Fleeting February

As February is a short month, I think I am entitled to a short post!

It's been a project-propelled month which has seen me cycling to Chigwell to cover another stage in the Vineyard process. I'd quite fancied the idea of working on a vineyard, but there is some serious labour involved, and you have to be dedicated to nurture your vines on a cold grey day in Essex!

I got a record five additions to the Downtime project under my belt. All can be seen on the projects page, but here are a couple of favourites:

I had great fun with Robbie on Brick Lane, despite the freezing conditions and the crowds! A lot of location/street photography is about patience, and it paid dividends as we got some perfectly placed passers-by. (There's a tongue-twister in there somewhere)

A very proud man with a small selection of his butterfly collection. What this guy doesn't know about butterflies & dragonflies...

His collection is to be bequeathed to The Natural History museum.

We had the private view for London Independent photographer's (crouch end group) this week; great turn-out and a wide variety of exemplary work. Scroll down for opening times etc.

I got asked to photograph another Somalian wedding party, which in itself is fine, but the organisation of some of these weddings is mind-boggling: I was initially asked if I was available around 1pm on the day of the party, but had assumed it was a no-go, until at 5.50pm I got the call to confirm. I got home just in time to change, get my gear together and arrive at the party for a 7 pm start! Seems you can pick up a photographer anytime, any place, any where!

It wasn't like a small party!

Some other highlights were my mudlarking expedition which I have written about already, and a long-overdue visit to My old Dutch on Shrove Tuesday. I would advise going there with an empty stomach!

Flipping out on Shrove Tuesday.

Marching on to, well, March... have a good one!

Amanda 
 

My first Mudlark

Old and New: Worn metal, shiny glass.

I have a few friends that partake in the pursuit of Mudlarking: scavenging in river mud for objects of worth.

The term became popular during the 18th and 19th Centuries when London was a major stopping point on the trade routes, bringing in cargo from all around the world.  Some of the poorest Londoners made their living by scouring the river looking for anything of value: washed-up cargo, dead bodies to loot, coins and bits and pieces of metal they found on the foreshore at low tide.  Anything they could find to sell on.  These were the Mudlarks. 

In London today the tradition still exists but the treasure has changed.   

Yesterday morning I was initiated in this pursuit by chief mudlarker and Mosaic artist, Alex McHallam, along with Helen Kamisnsky, mixed media artist and our furry friend Brodie. Both artists have woven pieces of debris, washed up on the shores of the Thames into some of their work. I just went for the inspiration!

We drove down to Wapping, enjoying the city at it's best on a gloriously sunny Sunday. Within minutes I discovered 'find of the day' which was an old rusted key, which sadly I failed to photograph: it's nearly midnight, so don't think I'll set up a shot now!

Anyway, here are some other bits of metal that caught my eye and a few other snaps from a great morning's work!

Leaf on metal meets sludge

Entwined

Not sure what this was, but I thought it was beautiful

Down Anchor!

Rusted round

Follow the yellow, orange, white brick road...

It's blue - I'm happy!

No bones to be found today

Little coincidences

Feel like a little ramble on tuning in...

Until today I am unaware that I have given the island of St. Helena any real thought, but whilst checking out fellow photographer, Stu Pilkington's website I saw a picture that had beautiful light - a light that reminded me of a picture I really liked in the Taylor Wessing Exhibition this year by Jon Tonks.  It's an image of Marcus Henry at the meteorological station in St. Helena http://www.jontonks.com/portfolio/st-helena-2/#4

The initial image was by Carrie Will and as well as great light it made me chuckle. See it here http://www.someoneiknow.net/carriewill.html

One brain cell led to another and I found myself looking into where exactly St. Helena lies and I discover that it is one of the oldest remaining of the British Overseas Territories, and lies in the South Atlantic. The RMS St Helena is the only way anything, living or inanimate gets to St Helena. 

Are you still with me? Roll on a few hours and I am looking into various societies to find participants for my Downtime project. I searched for Stamp collectors and found 'The Royal Philatelic Society London'. On the homepage is a link to 'St. Helena Archives announcement'. This is what I found...

"The Julian Chapman Memorial Scholarship, administered by The Royal Philatelic Society London, has helped save the postal archives of the South Atlantic island of St. Helena." The Scholarship is available to philatelists, wherever resident, wishing to study Commonwealth stamps or postal history.

So it's funny how all these people have added up to my new 'knowledge' of St. Helena. I have enjoyed seeing some great images and unless by serendipity any of these people happen to read this blog post, they will never know! 

Ramble over.

End of Year round up

Roll up roll up for the grand finale…

This year had the same number of days as any other year, but my they were fast days! With the greatest intention I have made a concerted effort to work more wisely this year- more planning, more necessary work, less procrastination etc. and despite some burning of the candle at both ends, I do feel like I have achieved a lot.

