Andrew Brooks exhibition

The first time I stepped inside Andrew Brooks' images was at an exhibition of his work at Urbis. They were large lightbox mounted duratrans type prints that had a depth and mystery to them that stopped me stone-still in my tracks. They were photographs from the top of Manchester - view from the Palace theatre iirc - to the hidden catacombs below the city. The way the images had been created with impossible angles and HDR like processing completely blew me away. 

I kept an eye on his work and when the Hive in Manchester showed his larger exhibition New Worlds last year, I turned up to witness again the strange panoramas and odd juxtapostions in his photography, this time his camera showed vistas worldwide. 

In the mill where I have my studio, there are currently a number of prints by Andrew being shown as part of the Guild 2012.

The address is in a post below, the details of opening times and contact info is here : http://oxheysmillstudios.com/

If you're in Preston for the Guild celebrations you really don't have an excuse not to be caught up in his work.

Studio Open Day

There's an Open Day this Saturday at the mill where I have my little photo cave. All are welcome, should be interesting. There are painters, makers of things, photographers, amd artists who I don't really know what they do.

I'm showing an edit of my A Preston Day timelapse video project. The projector is to be set up in my space, the white backdrop a huge screen. It'll be on a loop so anyone in Preston with an hour to spare, pop on over and have a look round. 

Oxheys Mill Studios
Stanhope Street
Off Brook Street
Preston




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On Morecambe Bay

I've just had back a number of rolls of film I shot recently for this ongoing project and updated the front of the website so I wanted to post a couple of the images here.

I've been busy shooting other work at the moment but will get to make some more images in the bay hopefully before the nights remain too light to get anything productive.

Anyway, heres the info from the site and a couple of images further down. I'll post more as soon as I process - or remove the dust specks from the scans....

On Morecambe Bay

On the night of the 5th of February 2004, 23 Chinese immigrant cockle pickers drowned in Morecambe Bay after being cut off by the tides.

This ongoing series of images aims to contemplate the sense of mystery & tranquility of the bay and offer a respect to those that died during that night.

These photographs were taken in almost complete darkness with exposure times of around 10 to 20 minutes revealing an otherworldly light from the night sky.

The images resonate from elongated exposures framed by lengthy countdowns, the shutter clicks punctuating the isolation.

Even though the wind rifles across the bay, there is a stillness, a static created by the waves gaining ground either at one edge or far way at another, and it is this broken calm that is at the core of these photographs. 

This project will be completed during 2012.

A Preston Day

Leading up to the Guild celebrations in September - info - I'm making a movie following the city of Preston over a 24 hour period.

Clips and the finished film will be blogged at this site: www.aprestonday.tumblr.com

I'm hoping to have it completed later in the spring.

Interlude in to other business

Along with keeping busy creating documentary projects, I also work on creating web content for businesses looking to add to their online marketing.

I designed, filmed and edited this for a company who manufactures innovative wall art & floor coverings. They were looking for a different take on the 'Meet the Team' theme whilst showing some of the business.

More info about Industrial & Commercial Timelapse here.

   

On Morecambe Bay

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.

Super heroes......

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.

See, I told you it wasn't too deep.

Happy New Year.