedom, more poetic license to experiment and be creative just for Art’s sake!

What the bleep do we know!? [DVD recording] / directed by William Arntz, Betsy Chasse and Mark Vicente

Film Poster

with thanks to caprifilms.com for this image

I chose this DVD at random from the college library. Its cover made me think that in some way its content would be "mystical" or "spiritual." I was very surprised when I began to watch it, finding that it was in fact about Quantum Physics. I'm not sure whether to describe it as a film or a documentary; I will settle on describing it as a mixture of both genres.

I was fascinated by its content and could even go as far as to say that it has changed the way I think about the human mind and body. I have always believed that our minds are the power behind our well being, our intellect and our emotions, but until I watched this DVD, I had not really considered how powerful the mind is.

I know that I should not believe every word said by the philosophers and scientists interviewed, but their beliefs made me think a lot about my beliefs and the way I think.

One thing that really stood out for me was that whatever I am addicted too will continue to create in me a negative thought process. I am now beginning to notice exactly what I am addicted too on a mental and emotional level. The discussion centered on being additcted to certain ways of thinking, and that if we are unable to stop ourselves from thinking in those certain ways, then we are addicted to our habitual thought processes.

For instance I am constantly in need of reassurance because of the lack of faith I have in my own abilities. This has become a part of myself that I find very annoying and frustrating. Before watching the DVD, I hd wondered what it was about my past experiences that made me this way. But now, instead of trying to delve into my subconscious, thinking and trying to analyse this need in myself, I am simply changing these thoughts into a more positive mind set. I am allowing myself to believe in myself and my abilities. I no longer have the tolerance with myself to dwell on any weaknesses that I have. Instead I want to embrace the fact that if I look at problems and challenges in a different way, then I can find solutions to overcome those problems. Of course this is wonderful in theory, but the doing will take some time to establish a change in those habitual thoughts that plague me.

In this film the theory was explained in very simple terms. It was demonstrated through animation showing what happens when our thoughts manifest themselves in peptides which in turn cling to the cells in our bodies causing distress, mistrust in ourselves and a lack of confidence in certain situations. There are many other fears, worries, thought processes experienced by humans but it seems that we all have the ability to change the way we think and how our bodies react.  If we learn to accept that anything is possible and think about what we really want in life then thouse thoughts will manifest and slowly what we want is what we will get!

It may all seem very obvious but sometimes an epiphany occurs because of some small change in the way a philosophy is heard, read or seen. This is what happened to me when I watched this documentary film. I knew already what I had to do to change my thought processes, but this film almost screamed it out at me and at last I truly understood.

Visit to West Wales

I visited my family in Wales during Reading Week and took along my Mamyia 67 Medium Format Camera so that I could start shooting images for our FD201 assignment.

For this project I have taken the "Circle" from the Coen Bros film "Hudsucker Proxy," adopting the circle as a theme for the cycle of life. Wales is my home and it is very special to me. My family all live there now having returned to Wales after many years living elsewhere in the UK, and abroad. I am the only member of my immediate family living "elsewhere." Maybe it is because my siblings are all in Wales, or maybe as I grow older, I realise even more how much I miss the landscape.
In my images I am trying to convey the longing I have to return to Wales and how at this point in my life, it is not yet possible. It is out of my reach.

I have researched the work of Elina Brotherus, Brea Souders and Jonathan Critchley, as well as looking again at the art works of Joannes Vermeer whose enchanting and elegant lighting is always an inspiration to me.

We have to submit two images in different locations. My first will be of the landscape, and my second will be an image of my daughter looking out of a window. My bedroom faces north; north light is beautifully evocative and I'm hoping to achieve an atmospheric image that conveys my yearning for "home."

During our Formative Assessment on Tuesday this week, I was able to show the images I had shot in Wales. Both our lecturers commented that there are a few that I could use, but that I should continue to develop my idea, shoot more images and "see what happens." I am happy to do this, in fact the presentation and the comments I was given have motivated me.

Here are some of the images from my trip to Wales.

River Taf, Llanfallteg West, South Wales

Preseli Hills, Cardigan.

