Spending cold nights photographing Morecambe Bay in the dark. Working with exposures of between 5 and 15 minutes leaves plenty of time to think ( and feel the chill I guess... ).
I'm working on this as part of a project tied in with the reopening of the cockle beds and also the highlighting again the almost forgotten tragedy that happened here only eight years ago.
I'm also filming a documentary mainly looking at the creation of this photographic project and as the rushes come together, I'll post more here.
These are from a new series - nothing too deep just a play on the concept of age and being invincible.
At this age, do kids think they are 'super heroes' and unbreakable? Is it inherent or is it a parent's remit to build them up to make them think that or to doubt it?
Or are these photographs more concerned with the viewer? Is it the parent who feels less invincible be it because of the difficulties of modern life or the fact the Little Jonny is growing up?
Alternatively, they focus on that age when you realise that your parent's aren't going to live forever and the firm belief that they are super heroes and will be there forever suddenly appears paper thin.
I took a studio in an old mill in Preston a while back and between myself and two others, we cleaned it up and have been turning it into a gallery space along with our own studios.
There was an open event a month or so back but the place opened officially last week with all resident artists ( 7 now I think ) putting up their work and rolling up the shutters for all to see.
The opening went well and it will be open during October for all to view. Info at oxheysmillstudios.com
My own studio has taken shape and looking good. I've been involved in a bit of commercial portraiture in there with the flash setup I'm running and also have a couple of irons in the fire which I'll explain as they start coming more together.
I'm also starting to build some new sites so my joekennedyphoto site may be due a bit of a revamp - I also found that I own joekennedyphotography.co.uk aswell so may do something with that.
Four of the prints in my Off Season project have been included in a group show concerned with contemporary analogue photography.
Although they are digitally scanned and printed, the shots were taken with my trusty Pentax 67 which although it unfortunately doesn't come out as often as in the past ( the 5D M2 sees to that ), it still has a quality that in my mind eludes digital imaging.
If you have chance to pop by - its in Standish near Wigan - have a look in as their promises to be some interesting work.
While in NY, I went over to see a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. Great experience soaking up the atmosphere and the friendly vibe although being sat in the bleachers it got pretty rowdy.
Saw some homers, a lot of catches, some stolen bases......I haven't got a clue what I'm on about.......anyway, here are some of the shots I took with my Voigtlander.
I shot this image on my Holga in Central Park a couple of weeks back. I decided it would look good as an attempt at wallpaper on a rubbishy wall at my studio. Here's the photo and below is the short timelapse of me putting the thing up. I'm happy with the finished result - theres a large rack and desk combo going in front of it but it will be viewed through the couple of shelves that are going up. I had to get the wall fairly wet with paste so the matte inkjet paper I used rippled and wrinkled but the next day, most of these have settled down and dried out.
I watched a documentary a couple of weeks back called Gasland. Thought provoking and it presented a fascinating insight in to something I knew nothing about.
This morning, here in Lancashire on the local news, I heard a short story about a small earthquake in Blackpool about 30 or so miles from where I live. Geologists believe that this tremor, the second in a short timeframe, was caused by hydraulic drilling for gas.
This is exactly what the documentary Gasland concerned itself with. As something that is banned already in certain places within the US and also in France, it is terrifying that it is happening now only 30 minutes or so up the coast.
News articles on the net state that Cuadrilla Resources, the company behind the gas exploration, are to dig next month closer to my home in a place just outside Preston.
I feel that something here needs to be followed up and questions asked before we see in the UK's northwest the same water taps emitting gas and poorly families forced to drink bottled water and keep away from what is a supposedly safe water supply like what has so clearly happened in the States.
