Through Glyndwr University, myself and fellow student, Holly Cooper, recently entered III International Photocross "Speed of Flash" competition - basically, at 9am on Thursday 11th of April, we were emailed 10 topics, and by 3pm the next day, we had to produce an image for each topic. The rules were simple - we were to interpret the topics as we pleased - and no editing was allowed!
That last bit really got to me - like most photographers, most of the images I produce end up being tweaked in photoshop, even if its just a crop, or adjusting levels or a bit of cloning - so this was a challenge.
More of a challenge when we got the topics, though !
1) Stylish University 2) More than just sport 3) The Magic of Theatre 4) Smiles of out city 5) Flame of Spring 6) Love Formula 7) Evolution of a student 8)Space near us 9) The Job of my Dream 10)Future starts today!
It added to the fun that Holly and I had organised to do a shoot on the Thursday, anyway, with Holly as my model, working on a fantasy theme, with Sam Raybould, MUA - but, we decided to go for it, and actually - the fantasy shoot provided us with our first of the images we took 'The Magic of Theatre'. Holly and I had registered ourselves as 'The Swans' - in honour of this shoot!
It was a hectic two days with Holly and I hitting several locations from the University to the near by Lager club, from a busy roundabout to Llangollen and the Horseshoe Pass, to get our images - but by 2.45pm the next day, we uploaded the last of the images .
1 Stylish University
For this, we simply made use of the display set up in the Regent Street Foyer
2 More than Just sport
This was the last image we took - we were hoping for motor bikes, but for once, there was a complete lack of them on the Horseshoe pass!
3 The Magic of Theatre
Doing a shoot that involved theatrical make up was a real God Send!
4 Smiles of out City (we think this was a typo, and it should be smiles of OUR City)
Thank you Ryan, for being our model :)
5. Flame of Spring
I spotted these flowers in the middle of a busy roundabout, and felt they were a really good interpretation of the title
6 Love Formula
My Daughter, cuddling our old dog - there is certainly a lot of love there!
7. Evolution of a Student
Using a long exposure and second curtain on the flash, we eventually managed
to get this one.
8. Space Near Us
We decided to interpret this as a landscape - we are luck that we are spoilt for beautiful scenes, quite near us
9. The Job of My Dreams
A little tongue in cheek - but surely a lot of peoples dream job involves having lots of cash offered!
10. Future Starts Today
Yep - we mocked this up - pleased to announce that Juliet later gave birth to a bouncing baby coat!
It was an incredibly challenging and interesting competition to take part in. We initially struggled for idea's for several of the topics, and knowing that we couldn't edit in any way at all certainly forced us to be very careful about actually shooting the images, which is no bad thing, I guess.
All in all, it was an enjoyable and fun competition, that got us thinking fast and pushed us out of our comfort zone - very glad we did it :)
This was just for fun - I've seen several fellow photographers and friends taking part in 'a photo a day' type projects - and some of the photographs I've seen have been stunning, and I love the whole idea of getting a daily, very brief glimpse into a persons life. This is a slight twist - for no other reason than I really wanted to take some pictures just for the sheer pleasure of doing so, I decided to photograph an hour in my day. Just an ordinary Sunday, and the only aim was to take a series of pictures that tell a short story and that I found visually appealing. I started to take the images, as soon as the decision to do it was reached, and I reached for the camera every time something about what I was doing, what I was looking at whilst I was doing, appealed to me - it might have been the light, or the texture, or whatever .
During the hour, I did what I often do on a Sunday - I started to prepare the lunch, I washed up and I started to iron.
Considering that I am a non-meat eater, there was something about the texture of the raw lamb I prepped for my carnivore family, that was visually, quite appealing. I liked the colour of the carrots, and the texture of the potatoes - and I loved the effect of the water hitting the food and the sides of the colander as I washed the veg. Washing dishes, and the water hitting the bubbles caught my eye. An accidentally broken wine glass occupied me for several minutes, and after watering a plant on my kitchen window, I got very into the way the light from the somewhat overcast day provided a nice backdrop for the flowers.
Doing this for one hour made me really look at what was in front of me, and consider light, texture and composition - and it was fun, and so nice to just take pictures because I wanted too. I enjoy working to briefs, and producing specific work for clients - but, now and again, its good to remember that taking photographs needs no justification other than doing it just because you want to :)
This was another busy day, although I again got chance to attend only one lecture - we had the Collective display running in the main foyer, and this gave us the chance to meet several people, and today through up the potential for a few new projects that we may well become involved with.
