My next exhibition is the South London Women Artist show ‘I am woman, hear me roar’ in Peckham from 3rd to 6th of March. The show coincides with International Women’s Day and will take place at AMP gallery. The preview is 3rd March between 6pm-9pm.
Kathryn Joseph for Oh Comely
I met Kathryn Jospeh to take pictures for Oh Comely late last year when the winter season had begun its stern grip.
Suggesting the feature to lovely Frances at Oh Comely was made on a whim after I shared a bottle of red wine with my friends Nemone and Fleur - both of whom nudged me to do it. I’m a fan of Kathryn’s and thought she’d be perfect for the magazine. Luckily, they all agreed and I found myself collaborating with writer Jessica Furseth ( you can read her feature here). I’ve known Jessica for a few years and I thoroughly enjoyed reading her piece and found parts of it relatable. “At 43, you could call Joseph a late bloomer, except that she’s always been making music – just, you know, for herself”. I feel this way sometimes about my own work. It also reminds me of a recent comment by a man who said all of his favourite photographers were women in the 40s plus who were mothers. He couldn’t understand why they were overlooked in the bid to find the next hot young thing. Parental status aside, age affords plenty of stories.
As for the photographs of Kathryn, I prefer to shoot in natural light but I knew ahead of time that we’d be doing these pictures at night. The only option I had was to shoot on cinestill 800 and find whatever light was available. Lit stairways, light bouncing through windows and a bright bathroom.
Kathryn is currently on tour in the UK.
Kathryn Joseph for Oh Comely, issue 47
Kathryn Joseph for Oh Comely, issue 47
Cover by Hülya Özdemir.
2018 photography review
I’ve come to look forward to my annual year in review. I’m not much of a blogger but the odd scraps I write up here are getting a bit better. My website has had a little face-lift too with the addition of a ‘places’ section and a general tidy up.
Last year I wrote that I’d be scaling things back in 2018 which is funny now that I think about it. I’ve packed in more this year than I ever have before. I knew I had to focus on other things, but the universe didn’t really agree with those plans.
Some of the things I’ve been up to, in no particular order…
I exhibited six times. Four times with Shutter Hub (The Shutter Hub Open at 5&33 in Amsterdam and Truman Brewey in London, Because We Can at Festival Pil’ours in France and Girl Town Tel Aviv, at Alfred Gallery in Tel Aviv), a co-headline exhibition called Dino Island and The Lake with Nik Strangelove and at the British Museum Staff Art Show. I was also featured at FIX Photo Festival at Menier Gallery
I moved house and couldn’t stop photographing it
The super hard-working power house Karen Harvey of Shutter Hub asked me to curate an exhibition called Out of the Ordinary which is on until the end of January
I was 2nd in the judges vote for Women of the Year at FIX Photo Festival
I went to Italy to do a little photography work, and onto Zurich after that to photograph a party
Lomography gave me a Diana 120 to test
I pitched an idea to a magazine, they said yes, and it’ll be published in February 2019.
I’ve just finished working on something with Stylus Boy
I was fortunate to be on the long list of nomations for the Hundred Heroines
One of the non-photography projects I’ve worked on this year has been a pre-requisite for getting to the next stage of something really huge. I’ve gone back chronologically and written, in great detail, about every significant moment in my life and how it made me feel. Doing this kind of work would feel really self-indulgent if not for the fact that someone, in a very professional capacity, needed me to do it. This coincided with winning a place on a cross-boundary leadership programme. If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, I can assure you that I didn’t think it would be mine either. Both of these non-photography related things have been really magical in ways that I hadn’t expected. 2017 closed a few doors for me, but this year they swung back open again.
There are a couple of things in my notebook for 2019. Let’s see what happens.
These photographs are some of my favourites taken with Olympus Pen EE2, Canon AE-1 and Diana 120. Go here for 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009.
of the land & us
This week I am taking over the of the land & us Instagram account. There's a different theme I'll be responding to each day. Thanks to Ameena Rojee for the invitation!
Greenhouses and plastic
I often blog on a bank holiday. There's nothing sweeter than a cosy bank holiday when you feel like you've earned a day to be lazy. This is the first day I've truly stopped moving for months.
Fantastic Plastic: In exciting news, Lomography have given me a Diana F+ camera to use and take pictures with! I am really thrilled to be asked. The greatest thing about this is that I've managed to get through two 'vintage' Dianas in the last 15 years (Ebay and vintage shop finds) but this Lomography one is slightly more robust and has a flash. It's been raining almost every day since it arrived so it may have to come to Italy with me in a few weeks.
Not Fantastic Plastic: I've published a new series called 1000 years. I began taking pictures of helium balloons trapped in trees after their majestic prime. It's slowly growing to include other plastic items which end up becoming intertwined (un)comfortably with nature. Where possible I've picking them up and keeping them in my shed. It's amazing where you'll find balloons. A couple of times recently I've watched them fall slowly and aimlessly down from the sky. This happened on Friday night. It's lucky when humans are around to pick them up. Not so lucky for livestock and the rivers and oceans out there.
