Photography Festivals and Book Fairs

So, October happened! Since going freelance again in July I have been investing in myself and my practice, juggling personal projects, funding applications and paid jobs!

Britain has been buoyant with photography festivals, and I attended events in Bristol & Brighton to mingle with my peers and to get myself seen!

Bristol Photography Festival was just kicking off when I spent a weekend at BOP (Books on Photography), an event celebrating all things Photobook related and incorporating book signings, talks, events, as well as hosting lots of Photobook publishers, from small enterprises to longstanding publishing houses. The event spans across the Paintworks complex which contains both the Martin Parr Foundation and the Royal Photographic Society Head Quarters. Enroute to BOP I visited Into the Abyss by Hashem Shakeri at Bristol museum and art gallery. There are still a number of shows running at Bristol Photo Festival, some until the end of the year and beyond, find out more here

Traversing Bristol 

Whilst at BOP I attended four talks, which were all thoroughly engaging;

Max Pinckers talked eloquently about his documentary project State Of Emergency which was made in collaboration with Mau Mau war veterans and Kenyans who survived colonial atrocities. The book which accompanies the project is in both English and Swahili, and contains “fragmentary colonial archives, photographs of architectural and symbolic remnants from the past, mass grave sites, demonstrations and the testimonies of people who experienced and survived the war themselves”. Brilliant work.

Libby Bove talked us through her wonderful world of imagination, intrigue and magic! Somehow interweaving life on the road (with an emphasis on the MOT), magic and various Guardians of the road: are they real? Are they imagined? Or are they both? Roadside Magic is the title of a new book by Libby. Look out also for The Museum Of Roadside Magic, a travelling archive that was stationed at BOP that weekend.

Photobook Museum Markus Shaden took us on a whirlwind audio-visual tour, showing highlights of the work of The Photobook Museum which he co-founded with two friends in 2014. “It serves as a public platform for collections, exhibitions and events and is committed to research and education on contemporary photobook culture.

Kirsty Mackay in conversation with Tom Booth Woodger about her new book The Magic Money Tree. The book, published by Bluecoat Press takes its title from a comment made by Teresa May in 2017, referencing how our wants (needs is probably a better word) cannot be solved by getting money by shaking a magic tree. ‘Mackay’s viewpoint is that poverty in the UK was a political choice inflicted on the most disadvantaged members of society – first with austerity, then with the steady erosion of the welfare state’.

Kirsty Mackay in conversation with Tom Booth Woodger

The following week I hot-footed it to Brighton to participate in ‘Photomeet Superlab’ a collaboration between Photomeet & Photoworks. It involved two intense daily workshops, where a small group of participants gathered to engage with our current work and discuss the details & mechanisms of Industry Experts’ particular fields. I attended the Publishing workshop with Aron Morel (Morel Books) and Ramon Pez (Art Director at Thames & Hudson / Director Ramon Pez Studio) and the Galleries workshop led by Hannah Watson (Gallery Director TJ Boulting) and Tim Clark (Editor and Curator, 1000 Words Magazine & Artistic Director, Fotografia Europea). It was very insightful, and beneficial to discuss our work amongst peers.

Brighton Photo Fringe was happening when I visited, but I didn’t have time to see much of all that hasto offer. Here’s a few ideas for photography festivals to visit next year, and remember that Brighton and Bristol 2024 events are still happening! Please comment below if you recommend any others, thanks!

• Bristol Photography Festival

• Brighton Photo Fringe

• Photo Hastings

• Belfast Photo Festival

• Impressions Gallery Book Fair, Bradford

Brighton, but from a trip earlier this year!

My return to freelancing is going pretty well, and some recent commissions I’ve worked on are photographing artworks for Norwegian artist Jens Johannessen and an ongoing commission for a Veteran’s charity. Clients tell me that they book me because I am friendly, approachable, and discreet; providing natural images of people. If you have any contacts or need for images to help tell a story please get in touch!

An Army Widow

Veteran Gurkhas

You may have heard me mention zines here before, and I have accumulated a vast collection of images with zine-making in mind. I am thrilled to announce that my first official zine will be launched at the LIP Zine, Book etc… Fair on 23rd November! Details as follows:

Saturday 23rd November 12-6pm

Rich Mix Streetside Space

35-47 Bethnal Green Road

London, E1 6LA

There are thirty stalls, so plenty of zines, books and other merchandise to fill those christmas stockings or add to your collections!

