Wonderland Exhibition

This evening I had the pleasure of being the photographer for The Wonderland Exhibition in the Glass Box in Coventry’s city centre. The exhibition was full of many weird and wonderful things and included a mix of photography, artifacts and screen projections.

As the exhibition was literally in a Glass Box I had to be very mindful of the contrast of light outside and this is one of the reasons I chose to photograph the exhibition in the evening.

One of my favourite photos from the exhibition is the image below. It shows the reflection of two visitors watching the projected Wonderland film while also revealing the night time streetscape outside. Working at this venue has helped me to think outside the box when taking photos for a client. Yes, you need to capture the important images but you can also use your imagination to capture them in an unusual way, which will often give you a much stronger and thought provoking image than you had before.

Pop Up/Guerrilla Exhibitions

“Do not make the mistake of thinking any space will do. Choose a space that’s appropriate to your concept and the makers involved is critical to the success of your gallery” (Anon, 2017) and I think they are most definitely right. As our exhibition has a strong urban theme I think it needs to be set in the city centre where we can incorporate nature images and sounds over the urban photography and setting itself.

“Guerilla Exhibition are a group of individuals based in Dublin with the aim to highlight the vacant spaces in the city by organizing pop-up photography exhibitions. These exhibitions not only highlight the problem with vacant and unused buildings in Dublin, but also promotes the photography and the arts in Ireland.” (Guerrilla Exhibition, 2017)

Guerrilla Exhibition and Cork Analogue Photographers combined exhibition really inspired us and I felt they were really doing something we wanted to do with our art work. Not only were they highlighting recent austerity but they were making rundown, neglected space beautiful with their artwork which is something we really wanted to do as part of our exhibition. Many areas of Coventry’s City Centre have become rundown, especially our subways. The addition of artwork to brighten a usually grey and bleak space really appealed to us as artists. Making someone’s usually quite mundane and dreary walk into town into something surprising and wondrous, and hopefully brightening someone’s day with our work?

Bibliography

Anon, (2017). .

Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: http://guerillaexhibition.tumblr.com [Accessed 11 Jan. 2017].

Eyesoup.wordpress.com. (2017). Guerrilla Exhibition / Cork Analogue Photographers | cork analogue photographers. [online] Available at: https://eyesoup.wordpress.com/tag/guerrilla-exhibition-cork-analogue-photographers/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2017].

Facebook.com. (2017). ‘Disruptions’, a DUPA // TAF Guerilla Exhibition. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/events/382891021807433/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2017].

Guerilla Exhibition. (2017). Guerilla Exhibition. [online] Available at: https://guerillaexhibition.wordpress.com [Accessed 11 Jan. 2017].

Independent.ie. (2017). The guerilla art form that is taking it to the streets – Independent.ie. [online] Available at: http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/theatre-arts/the-guerilla-art-form-that-is-taking-it-to-the-streets-30506659.html [Accessed 11 Jan. 2017].

max→, V. (2017). Guerrilla Photography Exhibition is back at Avenue K from 12-25th Oct 2015. [online] Photosafari.com.my. Available at: http://www.photosafari.com.my/news/guerrilla-photography-exhibition-is-back-at-avenue-k-from-12-25th-oct-2015/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2017].

sleek mag. (2017). The Activists Using Guerrilla Art to Fight for Abortion Rights in Ireland – sleek mag. [online] Available at: http://www.sleek-mag.com/2016/11/29/bodies-awakened-ireland/ [Accessed 11 Jan. 2017].

Exhibition: Disaster, Panic & Recovery

I’m not sure I’ve arranged an event yet that hasn’t had an element of disaster creep into it, but on this occasion, as on most others, often the disaster leads you to a much better solution.

This week we found out that the venue where we were hoping to hold our exhibition wanted to charge us £250 to host the event! What with printing the photos, designing t-shirts and purchasing headphones and refreshments for our guests there was no way we could find an additional £250, or guarantee our guests would spend that much on drinks at the venue in one evening, so we had to decline the offer and start looking for somewhere else to host our nAture exhibition.

Seriously downhearted and starting to panic a little, as we now only have two weeks until the final exhibition date, I was walking home through one of my favorite places, my local subway/underpass, and suddenly it came to me…..

I have taken so many photos here and even filmed my first film, Trip, in these subways so why not hold the exhibition here too?! We could fly poster the walls with our urban photography and project Vlad’s nature video’s onto the subway’s ceiling. Guests could download a nature track we would compile from the videos and could listen to it as they walked through the subways and took in the artwork. The idea would also work perfectly with our urban meets nature theme as what could be more urban than a City Centre subway under Coventry’s ring road.

I’d recently been reading about the Guerrilla Girls and pop up protest exhibitions in Dublin  so decided we needed to research some of these before we made a final decision.

