I entered my work for Female in Focus – An award for female photographers. For a cost of $25, I submitted three photographs for a single image award. Wish me luck!
The winning prize is amazing, have a look for yourself.
Winning images will be exhibited as part of the group show at the United Photo Industries Gallery in Brooklyn, NYC, USA. The exhibition will run for a month between October and November 2019.
Receive international press coverage; work could be featured across the globe, reaching millions of people and leading to Worldwide recognition.
Be
featured on BJP-Online.
Have
your work judged by outstanding women photographers and industry leaders.
Judge panel include:
Neo Ntsoma, Cécile Montigny, Veronica Sanchis Bencomo, Hannah Starkey, Laura Roumanos, Devika
Daulet-Singh and Brandei Estes.
Today is the deadline for submissions, so if you’re interested in entering your work, you need to hurry up.
For my book’s pages I chose Lumi Silk Coated paper (150gsm), as the image quality is very good; the paper appear slightly shiny, feels nice when touched and as it isn’t white, it gives a slightly warm feeling to the photographs.
I experimented with book sizes and decided that A4 is too large, A5 is too small, so I tried the version in between them-B5 and it’s perfect. I printed the book pages at the University printing bureau and delivered them to Spink and Thackray in Leeds for binding. I chose a light yellow hard cover and for the second book I selected a slightly larger size, orange cover and very similar to Lumi Silk paper. However, the prints quality in the second book wasn’t as good as the ones printed at the University.
Unfortunately, I realised that one of the images in the book was cropped. The same one that I printed for an exhibition and came damaged. Unlucky. Fallowing my mistake, I had to reprint the book pages again. I drove to uni on Wednesday the 24th of April and the printing bureau was closed for an Easter break. I went there the day after, printed the pages and drove to Leeds to make an order. The fallowing Thursday, I collected the book which wasn’t as ordered. The letters on the front page was damaged and appears slightly dirty around the edges however, it wasn’t too bad. In addition, when I came home, I realised that they put two front pages in the book. I wanted to scream!
This means that I had to drive to Leeds again! I drove in London, Manchester and other big cities in the World, but I hate driving in Leeds. Never mind, the next morning I gave them a ring and made a complaint. I was told to bring the book back and they will sort it out for me. This time I sent my boyfriend, as I was stressed enough and had million other things to do before the submissions. Three days before the submission I finally collected my book! Thankfully this time it looks amazing and I am very proud of it!
I need to take a pictures of my book, make some changes and finally I will be ready to submit my work, both written and physical form.
If you would like to see my book and many other interesting work, come to The University of Huddersfield on the 7th of June for the final year photography student’s exhibition. I can’t wait for it!
I selected
Lumi Silk Coated Card at 300 gsm for my prints. I chose this paper type, as the
image quality is very good, appears slightly shiny and as it’s not white, it
gives slightly warm feeling to my prints. However, I found out that this paper
isn’t available in A2 size therefore, I had to try different types. I’ve
ordered a sample pack from The Print Space.
I loved Canson Baryta , but the colour of the paper is too creamy, which could drastically change the mood of my images. The other paper I liked was semi-gloss, as it looks comparable to silk coated card just slightly shinier. However, I decided to go for C-type Epson Matt instead, as the image quality printed on this paper looks stunning. I didn’t want anything glossier, as in my opinion gloss doesn’t fit documentary photography. I’ve used matt in one of the interim shows and it looked amazing.
As our work will be displayed on a white wall, I decided to go for black
frames. To create a contrast, to separate the frames from the wall and to make
them stand out. I chose to order window mount as well, as it brings the
attention towards the image.
I’ve sent out for a few price enquires. Every time I asked for A2 traditional black frame with 50mm white window mount and matt prints. Every quote I received was very expensive, especially that I needed everything times three. The price from Soho Frames was £162.56 + vat; Metro Imaging – £289.72 + vat; The Print Space – £117 + vat and £20 or £25 for each print. All quotes were from London’s recommended companies and I don’t like to order online, not knowing what I am paying for. Therefore, I would have to drive there before making an order and then a second time to collect it. Instead, I went to a few lesser known places in Wakefield with the same frame’s enquiry. The prices were a lot cheaper and I could look at the frame quality.