Lastly, in case you missed it, my friend Charly and I completed our three-day running extravaganza in mid September. This ended with a festivity of our own, when we were greeted at Paddington station by my son, and a few friends! Sonia Davda of Little Wing Flowers adorned us with flower garlands that she had made, and we felt like celebrities! You only realise that it’s quite an achievement when other people behave dumbfounded by what you have done! Thanks to everyone who sponsored us, we raised £950 for the charity Free to Run.

Day one - a good start!

Hoorah!

Art and Photography in South London. Plus, running elsewhere!

A sense of place has been a feature of my work for some time now, and since moving to Thamesmead a few years ago I have created many opportunities to explore the area through the lens. I expanded my skillset with my latest work featuring local landmarks, and created an art installation for Thamesmead Festival which took place on 10th August. For more than two years I have been photographing the scene from my kitchen window at different times of day and in various weathers.

Image from Ever Present which is the name I gave to the art installation.

Each morning when I pull up my kitchen blind this is the scene that greets me. There is something reassuring about this ritual that connects me to my surroundings. When I started documenting the view I had no particular end-goal, but I knew that I would present the images as a set at some point. When the Visual Arts Open Call for Thamesmead Festival came about, I thought this would be a great event to show the images at. I wanted to incorporate the wind within the artwork somehow, and had been looking for a reason to print works onto fabric for a while: a quick swish of ideas around the brain and the idea was born! It was a steep learning curve, from sampling fabrics to re-learning how to use a sewing machine, to a nerve-racking (think 12 hours before the festival started) experience of fixing rivets to the fabric, so they could be attached securely to telescopic poles! The poles were positioned on a plateau, which allowed for a view of the real wind turbines on the horizon; repositioning the artworks firmly back within the landscape.

As well as creating the installation I had some Tote bags made which feature one of the images. These were on sale on the day at the Lakeside Shop stall, and I am still selling them, so shout if you want to buy one!

Just £15.00 + P&P if needed.

UPCOMING EVENT(S)

Lakeside Studios

Open Studios/ Open House event: Saturday 21st September 12 - 6pm

Over 30 art studios open to the public - Open Houses listed building - Painters, textile artists, photographers and sculptors showcasing their work - Free drop-in workshops - Family friendly activities - Interactive art installations - Roni Parker’s The Crony Club exhibition - Cafe on site

My Studio is in Block E on the first floor. I’ll be in my studio a lot of the day, but also taking pictures and having a nose around myself! Let me know if you’re coming down, and want to meet up :-)

Back in August I ran a trail marathon with my mate Charly in north Wales. This was just part of our training for a multi-day run which we will attempt to achieve over three days 16-18th September. We’ll be running from Bristol to Reading via the Kennet and Avon Canal towpath and will amass around 95 miles of running over three days!

Several people suggested this kind of event should be sponsored, and so, I have decided to raise money for Run Free charity, and here’s why…

I love running! The fact that I can pull on my running gear & hit the road whenever I fancy is part of it’s charm for me. This experience, and the feeling of freedom associated with running are not available to everyone... Free to Run supports young women and girls in areas of conflict to help them build leadership skills and improve their physical, emotional, and social wellbeing, through running. We provide the tools to help them become leaders who exercise self-determination, challenge negative norms, and boldly reclaim public spaces. Free to Run members are community leaders, advocates, and role models in their societies, bringing people together across cultural, ethnic, and religious lines. They change views about the roles that women can, and should, play in society.

Please donate if you can, thanks! Just click the 💥

Back to Freelance Photography!

As the sun sets on another chapter, It’s time for a change!

You may have seen my video on Instagram, which was filmed whilst I was in Greece in May. I spent three weeks on a self-styled working holiday with the intention of strategising and getting on top of a raft of admin. I was reminded how time-consuming making thorough changes (back-end/ SEO) to a website is, so you will see that my homepage has changed, but there is lots more to be done!

My plan was to spend three weeks in Greece, and come back to go straight into freelancing as I had handed in my notice for the job I have been doing (Frame Designer and framing logistics expert!) for the past three and a half years. I negotiated helping my Boss out, so ended up working for the majority of June, but now I am back in the freelance market and ready to roll! It took no time at all to wonder how on earth I kept up any creative practice whilst working full-time!

Photo from ‘one hour on Hydra’.