Masterclass with Saskia Sutton

As part of our Professional Experience module we were split into large groups and given the task to host a Masterclass by a guest speaker. We needed to advertise the event, set up the venue, film the full lecture and organize questions for a short recorded interview afterwards.

As I normally direct and produce on most projects I wanted to do something a little different on this one. I really enjoy research so I volunteered to walk with a small group to make a list of question to ask Saskia in her final interview.

We had received a brief resume about Saskia so already had a bit about her background but we wanted to find some questions we could ask that she’d maybe not heard before and make the questioning as relevant to her life as possible.

One of the first thing we discovered about Saskia was that her mother “Heather Sutton was a pioneer female documentary filmmaker” (Loskyfilms.co.uk, 2017) and her father was a painter. We guessed this was likely to influence her career choice and may have also given her a stepping stone into the world of film.

Next we discovered that Saskia had worked on the very first mix of live action and animation, even before the release of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). We definitely wanted to ask her about that.

“She worked as his runner on the ITV series ‘All You Need is Love’.” (Loskyfilms.co.uk, 2017)

Along with the questions we had tailored to Saskia’s past and career we also wanted to ask the questions that most of us, as students new to the media world, really wanted the answers to.

How to get noticed, how to cope working with people you don’t get on with, how to get your films out there!

Here is the question list we finally put together. If you’d like to hear Saskia’s answers to these questions you can listen to the full interview using the link below.

Bibliography

Jake Humbles. (2017). Saskia Sutton and Jason Connery: A Helping Hand. [online] Available at: https://jakehumblesyr3.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/saskia-sutton-and-jason-connery-a-helping-hand/ [Accessed 10 Dec. 2016].

Loskyfilms.co.uk. (2017). About Saskia. [online] Available at: http://www.loskyfilms.co.uk [Accessed 10 Dec. 2016].

Npg.org.uk. (2017). Person – National Portrait Gallery. [online] Available at: http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp92830/saskia-sutton [Accessed 10 Dec. 2016].

Sutton, S. (2017). Saskia Sutton. [online] IMDb. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0840402/ [Accessed 10 Dec. 2016].

Zemeckis, R., Wolf, G., Price, J., Hoskins, B., Lloyd, C. and Cassidy, J. (2017). Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). [online] IMDb. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096438/ [Accessed 10 Dec. 2016].

Gig Photography

Yesterday I worked as an assistant photographer at Gunther Prague’s much anticipated new gig at The Tin at The Coal Vaults, Coventry.

I normally photograph in natural light so this job was quite different for me and meant I was probably going to come up against quite a few problems I’d not encountered while shooting in daylight. But, as I was working as an assistant alongside a main photographer and because Gunther Prague like their publicity shots to be a bit quirky and different, it meant I could really have some fun on this shoot and in the following edit.

Because of the extreme lighting at the gig I found I had a lot of problems with the artificial lights washing the whole scene resulting in over exposed images or the band members looking like they had purple or green skin. I found the best way to avoid this was to get down really low so I was under the lighting. At first I felt quite self conscience about crawling around on the floor in front of a crowd of people but I soon realised they were far too engrossed in watching the band to pay any attention to me. I had also made a point of wearing black clothes and flat shoes to the event which helped me to blend in more and meant I had no problems rushing from one side of the stage to the other depending on where the next good shot was likely to be taken from.

I think I may have actually learnt more from editing these images than I did while taking them.

With gig photos you often end up with photos awash with glaring colors and blur from the bands constant movement. Initially I spent quite a long time trying to correct these things. Resulting in some really terrible images that looked totally unnatural. I soon came to realize that you need to work with these things instead of pulling against them. Audiences don’t expect to see gig photos naturally lit. They are used to seeing images tinted by stage lights and blur from a guitarists enthusiastic strumming so, instead, I tried accentuating these things and that’s when my photos really began to gain their own personality.

The image above is the same image reversed and placed over itself while a second image has then been layered over the first two after the base image was color filtered and partially posterized. Obviously this kind of image will not be to everyone’s taste but I think they really fit with the band’s style and essentially that is what you are trying to capture in most photos. The essence of a person or place, their individuality and the atmosphere of that moment to share with the people who weren’t lucky enough to be there to discover it themselves.

RISING Global Peace Festival 2016

WHERE THERE IS A RUIN (ALINAH AZADEH, 2016)

After reading about The Rising Global Peace festival that was happening this month in Coventry I contacted it’s organisers to see if I could be off any help taking some photos and filming a little footage for them.

The organisers were extremely helpful and said they would love for me to come and document their event and I could have access to all areas where I wanted to photograph and film.

Alinah Azadeh was holding an exhibition of her artwork inside the cathedral ruins that I was lucky enough to photograph. Each piece of art was placed in the cathedral and was available for visitors to take home with them if they chose to.

The Venus Bushfires (FARGO Village, Nov 2016)

In the evening I travelled to Fargo village to capture the performance of the amazing Venus Bushfires on both camera and film.