I decided to order C-type Matt prints (£20 each) from The Print Space
and frames from Robin Taylor. Taylor made frames for The Hepworth Wakefield existing
exhibition and I am working there, so I knew that the quality of each frame is very
good. Additionally, as the frames wasn’t too expensive, I could afford to order
non reflective glass, to keep the matt impression. Each frame costs £84, then I
was given a discount, so it cost me £240 for three. A lot better that around £200
each when ordered from London’s businesses.
When I received the prints from The Print Space, one of them was damaged. I contacted the company and thankfully they reprinted it and sent it to me within few days. I was glad that I made an order super early and was able to sort it out on time.
Robin Taylor has made an amazing job, as the frames looks very professional. Although non-reflective glass appears slightly milky, or should I say blurry, I am very happy with the outcome. It further compliments my work and I am very excited to see them displayed in the final exhibition.
Feel free to come and join us at the final exhibition, that will take place at The University of Huddersfield on the 7th of June. I can assure you that there will be a variety of many interesting works, created by very talented students.
I would truly recommend The Print Space and Robin Taylor, both companies very reliable and professional.
For the past two months, I worked as a Gallery Host Volunteer at The Hepworth Wakefield.
At the end of March, I received an email with upcoming job opportunities at THW. I decided to apply for the visitor experience assistant role. As a result of my application, I received an invitation for an interview, which took place the following week and went very well, even though I woke up in the morning full of cold, with muscle ache, cough, blocked nose and couldn’t speak or breathe. The worst possible case when going for the interview.
To my excitement, the day after the interview, I received a phone call from one of my duty managers saying that they were impressed with the interview and offered me a part time contract as a Visitor Experience Assistant. What a fantastic news, I was very happy to accept it!
As an employee, I will have a lot more responsibilities than when I use to volunteer. Before, my job was to help the visitor experience team, to engage with the visitors and make them feel welcome, to answer their queries and most importantly to ensure the safety of the visitors and the art work. Now, as well as all the above, my duties will be to have up to date knowledge about the gallery, exhibitions, displayed collections and public programs; to respond to phone calls and email enquiries; to deliver informative and engage guide tours and much more. Guide tours will be challenging and means a lot of research. I became familiar with the exhibited art at The Hepworth Wakefield however, I am not ready for it yet. Thankfully, I will be given the training.
I am looking forward to becoming part of visitor experience team and also to my first shift on Thursday. As I stated in a blog about my volunteer job, I adore this place and the friendly people who work there. As a photographer it’s also a great opportunity to be part of the creative community, to build connections with other artists and people who have similar interest to mine.
I was
planning to look for a job after the graduation however, as the opportunity arises,
I’ve done my best and already have it! I am very proud of myself and as I am
only going to work part time, I will have a lot of time to be freelance
photographer.
If you haven’t been to The Hepworth Wakefield, you should pay a visit. It’s an amazing place, with a variety of incredible art. From Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore’s famous sculptures to contemporary photographs and Magdalene Odundo’s The Journey of Things exhibition which contains modern, contemporary and ancient pieces that influenced her work and many, many more. I can assure you that there is something for every art lover.
Additionally, if you want to change your career or know the company you want to work for, I advise you to apply for a volunteer role. You will find out if it’s the right job for you, as well as the possibility of leading to permanent position.
I recently enter two images for the Palm* Photo Prize competition.
