…the camera you have with you. instagrams.
two blogs in one day! it’s actually nice to get some time off and sit down and review the last month or two. as well as the work on the Cultural Olympiad project, I’ve also been lucky enough to work on a series of theatre productions. having not done that much theatre work last year, i’m really enjoying the shoots i’ve done this last month or two. two of the shoots have been for The National Theatre Of Wales, and both of them were fascinating. the first was on their production In Water I’m Weightless, which was the first time i’d worked with an entire cast of disabled performers. it dawned on me as i was shooting portraits of the actors, that although i’ve done quite a number of shoots with people with disabilities, i’ve never shot anyone deaf before. one of the shots below is the portrait i took of deaf actress Sophie Stone. i love this photo, not only because i think it’s a nice shot of Sophie, who is a very photogenic woman, but because it came about through a process of lip reading and well quite simply, just exchanged looks between us. as daft and possibly pretentious as it sounds, i think it’s one of the purest portraits i’ve ever taken.
the other play i worked on with NTW was their production of Coriolan/us which was in association with the RSC as part of the World Shakespeare Festival. based in an aircraft hanger in St Athans, it was an interesting backdrop in which to shoot. luckily i even managed to go and see the show last week and it was fantastic. one of the most interesting parts of shooting the rehearsal period was being allowed to “sit in” on the work of RSC voice director Michael Corbridge as he worked with the actors in the early stages of production. i’d never been in sessions like that before and it was very enlightening watching the process of bringing text off the page.
the third shoot was with Theatr Genedlaethol for their production of the tempest, Y Storm, which was also a part of the World Shakespeare Festival. though i did managed to grab a few shots of rehearsals, my main role for this was taking cast portraits. it was enjoyable as they were shot in quite an unusual way, very much attempting to recreate the feeling of a spotlight. for anyone who’s interested in the technical side of things, this was quite simple to achieve with my portable Quadra lighting kit. all i had to do was pop a 7” reflector on the front and and nice narrow honeycomb grid on it (10degrees) up high, and instant spotlight. they were shot against black, so not the sort of lighting set up that i get to play with that often in my portraiture work. there are just one or two more performances of Coriolan/us to go, but Y Storm is going on tour, and you can find out more about each production via the links below.
so for the last month or so i have been busy running around working on a project called AdainAvion. this was a project curated by Marc Rees, commissioned by The Arts Council Of Wales as their “Artists Taking The Lead” contribution to the Cultural Olympiad. it saw the use of a converted DC-9 fuselage being used as a mobile art space that travelled around Wales, hosting and facilitating a diverse range of art installations and community projects. from a personal perspective i think one of the most interesting aspects of working on it, was seeing how much photography has changed over the past couple of years. about 3 years ago i worked on another site specific installation with Marc in Spain, En Resedencia. aside from maybe one or two other local journalists that turned up one day, i don’t really have any recollection of other photographers or cameras being around. how different things were with this project. everywhere i went there were more dslr’s and camera phones than you would see on the sidelines of an FA Cup final. this did create quite a challenge in terms of getting the images i was after to document the project, but for me at least, was one sign of the sheer excitment the project created. it’s good to see so many people enjoying taking pictures with whatever camera or app they choose.
so, here are a selection of shots to give you an idea of the kind of things that happened in and around the plane. you can learn more about the project by visiting the website at www.adainavion.org
ok, so the silver eagle has landed. after lots of planning, the artistic contribution by Marc Rees to the Cultural Olympiad gets under way with it’s arrival in Swansea. it’s there until this coming Sunday, so have a look at the link below for more info on what’s on, and about forthcoming destinations for the project. http://www.adainavion.org/destination/swansea/
ok, so another large pause, i must get better at keeping this up to date, but life has been hectic. so the first thing i wanted to do was upload some pics from a fantastic trip to Ibiza. as pretty much always on my travels these days, these shots were taken on my Fuji x100. it’s just always there, along with the iPhone of course! i stayed for a week at the fantastic Ca’n Babu Vell. more specifically in the beautifully sized Ca’n Devi, which is one of three options when staying at the privately run house in the hills above the lovely little village of San Juan. the whole house is rented out during the high season, but out of season it’s possible to rent one of the individual fincas. the owners were on site when i stayed, and they were absolutely lovely. very welcoming, but totally unobtrusive, which was amazing. hope to head back in september as the island becomes quieter again! check out their website. it’s a great place to escape! w
it’s been so long since i posted on this blog. today i return. i think i’ll start by sharing some of the pics that probably explain partly my absence i.e. i have been socially unfaithful, and spending lots of time with instagr.am, please forgive me. however i do plan also to travel back in time a little, alas not in a DeLorean DMC-12. basically the absence began when i took a holiday in Ibiza, that relaxed me so much i forgot to blog for 4 months. so today, the 1st of feb, this is rectified! and i will post some of the snaps i’ve taken and write a few words on the holiday that started it all. cheers wx
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