There are always trials and tribulations in the life of a 'grown-up' but we can still have fun!

Here are some things that affected me this year:

Taking up a chunk of my time was creating and helping to install a new kitchen. Not a bad job, and my tiling skills have improved! Unfortunately, half way through the job we were burgled. This was a first for me, and very annoying it was, as the guy didn’t steal much, but he stole my computer; my lifeline to everything. What a bleeding inconvenience.

We were contacted by Restorative Solutions, part of the restorative justice programme. RJ brings together those responsible for crime with those harmed by crime.

Peter Woolf was the criminal side of what kick-started restorative justice, and I read his book  ‘The Damage Done’ a few years back, so was aware of the concept.

We were allocated two very nice volunteers who acted as liaison between us and the perpetrator.  He was convicted for eleven counts of burglary, was very compliant and will be deported after serving his sentence.

I never got to meet the guy as he was in prison a fair distance away, and on balance I thought he had wasted enough of my time already, so I wrote him a rather long letter. This is his response:

“ Dear Amanda & Alan

I am very sorry for what happened, I didn’t choose your house, it was just random. I had no other way to live. I had to do something.

I promise you that when I come out from prison, I will do my best to find the right way to live, as you advise me in the letter you sent to me.”

In a weird way, and probably because he didn't cause any personal damage or hold a personal vendetta, I felt a certain affinity with him. I just hope he turns a corner.

Another time-consuming exercise was building this website. If you are reading this, then it is working to some degree!

After visiting the Monza Gran Prix for my big birthday last year I had pledged to watch every televised race this season: I think I may have managed four, but I did see Lewis Hamilton drive to glory, and happy that Mclaren have kept Jenson on board. Here’s to next season! 

I raced for life and in the memory and honour of some we have lost to cancer and some who have survived.

I have been fortunate to maintain a good level of fitness thus far, but have upped my game this year: I am now a member of ‘Total Boxer’, a boutique boxing club on the fringes of Crouch End. It was the lure of ‘boxing yoga’ that drew me in, but now I’m hooked (boom boom). There is no intimidation, and it’s an ego free zone, so if you fancy a challenge check them out www.totalboxer.com

The thing I have enjoyed most this year is working on my project, Downtime. I am up to fourteen participants with several lined up in the new year. Talks have started amongst picture editors, so I hope to have something published by mid-late 2015. Please let me know if you know anyone I can add to the collection! 

I continue to offer photography tuition to various groups and individuals. This year I delivered a series of bespoke lessons for a couple who wanted to become wedding photographers, and gave my son his first official lesson where he got most excited about the visible spectrum and I had to reach back to my text books for the scientific angle!

Writing is becoming more of a staple of what I do, which I love, but I can now see why it takes people years to write a novel. That is not my arena, but I currently have three pieces on the go. I'll need to acquire some hermit tendencies to get these completed.

I can't let the year go by without mentioning my absolute bewilderment of the catastrophes and events that have impacted the year: as usual, most pain is inflicted on people, by people. Syria, Isis, Ukraine, Boko Haram, Ebola, shallow politicians, food banks, Palestine, ancient paedophiles. With the excess of information shoved in our faces it's hard to read between the lines. I will continue to give up my seat on the tube and donate to my chosen charities, but that leaves me as ineffective as most. Depressing it is, new it is not. 

Now I've got you in a happy mood, here are some of my favourites of 2014:

Favourite exhibition  Hannah Hoch at the Whitechapel Gallery: Hannah Hoch was an important member of the Berlin Dada movement and a pioneer in collage. David Bailey at The National Portrait Gallery was enjoyable too; I thought the curation was really good and it certainly upped my opinion of the 60's celebrity shooter.

Favourite book When Nietzsche wept by Irvine D. Yalom

Favourite film Dallas Buyer’s club

Best day out 25 years of Rave culture, Finsbury Park.

 Favourite View Quite a ridiculous idea for me, and there is no way a stand out winner, so here are three great sights I saw this year:

The little yellow train of the Pyrenees: great to look at, great to look from!

The Royal International Air Tattoo, Fairford. I liked watching people watching planes.

Lunar landscapes in Iceland

Favourite person My Son 

I am not a big one for New Years resolutions as I am constantly challenging myself with new ideas and learning experiences: I think we should try almost everything at least once! That said, apart from my continuous development as a Photographer there are two things I would like to achieve this year: one is to run a half-marathon and the other is to be able to ride my Unicycle unaided (away from walls) for ten metres!