I've spent a lot of time in greenhouses and gardens lately so here's a bunch of pictures of the hottest summer in a long time. I took most of these on cinestill film. Autumn now please!
Dino Island and The Lake
I blogged a little bit last year about how I found myself gravitating towards water, and in particular Crystal Palace lake which is a local London Victorian charm. The lake and the spaces around it served as an antidote to the noise and bustle of central London. I'm now showing some of these pictures alongside Nik Strangelove from February 23rd at The Douglas Fir in London.
Entitled Dino Island (Nik's bit) and The Lake (my bit), my photographs are from two separate series which explore the healing properties of water and the positive impact of nature during periods of personal metamorphosis. I met Nik through making these photographs. It was that classic tale of discovering someone on Instagram who is also interested in local landmarks.
Nik's work is a collection of photographs of the dinosaurs that live in Crystal Palace Park, that were created in 1854 as part of the Crystal Palace Exhibition. These prehistoric park dwelling friends are in danger of crumbling into extinction all over again. Working in partnership with the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs Nik gained exclusive access to Dino Island to photograph the dinosaurs, in a bid to help with fundraising efforts for their conservation.
Come and join us this Friday. It's up for 6 weeks!
2017 photography review
Like a lot of people, I love the turning of a year. I love the newness of January and how it feels like shedding a skin. 2017 on the whole has been pretty amazing, though December has been a beast. As we edge closer to January I thank my lucky stars that everyone I love is still alive.
I set out to push myself in 2017 to do things I hadn't done before. I gave a couple of talks which were well received. I played a small role in an appeal for homeless photographers. I wrote articles - something that doesn't come easily to me. I even blogged more which is a small miracle. I only exhibited once and that was at The Paxton Centre, but my work was published in Oh Comely and presented at the ICA thanks to Emma Watson.
I need to scale back a bit next year but I've just come back from a short meeting to discuss a small possible exhibition on my doorstep with a local photographer. Effra FC also turns 10, so something had better mark that occasion.
Here are some of my favourites from the year shot on 35mm and digital. Go here for 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009.
#waitingforthecall
I met Dr Emma Watson in my mid-twenties in the early 2000s. We were both working for a bowel cancer charity; a place which was challenging but encouraged a lot of bowel talk. This kind of envirmonment made it very easy to bond with Emma and we quickly discovered we had a lot in commmon. To this day, Emma and I talk about a lot of shit.
We also talk about our shared affliction; endometriosis. It's a complex disease and one that Emma has owned and fought head on for years.
Emma happens to be quite an amazing woman. A successful career woman at Imperial College, an inspirational fundraiser, an athlete and an academic (her thesis was 'Positional Scanning Soluble Libraries of Protease Inhibitors' which is something I can't pretend to understand). Put simply she likes a challenge.
She asked me to collaborate with her on a project called #waitingforthecall. She was to swim the English Channel as part of a relay team and was literally waiting for the phone call to say that conditions were right for her to make the swim. Her coach told her to always be ready.
She waited for that call for 3 months. Some of our pictures can be found here.
Emma managed to raise several thousand pounds with a trending justgiving page, gave interviews for magazines, raised awareness of the disease and encouraged women to get back in the pool. After her 13 hour swim, she gave a talk at the ICA and presented some of my pictures. She's awesome.
Notes
July-August-September over in a flash. I stumbled through September in a mist of coffee, alarm clocks and schedules.
I had a wonderful conversation or two during these months with photographers Grant Simon Rogers, Ted Dave, Jonny Hughes. Ted gave me loads of expired 35mm he found at a market. He kept a roll for himself which I'm keen to see the results of.
I saw lots of incredible music in Wales, Nottingham, London. I spent nights in tents across the country, waking up to dense fog in valleys and in gardens. I studied, I looked after people and I worked really hard.
I spent some time discussing endometriosis with Emma Watson and taking photos for her #waitingforthecall project. It's how we met in 2003; the one silver lining in this hideous disease. Emma is still waiting for the call and we are still taking photos. Some of them can be seen here in a brilliant article with heart warming comments.
A couple of pictures from from the last few months below...
Little fish
The end of last year marked a full stop in a journey I had been on for some years. These years were incredibly difficult and painful, both physically and emotionally. I learned a great deal about myself and the world. I also accepted there are several ways to get to your destination.
I feel lucky that my tool box was stocked with the ability to record my experiences through a camera. My relationship with water in all of it's terrifying and healing forms became the vehicle to carry my story along. Last summer during a very isolating medical episode, I asked my dear friend Meg McNulty to collaborate and write a fictional response to my work. Little did I know at the time that she would gift me the ability to step away from the experience and embrace another.
I really want to publish my work alongside Meg's. I haven't been able to do that yet, but I have published some of my images with a few snippets of Meg's words. This series of images isn't static so I expect it could change. It's not entirely edited or sequenced correctly, but I have new chapters to begin living.
The images were all taken on film across a variety of important places I visited during these years.
Thank you my dear Meg for your gift.