"Home is...": Starting out

We’ve been a bit quiet of late on here (and on the facebook page), but we can finally reveal why; we have a massive new project on the go which will be culminating with us having a gallery exhibition next year!  We’ve been exhibiting work for a while off and on (and have both had solo shows in the past in Birmingham, Carlisle, and Shipley), but recently we’ve only been showing work as part of group open calls.  This time, it’s an opportunity to exhibit a project we’re doing called “Home is…” based off an old project of Amy’s from our University days.

The work will be exhibited next autumn at the Cupola Contemporary Arts gallery in Hillsborough, Sheffield.  We first exhibited with this friendly and very professional outfit a couple of years ago, entering an open call they’d advertised through Creative Bradford.  We’ve since shown (and sold) work with them a few times, but earlier this year we approached them with a couple of proposals for exhibitions.  And to our delight, they agreed.  Anyway, here’s some more about the gallery:

The Project- “Home is…”

This is something Amy started whilst at University in Carlisle, “Chair”, a shoot where elements of a living room set would have been assembled out in various locations around Cumbria, the idea being to juxtapose the cosy domestic setting within a contrasting landscape.  The practise shoots basically involved lugging an armchair around Cumbria, mainly by foot rather than by car during a particularly cold winter, and taking lots of photographs of a model (me) sat in the chair reading a paper with my face hidden.  The angle of anonymity is something that Cupola were very keen on; allowing the viewer to ‘project themselves’ into the shots.

The practise shoots never got the chance to progress to the full, massive project due to time constraints with other projects and coursework, and for a few years the shoot was just a background idea lurking in the ideas book.  In 2012 we got chance to shoot some slightly more complex versions of the project, as a first stage towards applying for a proposal for an actual show.  These pictures were shot in Wales, in the early hours of the morning (in an attempt to avoid awkward questions from random members of the general public who seem to object to photographers a lot of the time).

And so onto this evolution of the project; over the next year, we will be expanding the project for a massive series of shoots in varying locations around The North, the Midlands, Wales, and anywhere else practical which takes our fancy, all following the similar format of small, contained domestic sets (living room, office, bedroom, kitchen, etc) with varying models, always with their faces hidden to maintain the anonymity angle, just pictured relaxing in these environments. 

And as we go along, we will be keeping up regular updates on the blog and FB account documenting the shoots as we do them, along with the work we’re doing on other big projects.

Prop Acquisition

   When we first did the Chair pictures as the practise shoot back in Carlisle, all we had was the chair.  It was a bit heavy, a little impractical, and was rescued from a skip during a house clearance (slightly morbid that we did so well out of the famous Carlisle flood of 2004), but given the restricted timescale for the shoots, Amy didn’t manage to acquire anything else for it.

By the time of the further practise shoots in 2012, that original chair (which we were never that satisfied with) was long lost, so we had to start again.  And being as we planned to do the shoot at very short notice, a degree of improvisation was required.  The new chair was actually a broken wooden kitchen chair that received some rather heavy modification with plywood, hardboard, and cardboard tubes to create an actual armchair shape.  This was then clad in card and bubblewrap to bulk it out a bit further, then the whole thing was covered with a chintz bedsheet which was pegged at the back to make it look more armchair like.  The results were not entirely convincing (limited as we were by both time and the need to make something that could fit in the back of a Ford KA), but we figured it would do for the concept shots.  The lamp was equally improvised, constructed hastily from a mixing bowl, a washing line prop, an Ikea bin and a cheap LED ring-light, all hot-glued together and spray painted.

The concept shots proved their purpose though, and now we needed to get cracking with buying actual props.  Initially the issue of having a portable, lightweight chair which could be transported in a small car proved a tricky one; thoughts of redressing a folding camping chair or blow-up chair were sunk because a) it might look a bit naff, and b) they wouldn’t be durable enough for repeated use.

