Exhibition fever

I think one of the reasons I have been so quiet on the blogging front - is partly due to Instagram - but also due to the work I have been doing in preparation for the 4 exhibitions I am involved with over the next 12 weeks.

My printer has been going great guns printing off invitations, cards, flyers; emails have been whizzing out and I've had meetings with fellow exhibitors and organisers to ensure all is going to plan.

Dates for your diaries:

• The Making House, 50 Bearwood Hill, Winshill, Burton. Preview Night 17th August 6pm-9pm. 'A Focus on Nature' exhibition can be viewed on 17th, 18th, 24th 25th, 31st August and 1st September or by special arrangement. Like on Facebook.

• Melbourne Festival Art Trail, Assembly Rooms, Melbourne. Art Trail September 15th 10am-6pm and 16th 10am-5pm. The Art Collective called CRE8 will present items of work covering a wide range of photography and art disciplines. Like the CRE8 Collective on Facebook.
• The Making House, 50 Bearwood Hill, Winshill, Burton. Preview Night tbc. 'Making' exhibition is work by three photographers looking at ways to 'make' whilst capturing images. 28th September - 20th October - gallery open Fri & Sats only but private viewings on request.
• PINT Arts Festival, Burton - Venue tbc. 26th October - 4th November. More information to follow.

Invitations will start coming out and being blogged so keep coming back to find out the details and see some of the images that will be exhibited and available for sale.

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Keeping Clients Happy

What a fabulous week I have had. Been to 3 networking meetings, made many sales and booked in appointments for 121s and commissions for work.

Whilst I have been doing that I have been working on a number of commissions including one for a local company that have embraced my 'small world' work so much so they have given me toy vans painted in their livery to photograph and called to say "the vans would look great in puddles".

In contrast to that I have been capturing images for a website that will be going live in September to hit the gift giving time of year - commonly know as Christmas. This morning has seen me photographing the owner dressed in boots, woolly jumper and hat on one of the few days this month when it has been bright, sunny and, almost, summery. But we had to capture autumn to fit in with the feel for the website.

Here are a couple of shots from those commissions:

Toy Vans

Christmas is coming

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Burton Town Hall Exhibition

My degree show exhibition opening night was last night and thought I would quickly share with you some of the evening.

My images went up after being carefully delivered by a team of helpful, strong friends.

The floating frame look tremendous and they are jolly heavy

The large A1 image in the middle is jolly heavy and as you can see it has 4 mirror plates holding it to the boards (and one at the bottom for extra stability). They look wonderful and my thanks go to Hayman Graphics for producing such excellent products for me once again.

My images, my products and my banner - but not my disabled loo

Decided that, along with my images for the opening night, I should also show off the products I have created that compliment this project - postcards, notelet packs and greetings cards. To get across that I am serious about my photography business I displayed my banner highlighting my services and some of my work.

I also need to share the excellent work produced by my fellow graduates:

Awesome piece of work produced by Stephanie Gilbert about St George's Park. It is 3m wide

Steph Butt's instagram project about train journey's

Kerry Baxter's beautiful portraits of the excellent staff at Burton NHS

Graham Silcock's subtle Eden Project work

Kelly Freeman's very amusing study looking at the past and the present gets the finishing touches

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with these people and I hope that we remain in touch. To this end we have organised to exhibit at the Melbourne Arts Trail 15th and 16th September and last night we were offered space at Sharpe's Pottery in 2013. I will keep you all informed and invites will be winging your way.

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Exhibition Preparations

Images have gone to Burton in the back of Steph's car; banner in its bag ready to go; cards, notelets, postcards and business cards all being arranged on a table with a sparkly cloth. I think I'm almost ready.

Table ready for exhibition - things to sell and business cards for people interested in my work

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Exhibition decisions being made

My exhibition at Burton Town Hall for the week of 18th June is looming large. Have been deciding which of my images to exhibit, how big and what type of frame. I like three different types of frame and have set myself a generous budget.

Have been in touch with Hayman Graphics to ask for a quote on the three types of finish - batterned foamex, foamex with thin frame or floating frame. The cost will be the determining factor. Spent the afternoon checking what size the images need to be and which will work best together. I have decided on the planes and gulls triptych (spelling?) - the large colour image in the middle will be A1 and the two black and white ones at the side will be A2.

I am also getting a quote for other images from my small world project which I may exhibit at Melbourne Arts Festival in September. Plan A and Plan B sorted.

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London trip

Trip down to London to go to a talk, well a question and answer session, with Andrew Graham Dixon and David Bailey.

Went down a little early to take in the Whitechapel Gallery and the new Saatchi Gallery before heading of to the D&AD organised talk at Logan Hall.

I was really looking forward to the talk as it was going to be an 'in conversation with...' type. I love watching Andrew Graham Dixon discussing culture, art and food. An image of Andrew walking up the beach in his Caravaggio programme inspired my 'Small World' project. I decided to print off the image I captured that started all the work and take it along with me. If I got the opportunity I would ask him to sign it.

Not only did I get the opportunity to ask him but had a quick chat and he was delighted to sign the back of the image for me.