I am finding the key to making this freer model of working work, is to be disciplined without getting annoyed when things don’t pan out, to be realistic about what is achievable in any day, and to remind myself that this is the way I was born to operate! One of the things I will be working on more determinedly is to translate project 4 x 4 x 4 into a book. 4x4x4 has always been the working title of this project, and for those who have read previous blogs about the project and my anecdotes whilst out shooting, you will know that the name derives from the framework I set myself to give the project structure: I travelled in four directions, at four distances, by four modes of transport. This title doesn’t offer any indication of my thoughts and ideas for and around the project, so I am really pleased to say that whilst in Greece I finally decided what the name of the project will be once made into a book, and believe me I have been racking my brain for some time! Readers here will be the first to know, but I am not ready to share that title just yet! I am really looking forward to bringing this to life, and will be looking for a journalist or journalistic writer to do the introduction, so if you have any recommendations please let me know.

Hide & Seek

This summer, as well as settling in to a new work rhythm I will be doing a lot of running! I’ve become good friends with another ambitious female, and we are going to run a marathon in August, which is just practice for a very silly run we intend to complete in September - it will see us run around 96 miles over three days. No doubt you will hear more about this next month!

For now I have a couple of dates for your diary:

Saturday 10th August 12- 7.30pm, Thamesmead Festival

I am part of the Festival Production Group, and here’s an extract from our Press Release:

Featuring a host of talent from Thamesmead, South London and beyond, the community-powered festival will see Park Stage performances by MOBO-winning conscious rapper Still Shadey, award-winning funk and soul outfit Groove 101, Black Wolf Blues, local favourites Old Boy Blues Band and MC Redrum; The shady environs of the Unplugged Stage will host intimate spoken word and acoustic sets from the likes of Brit School graduate Gönül and singer-songwriter Sam Winston. A short walk away through the trees, the Southmere Stage will be the place to see a rich range of dance styles from streetdance by locally-based Dynamix to Bollywood Vibes and Capoeira Muzenz. KELE LE ROC & TERRI WALKER will headline the Park Stage.

Produced by partners Serious, the festival is programmed by The Festival Production Group (FPG) a dedicated group of 14 local residents who, in response to an unprecedented number of requests to perform, convened a listening session and a Eurovision-style scoring system to select the line-up. 

As well as live performance there will be plenty of stalls, art installations, the annual Dog Show and this year a sensory tent, offering a calmer environment for those who find festivals a bit too much.

I applied to create an art installation for the festival, and I am pleased to say that I secured the funding, and I am busy pulling it together. The piece is call Ever Present, and here is a video of an early test. No spoilers I’m afraid!

Saturday September 21st, Open Studios

Lakeside Open Studios will again coincide with the Open Houses festival. Last year we had several visitors coming to view the place where the cult TV series Misfits was filmed. Last year I also held my solo show Getting To Know You, but this year I will be in my studio to share my work with you and answer any questions.

Many thanks, and happy summer days to you!

Amanda x

Another year in pictures, and other stories.

Wow!

That snuck up fast. I’m going go reset my intentions to include monthly blog-posts again starting January 2024. That last quarter of the year went in a flash.

It was a tough one wasn’t it? I am sure some of you have had worries on an individual level, but to me it felt like their was/ is a collective sense of malaise in the country, and there are so many reasons why.

When our son was younger, and having a moan about something (or more likely, having a moan about having to do something) his Dad and I used to band about the response “nobody said life would be easy”. Our lives were certainly easier than many, and the same can be said now, when so many are suffering at the hands of others. I wish this was an easy issue to resolve, but here we are in the throes of human existence, and it doesn’t seem those history books change all that much over the years. This is precisely why it is so important to recognise those special moments, to remind ourselves daily for that which we are grateful. If we take on all the suffering of the world, we would never manage to even open our eyes. This is not a sermon, but a gentle reminder, that amongst all that seems wrong with the world, there is always it’s opposition, offering a glimmer of hope and a future to set goals for.

I follow several inspirational people on Instagram, some of whom are sports-people. Owen Barrow is one of those people, and although he seemed very fit anyway, running was new to him this year. I met him by chance when he had just completed his first half Marathon in April. Since then he has been incredibly dedicated, and has discovered the joy of running (something I have tried to explain to non-believers from time to time!) He has run multiple half marathons, started a very busy running club, and completed his first marathon a couple of months ago. His level of discipline puts mine to shame, but I like to watch people progress, and I am in awe of those who really go in 100 percent. **UPDATE I am feeling good in one way though, as I just did a bit of fact-checking to be sure my words are true, and I see that my half marathon came in a fair bit faster than his first, so I can bask in the theory that I would up there with the high achievers if I trained a lot more! They say you should believe in yourself, right?

With that in mind here’s some of the things I did, and achieved in 2023:

Participated in two group photography shows before the end of February

Ran a half marathon

Put my long-term project 4 x 4 x 4 up for scrutiny at Photo Scratch. The event was held at Fixation in South London.

