Birmingham Photospace Flash Swap Exhibition

Saturday lunch time I made my way down to the Custard Factory to hand in my picture for the Flash Swap Exhibition and then off I went to watch my son play football, I got a bit sunburnt or wind burnt and returned to the Custard Factory in the early evening.

As you can see there was a very good turnout of photographers of all levels of experiences and reputations. I bumped into so many people I hadn’t seen for a long time, a quick mention for Mike Hale whose website address is the only one I know, I first met Mike on the Creative Alliance course in 2006. It was a good course that introduced us to the business side of the arts, ideal after you have finished your degree and think how can I make a living as an artist. On day one we were separated into pairs and had to introduce the other person to the group for me describing Mikes work was easy because he included so much experimentation and variety at such a high standard.

It was nice to see Pete Ashton the blogging guru or Journeyman of the blogging spheres, that’s his description but it is very accurate he had just returned from some techie, bloggy web2 networking event in Austin Texas yep this is a hardcore blogger with about 3 or 4 on the go at the same time plus a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and loads of other social networking sites that the rest of the world will discover in about 12 months time, he’s the type of person you would see in the corner of a bar or restaurant tapping away on his laptop, its thanks to Pete and his friend Stef Lewandowski who talked me into blogging

Pete donated some of his business card size photos (as a set),

Birmingham Phil of Flickr fame was there; although he is one of my contacts/friends on Flickr I didn’t recognize him in the crowd.

So after a short speech everyone was able to select the photograph that they wanted to take home. When we originally handed in our pictures at reception we received a small label with a number on it (one picture equals one label) and this is how we notified our claim to a photograph.

This picture by Richard Gill created a bit of controversy because it was it was chosen by two people I don’t know the outcome.

I don’t know this gentlemans name but he sure has a great taste in art, he went for the “Untitled” Giclee print by John Garghan and when I’m famous or dead he can look back on this moment when he made his fortune.

This is the photograph that I chose Birmingham Music Legend Steve Gibbons; I had my eye on it during the opening speeches so I positioned myself very close but when we got the go ahead to make our selection I couldn’t find my label. The photographer is Tim Ellis

Judging by the turnout and the feedback on the site from people who couldn’t make it I’m sure we will have a similar event in the future

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This Saturday I’m off to the Flash Swap Exhibition

An initiative that has my full support is Birmingham Photospace I started to write about it and then I thought the organizers have already produced an excellent explanation and posted it on the Facebook group page.

The group is seeking to galvanise interested individuals and organisations in Birmingham towards the ultimate aim of creating a world class venue for photography in Birmingham. This could be in a reclaimed industrial building close to the city centre. This could build on and support the interest in photography in the city, showcase our magnificent photography collections and fill a gap in Birmingham's visual arts facilities

You can also read the Vision For Birmingham and then visit the informative blog

The Flash Swap Exhibition organized by Birmingham Photospace takes place this Saturday 21st March at the Custard Factory’s Vaad Gallery this is an opportunity for photographers of all levels to showcase their work for free.

Basically you take along at least one photograph and you are then entitled to choose a picture.

Comprehensive information at the Birmingham Photospace Press Release

I decided to take one of my earlier photographs in fact it was taken at the first burnt out car I ever photographed. You will notice that my work today is very different than this first photograph as now I look to disguise any notation that of the origins of the photograph. The only problem now is I have to find it in my spare bedroom.

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Flickr – Or I’ll Scratch Your Back If You Scratch Mine

I enjoy photography and I love Flickr.com, I can spend hours looking at photographs on the site comparing different styles, subjects and the variations that each photographer will use. Here are some pictures from my Flickr site.

The Day Job: - This set is associated with the body of work found in my art practice; here I can test the response to a new image by noting how many clicks a photograph achieves before I spend more effort marketing it.

Cricket (click image for a larger version)

My hobby: That’s Playing Cricket, Watching Cricket and now photographing Cricket.