The talk was very interesting and some great advice and tall tales from Bailey. As this was a D&AD Presidents talk it will have been recorded and it will probably be on the website at some point in the future. Will put in a link when that happens.

Enjoyed the Saatchi Gallery - massive space beautifully converted and offering more than 15 galleries - all devoted to photography. I really liked work by Viktor Johanssen (I cant find a website for Viktor so have linked you to the BBC website with news about his win)

Viktor Johanssen

It was good to see work I have seen before by Chris Levine, Mitch Epstein, Hannah Starkey and Broomberg & Chanarin were the outstanding images for me. But like I have said before perhaps familiarity works.

Only downside to the day was the rain - oh boy did it rain. We thought we would be indoors all day, but it's surprising how much walking through puddles and being outside it all involved. I went to parts of London I have not been to before and they were actually quite pleasant.

I do not recommend Nandos. What a bewilderingly confusing menu when all they seem to offer is chicken and chips. Plergh. Will not be going again.

Good company - good time.

Received a text whilst I was in London asking if I did Wedding Photography. Hmmmm

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Small World on tour

This morning I have packed up my small world characters into my camera bag and am off on the road with them.

Photographing Churches

My photography buddies and I are off to Northamptonshire to visit a couple of churches recommended in the Pevsner guide as well as a pub recommended in the Good Pub Guide for lunch.

We do not know what the collective noun for a group of photographers is but we call ourselves a 'snap'.

Will post images later this evening. Ah the little people stayed in my bag. Cold and windy - not a good combination when dealing with these tiny models. Will try something in the studio with the images I have created today. More will follow.

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Kindle

No this isn't a list for Santa.

The book by Nick Corbett - 'Arden' - featuring my photography on the cover is now available on Amazon -- at the moment it is the Kindle edition only but it wont be long until the hardback and paperback versions become available. But there it sits with my image on the cover.

Very chuffed.

For the fans of my 'Small World' project you might notice that I have used five of the small world characters to create my image - have a look here to see how this project developed.

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Book Cover

The book cover has been prepared for the publisher. Lovely to see that my image for the cover has been used and incorporated into the design that Lance and Chris were working on - I think it looks fabulous. I will be buying many copies and handing them out for next Christmas! Family beware.

This is the part I am most proud of:

Here's the original image I handed over:

Lovely also to see that my head and shoulder shot has been used. Looks like it has been converted to black and white - very pleased with that too. Here's my original:

I'm very happy with the whole process for this. It was great fun to do. I had time to think things through. Equally I pushed myself as there were a couple of things I did that shoved me outside my comfort zone. Very satisfied with the results.

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Small World in Paris

I took some of my little people with me on train to Paris. I forgot to take any blue tac so I had to use the characters that could stand/sit on their own. I recently bought a pack of characters entitled 'Sexy Ladies'. Thought they would be most appropriate to take and display in Paris!

I had fun creating these and whilst they are not quite what I am after - these images help inform my work in progress for this project.

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Tilt and Shift

A little experiment

Very quick play this afternoon with the tilt and shift lens:

little bit of tilt and shift applied

no tilt and shift

Oooooo now this is exciting. I shall be experimenting more with the 'Small World' characters and buildings on Sunday. Watch this space.

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Inspiration

Was at the V&A at the weekend and a few things in the gift shop caught my eye. One of them was this intriguing thing. This is an idea I had for the Small World - to mix up the real and the fake a bit more like this. It is something I still want to attempt. First I need to research a little more to work out how to do it.

Inspiration

This reminds me of the work by Franck Allais and the way he plays with perspective. It is something I was going to attempt during the summer but I was let down by an assistant. It is time I sorted this and tried again.

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Tilt and Shift

I have many plans for the 'Small World' project this weekend and it will start with borrowing a tilt and shift lens. I will be dusting off the buildings and getting all the little people out of their boxes and begin creating. Really looking forward to that.

Tilt and Shift Baby

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The Braithwaites

The recent gorgeous weather really got my ideas flowing for my 'small world' - that and the offer from a very dear friend to make something for the ever expanding village. I have asked if a war memorial could be created for my village and this will be done - and before Remembrance Sunday. What a 'Starr' she is. That will be marvelous and I can have the village paying their respects to the dead. 

Anyway back to the lovely weather . . . . sitting having a cup of tea with my graphic design friend the other afternoon she talked about her obsession with type and text, which is well known to me, and showed me the results of a recent photo shoot she had done. Some gorgeous images of the woodland at Rosliston and text and type on the tress and in the shrubbery. Very unusual, but subtle, sublime and beautifully photographed. Looking at these images an idea came to me for my little people.

I invented a family called the Braithwaites and decided that they would be receiving a letter from the taxman. 

The Braithwaites receive a letter from the Taxman

This is the first time I have used the little people and the buildings together properly. I can see where I want this project to go. However I am not in a rush to force the ideas. I would like them to evolve and emerge as and when they are ready. 

Keith takes a letter to the Post Office

Thank you to my inspirational friend - who never ceases to provide me with an idea or a different path to take or a cup of tea. It makes me realise how important it is to surround yourself with people who are one the same wavelength.

