photographs from Their Wonderlands exhibition

Saturday saw the opening of Their Wonderlands at The Midlands Art Centre. A new exhibition curated by They Are Here. It was a brilliant night with so much jam packed action, possibly my favourite event of the night was the fire breathing trumpet player! That was very cool, as was the toothbrush eating canape’s! A very odd and jarring mixture which suprised and delighted many that took part in Blanch & Shock Food Design’s part in the exhibition. The main gallery was an obvious attraction, so spectacular in design and thought, with the blacked out-ness of it and only viewable via torchlight. I loved the exclusivity of it (only 15 people at any given time to enter) and it appealed to all ages, I’ll certainly be taking my year and half old niece! Here are some of the images from the night I was commissioned to shoot, the exhibition runs until Sun 29 January 2012:

Photographs: Weston what lovely light

After a week of my head feeling like it was a spinning top, it was such a massive pleasure to spend a day shooting with my students on Weston’s beach. And even more brilliant was the glorious light that kept changing through the day and created some beautiful shapes and patterns in the sky. I’m a sucker for great outdoor light and really need to get out more to some beautiful UK outdoors. Over the last few years I think walking has become one of my favourite hobbies, I love the fresh air and peace of mind from the simple drum of your feet as you walk along the street/beach/path or wherever you may be. And with my camera in hand it’s lovely to be the ‘flaneur‘, to observe, stop and capture candid moments. It’s something I’ve become more enamoured with since the photography collective worked on the idea of the ‘flaneur’ for the format festival this year.

Do you have any recommendations for great outdoorsy places in the UK for either walks or being the flaneur? Would love to hear more ideas of where other have visited…

Phonar – innovation in education personified…

As part of my new ideas exploring exemplary models of education I stepped into the Phonar world at Coventry University, headed by the most fabulous Jonathan Worth. Obviously I am a little bias as I went to the University myself (and did I mention I got a first…?!!! haha not proud of that at all..!!) however there was no photography course when I was a student their, indeed its moved on light years since I’ve left and it’s so brilliant to see it flourishing.

Back to Phonar, well as university courses go this has to be up there as one of the most creative and current course’s there is. By current I mean that it is being taught in a manner that reflects the industry it is a part of and is allowing the students to get a foothold into their career before they leave.

The opportunities these students are getting to meet, talk and showcase their work to photographers/editors etc who are at the top of their field is amazing. (See the related link below – a much better written article on the course with loads of facts etc). Some have done more incredible work then I have in all the years since I was at and left University. It is a credit to the hard work, dedication and frankly brilliance of people like Jonathan Worth. Having had the pleasure of sitting in on two of the lectures this past term it’s mind boggling and also slightly scary the amount of knowledge Worth has!! But then his passion for his subject is ten fold and if ever I’ve learnt anything about being a teacher it’s that you need to have that fire in your belly about what you teach because if you don’t then your students will certainly struggle to. Plus how boring would it be to teach something you’re not interested in anyway!

So Phonar’s open university course allows people to participate, contribute, share and access work from all around the world. The audio sensory mash up task was a delight in breaking people out of their comfort zones and trying something new, having the idea of ownership challenged and making the students become aware of being a producer. It’s been great to see some of the final outcomes on the Phonar website too: http://phonar.org

There are so many other great things about the course and I will hopefully take the time out and do it myself soon, as well as putting my own FE students through their paces with it too. But as a starting point for some of my own new ideas about a photography project on education, this was a good start. Not sure where I will take it or what I will do with it if anything, but I certainly enjoyed the lectures and watching a great teacher.

Here’s a link to the Phonar website, check out the fab videos and also find out how you can get involved too: http://phonar.org

Related articles

• Free Online Class Shakes Up Photo Education (wired.com)

Lace exhibition photos and Bham street scenes

With the College I work at, St Brendan’s Sixth form in Bristol, we do an anual photography trip to Birmingham, and today was that day! So in aid of the trip I’ve added some of the photographs I shot today, not a lot just a few really of the street scenes and things I encountered. It was a largely misty and foggy day though, so not the best shooting conditions, but the German Markets bought a buzz and atmosphere to the surroundings!

I also went to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery’s Lost in Lace exhibition which was brilliant! I loved the techniques used (I’m no lace expert by any means) and the unique way in which the work was presented. It wasn’t what I expected at all, there was a lazer beam lace blacked out room, cushions that moved in and out of sync in patterns on a wall, a doorway of thread. Just so many great creations using lace. I really could appreciate the time, effort and work that had gone into creating this spectacular exhibition. And I nearly forgot – the dresses hung in a spiders web (or thats what it looked like to me!!), I’m not sure how it was done but wow!

Fleshing out new ideas and a bit of fireworks fun too

My niece’s first firework’s/bonfire night to remember. I’ve been thinking a lot about new project ideas and Jonathan Worth mentioned an aperture event on What Matters Most. My faith, family and friends are what matters most to me, so maybe this is the beginning of a new documentary project I wish to make. Something personal that hopefully will last through the generations, for my niece and her children, and their children beyond that. Thats part of the reason I wanted to go to India earlier this year too, to see where I came from, to discover the roots of my family.

Anyhow as I continue to flesh out that idea, here are a few photographs from yesterdays fireworks night, just a bit of fun!

Who runs the world???

Brilliant, brilliant video. A must see for anyone interested in equal rights, woman rights, human rights, the media, pop music representation, I could go on. Hats off to ‘truthperfected’ for this brilliant video:

Curate me out anytime!

What a brilliant end to a fab week documenting The Event 2011. Curate me Out was just the tonic I needed after a long week, it had the perfect balance of sattire, innuendo and hilarity. I can’t wait to watch the video back, I was laughing my head off whilst shooting througn my camera lens. The appearance of Andy Warhol, the auror of Jonathan Watkins and the excellent curators and artists all game for a laugh, really made it a side splitting night.

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Hats off to BAZ for organising this fab show and transforming The Lamp Tavern into a theatrical masterpiece that Cilla would be proud of! More info on Curate Me Out here: http://www.chrispoolman.com/Chris_Poolman/Event_2011.html

The Event 2011: Time Machine Lecture and Video Open Call photographs

More information on the shows here: http://the-event.org/

Also check out the fab Contemporary Art magazine This is Tomorrow, which has been live streaming The Event 2011 and will have a host of reviews of some of this years shows/performances.

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The Event 2011: The Third Man

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Photographs from The Event 2011 – A Visual Arts feast

I have had the massaive pleasure this week to work with The Event 2011. Below are some of my favourite images from the festival so far…will update with more this week.

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