Self Curating!

These days I never seem to make the right choice when choosing my own images for submissions to exhibitions or competitions, I seem to have acquired some new found ability to choose the wrong image! Now I have always gone with my gut feeling that first twist and turn and flip of the stomach which let me know it was right but now what happens head takes over and too much thinking happens and that's the end of the story.

Here's another one that got away! Light Leaks... not this time!

Workshop Wonders

This is a little after the event but on Monday I did the second part of my year long workshop/ project that involves the use of solargraphs. The last two days I have been scanning and converting the tiny black and white paper negatives into positives so the children can see what beautiful colour images they have managed to capture on their homemade pinhole pots.

We managed to change over the paper outside with the aid of a changing bag and a lot of messing around with little light tight pots but I was amazed at how many of the pinholes had been placed in the thorniest positions possible and I must say my hands and wrists are still recovering! So any red marks found on the paper is my contribution to that image!

History is here again!

The Impossible is now very much Possible, a little update from The Impossible Project on March 22nd they presented their first brand new instant film PX100 and PX600 Silver Shade. Instant Heaven for all of us that have loved our polaroids and miss (though I didn't quite run out) the pleasures of instant film. I'm really quite glad that I have all the polaroids I could need as I imagine finding them cheap will become a thing of the past. I shall be digging out my SX70 and I will no doubt try the new film, though a little expensive and downsized, why less i really don't know but at least it has a future, so congratulations to the team, and I love the idea of the darkslides!

Archery and Goals

I try to drag myself from my bed every Sunday (at least the dry ones) to get to a sports field a few miles away, where myself and if I can rouse her my daughter, attempt to get a few hours archery in and improve our skills in hitting that gold. Due to our current infrequent visits we need a lot of practice and despite it looking like an easy static sport it takes a lot of time to master and quite a lot of effort to maintain the necessary poise and concentration for a decent shot.

The random nature of my shooting at the moment means I can get anything from a gold to a miss in one end... not something to be proud of! this morning was no different and despite the mild weather I was left feeling like I could have managed to get a better score.

I have been waiting for a few years to achieve this and my ultimate goal would be to get a bowmen status but I'm happy to wait as the club is friendly and we have a good gab at the same time. Waiting for such goals is an interesting challenge though, whilst there the desire to get a personal best is so strong that it can leave you feeling frustrated by your own stupid mistakes but wait I do.

As for waiting I want to expand upon my previous entry regarding the project that I'm involved in with Jeff Natchtigall The Art of Waiting, a challenge yes! as much as my archery? on a mental level yes, I am finding it a fascinating project and one that I'm very happy to take on and support ( I actually can't wait to see what's on that film) but patience is becoming a virtue and as I try to get to grips with the ideas I propose to do and wonder whether I will ever find the time to send in the next entry i would just like to say that i'm grateful to be part of such an interesting group of people some of whom I had known before some not at all and others that I'm finding out about in such a curious way.

My entries for month two have recently been posted and contain some sketches that I do whilst waiting!

Heads in a whirl!

Today should have been quiet, well at least a more manageable pace than usual but because I had time my head began to think about all the millions of things I had to do, all those positive developments I could make to my domestic chaos. I'm not sure any of them happened in fact I'm not sure what happened today, I joined that eternal carousel of never getting off and actual achieving anything, always going around in circles!

I thought this was appropriate, A Holga WPC120 pinhole shot of the Carousel in Avignon, the film was an extremely expired pan F 1984 this is what came out!

Spring! I'm hoping so!

The day started with brilliant sunshine and incredibly it stayed that way, glorious warm sunshine filling me up with heat, finally! The Radio reported that spring was officially late this year by about two weeks or so, it didn't feel that way today thankfully. This image was made with an original Diana.

Mothers Day!