   After a day of searching every charity shop in Shipley, Saltaire, Bingley, and Keighley, we finally found the perfect chair- a tenner for a lovely old armchair that dismantled into three parts- nice and easy to transport.  Suitably washed, cleaned and polished, its perfect for the shoot

   The bookcase is actually an old display cabinet that was designed to be hung on a wall- we removed the glass doors, glued the shelves into place, and gave it a bit of a clean.  The lamp is a standard Ikea product, the only ‘new’ item bought for the shoot so far.  Books and ornaments on the shelves were from charity shops or our own props collections.  The rug is mine from when I lived back in the midlands.  We spent some time arranging, and rearranging, these things until we were happy with the layout, though in practise the contents of the shelves will vary shot by shot.

To start with we will be focussing on the chair shots; later, more room sets will be made (for which we have already begun acquiring items) incorporating bedrooms, desks, etc.

Exhibition Visit: Rydal Hall

A couple of weeks ago we were invited to an arty event over in the Lakes, by friend and former housemate Clare, back from our Uni days up in Carlisle.  The exhibition was a showcase for works from the Lakes Collective, a group of fine artists/textile artists/makers working in the Lake District, the show being in around the grounds at Rydal Hall near Ambleside.

   Being fans of Clare's ceramic work anyway, we really wanted to go, so off to the Lakes for a couple of days of camping, looking at art, and generally relaxing.  First off, a quick word about the Lakes Collective; this is something we'd found very intriguing, as for some time we've been thinking that the best way of getting into the established art scene around by where we live would be in fact to found our own scene.  The Lakes Collective are a group who've set up together to cooperatively produce and show work to a high standard, and they seem to be doing a great job of it.

   The 'indoor' part of the show was held in this rather nice barn conversion, and had a great mix of high quality work (textiles, ceramics, woodworking, paintings, etc).  Favourites for us being the boxes and chess board made from reclaimed wood, and the ceramics on the main table.  We went to the opening night, and there was a great atmosphere there, as the artists and supporters, and visitors, all came together.  All these artists sell, and they seemed to be doing a healthy trade in work during the course of the few days we were there.

   Our favourite part of the exhibition though by far was the art trail around the grounds.  The artists had created a large number of site-specific works throughout the woods which surround the hall, and we had a great couple of days wandering round (without the official map) just randomly discovering this stuff.  Again, really nice mix of works, and it all blended so naturally with the surroundings.  Top marks to the venue for letting them do this, it really adds to the visit.

   So that was our brief visit; very idea provoking, both in terms of what a Collective of artists can achieve, and also what you can do with the support of an enthusiastic venue behind you.  And nice to see good quality, well-made arts and crafts on display.

Welsh Wanderings

   

   We recently had another trip to our regular haunts in North West Wales.  Over the years this part of the country has featured in a lot of our photography work, and whilst we were not doing any specific projects this time, the good weather gave us an opportunity to get out and about and just do some general photography work.

 

First stop was a National Trust property we'd never visited before, a little house at the end of a B road to nowhere called Plas yn Rhiw http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/plas-yn-rhiw/visitor-information/.  Very nice house, lovely gardens, superb view.  Having not done much in the way of garden photography this year (what with most places being under three feet of snow for much of the year) we just had a bit of fun snapping away at the wildlife and gardens.

Then onto some railway photography on the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland.  Been some time since we've managed to do any train pictures, so it was nice to get out and do a proper explore on some line side locations from a new path they've opened in the last year (and which bizarrely nobody ever seems to use).  Some nice line side spots away from the crowds.  Also some shots in the Glaslyn Pass (one of Ben's favourite spots for both landscape and train photography), but a bit more difficult to get pics without the crowds.



Tempus Fugit

Time Flies.  Its been a couple of months since the last update, and frankly its not because we haven't been up to much; quite the reverse, and so this is a general little whats-been-happening post, which will be followed by some more in-depth posts over the next week or so to bring things up to date.

Spring finally Sprung sometime in late May, and in the space of about a week, things started to finally look nice, which was an aid to photography.  Above is East Riddlesden Hall in Keighley, which Ben has been doing some photography at for the Day Job.