 

Red Berries

Manorbier Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales

The Old Baptist Chapel, LLanfallteg West

Llanfallteg, My Home from 1960 to 1989 though I left in 1978

Capel Mair, Llanfallteg.(Denomination Indepndent) Here I was Christened and Confirmed

Preseli Hills, Cardigan. The Barbed Wire prevents me from "getting there"

A Liitle Sunshine

I had arranged with Celine that I would help out at the Fotonow Office this morning. She is busy setting up the West End Gallery Finale taking place on Monday the 24th October 2011. While I was in the office re-sizing images ready for printing, the sun was blazing outside and I felt the need to photograph the scene. When I left I just shot a couple of images. It was the colours that attracted me to the scene. A bright blue sky and beautiful autumn colours.

I had borrowed the Diana F+ from the ERC and shot images around my home to test it out. I used a colour transparency film. I received the negatives back in the post today and they are mostly a disaster. Here are two of the images. As the Diana F is a lomography camera I can say that there is a lot of Poetic/Creative License in these images!

I haven't edited these images because they are not good enough to use for anything. But they are experimental. I wanted to try the DianF Camera because for one of our Assignments I have to use 120mm film. I love my Mamyia 645 Camera but I was hoping to find something that was lighter to carry. Unfortunately I don't feel that I can master the DianaF to use it for this project. However, I do love Transparency film because the colours are just amazing.

This was meant to be a double exposure ...it turned out to be a triple exposure

The colours of the leaves against the blue sky was beautiful but this shot doesnt show this as I'd hoped.





BBC 4 Ceramics: A Fragile History

As I was searching for something to watch on TV, I came upon this new series and watched with interest.

I was particularly enthralled and moved by the work of John Dwight, a 17th Century artist. His daughter died at the age of six; after her death he sculpted two figures of her. They are exquisite pieces of work that touched me.

Images from the BBC website

 

Another artist featured on the programme was Paul Scott who fashioned a commemorative plate for an important event that was taking place in our countryside, namely the Foot and Mouth epidemic. Paul Scott stated that he wanted to respond to this catastrophe and honour the cows that were being slaughtered and sacrificed.  He said that when he saw the images of cows being burned on television, he saw their feet as dancing in the flames.

The programme showed that ceramics enable us to recall history. Pieces have been made to commemorate all kinds of historical events from the Royal to the ordinary person celebrating weddings and birthdays etc.  They give us an insight into historic moments.

I had not thought of ceramics in this way but this art has been in our ancestry for 1000's of years. It has been a strong, practical and useful as well as an art form. Working with clay is to work from the source. One of the artist being interviewed said that all work created by hand can be viewed as a cleansing of the soul. Being creative frees the mind and allows the spirit to take control. Once the cognitive skills have been learned and practised, perfection can ensue. The artist is free to create what he feels.

British Art Show 7

Peninsula Gallery at the University of Plymouth

I visited the Peninsula Gallery this week to view the work on show there. As I walked in there were three printed screens placed on the left of me showing a Corporate Management Team predictably dressed in their black suits. No doublt they were meant to be depicted in a meeting discussing the Brand that is Vidal Sasson. Ahead of you as you walk in is a tall, very relaxed and soft portrait of Vidal Sasson dressed casually. Other portraits sit either side of him that are  painted by Michael Fullerton  in the style of Joshua Reynolds.  I liked the subdued and calming colours of these portraits.
The different styles of the photographs and the paintings relate to the conceptual subject, the lives of Vidal Sassoon. They make comparisons between the creative  hairdresser that is Vidal Sassoon, and the commercialism of the Brand Vidal Sassoon we all know.

I found this work interesting as Michael Fullerton explores the political nuances of art and the aesthetics of persuasion (quote from the notes on the artists work). The artist is highlighting the different aspects of Vidal Sassoons life and work .. that of hairdresser and businessman.

Another work at the Peninsula is a collage by David Noonan. I particularly liked this as I enjoy making collages myself. The artist takes images from different origins and time periods and brings them together to create new narratives. (quote by the artist taken from notes on the artist work). I like this idea as the figures in the collage sway between reality and illusion. The peacocks in the picture stare defiantly from the picture challenging the viewer's gaze. I am going to explore more of his work as I think it may give me some inspiration for my own work at the college this year.

Image Courtesy of British Art Show 7

My reasons for visiting the Peninsula Gallery first, was that I wanted to see Wolfgang Tillmans work. I had done a little research on this artist for one of our projects at college last year which looked at how artists depict our environment and how the earth's resources are depleting.