The one lecture I attended was towards the the end of the day - I was attracted to it, as during the week, we have been given lots of advice to network, network, network, and I felt it would be good to get as many tips and illustrations of its value as I could.
Whats Netwroking Ever Done for Us? Antonia Dewhurst
Antonia - or Toni, as she prefers - graduated from Coleg Menai in 2010.
Toni started off by introducing herself and then described the three main aspects of her work - I apologise that my Welsh spelling isn't up to me being able to give the Welsh translations she used to describe these aspects, but basically 'Between' focus's on her identity which falls between Welsh and English heritage, Shelter is her work creating a series of structures, as a metaphor for the human condition, as was inspired by the Welsh tradition of 'A house in a night',. and the third, 'Strand' focused on the interior, rather than the exterior of buildings - she says a lot of this work is inspired by her mothers home, which is encapsulated in a 1950/60's bubble - and her fascination with abandoned domestic spaces.
Tonis talk revolved around how she had developed her career through her willingness to take advantage of every opportunity she got for experience and exposure, and how the contacts she made through doing this eventually presented her with further career opportunities. The general message delivered showed how the advice that had been prevalent throughout Creative Futures week, about the benefits of networking, were valid - but sadly, added nothing to the knowledge I'd gained through several other lectures, particularly as it revolved around some aspects that would only be of use to fine and applied arts students. Toni did say, early on in the lecture that she had wanted to call the talk ' What I've done since leaving College' - and had been advised to come up with something more 'snappy' - however, the first title was probably more accurate, and I did feel that this talk was more about her work, and how aspects and options relating specifically to that genre had come into play.
Toni's work is extremely interesting, and I was intrigued by some of the projects she has been involved with, particularly Ty un Nos - an old Welsh tradition whereby if you could erect a house during the hours of sunset and sunrise, that by morning had windows and smoking chimney, you gained the freehold of the land - the project where she actually built a Ty un Nos was one that I particularly liked. However, throughout, I found myself more than a little annoyed that I wasn't getting what I had expected - perhaps more detailed information about the lectures contents would be helpful?
An Overview of the week.
Creative Futures was very different for me this year. Although I attended far less lectures than I wanted too (despite being in everyday) I actually feel I got an awful lot of out of it - for the most part, those lectures I did attend presented networking opportunities - which is the whole point of Creative Futures, I guess - and have led to several potentially exciting future opportunities and projects, that will hopefully advance and enhance my career . The business advice I found particularly useful, as were the talks given by organisations that are specific to my own particular field, as I found a lot of what they said relevant in terms of useful advice and giving insights .
The timetabling was perhaps the most annoying feature - for students involved in creative lens media, to find that on the Wednesday afternoon, lectures in photography and documentary film making were scheduled to run at the same time, was incredibly annoying - particularly as a lecture that involved events work within the Creative Industries , an area I am particularly involved in at the moment - was also scheduled for then.
Sad to think this is my last Creative Futures week at Glyndwr - I'd like to thank those involved in organising it for the last 3 years - overall, its been an extremely useful and informative event .
I was really looking forward to the two lectures I had marked down to attend today. However, events took an unexpected turn when I found my activities formed part of one of the lecturers deliveries - something I knew nothing about in advance, and in a way that I found to be quite upsetting. I have worried over writing about this, and finally decided that as I did actually learn something useful from it, I am going to give a brief account of what happened - though I am not going to identify the speaker involved. I hope my lecturers who will read this blog understand my reasons for doing so - given that it was all so very public, to ignore it and not write up its impact would, I feel, be somewhat dishonest .
I had attended a lecture by this same person, last year and found it to be one of the most informative and interesting of the week - I hoped (expected?) this years lecture to be just as useful . Although it contained a wealth of information, very little had changed from the previous year - I'm not going to criticise that, however, as I am sure there were plenty there who were hearing it for the first time, and there is no doubt that the information contained was well worth being informed about.
At the end of the lecture, the speaker was talking about doing free work to gain experience, and the pitfalls of doing it - concerns that I actually think are mostly justified and that I understand completely. However, although I wasn't identified by name, the lecturer then went on to use me and my activities, that had led to the formation of the Collective, as an example to illustrate all the pitfalls of doing free work, and to demonstrate that its wrong and foolish to do so - which is completely inaccurate, in my specific case. Others from the Collective were present, and they and several others besides myself recognised immediately that I was the student who was being held up as providing an example of what not to do. I raised my hand, and corrected what was said - politely - and to be fair, there was an immediate apology. However, what was said can't be erased that easily.