The submission is open to photographers working in all disciplines and styles and it’s free to enter. There are no themes, just an emphasis on one strong stand-alone image. The deadline for the submissions is on the 15th of April and entrants are limited to two images per person. On the 10th of May, 100 images will be selected by the Palm* Studios and exhibited in The Print Space Gallery in London from 14th to 17th of May. There will be four winning categories selected from the shortlisted and exhibited images:
Judge’s Panel 1st place
Judge’s Panel 2nd place
People’s Choice Award
People’s Choice Instagram Award
The winning
prizes looks very impressive. Judge’s Panel 1st place will receive: Polaroid
Originals OneStep + Camera + film; theprintspace £150 voucher, Labyrinth
photography Lab £150 voucher, Palm* Studios goodie Bag + Palm* Feature, Parallax
Photographic Coop gift voucher £50
Here are my two selected images
I chose them two, as I believe that both are strong single stand-alone images. Each one is also strong technically, with creative lighting and good composition. It would be amazing to be one of the 100 shortlisted. Wish me luck!
Yesterday, was the University of Huddersfield’s final year photography students Third Interim Show. The exhibition took place at the Market Hall in Huddersfield. It was amazing to see our work exhibited and evident development from previous exhibitions, visible within the quality of work and prints.
It was our last chance to get feedback on our work before the final submissions. We have five weeks remaining to the deadline, where we must submit our written work as well as physical books, framed prints or portfolio.
To get ready for the exhibition, I’ve made a few test prints to see what type of paper will be best for my photographs and my photobook.
I chose Lumi Silk Coated Card 300gsm for my photographs and Silk Coated 150gsm paper for the book. Both papers are light cream colour, slightly warmer than white. My displayed prints were in SRA3 size (450mm x320mm) and book printed in B5 (176mm x 250mm).
We were split into groups of 6 – 7 people to give feedback to the other groups. Have a look at my feedback:
Fallowing the group comments, each of us had an individual meeting with one of our tutors. I spoke with Richard Higgingbottom. Richard told me that my project is coming along well and that I chose good paper type. The design and the size of my book are also good however, he advised me to make some changes within the sequence and the text. I told Richard that I am planning to have a hard cover and he advised me to look at Leeds Village Books to find some ideas for the colour of the cloth.
I appreciate all of the feedback I received. I will change the title and think about the cover of the book; I will work on my book sequence and make bigger prints for the exhibition. I won’t include three men, as according to my given feedback it is “Indicating something racial?” I don’t agree with this, as my project is about immigration and clearly anti-racial however, if this is people’s first impression then I will have to work on it.
If you have any comments regarding my exhibition, paper type or my photobook, please get in touch.
Following the talk by our latest guest speaker Richard Kelly, we’ve had an opportunity to share with him our work and get feedback. Garry Clarkson also joined us, and we’ve had a chance to hear what he has to say about our work.
I showed my latest dummy book.
Feedback form Richard
Kelly
According to Kelly, my project looks very good and I have some strong portraiture with very good lighting. His favourite was the first and second portraiture in the top raw, middle image in the third raw and the bottom left. The middle image on the top reminds him of Richard Billingham’s Ray’s a Laugh. He likes the photographs, as they show real people and emotions, as there is a story, people are thinking, imagining the future, appear hopeful, the viewer feels a connection to them. He also advised me to add more images of their personal stuff or something connected to them, as those little motives, symbolic photographs says a lot about the owner.
Both Kelly and Clarkson agreed that the images with dead pan face expression made in the subjects’ work environment are slightly emotionless and that I should get rid of them. As they don’t fit to the flow of the book, they appear as visual statistics, editorial work, from tabloids, photojournalism, newspapers or magazines when I am trying to show the opposite.
Feedback from Garry
Clarkson
Clarkson said that my book shows the everyday beauty and experience, the positive representation of immigration and humanising them. He stated that the last image in the top raw is too commercial, without the contexts and with missing metaphor, so the viewer moves away. He said that I have good environmental portraits around subjects’ homes and works; with subtle light and contrast of different gazes. Similarly to Kelly, Clarkson likes the emotive images with subtle, window light best, so as the one with dog next to the person, as he claims it signifies “when the space become the place” and the identity. Garry Clarkson adds that those images elevate away from statistical and news photographs, crates emotional connections and good feelings when looking at them. He told me to add images of more personalised items, or to add something symbolic that portrays the struggle people went through.
