May newsletter: scarves, taking a breather and being busy

What I’ve been up to this month

I had a wonderful photography half day in Bath with an old friend of mine. As usual, I avoided the subjects that most photographers like to take in Bath and concentrated on the copper staining on a statue and the broken panes of a skylight in the pavement. But I did break out of my comfort zone and make some highly colourful images of scarves for sale and café tables.

I have also completed Rob Knight’s sequencing course. This is an intense four weeks where a group of people come together online and explore how they can sequence their own body of work. It was extremely inspiring to see what other participants produced. There was a lot of time spent experimenting with different ideas and this has really helped me develop my Dead Flowers In Vases book. Watch this space for more details before too long!

In the meantime, Dead Flowers In Vases has its own section on my website here with an expanded selection of images. I have also added some more images to my new work section.

What I learned this month

My big learning for this month is that projects sometimes progress better if we leave them for a while. I am having a breather from one of the bodies of work that I am working on and it will be all the better for it.

My time in Bath showed me to take time to get to know an environment. We spent some time in a busy shopping street. My first impressions were that this was exactly the sort of place that hated to be in and that I would make any worthwhile images here. But after I walked up and down it a few times I began to be drawn to the details.

I spent time enjoying making macro images of the colours and textures of scarves that were hanging outside a shop. They are not images that I would normally make and I probably won’t take this any further, but it was fun to experiment and to play with colour. Then I discovered the broken skylight. I loved the textures of the fractured glass. In the end, I had to be dragged away even though the next stop was to eat some of the best chocolate brownies in Bath!

What are my plans for next month?

Firstly, I plan to take a few walks without my camera. Sometimes it is good to enjoy our surroundings without the pressure to make an image. We will often see more and in a different way. Because I like walking locally, I am expecting to see things to which I can return with my camera on a later date.

I must also work on my webinar of how to self-publish you own zine. As I said last month, I plan share my entire publishing experiences in detail, including all my learnings and advice, in a live webinar in June. However, work has derailed my schedule for this at the moment!

What I’ve been writing about this month

My most recent piece concentrates on how much we can gain when we ask for feedback on our work. I also cover different ways to ask for feedback and how to make sure you benefit from it as much as possible. Please do read the blog here: I think most people will benefit from giving this topic some thought.

What books have caught my attention this month?

This month I have been really pleased to get hold of Oliveia Bartlett’s Uninhabitable zines. She has created wonderful abstracts using a variety of techniques to create negatives from a variety of household substances, art supplies and chemicals.

What I have been watch this month

I have really appreciated series 3 of Hidden, a dark, detective drama set in Wales. Don’t watch this if you fancy a light comedy! There is a dark, foreboding sense of the inevitable and it is beautifully filmed.

Make sure you keep in touch!

I’d love to see image and projects that you are proud of. And do send me recommendations for reading, listening and more!