Took the Fun Bus to Brighton to celebrate turning fifty (if you know, you know).

Visited Florence with a friend, and Mallorca with my Mum. The sun shone on us all.

Held my second ever solo show Getting To Know You, and created an accompanying publication under great time constraints!

Getting To Know You: The planning

Getting To Know You: The execution.

Image by Sandra Roberts.

Other things I did:

Surprised myself

Maintained a full-time job

Remained single

There are other things I intended to do, and those I had hoped for, but one can only do so much, and now I have written it down in a way I wasn’t intending, I see that I kept myself busy as usual! So now all I need to do is make plans to make 2024 an exceptional year. I have already started!

Words to live by! Another intention, and a Banner I made this year at Marcus Orlandi’s banner-making workshop to conincide with Thamesmead Festival.

NEWS!

Some of my fellow artists at Lakeside have initiated an online shop for some of our works. This will grow over time, but if you are looking for a unique gift, check it out now or later!

Look out for the Performance Delivery To Your Home! Sonia Roshal approached me to collaborate with her on this unique concept of having a takeaway delivered by us, whereupon Sonia will create a spontaneous site-specific performance. I will document the event, and send some images to the participants as a memory of a delivery that is literally one-of-a-kind. If you have any Bohemian friends with cash to flash, then this could add some flavour to their takeaway!

Please let me know anything you have achieved or had fun doing this year, and what’s in store for the year ahead. Whatever it is, be kind to yourself, and keep chipping away!

Go forth, and hold on to the good bits (not those!).

Much love

Amanda x

Private View and showtime!

Hello and welcome to sunny September!

August for me was a whirlwind, with fun, not a lot of sun and a lot of late nights and early mornings spent pulling everything together for my solo show, which is now merely days away!

There is a publication I have made, which coincides with the exhibition, which has been a feat of determination and mild despair! Starting with minimal knowledge of InDesign, the software programme from which it was created, and little time I have somehow managed (with the priceless help of a friend for one 8 -hour stint of design work!) I can barely believe I pulled it off, and was shaking when I opened the box on arrival of said publications.

My advice from this is Always believe you can make things happen, but give yourself time to make it so!

If you are in London it would be great to see you there! Lakeside Studios is holding an Open Studios event on Saturday 16th, as part of the wider national Open House event. This will allow people to nose around the iconic brutalist building that is home to Lakeside. It is also a coup for me, as my exhibition is based on the artists that are based at Lakeside, so it couldn’t be a more poignant show for those who want to learn more about the building and what it is used for.

Just a ten minute walk from Abbey Wood station, connected by the Elizabeth Line and National Rail.

Only available from the show (mostly). Come and grab your copy before they run out!

Photography on Show

Greetings readers!

Three weeks into the new year, and I am all set for another busy one! There is a lot planned, both personally and professionally, so I am hoping to stay focused (good advice for a photographer) and to reach new heights!

In the meantime I have works in a couple of up and coming shows…

London Independent Photography’s first live show since 2019 starts tomorrow! 24th January, and won’t last long, so come on down if you can!

This should be cool! We were given a grid, generated from a map that covered a small area near our homes. The results are an eclectic mix of images that are our responses to these places. We have members around the country and overseas!

If you are in London I highly recommend seeing the Chris Killip retrospective, currently showing at The Photographer’s Gallery. Chris passed away in 2020, and leaves a legacy of some of the best British documentary images ever taken. The show runs until 19th February.

Last year, a lovely member of the Crouch End LIP group passed away after suffering a short illness. Her funeral was a real celebration of her wonderful life. At the funeral we were all handed a card that had one of Gwen’s images on the front, and the poem below, by Pablo Neruda on the back. I have the poem on my wall now, in front of my desk. It’s a reminder of how to live my best life!

I wish you all an excellent year ahead, and hope to see some of you at these shows!

Amanda xx

You start dying slowly
if you do not travel,
if you do not read,
If you do not listen to the sounds of life,
If you do not appreciate yourself.

You start dying slowly
When you kill your self-esteem;
When you do not let others help you.

You start dying slowly
If you become a slave of your habits,
Walking everyday on the same paths…
If you do not change your routine,
If you do not wear different colours
Or you do not speak to those you don’t know.

You start dying slowly
If you avoid to feel passion
And their turbulent emotions;
Those which make your eyes glisten
And your heart beat fast.

You start dying slowly
If you do not change your life when you are not satisfied with your job, or with your love,
If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain,
If you do not go after a dream,
If you do not allow yourself,
At least once in your lifetime,
To run away from sensible advice…