Spring is sprung

Well, what a great couple of weeks I’ve had.

The last few months I’ve been feeling a bit like I need to get more inspired. I’ve had a quiet couple of months since Christmas, which has been my own choice, but it’s made me reflect a bit on where I am with my photography. Anyone who knows me knows I tend to beat myself up a bit over silly little things that mean nothing to other people. I  learn from these things every time, but it can take its toll. So I’ve been taking time to get inspired.

I’ve been wanting to start a project for ages but it’s just been a matter of waiting for one to come to me. I don’t think you can really force a project, and I’ve come up with one I’m really happy with and really interested in, and it kind of helps me keep in touch with the old me a bit. I won’t say what the project is just yet, but it’s underway and I’m excited about it and really pleased with some of my photos so far, so there will be more on that soon and maybe a seperate blog, or part of a website, or something.

I spent a day in London with two friends recently for a day of exhibitions and saw some absolutely brilliant stuff. The highlight was the Eve Arnold exhibition at Art Sensus. It features 100 photos, pretty much spanning her career and it’s massive, in a lovely space, and FREE.   http://www.timeout.com/london/art/event/255482/all-about-eve-the-photography-of-eve-arnold  – a little write up from Time Out which explains it far better than I could.

I’ve also been to FOCUS on Imaging at the Birmingham NEC, which is essentially a photography trade show, but there were plenty of great demonstrations and talks by Christian Hough, Damian Lovegrove and Lara Jade  which I managed to catch. Well, I only caught the very end of the Damien Lovegrove one actually. Literally, the last couple of words, but having seen him in action I know it would have been good. There was so much to learn though, the Christian Hough talks on the Bowens stand were great and the Lara Jade talk just gave everyone there something to aim for. She’s so young but has done so much!

On Wednesday 21st I was also woken up on my day off by a text from Helia Phoenix, which read “Yr photo is in the bloody guardian today!!!!! Well done!”

I’ve been helping with occasional photo jobs for We Are Cardiff for the last couple of years, along with a few other photographers, and got wind on Tuesday night of an article in the G2 supplement on Wednesday about hyperlocal blogging and how it’s taking off around the world. Initially there was no photo involved with the article on the website, but when it came out in print the following morning there was a photo I’d taken of Zoe Howerska, a lovely Cardiff based costume designer (and her brilliant Pug!) who recently had her story published on the We Are Cardiff blog. To be honest, I didn’t know how to feel about it personally. It’s a piece about We Are Cardiff, not about myself so I kind of feel like it’s not me that should be congratulated. You wouldn’t know that it was me who took it unless you were one of the few that knew or you were told, so I felt a bit like the texts, tweets and facebook messages were sent to the wrong person. That’s not to say I was ungrateful of it, just more undeserving of it. I retreated to the hills for the day to kind of forget about it. Now, on reflection…  I HAD A PHOTO ON THE COVER OF THE G2 IN THE GUARDIAN!

Front Cover, The Guardian/ G2, Wednesday 21st March 2012

I should say thanks at this point to We Are Cardiff and the other photographers (and contributors) who give up their time for them and are really supportive of each other. They all do great work in trying to spread a more positive word about Cardiff (in comparison to the Daily Mail’s constant barrage of “CARDIFF IN BINGE DRINKING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD HELL”).  It feels nice to have been the only one from the Cardiff blog to have a photo used.

To read some of the stories and see the accompanying photos go to www.wearecardiff.co.uk, and you can also donate to their documentary fund if you so desire.

So I can now add the G2 to my slowly growing list of things I’ve had a photo published in. If only I could find that old copy of Rock Sound.

Also, I have to say a special thanks to my photographer friends www.eleanorjane.co.uk www.pollythomasphotography.co.uk and www.AmyDavies.com  and to Jenny Moseley/ Jen-Clawed Van Slamme for their massive amounts of encouragement and nice words recently. I really do appreciate it!

Anyway, wedding season starts for me next week, 2nd shooting/ assisting Eleanor.  I’m really excited about working with her again and can’t wait to get into shooting weddings again.