Careful of flippant remarks: when my son was around seven years old, he and I attended Circus skills classes; one of the skills being the Unicycle. I mentioned how much I enjoyed it, and low and behold I received one for my next birthday! Practice was going well until I fell off one day and whacked my arm on a coffee table: it hurt, a lot. Needless to say my one-wheeled antics slowed right down, so short of selling it I had better get back on the saddle!

Talking of New Years resolutions, I was hoping to build a project based around people's new endeavours, but haven't received much feed back...do you know anyone?  I will be revisiting the idea next January to see just how far people have taken their resolution, or not. I think it's the fear of being found-out that is slowing this idea down!

So, if 2014 was a reflective and putting things in place year, then 2015 is definitely going to be a doing it year. Hold on to your hats and have a great one!

Amanda x

Welcome Home

Last week I shot some interiors for Jessica Blair, interior designer. After spending a number of years in the lifestyle & interiors market as an assistant, it was like coming home.

There was a lot to shoot across three properties, and if you haven’t shot interiors before you may think you just stick a camera in the corner of a room and fire. No, there are usually space constraints, the positioning of non-moveable items, angles, and people’s ‘stuff’. Stuff in the way, stuff reflecting in other stuff, stuff that doesn’t work aesthetically. Why do we have so much stuff?!

This may be the most critical type of photography for looking around the viewfinder - it’s easy to miss a random item in a room-shot, like the plastic water bottle accidentally left on the mantlepiece in Downton Abbey!

A lot of interiors work is aspirational, and you could tell the decor and furnishings had been well matched to their owners. I met two of the home-owners and just the au pair and cleaner in the third! You know what I’m saying.

It was a drizzly, dull day which is not ideal when you want to portray a bright & breezy atmosphere, but with long exposures and a ping of flash here & there I think we pulled it off!

Here’s a taster…

Nice place to read and reflect

Loving this space - it flows through to the kitchen which has the most amazing tiles

Light fantastic!

Wow!

Little touches

Knitted furniture anyone? This was a great house full of quirkiness!

Amazing mosaic feature wall

The long view

Play that funky music!

November News

Blink and you’ll miss it: hard to believe another month is nearly over. With only a couple of days left, and a busy weekend ahead, I thought I should round-up now.

I have attended a good number of meet-ups and private views this month. Despite having to sniff out the venue for the launch of the new Flip magazine due to ‘the cloud’ doing weird stuff with my emails- is it just me? It was great to pick up a copy hot off the press. Flip magazine showcases work from members of London Independent Photographers. To find out more visit:

http://www.londonphotography.org.uk/magazine/

I have two more shots in the bag for the Downtime project, and a third planned for Sunday. You’ll see ‘The Jedi’ below and here is the latest addition; a Ukelele-playing Psychotherapist. 

Within two minutes of meeting this guy he had his Ukulele out and was crooning. Confidence abounds!

And, so it was Remembrance Day this month, and the hundredth year since the start of World War One. I have somehow become the photographer to cover memorial events at the Islington and Camden Cemetery. This year we had a Choir from Islington Council Staff and two Buglers in the mix. Despite being there many times I managed to get lost this year (that’s what happens when you get complacent!).

Anyhow, if you are ever in the area, it’s worth a visit- it’s a huge cemetery and they have introduced a self-led walk showing some of the WW1 military graves.

Not something I normally do, but with good relations from my Son’s first school, I was asked if I would pick up the gauntlet of school’s photographer as they had a disaster with the last photographer. Well, 239 kids in six hours is a lot faster than my normal pace, but we got there, and what a bunch of cuties! The only downside was the hours I spent editing to remove bogies and lunchtime spillages. I like to go the extra mile!

Other fun times were Fireworks at Alexandra Palace accompanied by a bit too much mulled wine and good company, and a trip to ‘Ripley’s Believe it or not’ in Piccadilly. I had the joy of attending with four teenage boys, but I enjoyed it as much as they did!

I started writing this on Black Friday with tales of hideous behaviour in stores around the country. Now it’s Saturday and I can only wish you a rainbow of adventures for December. See you there! 

Creative Director

Last Sunday's special viewing at the Islington Art Society's autumn exhibition led to a brush with Award-winning film director Gillies MacKinnon and his oil painting "Nineteen Elements". 

MacKinnon, who studied at the Glasgow School of Art, is known for films such as Regeneration (Behind the Lines), Hideous Kinky and The Last of the Blonde Bombshells, and his recent television work includes The Village and Inspector George Gently.

MacKinnon is among the 90 society members exhibiting 240 artworks in the Hornsey library's Original and Promenade Galleries. Last chance to see 1.00pm-5.00pm Saturday, 22November.