Mothers Day! a day of rest, gratitude and self indulgence... or so I thought, I was up earlier than I have been all week, I did get breakfast in bed and some beautiful handmade cards but it was 7.15am Ugh! so I managed to get up, go to Archery with my middle child, while the other two had gone to TKD with their father. I then picked them up and we then sped off to the Greenwich Viewfinder Gallery to collect a Photo that had been on show there and then we wandered around the buzzing market while waiting for the start of Alice in Wonderland. Not much in the way of relaxing but a busy fun and full day with most of my family, most of the time!

The picture in question, a pinholeblender mini 35 from a series on the beach, ' Shots on a cold beach, Sharing the moment'

Pinhole blenders and plastic bags

I was on the 'beach' today, well banks of The River Thames which, when low could and does constitute a beach in that it has sand pebbles/stones (bricks) flotsam and jetsam (trees and plastic bottles) interesting finds (old pipe clippings and Hypodermic needles!) and the usual detritus, dead pigeons and cans of Red Bull.

I noticed the pipes and the needle while squatting on the foreshore with my Pinhole Blender Mini resting on a housebrick. I was doing a long exposure about 40 seconds and had been counting slowly as you do when I started noticing all the horrors of the beach looming up at me. I was surrounded by junk and the three strand lines were full of plastic darkened with age and pollution. I did actually wish I had industrial gloves and a rubbish sack with me, why oh why do we litter! The children were playing in the 'clean' sand at the top of the beach, once my exposure was finished i quickly returned to them and made sure they were digging with sticks... just in case.

Of course the image I made will still look romantic moody and blurry but It won't show the true nature of todays beach.

The image here is one I made another day with the Diana+ pinhole feature, when I process todays I shall post it and link to this.

This morning coincidentally Lomo published a location I had done on the Beaches of London

Pondering polar bears, penguins and the penguin pool!

The cold is still penetrating here but I'm refusing to put the heating on during the day, I am going to do my bit for the polar bears and the penguins! North and South and the bit in between, we should all think! Thinking about penguins and cold places the new website for the Photomedia Centre is up and it's still showing work from the Holga show 3.0, the picture above is now hopefully in the collection! The image was made with a Holga CFN on expired RSXII. No longer do the penguins of London Zoo reside in Berthold Lubetkins Architectural wonder!

I didn't expect this to happen so soon, four days late for a post, now I did say they would be random but even I'm wondering where the time went. Looking back it's not difficult, Thursday and Friday were one long blur of activities, rushing from one event to the other and doing a lot of waiting for children in between.

Unfortunately with all this going on it's easy to neglect oneself and ignore an impending migraine but it gets you in the end! So, Hello Sunday! and another day of activity (for some) and inactivity for me, watching in fact and lots of it, in fact over five hours of it, A Tae Kwon Do grading is an interesting thing, tense for both those taking part and those looking on. It was a successful day, grading passed! my eight year old moves on.

While I watch the training sessions, I sometimes draw or make photos, this is one I did was with the Holga WPC 120 using Ilford Delta Pro, can't remember the exact exposure now but it wasn't ages but then that's a matter of perspective!

Investigating Trapeze

This Image was made with a Pinhole Blender mini 35 the exposure was for 25 minutes on Expired Agfa APX100. While making this, the Trapezes were full and in use all the time, you wouldn't think so! That's what I love about pinhole.

Waiting and Wanting

Now here's a thing, I spend ages wanting a blog and finally get around to creating one and the mind goes blank, I sit waiting to write what do I post first what will that first image be, should I wait, wait again or then procrastinate even more. Waiting is good at the moment I'm becoming rather adept at biding my time, letting the moment pass, if only to wait for the right result.

I'm currently taking part in the Art of Waiting a project that is wonderful for the procrastinators out there but then you can't sit on your laurels, it is the start of the third month, the light is good and the ideas need to come, the results are what we wait for! I think my first image here may well be from another project I'm working on and one which has now been featured on Without Lenses Shoreline Dreams: The Pinhole Work of Ky Lewis a little colour pinhole using the HolgaWPC120 the image is titled "after Brandt" Bill Brandt