Since 2000 Nigel Swallow has put together a Calendar of Brighton and Hove photographs which has become a bit of Brighton institution.
Brighton Calendar 2015 cover – Lighting and the West Pier by Max Langran
The calendar is comprised of the work of local Brighton Photographers, this years calendar includes two little pictures from me and one from my wife @rockcake, it’s always nice to be a part of the calendar even if it’s just a small part. Continue reading
In April 2015 I’ll be teaching some workshops at the Snap Photo Festival in Wales along with 13 other photographers with a diverse range of styles and skills. There will be talks, workshops, camp fires and parties over the space of 4 nights and 3 days. Think of Snap as a pick and mix of photo workshops, each photographer will be teaching their workshop twice so there’s a slim chance of you missing a one because it clashes with another. It’s not just the scheduled events where you can learn as there’s plenty of time outside timetable to socialise with tutors and other participants. I’m really excited about astrophotographer Conor MacNeill‘s workshop as I met him when I was speaking alongside him at the Birdie conference earlier year.
“Twilight and the Milky Way at Deadvlei in Namibia.” – By Conor MacNeill
Event tickets are £1300 per person and that includes 4 nights of glamping accommodation and food (if you are local there are also Non-residential tickets for £1150). More details can be found on the snap website here: www.snapphotofestival.com
The Lomo LC-A was introduced to the Soviet Union in 1984 as a camera for the people. The idea was to design a camera that anyone could use. Lomo took inspiration from the Japanese Cosina CX-2, but toned down the design with some Communist magic. The LC-A was the camera that changed the way I thought about photography. It gave me a lot of creative freedom, and the fact that I could take it anywhere and could use it in low light made it a game changer at the time. You can see some of my images taken the Lomo LC-A in this portfolio.
Typical image from a Lomo LC-A with heavy vignetting, this vignetting can be further exaggerated with the use of cross processing. See more of my Lomo LCA images taken in this portfolio.
It seems funny now but when I got my LC-A in 1998 there was not much to choose from if you wanted a half decent camera that could fit in your jeans pocket, especially if you were on a budget. Compared with the proliferation of camera phones now, it seems quite bizarre that compact digital cameras did not exist then and did not become affordable until 2003.
Lomo LC-A along side the new Medium format Lomo LC-A 120
The Brighton Biennial and companion Photo Fringe festival are now in full swing. I’ve not got any stand alone shows in this years festival but I have images in two group shows and I am speaking at a MiniClick event. Combined, the Biennial and Photo Fringe is a massive photography festival and would be well worth a trip to Brighton from London and further afield. If you are from London and this post does not tempt you down I recommend you go to ‘Make Life Worth Living‘ and ‘Open for Business‘ at the Media Space at the London Science Museum.
Photo by Matth Booth
I will be one of ten photographers giving a PechaKucha talk on the subject of none photographic influences. PechaKucha is a presentation format where speakers show 20 slides and each slide is on screen for 20 seconds, the slides advance automatically so the speakers are forced to keep their talks fast paced and as each speaker only gets 6 minutes and 40 seconds so there’s not much chance of getting board. The event will be on Monday the 27th October at 7pm find out about the other speakers on MiniClick’s website here. Continue reading
Nick Hedges was commissioned by the housing charity Shelter to document the harsh living conditions that people in poverty were forced to live in from 1968 – 1972. The work was used to help Shelter campaign better for those in poverty. To protect the anonymity of the people depicted, the images have been used in a very limited way until now; this is the first public showing of the work since it was created over forty years ago.
Mr and Mrs M and their four children lived in a council owned house in Vincent Crescent, Balsall Heath. Apart from the poor state of the property – no bathroom, no hot water, outside lavatory, inside walls running with damp – these children were sleeping in the middle of winter, on two sodden seat cushions covered by a couple of old ‘macs’, there was no heating in the room, the snow lay thick outside and the windows were broken. Birmingham, January 1969 © Nick Hedges / National Media Museum, Bradford
Make Life worth living is on display at the London Science Museum’s Media Space.
Last June MiniClick published a small print run publication of some of my work documenting Brighton Swimming Club. ‘I Dare the Wave, A Life to Save’ centred around David Sawyers: one of the clubs more eccentric characters. The first print run sold out super fast, I was on holiday when they went on sale, so I didn’t get a chance to promote the release, soon after I was back they were sold out. I know there was a few people that were disappointed that they did not get a copy in their hands.
I Dare the Wave, A Life to Save
By Kevin Meredith
Published by MiniClick
This is Technimatic’s debut album ‘Desire Paths’ which was released by Brighton’s very own Shogun Audio label. They asked if they could license a preexisting image of an Oakland telegraph pole for the cover art of there album. Technimatic are a Drum & Bass due so it’s right up my street. It’s available vinyl, CD and digital formats at shogunaudio.co.uk and of course Amazon, iTunes etc. Continue reading
Open for Business is a body of work that depicts contemporary British manufacturing in a time when most would believe it is declining. It show cases a broad range of industries from sausage making, yacht building and weaving to the construction of the HMS Queen Elizabeth the largest ship ever built for the Royal Navy. The work was commissioned by Multistory a Midlands based arts organisation that is dedicated to telling the stories of ordinary peoples lives.
Wave energy being harnessed near the Scottish Orkney Islands by . © Stuart Franklin & Magnem Photos.