We spoke about the title, Bloody Foreigners? according to Clarkson “reinforcing the prejudice”. He said that the title shouldn’t be too descriptive, “don’t reveal everything, don’t reveal the magic”, let the viewer interpret and make their own story, the more you hold back the more people will invest. He then said, “I am jealous, a lot of work in here”. Wow, thanks Garry!
With only 7 weeks left to the deadlines, I need to take the advice in consideration when completing my final project. Within 7 weeks I must design and print a book, choose prints for the exhibition in April and for the final exhibition, also prepare final presentation, write critical research summary for my major project and professional practice. Is this even possible?
I will carry on writing the blog and share with you all I’ve
done, and the meetings/portfolio reviews I attended until the end of uni. Then I
will have some other stories…
As we are getting closer to completing the final year, we are not going to have any more tutorials, only individual meetings with our tutors. Last Wednesday, Richard Kelly was our latest guest speaker.
Richard Kelly worked with us in the studio in the first year of our studies. Recently, we also had a lighting workshop with him. However, this time he talked about his photographic career and experience of working with many clients, in many photography fields and doing his personal projects.
He started his photographic career as music bands photographer. He moved on to fashion and was commissioned for Dazed magazine, Elle magazine and shot covers for many other.
His advice was to be flexible and work very fast, as often we don’t get to dictate the rules and will have to work to client’s time scale. For example: when Kelly photographed Amy Whinehouse, he had about 5 to 10 minutes for the shoot; when he photographed a band, he had to shoot in the middle of a night etc. This is one of the reasons why he enjoyed working in fashion best, as he had control of the shoot, the lighting and posing in opposition to bands where he could not choose much, as the client is the one who always dictates the rules.
He was commissioned by Cadbury and claimed that client-based work funds his personal work, as commercial work often pays well.
Fred Perry Way – Ping-Pong and tennis player asked him to create artistic work and payed for it, so according to Kelly this kind of work is always best, as you do what you love, you can shoot what you want, you can be the artist and get payed for it all at the same time.
Kelly has made a few personal projects and his latest one involves a group of young men living in Manchester. He told us that is very difficult to create documentary work, as those people aren’t used to be photographed. That it takes time to get to know the subjects and to negotiate their trust. Similarly, it takes time to make them look relaxed. He recommended to always explain the project, to tell the subject what we want from the shot, ask them what they want from the shot and clarify where we will use the photographs. While photographing people he advised to always talk to them, as it relaxes them, and the more relaxed they look the better the image. When doing commercial work, he also recommended to do something we want, not only what the client is asking for. For example, if we have different ideas how to make the photographs that we should go for it, as we will have something for our portfolio or a new exhibition. To try to think about the bigger picture. I must agree about talking to the subjects, about the difficulty of creating documentary work, so as building subject’s trust.
Kelly also advised us to do the job that pays well even if that it doesn’t interest us. He also told us to get in touch with him after university if we need any help or advice on starting to work in the photography industry, or assisting jobs as he could recommended somebody.
Have a look at Richard Kelly’s website where you will find many other interesting work.
University of Huddersfield careers and employability service offer a range of guest speakers and workshops to attend. I recently joined “Working in Photography” by Alex Beldea.
Alex Beldea studying PhD in our university and we’ve had a few tutorials with him last year. However, this time he talked about his career in photography, his experience as professional photographer, his clients and job opportunities. I will mention a few of those:
Back in his country, Romania, he worked as a sport photographer. He came to the UK over 7 years ago to study photography. While studying, he volunteered for 3 years where he photographed musicians for HCMF. He claimed that both jobs improved his technical skills.
He volunteered as events photographer for University International Office. His volunteer job lead to many paid job opportunities.