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Little People in the City

The Street Art of Slinkachu

This beautiful book, printed in 2008, is filled with humour and inspiration for my Small World project.

Think this book, along with feedback from others, shows how people like comparison, that they like domination and submission, that they like to be confused but like it explained, it mirrors the response we have to our own built environment. Playing in this small scale world I can be more daring, more adventurous, more riské. It can show how we, as individuals, whilst crammed together on this dense rock - are alienated and alone.

It's the juxtaposition of scales that makes creating this 'small world' work interesting, intriguing and such fun.

This book also shows me that I should not be too worried about blobby paint on my little characters nor the scale of items in relation to them.



Little People in the City

The Street Art of Slinkachu

Boxtree 2008

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Paolo Ventura

Earlier in my research for inspiration for my Small World project I came across this artist and thought his work and his images were very interesting. I felt it was time to revisit my research and see where it begins to take me.

The Autmaton - Paolo Ventura

The Automaton - Paolo Ventura

The Automaton - Paolo Ventura

Born in Milan and living and working in New York, Paolo has exhibited these doll based images since 2006. He spent 10 years as a fashion photographer and started creating these images after hearing his grandmothers memories of World War II.

He plays with ambiguity – the scenes look real or have the feeling of an old photograph. Each scene takes weeks to create and he destroys them as soon as he has finished photographing them – this is for practical reason – he only has a small studio. To make the images tell a story he gives them a caption. They look like stills from a film. They are somber, romantic and also elegant.

I love the detail in these settings and he has everything in focus. He also captions his images so that people are guided through what they are looking at. For me the only ambiguity is whether they are real or fake, photographs or stills. If he is captioning the images then the story they tell do not present any ambiguity – but the process does.

I now need to think and plan how I am going to present my buildings and characters and consider my next steps and move towards photographing them.

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Manor House Farm

The Manor House Farm has been constructed. It is a lovely building but not very large or grand which I thought it would be. It has mullioned windows which are very attractive but seems to have a lot of lean-to extensions which detract from its grandness. The workers cottage almost seems bigger. It does however have a date stone 1679. I love that these buildings have such history and yet they are only cardboard.

I love the mullioned windows - very classy

The back of the Manor House Farm with the lovely huge staircase window.
I used to live in a house with a window like that.
Shame this one is hidden round the back of the house though.

The Farm House has lots of lean to buildings attached to it.

I also build two more terraced houses today. The bit I dislike doing the most is the curtains. Very very fiddly but the instructions say how much nicer they will look if you do them. So do them I do.

Fiddly

Fiddlier

But the curtains look nice

The two new terraced houses on the street with the Bakers

Only two more buildings to make, then there is the railway model show next weekend, after that I will have no excuse but to start creating images.

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Carl Warner

As I sit gluing small pieces of cardboard together, and some of the time my fingers to the table, I cant help but think...what the hell am I going to do with all of this. It's great therapy and I'm loving this sort of creativity, but really - where is this going. I have a village growing on my dining table. I am even going to a Model Railway Show at Gardendon School in Loughborough next weekend to see if there are any interesting bits and bobs that I might have missed that I can add to this. I think I will be looking for toy (whoops sorry, 00 gauge) vehicles, little model people doing specific things - like car mechanics, or even some rude ones - see the amazing work by Vincent Bousserez.

I was also thinking about the settings for these buildings. My previous work has involved sitting fake in the real world and playing with perspective - a little like Franck Allais. Or I used all my own (homemade) props and gave it depth by using my photography as a backdrop.

But this time what am I going to do with it? My thoughts were taking me to 'how do I sit the buildings and people into scenes, what can I do that adds a twist, unique to me?' I can take them out and play with perspective like Micheal Paul Smith does or I can build sets - there is certainly no shortage of material for that in the railway modelling world.

I decided on some research. I came across someone who's work I have seen before. There was a documentary on Sky Arts about his work a year or so ago, very entertaining, he's been on Richard and Judy and his work has been featured in most of the national newspapers. This has got him all sorts of work for advertising agencies. Anyway I thought I would share with you the inspiration that is ... ... Drum Roll ... ... ... Carl Warner (doh! I've already told you in the headline)

REMEMBER EVERYTHING YOU SEE IS EDIBLE:

Potatoes, Cress and Cabbage

Bread Mountains

Meat feast

And this is how he does it

Pause for applause for Carl.

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Service Station

Decided to start on the service station. Very fiddly this one or perhaps it was the lateness of the hour.

Even the petrol pumps have hoses

Love the details on this including the stairs

The person is the correct scale but the car is not - just playing at this stage

Inside the workshop during construction

The workshop with all it's signs!

There is a beautiful piece in the instructions saying:

"The service station is made up of two buildings. The front single storey section is a white rendered building containing the showroom and shop with one service bay. The rear workshop building is red brick and may have been used for something else before the garage was built on to the front. The garage probably dates fom the second world war, but survives to this day after many superficial make-overs."

It's only made of cardboard but it has history. It's only when I take a few shots like this that I can see where I can errors in construction and things I need to tidy up before any official photo shoot.

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