A few days after the festival Alinah Azadeh contacted me to thank me for taking the photos of her artwork. It was really nice to know that was happy worth my work.

Professional Experience: Shin Ramen

This evening I visited Shin Ramen to start filming a promotions video for the restaurant to upload to social media.

I worked alongside another videographer so we could concentrate on different areas of the restaurant. While I was filming inside the kitchen, capturing food being prepared and cooked, the other videographer could be filming guests arriving at the restaurant, cocktails being made at the bar and meals being brought to the table.

Service was quick and the restaurant was very busy this evening so we had to be careful not to get in the way of the staff or customers as we filmed.

I really enjoyed my professional experience at Shin Ramen. The owners were fantastic and granted us access to all areas, were extremely understanding about equipment and made no fuss about us being there.

Filming at night made for some beautiful shots with lots of bokeh and if I was photographing or filming for a restaurant again I would highly recommend they do a night time shoot alongside a day one. It really helps to tell a story and show the change in menu and clientele from day to night.

Professional Experience : Exhibition Ideas

For my exhibition I am hoping to show a selection of my photography work. I have spoken to a few other students who are also interested in photography and we are hoping to put our images together for a themed exhibit.

I have two main ideas. The first is Coventry. So photos taken in and around Coventry and then exhibited at local venues. If we go for this idea I’d probably select the photo below along with a few others taken in the same area.

Ideas for possible Coventry exhibition venues:

• Drapers
• Inspire Cafe
• The Artisan
• Fargo Village

The second theme was Entertainment, as both Corina and myself have shots from this year’s Swingamajig Festival that we could use. If this theme is chosen I would probably opt for this photo and a series of cabaret themed images.

Ideas for possible Entertainment exhibition venues:

• Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School
• The Old Joint Stock Pub & Theatre
• MAC Birmingham
• Drapers
• The Hare & Hounds

To link our work into the community we would ask that the venues possibly leave our work on display for 4-6 weeks with prices listed so customers could consider purchasing pieces. Taking our art right into their own homes!

(Note to self: Possible problem: I am unsure if we may encounter problems with the Entertainment exhibition as the photos all contain people who’s permission we would probably need, particularly if we plan to sell our work.)

Pro-active

I’ve been thinking more and more about the saying “It’s not what you know but who you know” recently, in relation to gaining Professional Experience. So I decided I needed to be a bit cheeky and start approaching a few more people I know, and a lot more that I don’t. Essentially I am offering my services for free in exchange for the opportunity of gathering more experience, and I may actually be able to help some businesses if they end up with images and footage they can use to promote themselves, so I need to be less embarrassed about asking people.

So, today, I took my daughter to the Herbert Art Gallery for a halloween film screening. Looking after the event was a really nice lady who we often see there. She asked how we were and after a few moments I plucked up the courage to ask her if the museum might need anyone to photograph or film events or promotions for them. It turns out the lady I was speaking to was the Marketing and Events Planner and said she would love for me to come along and photograph the next event they have on the 18th of November and possibly several other things after that.

Following on from this success I have also contacted a friend who works in the Health and Safety Office at the University to ask if they need any photography or filming doing and I’m just waiting to hear back.

Another student I worked with last year has also contacted me to work on a project with him taking some promo photos and film for a local restaurant this weekend. I am really excited about this project as the restaurant is really beautifully painted so will make a great subject and the finished video will also be a good advert to show to potential clients.

Initial Thoughts

When I graduate I would like to make a living making short films but I know that this is unlikely to provide a very consistent income. To supplement my income as I am starting out I plan to work freelance photographing and/or filming events.

I already have some experience in this field.

I filmed and photographed at this year’s Swingamajig Festival, was the second photographer and videographer at a wedding at Coombe Abbey in June, filmed and editing the first ever Guide to Campus for Coventry University, recorded evidence of Student Experience for the VCO, photographed and filmed a seminar for the DMLL and also helped with production and filming on a recent marketing video for Coventry University over the summer.

During my Professional Experience this year I hope to try out as many new events and work environments as possible.

So far I have:

• Applied to work at a local Photography Studio (update: unfortunately the company has now ceased to do studio work)
• Talked to the Theatre Department about helping to film, photograph and light theatre productions next term (update: this has been agreed and will hopefully go ahead next term)
• Approached the organizers of Guide to Campus to see if they had any more filming opportunities available (update: it has been suggested that the DMLL may require some digital activators and I am waiting to hear back if there are any places left)
• I have contacted several bands who have gigs lined up at the O2 Academy in Birmingham to see if I can obtain a press pass to film there.

Things still to do:

• I was recently contacted by a journalist at RT News over the Save Our Libraries Campaign and I plan to contact them to offer my services as a runner if they have any filming coming up locally
• Apply for a press pass for this years Comic Con
• Contact the local newspaper to see if I can shadow one of their photographers