The way in which I produced images hasn’t drastically changed, that’s not to say that I have not developed ideas or creative strategies, but the actual equipment and processing has been largely similar.
In this post I explain my choices and show my workflow.
I use digital camera’s for a few reasons.
They are fast and provide feedback which speeds up production
Economical, they eliminate film processing fees as well as travel and time doing so.
I feel like I can get the desired look out of the equipment I’m using much better than using other cameras that I am not as proficient in.
Read MoreI had planned to have a lot of time to workshop the curation of of images, after workshopping it with artist Aled Hughes I then went into the gallery to do a ‘soft hang’ I placed small test prints up in the place I wanted to place the large ones. I check using a spare frame I had for space and placements and I was fairly happy with the layout. I did have to re arrange 2 images due to the flow of the space. I had anticipated it and planned it accordingly but even so when they went up in the soft hang they were'n’t right. So i fixed it. Lesson learned, always do a soft hang.
Read MoreI’ve always been fascinated with the idea of a book. It’s becoming increasingly harder to imagine them being used with everything going digital but having a tactile feeling touch to images that can be handed around and the experienced shared with others is a great way to connect. I’ve already looked at zines but a book is s step up from that as well as a different medium in it’s own right.
Read MoreThe opening night to the show was in my view a success. I had spend a huge amount of time planning it and I had put a huge focus on all the supporting aspects of it.
I had hung the work as pre planned and work shopped though with local welsh artist Aled Hughes.
I negotiated a free hire of the gallery for a week as it was in collaboration with HATW.
I did have to pay a £50 fee for the hire for the event.
I opened at 6 with a musical act on at 7 playing followed by talks from myself, Hannah Morgan the founder of HATW and Edel Marie a friend and vice principle of a high school in Bristol.
I had donation based entry and work for sale including zines.
I made enough through entry and zine sales to cover the venue hire and make an additional £20.
Read MoreRichard (Team Beard records): It’s a community that comes together, you know within either a music scene or certain area that starts something off, usually getting the kids involved, cause once the kids are involved things kinda bubble under and build form there before anything become popular. It may take a yea, two years for something to start, then all of a sudden it’s the next big thing, but you know there’s been a lot of ground work put in.
I feel like i’m fairly lucky with the origins of this project born out of a relationship with punk rock. ZInes have been a staple part of the scene and I’ve explored them through the previous modules
It’s a great low fi way of reaching an audience and it is normally fairly low cost meaning its accessible to the community. Heavily used in the earlier days of punk in the 70’s and 80’s they were normally photocopied. Nowadays there is a rich culture of art in the punk rock scene and I talked about it briefly with Exhume an artist that also tuns a record label an episode of my Never Going Home Podcast.
Read MoreI started finalising my zine designs. I think I’m lucky because my links with punk scene make it fairly easy to introduce given that zines were a big part of the earlier movement. I worked out costs and my deadline to get the shipped and and monotone is the only available option. I feel that it’s interesting given that I shot heavily in Black and white at the beginning of the course and begrudgingly y took the advice to work in colour more which I now work predominately in. It’s an interesting concept born out of a forced design out of my control maybe. I thought maybe I could print the zine in monotone and offer a download link to have it in colour ? It might be . a bit messy but there may be room to use it as a creative idea. Right now it’s not an option to print colour so it’s whats happening. It’s almost feels like a tip of the hat to the earlier work, I think I’ll release the earlier developmental work which is mostly monotone through the zine as its both culturally expected and a great way to ease in to the more contemporary photography that it has evolved into. Perhaps I can bring an audience on a journey and print in full colour when it becomes viable.
Read MoreStill constantly shooting and busy with the podcast i felt the urge to just pick up my camera and go, so I took the dog with me and watched the sun come up whilst listening to some music that means a lot to me. In all honesty the stress of running 2 businesses and doing the Ma spending a lot of money on equipment to develop the work and my deadline looming I felt a little overwhelmed. Then I remembered why I started the project in the beginning and it’s who I am as an artist. I also say that a good creative strategy is to jolt ones self out of a rhythm, be weird get out side when you normally wouldn’t. I took a tripod and an 8 stop ND filter with the hopes of slowing down the water for a misty seascape. It didn’t work as dramatically as I thought but I think that was for the better another happy accident. This is the scene that I looked at whilst going through a rough time with my own mental health. I took up running with an addictive nature and it did fix me for the time being, I’m drawn to the water and I feel there’s some poetic peace that we all expire at some point and the oceans kind of represent this everlasting cycle of life like rain falls rivers flow into the sea, I guess it’s a very nihilistic view on it but , everything will end and that ocean just goes on forever constantly fed by the life around it. It’s depressing at one point in time and not at another, it’s all about how you frame it I guess. I included a song that seems to fit perfectly with the notion I’m probably failing to articulate with words here.