This work explores the way photography is made and presented. There is a huge print called Freischwimmer 155 (2010) which has been created without the use of a camera. Tillmans has exposed a piece of paper to points of light creating textures and colour directly on to the surface. The longer you look at it, the more detail and texture can be seen. It is full of interesting shapes, and ghostly figures. It left a lasting impression on me. I found it quite hypnotic.

I am hoping to visit the works at the Royal William Yard at the weekend. I've heard a lot about the "Clock" film, which I have also seen being reviewed on the Culture Show.

An Afternoon at the West End Gallery

On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, I invigilated the West End Gallery with Celine Smith. I hadn't met Celine before. She had been working with the residents at Morely Court, and she wanted to shoot some portraits at the Gallery to add to her Exhibition next week.

Celine completed her BA at Falmouth, and is now starting out her career as a Self Employed Freelance Photographer.

It was a great experience working with her. She has a very calm and relaxed approach to photographing her sitters. I learned a lot about how to talk to the sitter, how to make them feel at ease and also special, thereby getting the best of them. Celine also has so much patience. I could see that I am not as tolerant or patient as her and I can learn a lot from her approach.

I'm looking forward to seeing her Exhibition next week.



Mt Batten

This morning I  walked to the Barbican, stopped at the cafe for a strong coffee and headed off to catch the Water Taxi over to Mount Batten. The weather was unpredictable .... showers, bracing winds and bright sunshine ....the clouds were different shades of grey looming in the sky. I had an exhilarating walk

I had taken this journey to join Blue Sound at their Event Day cleaning up the beaches and searching for marine life. Sadly I didn't have the energy to walk any further than the surrounding area of Mount Batten and I couldn't find the Blue Sound Event. But I enjoyed the walk along the pier and the Taxi ride over the water. Even though I missed the event, it had been worth the effort.

 

Twelve Months at the Allotment

A period of twelve months has come to its end. The Allotment has been a wonderful space to explore through the four seasons, but I  knew the visit in September would be the last, not only because the year had come to an end, but also because it felt like the end of the project that I had given myself.

My intention when I began to document the Allotment, was to explore the many aspects of the space from the vegetation to the use of re-cycle household wares used by the Allotment holders. However, as time passed, I realised that this journey photographically documenting the Allotment, was to honour the memory of my Dad. My personal memories of the time I "helped" my Dad in the garden at home in Wales, were happy memories. The Allotment reminded me of him and the times we had shared together.

I have thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Allotment to see the changes taking place over the year, walking there each month and relishing in the wonder of nature, and the hard work put in by the people there. I didn't see much evidence of physical presence when I was there, but a variety of tasks, movement and growth had occurred in my absence, indicating that indeed much activity had taken place.

So now the actual physical act of photography has come to an end and I have hundreds of images to look at and sort out. I have tried to capture the same views at different times of the year, and I'm hoping to find images that will compare and contrast the differences of the four seasons.

I need to mind map other ideas of how to create a series of images that I may be able to exhibit. There is a Gallery at the Barbican that we have been emailed about through the College; when I have chosen the images then I will visit the Gallery and speak to Rachel Edwardes who runs it.

Thinking ...

I wanted to spend time thinking about what I have done during this summer break,.in relation to the work I have produced, and the opportunity I have been given to exhibit my work in the Gallery.

I  knew that I needed to take a pro active role in something; I  find it very easy to sit in the background and let others take centre stage. This is the way I prefer to be. But I knew that if I wanted to meet interesting people, make new friends and contacts, I had to step outside my comfort zone.

It is an experience that I have thoroughly enjoyed and I have met some great people. I've relished being part of something. A community project was an ideal space for me to open up and be involved in a worthwhile project.

I have been studying some of the street scene photographs that I have produced. I'm not inclined towards portrait photography, but much prefer to shoot in a more candid style. I like capturing people going about their day to day lives, lost in thought. I've noticed how people walk, how they look, how they stand, how they interact. But one of the main things I've noticed, is that most people have very poor posture. Does this relate to a low self esteem? It is laziness? Habit? Too many hours working/sitting at a computer? The answer is that there are probably many reasons why posture in general, is poor.