He then took a placement year and worked at photo studio Hylton Photography in Leeds. It taught him how to deal with clients, see real photography work and improved his technical skills. This job opportunity lead to many collaborations, as Beldea is still working with Hylton and until now both photographers help each other.
Through university he gets many opportunities to cover events, in one of those he had a pleasure to photograph a royal family visit. He stated that it was stressful and challenging, as he only had 5 minutes for the shoot however, he claimed that it was a very good experience.
He worked for the University gym Team Hud.
He photographed York chocolate story museum Treat or Trick
walking tour.
He photographed DJs, celebrities, food photography – still
and moving image for Epicure.
Photographed Wander-clothing collection.
Discover Magazine-researchers within university.
Every summer for about two weeks he shoots Graduation ceremonies at the university, he works from 8am to 5pm, then edits at night.
Photographed costumes for final project costume departments.
Commissioned for Manchester Gallery as international photographer to exhibit his work about Manchester- Second Home
He worked on many personal projects. The Last Shift is about coal mining in Romania which is planned to be closed. He photographed coal mining workers who will soon become redundant.
In Tunisia, Beldea is making a project about a refugee camp. He is photographing and raising money for 35 refugees who are struggle financially.
Alex Beldea’s tips are: to be patience; work hard and find a way to show your work; work in many photography fields, as you will gain new skills and it could lead to more job opportunities; look for places to get feedback; join portfolio reviews, for example Red Eye in Manchester, Photo Meet in London; attend conferences as you may end up having exhibitions and this is the best way to show your work; alongside professional photographer’s jobs do internships or assisting jobs, as again you will improve your technical skills…
What a brilliant talk, one of best I ever attended. In my opinion Beldea is a very talented photographer and I love his commercial work, so as documentary; especially Valid for Travel. I always look at his photographs when looking for inspiration. Thank you, Alex, for sharing your story and giving us very useful advice.
If you would like to see some more work by Beldea, I will recommend
you visit his website
Last Friday, as part of our innovation week we’ve had a few photographers visiting our university. Each of us (final year photography students) could choose up to two of them for a portfolio review and a chance to talk about our major projects. The list of photographers who visited uni: Silvana Trevale, Karina Lax, Mario Popham, Sophie Traynor, Jack Greenwood and Tom Duffield. It was difficult to decide, as they are all very interesting people and brilliant photographers however, I chose Silvana Trevale and Tom Duffield, even though they saw my work before.
I chose Silvana, as she specializes in portraiture and working on personal project about Venezuela’s people and their struggle in the country which face financial, political and social crisis. I selected Tom Duffield, as he published an amazing book about his own family living on a small farm. The Whole House is Shaking explores family members emotional echo, a result of living with and later without the father who was a heroin addict. Tom mixes portraitures with still life and text to tell his story, it seems as a landscape of the everyday. I feel as I struggle to find something interesting apart from portraitures to tell my story about immigration, therefore I believed that he could help me out. I showed my dummy book and a few stories hand written by some of the subjects I photographed.
The feedback form Silvana
Trevale
According to Trevale “Dog fits with the subject, as the subject looks as a lonely soul for me.” I told Trevale that now I am concentrating on each person as a human being, not just a person who works and contributes to the UK’s economy. She said that “the little girls’ photographs look too commercial, as they are too cute and doesn’t necessarily fit with the rest of the aesthetics. The girl from the end of a book is beautifully lit”. “Try to photograph differently, maybe without them looking at you, so it won’t be too cute”. “You work nice with the environment. You shot a lot since I last saw you. The images of lights could mean that everyone is form different places”. I also asked Trevale to write her own story as an immigrant and she did. Thank you for that. The last portrait with the cross on the wall is Trevale’s favourite. She said that “It’s a good idea to include some portraits with the story, or just a portrait or just a story, as it will help to build up the whole thing”. Her advice was to “keep shooting”. “I like the serious faces best, but you kept the genuine look of people and even that they are smiling it works”.
