Lyme Regis ArtsFest 2011

What a treat there was in Lyme and its surrounding area over the past 10 days, a surfeit of arts, crafts, exhibitions and workshops. There are over 60 ArtsFest artists who showcase their work in collaboration with local businesses. These include an exhibition of children's art, painting, poetry, drumming and dance workshops, interactive drawing at the museum, busking by young musicians and a Big Draw event at the Aquarium on the Cobb.

The whole festival included two major group exhibitions at the Town Mill Galleries and the Baptist Church Hall, open studios where you could meet artists in their environments and view their work and an art trail around the town where artists' work was on show in shops, cafes, pubs and other businesses.

A tremendous amount of work went into the organisation of the whole event which has been an important date in the town diary for the last eight years. What was so great about it was that even if you didn't want to take part in the workshops or found visiting an artist's studio on your own a bit daunting, you could just walk up and down the main shopping streets and take in a wide variety of artistic and photographic work. The Art Trail enabled artists to place their featured work in local shop windows which gave them access to an audience which might not normally go to an exhibition. It was truly amazing, and it all happens again next year, wow!

http://lymeregisartsfest.com/

Bending Space - photography of Georges Rousse

I came upon this website by chance and was totally blown away. Firstly I thought it was my eye sight giving me trouble and that I might need new glasses but, when I looked and read about Georges and his projects, I realised how amazing his work was.  His vision is something I know that I lack but to see it in others is pure pleasure. I can take an idea and go further but to have the original idea is the thing that I struggle with.

His works are photographs of paintings done on buildings which are made to look like overlays of colour. From the single point perspective of rousse’s camera, his paintings are made to appear 2-dimensional, in reality you would see that the paintings are strategically done in 3 dimensions.

This illusion is what makes rousse’s work so intriguing. his ‘durham’ project was the subject of the documentary ‘Bending Space’, a fitting title to describe Rousse’s work.

http://www.georgesrousse.com/english/reception.html

End of the Summer

Well summer is virtually over, September 1st has arrived and I can't believe that the events I was part of with my local photographic society have been and gone. It hardly seems any time at all that our main summer period with a pub quiz and summer exhibition is over.

My society is always short of funds so, rather than lie down and die, I got together with some of the other members and organised a fund raiser to support the club's summer exhibition. Whilst the £150+ profit might not seem great to some clubs, it was a shot in the arm for my society. This enabled the members to put on an exhibition in the town centre, albeit off the main street, without worrying that it would drive the club into extinction.

All in all, visitor numbers weren't great, but the main object was to get publicity to increase membership and our press officer, Jane, did a magnificent job getting small items in the local press both before and, larger items with pictures, after.

Our new season starts on September 23rd with the AGM and showing of pictures taken on our summer outing and ramble, so it will be interesting to see if we get any new members along.

The link to our society website is:
http://lymebayphotographicclub.org/club-news/ - have a look and see what you think.

Male Domination in Photography

This has been a subject that I have been watching in Flickr recently and it's interesting to read the different points of view from both male and female photographers.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/ocarts/discuss/72157624647324931/

I was a commercial photographer at Heathrow Airport in the late 1980s/90s when there weren't too many photographers around and the work was spread around quite nicely, thank you. I worked for several airlines around the airport doing mainly 'grip and grins' and feature pictures for their publications. There were three airport photographers (not press photographers as you see in TV programmes such as Airport) and the ratio of male to female was one male to two females (me included). Each of us specialised in a different area and if you wanted a particular type of picture you went to one person.


Later on more photographers came on the scene but these were mainly men who specialised in aircraft photographs rather than people which meant that my area of expertise remained fairly available. There was no fighting, no commercial rivalry and when we met up, as we did occasionally, we chatted as friends. If we needed help or couldn't meet an obligation, a quick phone call to one of the others made sure the job was covered.

I really don't think it matters what sex a true photographer is, what matters is their work and their competence. If you have any skills in your area of expertise being male or female shouldn't come into the equation. A woman driving HGV lorries is accepted for what she does, not that she is, I think it is the same in photography, show you can do the job and you are accepted in the industry.

Street Photography Now - Sophie Howarth, Stephen McLaren

This is a beautifully produced book showing some of the world's best street photography. It also explains what motivates and fascinates these 46 men and women contributors.

You close the book and still feel intrigued to understand more about the situations you've seen. Some are very amusing and uplifting, others leave you questioning and thoughtful. The pictures show you that wherever people are in the world they are consistently unaware of themselves and their actions. I thought the interviews were very good and editorially perceptive. So much better than the usual assembly of unrelated submissions. They give a real insight into the photographers and were suitably down to earth as is appropriate for street photography.

This is the most comprehensive book I've read on the subject to-date and it cleverly captures what makes street photographers tick.

Lyme Bay Photo Club Summer Exhibition 2011

Results are in for the favourite images with over 100 prints to vote for.  I was awarded a very pleasing 3rd place (of course, first would have been much better) with a Panograph image of the Lyme Regis Harbour Master who'se main task in life is to watch life going past.

The winner was a print entitled 'Towards Stonebarrow' by club member Jenny Wallis:

And 2nd place was awarded to a print entitled 'Charmouth Rainbow' by club member Ian Bolton.

Self motivation

I am now on my third level 1 module and have found it very difficult in the past to keep motivated, especially when I was working full time.  The worst time was when I was working through the Art of Photography which seemed to go on for ever.  The relief when it was completed was immense and I sent it on its way thankfully.

It seems that I was not alone with keeping myself motivated as I have picked up a thread in the OCS student forum site from someone who is going through the same problem and is asking for help.  There have been 13 support posts in 3 days with other students either expressing the same feelings or offering advice on how to get remotivated.  I wish the forum had been around when I was struggling through TAOP, it would have helped immeasurably.

Here's the web forum address of the thread on self motivation:

http://oca-student.com/node/65658#comment-34755