Contextually I think these photos are an extension of my intention to walk into the world, the first steps if you like. As a photographer, or maybe just as a human being, I am fascinated by how people portray themselves, and how, when they believe that no one is watching, that that is the only time when they are completely themselves. As a photographer I  search for characters. Old people with character written all over their faces, their experience of life, their journeys through life, enriched by the lines on their faces. The face, the posture, the walks ... they all tell a story.

Other characteristics in people that I enjoy seeing in our city environment, are the quirky , the unusual and the bizarre. A photograph I didn't manage to capture while I invigilated at the Gallery, was a well proportioned, mature woman, walking down the street in her bathing costume, carrying her shopping in one arm and a coat in the other. There are so many unusual characters around the city, it would be wonderful to shoot portraits of them.

I think this work highlights that I do want to shoot portraits, at some point in the future. This feels like the beginning of a project, that I could perhaps develop.

It is not only the quirkiness of a person that attracts me, it is the true identity of a person. A photograph does give some clues to the person even if the pose is staged. But the true identity of a person,  to my mind,  can only be done when the sitter is completely unaware that a photograph is being taken.

Harry Potter

I've watched the films, and now I've read the books. I've been hooked. The adventures of Harry Potter and his friends Ron and Hermione have become familiar characters with whom I have fought the Dark Lord Voldermort.

Its just amazing how a writer can conjure up such detailed stories, a magnificent new vocabulary and  wonderful characters whom most of us, I think. adore. Each part of the story links with another, each minor detail aiding the journey from start to finish.

My favourite character Dobby, a house-elf, a CGI character, so real and so endearing. When he was killed by the evil Bellatrix, I cried and mourned his passing.

Dumbledore, the wise old wizard adored by all, Draco Malfoy whose character I pitied, Hagrid, the kind giant, and the three main characters, all consistently true to their characters and whom I never got tired of following.

It has been a real treat to read the series, all seven books digested one after the other. I am half way through the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows" and I'm reading it slower than he rest, only because I don't want the story to end.

It has been a bridge to gap the teenage and the middle aged, my daughter and I having long discussions about the story, the characters and the philosophy of the tale.

What better tale is there than that of Good versus Evil. A time honoured tradition of a good story.

Wonderful stuff. Thank you JK Rowling. Thank you film makers and studio.

I forgot to mention Snape, never knowing whether he was good or evil but wanting to believe and trust in him as much as Dumbldore had done. His dry wit making him one of my favourite characters.

A wonderful story.  

Its a few days since I wrote the above .... I have now finished reading the final book and I am not as enamoured with Dumbledore, although like Harry Potter, I have forgiven him! But I feel that Snape unreservedly deserves my empathy. His life was a tortured one and he, unlike Dumbldore, put himself in a dangerous position. Rock On Snape!

A Day at the Gallery

I worked at the Gallery all day but I didn't want to persuade the public to have portraits done as although this is fun to do, I don't feel that portraits are my forte. So throughout the day I randomly shot images of the market, outside the Gallery and also I found a prop to work with. A postcard holder stood at the rear of the Gallery and I experimented with shooting through it. I'm actually really pleased with these. I wanted to find some aspect of the space that I hadn't seen previously.

Lisa came and spent a couple of hours with me this afternoon which I enjoyed, and as a street cleaner walked by the Gallery I said that I like to photograph people in uniform. It fits in with the Community spirit of the project. Lisa rushed out and asked him if he would mind having a photo taken. He agreed and I shot a few images of him. 

Images from the Fruit and Veg Stall next to the Gallery

Upstairs at the Gallery there are several Cafes and wonderful windows

An abstract image

 

Fingle Bridge

Gallery and Clarence St with Camper Obscura

When I arrived at the Gallery this morning, Jon and Matt had been very busy setting up the exhibition. They had juggled my images around and they looked much better; they had also put up Pinhole Peddlars images, and Pete Davey's Reflections work. The Gallery felt refreshed and looked colourful and awesome. I was so excited to see my work on the wall and felt very happy.

My Images at West End Gallery

Plymouth, Rain and Umbrells

Pete Davey Reflections

Claremon St Funday

This afternoon I went along to Clarence St with Camper Obscura for a Community Event.  It was an enjoyable afternoon with lots of the residents visiting the Camper and having fun with a few imaginative games for the children, and the Community Health Workder providing fruit smoothies which were delicious. It was great to see everyone enjoying a sociable get together.