Tom Duffield’s feedback
“Very interesting project with ongoing issue and Brexit, it become more relevant. Your portraitures developed”. About the image of a man with picture frame above “there is a level of symmetry, the frame in the background intersects with his eye, brings focal point to his eye which is really interesting, strong portrait”. I asked what I should looked at apart from making portraiture to create narrative. Duffield asked “What I am interested with? I said that “the only thing that interest me was their lights or photo frames. As the light shines in their homes and not everyone has chandeliers”. He showed me that one of the portrait (the one with man and photo frame on the wall) “would look good with the image of ashtray and cigarette. As he looks uncertain about the future or as he is waiting for something”. Duffield asked me “What particular you are interested in immigration?” I said that “Immigrants has been discriminated and blamed for just about everything what is wrong in this country, and that I am trying to show that the truth isn’t like this”. I told him about the hand-written stories I am planning to add to the book. He said that I should put portrait along the story to correspond, or if I don’t have a portraiture but a story, then I should add the story next to the light, or something more abstract next to it, or place it on the blank page. The strongest portraits are the ones with natural lights, window light, simple background, nice skin tones. The last image “gives sense of religion”, the additional image of a light hitting the wallpaper – “change white balance”. He pointed out the image of a man with picture frame as its “slightly warm, a bit green, change white balance. If you want consistency, change it to a similar tone. Colour balance and tint and always the most important. About the first portraiture with lady on the bed “Really nice portraiture, nicely lit, painting-ly feel to it, nice composition how she fills the frame. In sense of visual strategies this is very successful portrait, more engaging, beautiful, natural, unguarded and honest”. Duffield also advised me to add description about every photographed person’s work to show how they valued to the country, how they contribute, or photograph their uniform, qualification certificate, or the tools they are using in their work. To show they have a level of expertise and that they contribute something. The project is looking very good and will be nice on the wall.
Thank you guys, I appreciate your feedback.
If you would like to see Trevale or Duffield’s works have a
look at their website, I think they are both brilliant photographers with a lovely
personality.
On the typical weekend apart from shooting for my major project, my family and I would backpack, wear hiking boots and go exploring UKs landscapes however, this weekend was different. As the weather wasn’t good, we decided to visit art galleries instead.
In the morning, I’ve had my first weekend shift volunteering for Hepworth Wakefield. Due to prints fair, it was very busy, I don’t think I have ever seen Hepworth as full before. In the first hour, I was meeting and greeting visitors near welcome desk. As I am still learning and I only spent an hour there before, seeing all these visitors coming from every direction I was a bit stressed however, working with all this nice and helpful people absolutely helps a lot. After busy hour it was time to go upstairs and looking after the galleries. The rest of my shift went very nice and quick, talking to visitors and other gallery hosts. When I finished, my boyfriend picked me up and we went to Leeds where we spent a nice afternoon visiting art galleries.
Firstly, we went to Leeds Art Gallery. To mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, Leeds Art Gallery display a range of da Vinci’s greatest drawings. The exhibition is free to visit and will be open to public until 6 of May. If you haven’t seen it yet, I would recommend it as it’s totally worth it. Seeing da Vinci’s art always feels as a pleasure and seeing these exact drawings could be one of a life time experience. Most of the drawings are small, framed in A4 or A3 sizes however, there is one enormous depicted horse. There is a variation of different forms from mechanical engineering and sculpture to architectures and human’s anatomy. What’s mostly visible in da Vinci’s drawings are the huge amount of details, his skulls, so as body parts appear as real body x-rays or scans.
After da Vinci exhibition, we went to explore the rest of gallery. There are many impressive and Huge paintings, so as sculpture and photographs. I liked the frame of John Hilliard’s photographs. I need to think about my final year exhibition, and this is a very good example to consider it for my photographs.
After Leeds Art Gallery, we went to visit The Tetley, to see the 22nd International Contemporary Artist Book Fair. There were many interesting artists selling their art. I got myself an interesting book and collected a few business cards from publishers and printing companies.
