Visit to Bristol

It was Louie's last day with us today. We are all very sad and will miss her at the Art College. It has been a joy to be a student with her, she has always had time for me and always encouraged me in good and bad times.  I don't really know who I will turn to now, Louise was very easy to talk too.

It had been arranged to make a visit to the RWA Gallery in Bristol as a farewell to Louise and a pleasant way to spend the last day of the Easter Term. We were there to view the Selling Dreams Exhibition http://www.rwa.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/2012/02/exhibitions-selling-dreams/ It is a Victoria and Albert collection which is being toured around the country. It is wonderful to view original photographs by such greats as Irving Pen, David Bailey, Edward Steichen and Richard Avendon. There is nothing quite like seeing the real thing.

There was also an exhibition of the paintings of Eric Ravilious which reminded me of Van Gough's work.
http://www.rwa.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/2012/04/eric-ravilious-going-modern-being-british/

We had lunch together after we had viewed the exhibition and then went our separate ways. I was not returning to Plymouth, I had arranged to meet an old friend whom I had not seem for 31 years and then I was heading to Stroud to visit another friend and from there to Wales.

  

 Friends and Place

Fashion Shoot at Mt Wise

I added my name to the list of students taking part in the Fashion Shoot at the Mt Wise Pool today. It was good experience even though I do not consider myself to be in any way a Fashion Photographer. I wanted to go along to see how I would fare with the Models and if I could use enough imagination in how to compose both the model and the image. As neither David or I have any previous experience with this kind of photography, I think we did struggle a little, but did out best.

We worked in pairs with the Designers and Models.  David and I teamed up, I took more of an assistant role as David is more advanced in his knowledge of Lighting techniques, and had all the appropriate equipment with him. I took along my Pentax 35mm camera, and shot some images of the details of the clothes and body parts. It was a warm and sunny day, the experience was an enjoyable one.

I am not allowed to upload any of the actual fashion images yet. But these are a few of  the day.

David my fellow photographer ..... he is never serious by the way!

David took a shot of me trying to look "Modelly !!!"

Some of my Photographer Friends waiting for the models......

And Finally .... the Sun Sparkling on the Surface of the Sea



Printing for Sprouts, West Hoe Rd

I picked up my images from Creations today and I'm very happy with how they have printed. I have a selection of different sizes, twenty three in all. I had to size the images according to the frames I already have. Fortunately the frames can be of varying styles as the exhibit will be in the Salon Culture style, similar to the Eclectic Open Exhibition at the Restaurant at 104 Union St. I have not had time to measure the wall at the new Restaurant and hope that I have enough images to cover it. This is what Garry has stipulated that he wants. In the morning I will clean all of the frames and place my images in them ready to hang. As I don't own a car, Garry has said that he will collect the framed images and me, so that I can supervise the hanging.

I have already uploaded some of the images I am exhibiting, but here are a few more .....

 

 

Tribe Magazine Interview

This evening I was interviewed by Peter Davey of Tribe Magazine http://www.tribemagazine.org/  I had submitted my black and white images a couple of weeks ago for consideration.  The Tribe Team had liked my work and asked if they could interview me for a feature. This was very exciting for me, but I must admit I was a little nervous about talking about my work. However, Pete quickly put me at my ease and the interview was an enjoyable experience, the time went by very quickly.

My images and interview will be in Issue 4 (May 2012)

Here are three of the images I submitted .....

Searching for the Light

Watch this space!

Kevin Meredith

Kevin began his lecture by telling us a little about his background. He studied a Degree in Graphic Design but to earn an income he began photographing Raves where he was able to not only able to earn money, but to enjoy himself also. I admired his confidence. He as adamant that he was not going to work and not receive any recompense!

His life began to change in 2008 when he discovered Lomography. He entered competitions and was fortunate to in being able to compete with the best at the "Crazy Events" in Japan.  Much to his dismay, he came second place. But at this time he told us that his whole life was undergoing changes, both professional and personal. He made the decision to move from London to Brighton. This turned out to be very fortuitous. Everything now seemed to be falling into place for him.