This was followed by a visit to another National Trust property, this time Penrhyn Castle in Wales.  Its a nice, big 'fake' castle (built by the Penrhyn family, owners of a very large quarry enterprise nearby), with lots of interesting interiors that you're not properly allowed to photograph.  Given that the weather was still a bit rough out in Wales, we used it as an opportunity to try out some different angles and approaches to photographing around the place.

Our next 'random' visit (to somewhere that we didn't have a commission/specific reason to photograph at) was the Haworth 1940's weekend.  Its a big event in the local calendar, and for two days the village is rammed with people, many of whom dress up in period uniforms, civilian clothing, etc.  Preserved old cars/military vehicles, aircraft fly-pasts, the works.  We'd been wanting to go for a while, and this was the first year we both had days off which coincided.  We didn't end up taking many pics in the end as it was so crowded, just soaked up the atmosphere of the place. 

Onto more commissioned-related matters, and a trip to the rather nice Kings Croft Hotel, in Pontefract, for a site recce.  More on this coming up soon.

Over the last couple of months we've been busy with a couple of commissions, some exhibition entries and gallery proposals, a few gallery visits/opening nights, and various other odds and ends, which will appear in a bit more depth in some posts during this week.  And just to leave this brief catch-up post, a shot of a spring sunset over Ogden Water, near Halifax.

April Happenings

So, a little recap of what we have been up to in April and early May (posted a little later than planned because the Day Jobs have both been very busy with Easter and related events).  An ongoing problem with Internet signal in our part of the valley has contributed somewhat to this laxity with updates, but that can't be helped for the time being.  At some point we’ll get the Internet properly, and can properly grasp the whole social-media aspect of promoting our work.

First thing though is to mention the little informal review we both had of our situation regarding art and photography.  In order to focus on our Day Jobs and the steady income they provide, we realised we had been neglecting things somewhat with the art and photography, so we’re making a conscious effort to get back into doing work this year.  More open calls, exhibition proposals, self-publishing, gallery visits, and so on.  Likewise we’re focusing our efforts mainly on Art Photography rather than strict documentary work, as the doc and portraiture fields are somewhat crowded at the moment, and we’ve both come to the conclusion that we much more enjoy doing gallery-type work in this field.  That’s not to say that we wont be doing commissioned stuff though- we have a couple of weddings coming up (something we find satisfying to do) and some documentary shoots for our jobs or other organisations which we are involved with, like the Scouts.

Speaking of which, Amy undertook some more commissioned work for the Scouts during May, both at the St Georges Day parade/ceremony at Bradford Cathedral, and also at the launch of the iScout Bradford event, at LOCATION.  These were just a couple of ‘normal’ shoots to document the events really, but it’s nice to be able to contribute to scouting in this way.

The Day Jobs continue to provide occasional opportunities for unusual and interesting work; Amys work at school means opportunity to try lots of different art and design techniques that spill-over into other self-led projects, and sometimes I end up doing shoots for the tearoom; recently I did some promotional pictures to be used on an internal revamp of the website, a couple of which are here:

I (Ben) attended the Diesel Gala on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, and for once found a visit to the line coincided with bright sunshine and blue skies, which is almost unheard of for one of my transport photography expeditions.  A nice opportunity to get some train photography done this year, and in the company of several other photographer friends who I don’t get to see nearly often enough these days, though the increasing popularity of the KWVR for photographers, with a few ‘big names’ in the train-photo field being present, means a constant need to find fresh angles and unusual locations for the shots.  I rather like the challenge, even if the resulting images are perhaps too unconventional to sell to the mainstream magazines.

Art-wise (as opposed to photography) Amy has been getting on with some work using recycled materials ready for an open call, based on some work she did as a demonstration piece for her school job.  There will be a bit more on these when we get a little closer to the deadline.