My major concern is that the recounting of this tale carried an implication that I may well have complained about the organisations that I had done the work for - this is far from being the case. I actively sought out the work experience, purely for the benefit of gaining practical experience - my choice, I looked on it as perhaps a bit of a gamble initially (as in it might not prove to be of any use) and then, after I started, mainly as an investment of my time and energy in order to grow and develop. And at no time did I expect monetary payment, or complain about not receiving any. I value immensely the practical skills I was able to develop, and I also value the fact that those involved have recommended me, written me testimonials, allowed me to network and develop contacts, given me the opportunity to meet some amazingly creative and interesting people, and given me practical advice and guidance, all of which is now starting to pay off in terms of my future career development.
On the heels of that, was embarrassment and anger that I was portrayed in such a poor light, with the speaker having never spoken to me or checked out the facts. It was worse because the speaker acknowledged, before they launched into their story, that the person they were about to speak about might well be sitting in the audience - and knowing that, they still continued to deliver what was, whichever way you look at it, criticism - and completely unjustified and inaccurate at that. The speaker acknowledged that they must have misunderstood what was said to them when I approached them after the lecture, and I later spoke to the person who had provided the speaker with information about myself, and they were horrified - they confirmed that what they had said had been completely misunderstood, and they were appalled that something that they had said during casual conversation had been picked up on and used in this way.
So - I said I learnt something from this. I guess it was a lesson in professionalism - any argument presented to justify what you are presenting in a professional capacity, has to be be backed by facts that you are 100% sure of. Otherwise it undermines the value of your argument, and detracts from any professional standing you may have.
Thankfully, the second lecture I attended that day proved to be much more enjoyable.
Starting a small business within the Creative Industries can be difficult - but it's achievable and Rewarding Dave Grey.
I've actually known Dave for several months now, and with the Collective, have been lucky enough to be involved in documenting several of the events he and his company, Rampant Dragon, have produced over the last year. I wanted to attend this lecture because I know Dave to be innovative, creative and knowledgeable, so felt that I would certainly pick up some useful information, and also because I was really interested in how Rampant Dragon had come into being in the first place - I usually spend time with Dave in the middle of either event planning or at the actual event, so there had never been a chance for me to hear about all this before .
Dave's talk encapsulated the last 7 years, explained what led to Rampant Dragon, what Rampant Dragon does and about the projects that they run.
7 years ago Rampant dragon evolved out of Dave's freelancing career - and in talking about it, he wanted to
1 Give an overview of Creativity and Arts
2.Identify Challenges to success
3. What you need in order to get success in Creative industry
4. Talk about spotting commercial opportunities
5. Talk about collaboration and partnerships
6. Talk about networking
7. Talk about marketing.
Dave started off working in accounts for the local authority, then moved into working with carnivals and events, then into business in the community, in a charitable organisation. He was frustrated by continually applying for internal vacancies within the organisation, and always missing out at the last moment to individuals who had NBA qualifications - so he made the decision to go to Bangor University, to get his NBA.
At the end of that, he realised that he wanted to work for himself. and then spent 2 years freelancing in a variety of projects and jobs, where he utilised skills in PR, for example.
The majority of the work he was involved in needed creativity - and he realised how hard it is to be creative when you are working solo - and he found he was used to and preferred being part of a team.
He came up with the concept for The Foundry - a base where a collaborative group could be gathered, giving the opportunity the talk, to 'bounce ideas' off each other - its easier to be creative in a collaborative organisation. So, 5 years ago, the Foundry came into being - a Creative Industry space occupied by both CI businesses and other businesses. Its the bedrock of what Dave does - Its a great springboard for creativity, and provides an infrastructure, in terms of shared equipment, that all can utilise. It offers a range of services - there are meeting places, print and marketing services, web and graphic design services. And its ultimately about bringing people together.
Dave went on to talk about the THIS project - this came about 2 years ago, as a result of Wrexham year of Culture, which gathered together all the organisations that hold events in the Wrexham area - and Wrexham holds approximately 400 events a year - more than Chester, Shrewsbury and Oswestry combined. After the year of culture, there was a wish to see this coming together continue, the THIS project, a magazine, was a way of facilitating this. They got a grant of £5,000 from the arts council, which gave Dave the opportunity to develop the idea and see what would work - for example, working out the most effective frequency of publication. It involved him working with a mumber of partners - the local authority, individual artists, galleries, and participation projects.