One of the tasks he undertook was to photograph Wellington Boots at a Festival that he attended. He advised that when photographing, that it is wise to have a single subject and to show these on the Internet. He said that when you have a presence on the net, it is not a good idea to have lots of different themes but to stick to one. This is more likely to get noticed. His Wellington Boot images did get noticed, and he was commissioned to photograph for"Dr Martins" to create their manufacturer's catalogue.

Kevin has produced several books, one of which is A Photographic Project Book.

In the afternoon, Kevin was taking a workshop. We all headed out to the University Campus to ask people to pose for Fashion Style photographs. I find this incredibly difficult to do, approaching people is not my forte. I decided to head to the park. One of the photos I shot was of a group of young people who were guiding one of the group wearing an eye mask around the park. They were carrying out some experiments.

New Sprouts Restaurant Exhibition

Garry, the owner of Sprouts contacted me on Saturday to discuss my Solo Exhibition at their new restaurant. Both the Evening Herald and Tavistock Times telephoned him, they want to do a feature next weekend. This would give the restaurant publicity before Easter. Garry asked if I could prepare my images and have them framed and ready to be hung by the end of the week. He wants the exhibition to be in the same Salon style as the Eclectic Open Exhibition at the restaurant at 104 Union St.

I went into College today to choose and edit my chosen images. These are a few that I will be showing. They were shot on my Mamyiaflex Twin Lens Medium Format Camera using AGFA Colour film Expired November 2003.

Ham Woods

Here are some of the photographs I shot at Ham Woods....

Exhibition Agreement

I visited the owner of Sprouts Restaurant at their new premises on West Hoe Road, Plymouth yesterday, to discuss the possibility of exhibiting my work as a solo artist during the Summer Months. It was a successful discussion and we agreed that I could exhibit there from May 1st 2012. 


Having now done a Group Exhibition, I was keen to exhibit alone. I had found working as a group, although very rewarding, also a little frustrating. We had not made the decision to work together, but were placed in groups by our lecturers. As a member of a group, it is not always possible to work at a pace or with the passion that I would have liked. There is a lot of compromise in decision making and curating. For these reasons, I felt that to try and exhibit myself would be a good experience.


I have just over a month to organise the exhibition. There are several lessons that I learned in doing the group exhibit that I can now use to help me set up my solo exhibition. 

Being Pro Active

I have submitted images from my Final Major Project to Tribe Magazine that have been accepted for the May or June Issue. I am very excited about this and in the process of writing an Artist Statement. 


http://www.tribemagazine.org/ 


Here are the images I submitted ....

 Quote from Tribe page on Face Book

"Astonishing fact of the night - since Issue 2 went live on February 28th we have had over 5,000

individual visitors to the site - how cool is that ?"

Six Exhibitions

I only have photos of three of the Groups who Exhibited in Plymouth on March 13th 2012. But all Six shows were truly fantastic. I think that we have all done the Art College proud. Steph and I walked around the city to view them all. I was really impressed by everyone's work. 

Well Done to Everyone! 

Been There, Seen It, Got the TShirt in the City

 

FAM at B Bar

Eclectic at Sprouts Restaurant

An Afternoon in the Mist

Steph and I headed over to Mount Edgecombe this afternoon.  The mist was covering the whole of the landscape. I love the mist; this was a great photographic opportunity. I shot several frames and found to my dismay that the film had not caught on the spool when I had put it in. I knew there had been something wrong because after I had pressed the shutter to take the shot, the film didn't sound as if it was moving forward. Disaster. Eventually I decided the best thing to do was rewind the film. This took no time at all because the film had not been used. Fortunately Steph is a very patient friend and assured me we could retrace our steps so that I could shoot some of the frames I now had "lost" again. This is what I did. It may have been fortuitous because this time I knew the shots I wanted to take! I'll have to wait and see of course, but I will take the film to college tomorrow and develop the black and white film myself, and take the colour film to one of the printing shops.