Read MoreI went and shot more portraits with Dave an old friend of mine. I went out with him after I recorded a podcast. Dave’s always been similar to me in that we share the same taste in music and we both have suffered with mental health. On the podcast we open up and talked about dealing with mental health issues. I linked it into the work and also talked about HATW ( the mental health non profit) its a great medium to reach people and I’ve run a few targeted ads to audiences on facebook with similar interest and the results have been great. I feel that by opening up about mental health and dealing with it, that in itself could really help someone find a way to cope and make them feel better. It's also a great way to build an audience to show the work to and also raise money for a great organisation that helps.
Read MoreIn support of Kruger she fought back by calling them out online ‘ '“A clusterfuck of uncool jerks” and started copying their own model to fight back. She sold skateboards with text saying don’t be a jerk. She’s fighting back and using different mediums and culture to deliver the messages. That’s what I’m trying to do with my approach, having an exhibition a zine a podcast and stickers it is all legal currency in the culture i’m from and building an audience within.
I think it’s reflective of society today where we live in world driving by likes on posts and followers. Social media is destroying our relationships with each other and reality. Here’s another post where i covered similar issues with body image and social media here - . ( That covers Essena Oneil’s writing)
Read MoreI had recorded a podcast with Jake. I really think that choosing to start a podcast to reach my audience with the work and to talk about the themes I’m bringing up in the work is one of the best things I’ve done. There a great way to reach people and they as audiences get younger and I get older it helps keep us all connected which is something I feel like we are all missing out on a lot. It comes up a lot in other bands songs. The more I progress with the work and look back on what I’ve done the more I feel that I’m documenting a generation of people ( maybe a very specific sub culture in this case) but on a broader spectrum what am I documenting? A generation of people that have had a turn, people are stugglying got make ends met, fighting to survive with services and funding help and support being cut everywhere you look.
Read MoreLO4 / LO7
After experimenting with the dyno label maker I decided to try out a Neon Pioneers logo for it I was pretty happy with the results. …..
I experimented with a few more images and placements. I realising now more and more that this might take a little longer than I had originally thought. I want to use the exhibition launch and all the attention for it as a way to get the brand out there. It might be a slow process but I could use the website and social media channels as a online blog/ magazine format until I find other artists with enough time. I think its a good idea to get a logo for an identity for the brand and get it out there at least.
Read MoreI headed down to Mozarts in Swansea to watch the last ever show there. I met up with some old friends and deliberately took some backdrops with me with the intention of switching up the process. It was really difficult finding space getting it set up and shooting as many as possible before packing down and being ready to capture the live images. I was doing the live images for a personal record and also for all the other bands that played their regularly. I probably won’t include them in my edit. I quite like the backdrop portraits, I knew these people less than the others and I also had less time with them. So to make the whole process nicer for them I kept an upbeat mood and encouraged them to be themselves and also made them laugh. I feel it could add another slice to the project as most of the images so far have been very sombre.
Read MoreI keep finding that the subjects I’m familiar with are the hardest to get a moment that’s a bit different they see me as a friend not a photographer but it does provide these moments of familiarity. I particularly like this image even though it would normally be in the discarded pile of unusable and breaks some very basic rules of portraiture like having the subjects eyes open. Even still I feel like this image conveys a sense of relief or lightheartedness and Larry having his eyes shut makes the gap for us to jump to empathises smaller.
Read MoreI wanted to revisit the self portraits that i shot in the previous modules. I feel really uncomfortable on the other side of the camera which is more the reason to do I feel. I can also ethically use words that belong to myself without having to worry about people minding.
Read MoreJack’s a guitarist from my band, we’ve know each other for over 8 years and met in South Korea. It was our love of music that was how we met. I played in a band and Jack another we shared a bill playing a gig one night. I put aside a little bit of time after a band practice to shoot more portraits with him. I didn’t put enough time aside and realised that after playing music for a few hours I was too tired to work. I’ve put it down as a learning point : be very aware of scheduling for portraits ( which I normally do) and that doing strenuous activity before hand will affect ones ability to produce work tho it can be explored as a creative strategy in the future perhaps but not in this context.
Read MoreLO7
I shoot some more portraits with Nick the drummer from my band. I thought it would be a great way to connect the work with lyrics from the music that I’ve made almost like a visual segway. Even if the audience doesn’t know I do and it I like the idea of it. I’ve noticed that I’ve been shooting a lot in landscape and for a few reasons, one being that it compliments the cinematics images I plan on mixing in in the final edit and I also work with video a think in a cinema narritve way it just feels right to shoot everything landscape format.
Read MoreI shot these portraits just before the podcast in which I talk about music and the culture of bands touring and preserving in todays climate. It was a great chat and I was happy about the images especially the one above. I do feel the branded shirt does distract a bit to much and almost makes the viewer think of it like an ad.
Read MoreI’ve found the podcasts a great way of networking and talking about the project. I took these portraits just before sitting down with Andrew in Bristol.
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