The first issue was that although there is so much going on, its hard to get it noticed. he worked on his first participation project with Jo Marsh (who the Collective and myself have also had the pleasure of working with, in both the contemporary art and music scene) and then came ReImagine Wrexham, with local artist, Mike Jones. ReImagine Wrexham was also the first time I met Dave - I was asked by the Wrexham Arts Council to photographically document this event, and later, the start of the Collective was born, when Holly Cooper, fellow Creative Lens Media Student, came on board to help me document the closing night of the event.
Above are some of the images I took during the 4 weeks this event ran - Dave presented a small documentary of the event - it was so funny to see my daughter (pictured in the last of the above images, and a huge fan of the whole event) featured in the documentary.
The success of ReImagine led to plans for future participation events.
So THIS is all about communication, and drawing the arts and culture closer together .
Future projects include the 'EMPTY SHOP project'.
A sister project to THIS is Creative International - and again, this is something that the Collective have already been asked to be involved in - which is hoping to bring together everything involved in Wrexham Arts Festival, creating activities between the different events, and involving Wrexham Council Partnership and Print International and FOCUS Wales.
FOCUS Wales has two branches - music festival and professional practise, by way of a two day conference - and hopefully, the Collective are going to be involved in part of that too .
Dave also spoke about FUSION - which is a project that hopes to bring together people from all aspects of the Creative Industries - along with traditional businesses, as a commercial market is necessary.
Dave went on to talk about another project, one he is very thrilled with - The St Giles Sessions. The Collective was fortunate enough to be involved in the filming of the last St Giles session, and we produced five 3 minute music video's of the acts performing, and an 10 minute documentary overview of the whole event for Rampant Dragon.
Above are two of the videos, filmed and edited by the Collective, featuring the amazing DRK MTR and the fabulous Baby Brave and the Love Bites - which includes Jo Marsh .
Dave then announced - for the first time - the next big project.
Its called 'I'm OK man' and its a text based language that is due to go on-line with mobile operators from around the world - its a hieroglyphic form of text speak that is designed to break down language barriers - and to me, its a mark of how creative and innovative Rampant Dragon is.
Dave then went on to talk about the Wrexham Christmas Light Switch on - a new venture for Rampant Dragon - and something else that the Collective have been involved with.
There are plans also to develop a project called Empty Space - which seeks to utilise empty retail spaces in the town, and Mountain Music, working with young people to develop art skills.
Dave went on to give an overview of Creative Activity in the Wrexham area. He touched on it being a mistake to separate art from creative industries - there is a need to put the two together, for mutual benefit. He mentioned Destination Wrexham, who we have also been recently involved with, which is involved with bringing people into - and keeping them in - the local area, and about developing an infrastructure.
He pointed out that though there is good support for creative Industries from the Assembly, arts are not so well supported - and that needs to change.
The need to celebrate and promote what happens in this area, is great - that would be one way of ensuring that people both come to - and stay - local.
Challenges to success in this area - there is a need for investments in the arts to increase. People need to share what they are doing - let others see and check out what you do, share information. And more Networking is needed - to ensure success, you also need to stand out from the crowd.
And on to spotting commercial opportunities - in CI, you never run out of opportunities to work for free - and this needs to be balanced with the need to earn enough to live - balancing out creative opportunities, with commercial opportunities is essential.
The benefits of collaboration and partnerships were highlighted - these increase capacity and increase resources for those involved .
And the benefits and need for networking and marketing were referenced using FUSION as an example, which is a network group that involves CI, arts and commercial businesses.
Dave said that to succeed in a career in CI, there has to be both work experience and training opportunities - and that you need to take advantage of both. He said that you have to be prepared to 'get your hands dirty' - to sometimes take on less glamorous roles, in order to see a project succeed. He stressed the need for confidence in what you do.
So - 4 things important in setting out - the people you are involved with - partners, staff - chose the right ones; communication - talk and utilise the skills of others, when you need to; Money - a difficult one to tackle, talking about it is difficult, but you have to learn how - just remember to balance that with satidfaction in what you do; And have confidence in your ideas, make them stand out, be passionate and love what you do.
I really enjoyed this lecture - as well as giving some useful advice, it was really interesting to find out in more detail about some of the things that I've been lucky enough to be involved in. Dave is extremely invested in what he does, and again - the importance of involvement in the local community was demonstrated as being so very important, alongside the benefits of collaboration and communication. Its a common feature of much I've heard during this years creative futures, and one that I think makes complete sense.