I shot just a few images on my mobile ...here hey are ....

Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. The Assessments for the Personal Promotion Module are taking place. There are six exhibitions to visit. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's work.

Return to Ham Woods

When I woke up this morning, there was a bright blue sky and beautiful Spring sunshine. I decided that if it continued for the rest of the day, that I would return to Ham Woods with my camera to shoot images of Andy Blackwell's sculpture for Tribe Magazine. While we had walked and talked there yesterday, Andy had spoken of how the late afternoon sun highlighted the different hues of the twigs and branches he uses, and that he especially likes the tones created at that time of day. So I headed off on foot there this afternoon, and it was really lovely, with the sun streaming through the trees, catching light on the branches and bringing out the reds, browns and greens. Shoots are beginning to emerge from the branches now and Spring has almost arrived.

I am hoping that the images I shot yesterday and today will show the sculpture in its natural environment in the best light, and that both Andy and Tribe will be happy with them. I have several film to take to Spectrum tomorrow, they should be ready by the end of the week. I will post a few of the images then.

Sculpture At Ham Woods

I had arranged to meet up with Andy Blackwell this morning at Ham Woods. He has been spending time there clearing the brambles and thicket, creating a path through the trees, and making art that compliments its surroundings. 

The space felt womb like, so calm and comforting.  As we walked along the path, the wood held a unique charm in its blend of the wild growth, and the man made structures and sculptures. Every sculpture was a surprise to the eyes and senses. Andy has an affinity with the surroundings, it is clear how much he loves the space and enjoys spending time in the wood. As he continued to add to his art pieces, he was lost in the moment. It is a joyful experience to be present when art is being created. 

The pictures I have added here are from my mobile but as the light was a little grey today, I have played with them and created a more Lomoish look.

I took my Mamyiaflex Twin Lens medium format camera with me and shot one colour and one black and white film. I will take the colour film to Spectrum to be developed on Monday and develop the black and white myself at college. But I will return again when the sun is lower in the sky so that I can better capture the colours more vividly.

Andy is being interviewed on Thursday by Peter Davey from Tribe Magazine. He is being featured in the third or fourth issue and my images will accompany the article.

Peninsula Gallery, Plymouth University

http://penelope-davies.blogspot.com/2012/03/peninsula-gallery.html

1st March 2012

Preview Evening

Thanks to Tim Glass for these Photographs

Preview Evening on March 1st 2012

Our Preview Evening was a great success. All the hard work, preparation and planning that we had put into the Exhibition was rewarded by a very successful outcome. The Restaurant was "buzzing" with family, friends and invited guests being there with us to join in our celebrations.  It was a great night. The Restuarant Owner, Garry of Sprouts was impressed with our work and offered us the space for three months. That is fantastic for us, as in that time we can hope that more people will view the exhibition and that we may sell some of our work and maybe even gain some recognition. It is a very positive beginning to our Fine Art endevours. We are all feeling very positive and I think we can afford to pat ourselves on the back for a good job well done.

The whole process had its ups and downs, working in a group is not an easy task, everyone has their own methods of working, and there will always be members of a group who do more than others.  There will be conflict, heated discussions and some unrest, but on the whole, we pulled it all together in the end. We were very fortunate that our group gelled together quite well. At first we thought that it may be difficult for us to exhibiti our art together as we have such diffrent styles, but the work actually complement each other and looked really effective up on the wall. There were a lot of smiling faces last night as we could not help but feel proud of our efforts. It was a wonderful feeling to see our art on the wall.

It was a night to remember. I feel this is the beginning of a long and prosperous period in my life, and it is up to me now, to continue marketing and promoting my work, and finding other venues to exhibit as well as continuing with the exhibition at Sprouts. This is just the beginning of a successful art career!