Other sets include

Birmingham

Live Gigs

Dogs-Pets

Holidays

Two photograph series that have grown into larger projects:

The Last Snow to Fall in Yardley Wood

With the threat of Global Warming I have this mission to photograph the last snow to fall where I live in Yardley Wood, Birmingham.

The 365 Project:-  Take a photo everyday and post it to Flickr on that day, every day in 2009. This has been a great exercise in making me look for a photograph everywhere I go during the day, I find myself walking along the road and looking up alleyways or above street level for that piece of interesting and unique architecture or a reference to a bygone age. I’m forced to always carry a camera and now never say “I wish I had a camera” (with me).

Having posted to Flickr I want as many people as possible to look and comment on the work, and if I see anything of interest I will do the same. In this quest for more viewers each picture is added to a relevant Flickr Group, as soon as you do this you will see the number of hits on a picture increase and nice comments start to be added to the picture, great. Or is it? Most groups have rules. Basically if you past a picture to the group you have to comment on other pictures in the group. I realised as I was commenting I’m only fulfilling my contractual obligation, would I really want to comment if I didn’t have to. I would rather have that choice. So I stopped throwing my comments around now giving only to a deserving image.

The Group Administrators and Group Moderators are threatening to throw me out of their groups if I don’t abide by there rules. Am I really bothered? No I will just link to groups who don’t have this rule and rely on traffic from relevant Tags on my photos and the network of friends and contacts that I have built up enjoying their company over the last year. If I had some spare time I might start my own group The “Just Post It - Comment On Another If You Think It Deserves It” Group.

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Finished photographs from the two recent burnt out car finds

Image from the car on Friday 13th

I promised I would work on an image from the car I photographed on Friday the 13th and here it is I didn’t have to do much Photoshop editing here because most of the work was done when I took the photograph, I had poured water over the wing and this mixed with the sunlight produced the image I wanted.

Image from the second car “Probably the Best car I Have Ever Photographed. Ever”

I was very excited when I first saw this car and throughout the time I was working photographing it, but somehow when I processed the photos on my computer I wasn’t as enthusiastic with them. Somehow the colours don’t seem right to me they are very vibrant but perhaps there are too many strong deep colours in a small area. Sometimes a car that looks good will not produce any final images that fit with my clearly defined art practice and visa versa. Now I’m not saying this isn’t a good image but does it look like a landscape to you?

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A sleepless night wondering if everything will be ok

Yesterday we set the artwork out on the gallery floor so that we could see how each piece looked in the space and how each one harmonised with the other work. I was a little worried because it doesn’t matter how good a picture looks on a monitor or hard copy its still hit or miss if it works printed on glass and at at that stage you can’t see detail in the pictures and therefore they look disappointing. I was very relieved when all the pictures where hung on white wall with the lighting in the right position.

Once again thanks to the staff at the arts complex who did all the installation for me, luxury.

Changing the habits of nearly a lifetime

I was in Birmingham City centre today and to kill time between appointments I popped into Waterstones book store, when I came out I realised that I only looked at photography books and didn’t go anywhere near the computer books.

Also I think this is the first month since about 1983 that I didn’t pick up a copy of Personnel Computer World magazine and instead bought a photography monthly instead. First off I went for Digital Photographer but I will probably chop around until I find the one that looks right. So 6 years after leaving the computer industry the change is complete.

Rhubarb Photo Festival in Birmingham

Saturday I attended the internationally renowned Rhubarb Festival which this year took place at Aston Business School. Now if you’re a regular on my blog you know the Aston Business School have bought some of my work so its something of a lucky building for me, that’s taking superstition too far but you know what I mean.