Further details see http://www.islingtonartsociety.org.uk/exhibitions.html
 

May the force be with you

I was joined by a Jedi today as part of my Downtime project.

'Eric' the postman has invested a lot of time and effort perfecting his Jedi persona and I was very impressed with his outfit.

Things could have turned out very differently if he was a Sith...

Islington Art Society Autumn Exhibition

The IAS Autumn Exhibition is in the middle of it's annual run. Opened this year by Sandy Nairne, CBE and Director of the National Portrait Gallery. The Exhibition runs until 22nd November at the Original Gallery, Hornsey Library, Crouch End, N8 9JA and entry is free.

There was a terrific turn out at the Private View where I was busy taking photographs for the society: We got good press coverage with images printed on the front page of The Islington Tribune and also this week's Ham & High (Broadway edition).

If you are local and want to see a wide range of artistic styles from your creative neighbours, go along. I will be there on Tuesday 18th November between 4 and 7pm.

Here are a few pics from the event, along with my two pieces that are hanging on the wall. 

Member Robin Stevenson, chair Virginia Jackson, Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery and secretary Jo Pethybridge

Helen Kaminsky with her collage Stage Whisper

A private view

Dennis and Fluffy I

Bob & Billy Boy

October Round-up

October has seen an action-packed agenda of work & pleasure. I completely disagree with not mixing the two: if you spend a third of your ‘active working years’ in a vocation you had better try and enjoy it!

Here are some of the highlights:

I found myself at the Madejski Stadium, home to Reading FC and London Irish Rugby club. My job had nothing to do with sport however, as I was photographing the MC conference for Atkins: one of the world’s leading Design, engineering and project management consultancies.

Loom bands/team-building. Go figure!

On a spectacular October day I took my son along to help with the harvest at Chigwell’s only Vineyard: I have to admit with the sunshine, green vines and blue skies I got carried away taking pictures, but the boy did a grand job!

I am writing an editorial piece about the Vineyard, on the back of another project, so watch this space!

Gravel Lane Vineyard

The boy

I had five days work with the lady decorators in North London: part of my portfolio career! 

I also managed to fit in three photo shoots for my Downtime project dotted around London which I am very excited about: see the images in the Projects section.

London Independent Photographer’s had their annual exhibition at the Embassy Tea Gallery in Southwark. There was a good turnout at the private view and I had two prints on projection:

Woman with an eye

Bob & Billy Boy

I had four amazing days in Iceland, celebrating a very good friend’s birthday. With stunning scenery and exhilarating conditions, I would recommend this country to everyone!

Spooksville

Blue Lagoon Spa: Heaven on earth

It really was cold!

Beats a London geezer any day!

The stunning Gullfoss (Golden Waterfall), is fed by Iceland´s second biggest glacier, the Langjökull.

Bleak

I made it to the last day of the Virginia Woolf exhibition at the National Portrait gallery and discovered that Julia Margaret Cameron was her aunt. Julia Margaret Cameron was one of the first female photographers I heard about when studying my A levels many moons ago. An interesting exhibition and another reminder of being born into the right circles does wonders for your career. 

Until next time

Amanda

The Desk (from A room in a strange land)

The desk is the largest flat surface in the room, and becomes each visitor’s most personalised space.

Sometimes showing glimpses of home, often a collection of paraphernalia show-casing the places and experiences enjoyed by the transient visitor.

A dumping ground for books, iPods, mementos of nights out, pamphlets from historic visitor attractions ticked off a list, dictionaries, handouts, hairbrushes, small change, mobile phones and maps. A short-story in one life’s narrative.

Few people display physical photographs as they come armed with laptops and phones that carry electronic images of their loved ones, or like Rodrigo who wore his heroes as tattoos: Madonna and Frieda Kahlo displayed with pride “for me it’s art”. 

Would a desk in another city be the same?

The words above, along with these images form part of a broader piece of work in progress.

At home we have a spare room, which we have rented out predominately to foreign students on short-term stays since spring 2010. To date we have hosted thirty five people from fourteen countries.

I was inspired by the experience and decided to embark on a project to photograph our visitors. I wanted to explore two ideas: that essentially all people share a lot of commonalities regardless of where we are from, and also how individuals fill the same space in their own unique way.

I began by photographing the people in the room and conducting a small interview about each person. This presented it’s own challenges due to language barriers, and I avoided asking everyone as it was difficult to convey my intention. I guess it could seem a little odd to have your host ask to photograph you in your bedroom!

As the project progressed it became more observational and I took more photographs of people’s belongings around the room. The desk stood out as an island, lending itself to it's own story.

If you would like to know more about this work, please get in touch

Rodrigo from Brazil

Cassiano from Brazil

Simon from Switzerland

Ray from Switzerland