On Sunday morning, I’ve had a photoshoot. The day was dark and dull, but thankfully I manage to make some new photographs for my project. When I came back, my boyfriend, our daughter and I went to visit Hepworth Wakefield. Firstly, we went to Calder building for a Print Fair.The building is both huge and bright, great place for this kind of events. It was a very busy place, but great to see so many interesting artist’s stalls, so as galleries and print makers. Again, I looked at frames, to get the idea for my exhibition. There were a few good ones, but so expensive, I decided to make my mind up about the size and the colours first.
From Print fair we went to The Hepworth Wakefield. It felt good being a visitor this time, especially that yesterday was super busy. I showed my little family around Hepworth’s new amazing exhibition. Magdalene Odundo’s The Journey of Things, and other wonderful art from all over the world, both ancient and contemporary who inspired Odundo’s work. Both my child and my boyfriend were overwhelmed by Egyptian Canopic Jars; however, apart from this my daughter wasn’t too impressed, she’s only 9 years old and unfortunately she gets bored in the art galleries. Never mind, I am sure that one day she will appreciate the art.
If you haven’t seen Magdalene Odundo’s exhibition and/or haven’t visited The Hepworth Wakefield, you should definitely do it. It’s an amazing place full of wonderful art.
I’ve had a lovely weekend, filled with amazing art.
Yesterday, Theo Simpson visited our university and gave us a
fantastic talk about his practise.
Firstly, Simpson talked about another photographers’ work who influenced his practise. William Christenberry’s Green Warehouse, 1978 was one of the first image which made Simpson realise that he wants to become a photographer. To be able to use his visual language in communication. According to Simpson this image isn’t just a depiction of a green house, but the photographer’s dedication to the subject matter, as he became friend with the owner and for 25 years, he returned to the place every year to photograph it again and again and again. John Smith’s photographs inspired Simpson in a way that he realised that the photographer doesn’t have to travel the world to create amazing work. As Smith made his work in his door step, no further that 3 miles away for his house. Paul Graham’sBeyond Caring, 1986 gave Simpson the idea of how powerful the photography could be within communication in the world. Graham couldn’t photograph in job centre, but somehow, he manages to use his large format to make a very powerful photograph which carries historical context of high unemployment in the UK.
When Simpson finished university, he became one of those unemployed,
it made him think why did he studied? Why does he want to make photographs? Are
his photographs enough to talk about his thoughts? He started to make photobooks.
He was always interested in consumerism, technologies, news feed but also what’s
under his feet-as landscapes. He thinks that the life we are living in are completely
manipulated by all the above.
Photography for Simpson is the experience of exploration of
the world and the communication to people. He thinks that good work come from original
thoughts and expressions. Very useful advice, as he told us to think what makes
us different than the others. Book making process taught him the understanding
of materials, the discipline and the level of sacrifice. He used multiple visual
languages in his work; different materials, variation of printing technics,
scans of the objects, photographs of surrounding, objects etc. He believes that
photographers toolset become limited, as there is a lot to consider when making
photographs; like the lighting, location, time of the day, what camera do you
use, what lens, what point of view, angle…
Fallowing the talk, I had a chance to show Simpson my work.
He told me that the dept to the story is visible through my dummy book and that
I engage with a lot of people. That my portraitures are strong, intimate and
quiet. That I should ask myself question if the additional images doing their
job. If I really need them. I told him that I am planning to add a text to my
book. His advice was to be very careful and to consider what text will I add,
as text could be literal, and I could gain something but also lost something. He
told me to consider text as French folded, pull outs or hidden. About the
introduction for my book, his advice was not to add the text at the beginning but
at the end. So, each viewer will go through the book, then read the text which
could mean totally differ things that what they thought of photographs. He advised
me to look at other practitioners who added text in their work, like for
example Sophie Cale-Blind, and to
read Working from Memory.
It was a pleasure to meet you Theo and thanks for your advice.
Marlena Sierota 