I’ve always been drawn to industrial processes, if only visually – I’m partial to cogs and gearwheels, cranes and grids! (Margaret Bourke-White was an early influence.) So I’ve enjoyed a couple of visits with a camera recently to some gritty, grainy, slimy and atmospheric locations – a tannery using traditional methods to convert animal hides to leather, and Bristol Foundry where some plaster hands were transformed into aluminium sculptures to be inserted into decorative railings in Weston-super-Mare (the first stage of this process can be seen on this post). There are further photographs from both venues over on flickr (tannery and the foundry) but my relationship with this type of work goes back Continue reading
Category Archives: Documenting:
The core of much of my paid work, divided here into sub-headings
Wildlife Safari 2 – into the night
Local Journeys‘ second Wildlife Safari (see previous post about the first one) took place in the Ham Green area on 31st August and proved to be very popular with families. As part of the Local Journeys team I’d helped with organising and documenting the event, as well as preparing some moths – they had to be warned that Continue reading
World of Small – Portishead
On a sweltering hot day in mid July, Local Journeys, with support from Avon Wildlife Trust, took 60 children plus teachers and helpers from Portishead Primary School on a visit of investigation and imagination to Portbury Wharf Nature Reserve. This was part of another World of Small project – a complete contrast to the first one in Pill during the November 2012 flooding! The bird hide made a pleasantly shady temporary sculpture studio, while pond-dipping and explorations around Continue reading
Wildlife Safari 1
A Local Journeys bid to get kids involved and engaged with the great play and wildlife resource on their doorsteps – the fields, ponds and copses that surround our village. Understandably parents have concerns about their children being exposed to dangers but we’ve been hearing first hand from teachers and adults that many children have a real anxiety about ‘failing’, taking risks, getting dirty; all things that can help you learn how to become a fully functioning adult. Continue reading
Pop-up studio in Weston-super-Mare
There’s a small oval green space amongst some houses on an estate in Weston-super-Mare that needs some additional love and refurbishments so local residents can get the most out of it. Knightstone Housing Association along with other partners have commissioned an artist to devise some ideas for decorative railings that will add a sense of playfulness to the area, help to re-define its use and Continue reading
‘World of Small’ with Local Journeys
I helped out on another Local Journeys project recently, a workshop project called ‘World of Small’, with Crockerne Pill Junior school.
Items collected by children near a pond and photographed with digital microscope
Kite-making at Brean Down with Local Journeys
After the media camp in Weymouth, a different sort of seaside project – Local Journeys, in conjunction with the National Trust, ran a kite-making workshop in the summer holidays for local families and visitors at Brean Down, just south of Continue reading
Performers and performances
A strand of work that’s parallel to documenting artists and makers is photographing actors, dancers and artists’ performance-based work in the Bristol area – some examples follow…
For Theatre Orchard Project – ‘I Peaseblossom, I Caliban’ on tour in North Somerset, 2011 and 2012.
There are lots more photos from this lovely tour over on The Theatre Orchard’s flickr site, here, here and here, Continue reading
Arts projects – and process
This is another variation on the documenting of artists‘ and performers‘ work, but here instead of completed objects, or performance pieces this is often commissioned to record artists working in school or community settings where there may be no lasting material objects to show. Instead, the outcomes may be an important set of experiences, acquisition of new skills or the discovery of new places. These type of projects are often delivered in a workshop format similar to the photography workshops I run myself. Continue reading
Artists and craftspeople at work
Much of my professional photographic work has been documenting the completed work of artists, craftspeople and performers (eg Portishead’s Public Art Programme) but there were also occasions when images were requested of the maker at work, or of an object under construction so a selection is included here.
Malcolm Martin – wood sculptor
Liz Milner 