In brief what it’s all about (move to next paragraph if you know):
the organisers of a festival get all the top buyers, movers and shakers of the photo industry in to one room, these reviewers are gallery owners, agents, magazine photo editors etc etc. from all over the World. We as photographers select who we want to see and book a time slot with them to show our portfolio of work, this selection process is achieved by looking at the reviewers profile which might state “I’m looking for documentary photographyusing film not digital” (therefore this reviewer would not be interested in my work). With further assistance of links to websites you can be extremely accurate in targeting who you want to sit down with and show them your portfolio to. Its important that you get this process correct because time is precious in this situation, and as you have to pay to enter the review you want to maximise your investment. Having done your research you have 20 minutes with each selected reviewer to show your portfolio and talk about it.

One of my reviewers Fred Baldwin Chairman of Fotofest, Houston, USA

The reviewers tell it like it is bad or good they are professionals in a hard business, suggesting anything from printing processes to taking the work forward with new approaches to the image making. In the main I had a very successful day and made some great contacts and in generally had a good response to my work.

I am extremely fortunate because living in Birmingham I didn’t have to c atch a plane or incur hotel costs; I spoke to several UK photographers whom had to start the day at 4am and others from the USA and Europe. Me, I rolled out of bed at 8am to arrive by 8:45 but that’s not to say I had a good nights sleep. No I was too nervous for that. Being a local was handy when it comes to sourcing free car parking although it wasn’t any advantage for finding somewhere for lunch because the facilities at the venue were reasonable, well done Aston Business School.

As well as the festival, Rhubarb provide mentoring to photographers, again I’m lucky living on their doorstep, because I have attended countless workshops that have prepared me for situations like the festival. Perhaps the biggest value of all was a two day workshop about assembling and packaging my portfolio, many of the reviewers complimented me on the presentation, it stands to reason if there’s nothing bad to distract then they are more focused on the images.

Rhonda Wilson MBE , Creative Director of Rhubarb popped over for a chat

In the evening we had a Portfolio Promenade were each artist sets out work for sale on a table 4ft square. So there you are lined up with loads of other photographers and invited guests file past looking at the work, it also gave us photographers a chance to network and discuss work, techniques and marketing experiences. Have a look at their sites: Richard Foot, John Maclean, Joe Ford, Michael Marten, Kelly Hill, Richard Fear, Kurt Tong and Jon Tonks.

This lady (sitting down) flew in from the USA that morning, her work was amazing really detailed close shots of wild animals, each time I tried to have a chat with her she was talking to someone and I never got around to finding out her name or get a business card.

Harry Palmer the driving force behind the The Worlds First Dedicated Eccentric Newspaper "The Eccentric City" cycled across Birmingham to have his photo taken by me.

About 9pm we finished and made our way across the courtyard for a few drinks I got home about 11:30pm I was so tired that I pulled up outside me house too exhausted to get out the car, and then I realised I still had to take my 3 dogs for a walk.

Burnt Out Car in Scribbers Lane Hall Green Birmingham

Walking the dogs this morning I came across my latest beautiful photo model, so the dogs had a very quick run out then I dashed home for my camera. Incidentally, this is the exact location I found the first car that got me involved in this art form about 4 years ago.

When I returned and inspected the surfaces of the Vauxhall I was very disappointed, it seemed there was no markings worth recording. The fire brigade had not attended this fire and therefore the wreck was completely burnt out with no scorch marks on paintwork and because the firemen had not power hosed the fire all the metal was coated with a thick often crusty ash.

Then suddenly the surfaces began to appear I'm not sure why but it could be because of a change in the light caused by a dark cloud cover. In the end I finished up taking a total of 400 photos which is 400 more than I thought at one stage.

Apart from photographing the cars I'm always fascinated by the reaction of people who walk past, this lady was very interested.

Both her and dog looked to old to walk any distance but I found that not only had they come a long way but their walk was going to take them another 2 miles, so never presume.

New Photography On Screen Exhibition- Almost ready

My job to sweep the floor, it only took me 2 hours. We are almost ready for the big switch on, tidy a few wires, turn the laptops and screens on make sure everything is in sync and open the doors.

The show runs daily between June 10-20. 10am to 5pm

Venue
Custard Factory
GALLERYALLERY,
Gibb Street,
Digbeth,
Birmingham
B9 4AA