An upcoming shoot is planned featuring a rather amazing location at my work, a National Trust property in the Aire Valley.  Down on the river Aire is a bend in the river where a load of ceramic waste has been dumped, and there’s a sort of natural beach covered in smashed Victorian tiles and bottles.  I made it down there with a minicam last week, and want to return with a proper SLR camera soon.  There are a number of locations, which would make amazing backdrops to fashion/portraiture shoots too, which is worth bearing in mind…

What’s in the pipeline for May/June then?  Well, there’s the aforementioned open call featuring recycled materials which both of us will be entering (though I still haven’t properly planned what I shall be doing yet).  We’ve also assembled some exhibition proposals to try to communicate to galleries, featuring some of the big, sprawling projects we’ve undertaken in the past.

   Moving more into the ‘Art’ side of things, we’ve decided to push more emphasis onto doing crafty stuff, and a few projects are in the planning stages.  Something I’ve wanted to do for a while are T-Shirt designs (having made a few over the years), and I’m roughing some out based on past projects like the steampunk-themed “Century Survey” and also “HappyGoth”.  There’s a website I’ve found which lets you sell your designs through, so I’m looking into it.

   Work is currently underway on designing a dedicated folio site for Amys work, and looking back at old projects has prompted thoughts of returning to some of them for a revisit (such as finding and documenting some of the locations visited along the Cumbrian Coast in 2007 for the Final Major), and has also made me wonder about doing another big, mad, portraiture shoot out on location somewhere… Time will tell.

On Combining the Day Job with Photography

So, feb/march turned out to be way busier than expected, largely down to things like collecting a new car to replace the dead Ka, sorting some stuff out with galleries, but mainly with the Day Jobs being a bit busy.  It is an unfortunate fact of life when it comes to doing freelance art photography that you have to find a way to financially support your artwork.

However, every now and then an opportunity arises to try and combine the Day Job with the Photography Job, hence this little shoot.  I work as a manager at a National Trust Tea Room, which suits my love of Tea very nicely.  Recently I decided (post-refurbishment of the tearoom) that I wanted to try and do either a new sign or little poster that could go on the blog for our property, so asked Amy to pop in and do some photography.  So to the equal bafflelment of customers and some staff, Amy appeared with camera, mini-lighting rig, and other arcane bits of kit, and set up at the back of the tearoom to get some shots.  The finished piece falls foul of NT branding guidelines (because the font is wrong) and so cant be put up in the tearoom itself, but being as it cost nowt to do for either side, then its not so bad and could be put on the blog...

On the subject of combining work with photography, a shot below from another series shot on one of my days off, but on-site, and done using miniatures from the old Britannia Model Village (or The Project Which Refuses To Die And Stay Dead as I now find myself thinking of it).  There's more info on my model making blog, see links on the right...

Naturally it wouldnt be a Ribbon blog without train photographs, so here we go.  Technically this was also combing work with photography, as we stopped off at the National Railway Museum on the way home from a meeting with a cafe supplier in Easingwold, just outside York... 

The occasion was to see a loco temporarily bought over from the other side of the pond- one of two A4 Pacifics on loan from America and Canada for an anniversary event, bringing together all surviving members of the class of loco.  "Dwight D Eisenhower" is seen here alongside our own "Mallard" which holds the World Speed Record for a steam loco.  Perhaps a tad unsportingly, some Americans are trying to steal the record back for themselves in this anniversary year I gather, using a mechically tarted-up steam loco out in the US somewhere, as they apparently someone cannot stand that an old fashioned country like Britain can hang on to an equally old fashioned record like the fastest time for a steam loco.  America, land of innovation- surely they should be instead putting their effort into building some sort of super high-tech radioactive megatrain which will travel faster than anything else known to man? 

But wait, there's more train photos!  A few quick snaps from the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Steam Gala.  Well, when the railway runs past the end of your road and you have to walk alongside it on the way to the Day Job (he says, tying the whole rambling mess of this blog entry together into some sort of theme) it would be daft not to take a few pictures.

Anything else to add to this slightly rambling blog entry?  Not really.  Couple of images from the "Intercity" series on display at Cupola Contemporary Art in Sheffield from Friday, a few entries for open calls in the offing, but otherwise fairly quiet at the moment.  In order that it makes sense, I may make Amy do the next blog entry...

Cheerio,

Ben