More Sweet Soul

Margate Gym Factory Part 2

2012-01-25T11:09:00.000-08:00

Margate Gym Factory - Part 1

2012-01-24T13:13:00.000-08:00

2012-01-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

(untitled 2008 - shot on a Bronica)

(untitled 2009 shot on a (large format) wista)

2012-01-11T10:44:00.000-08:00

Bethany, 12. 2009

2012-01-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

2012-01-02T08:32:00.000-08:00

I did these a while ago now, and at the time, had planned something for them, but unfortunately I wasn't able to do it. So, I thought I'd share them on here.

These butterflies were sourced from a butterfly farm and were definitely not harmed in any way.

If anyone would like a print (between £5 - £25 depending on size) send me an email:

emmadayphotography@gmail.com

Nothing In The World But Youth

2011-11-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

I spend a fair amount of my spare time in the Turner Gallery, it's so nice to see Margate come alive since it has been open. I suppose it will be even more popular now that the Queen has made a visit. The current exhibition could not be any more perfect for me. If only the Turner had been around when I was doing my dissertation. Nothing In The World But Youth features 94 artists and is named from a quote in one of my favourite books, Oscar Wilde's - The Picture of Dorian Gray - "Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth."

Sarah Lucas, Hannah Starkey, Rineke Dijkstra, Francesca Woodman, Jurgen Teller, Lisa Linvay, Phil Collins, Michelle Sank and so many more of my favourite photographers have work in the exhibition. I recommend it to anyone that lives nearby, it's definitely worth a couple of hours out of your afternoon.

View from outside the gallery and Rodin's The Kiss

One of the installations is a short movie by Salla Tykka, I'm sure I was shown this when I was at uni and I loved it then.

Miss You.

2011-11-12T13:23:00.000-08:00

I miss you, Dymchurch.

Shot on:

Mamiya 6x7

Bronica sqb

Polaroid SLR 680

I love Sundays (four days too late)

2011-11-03T14:11:00.001-07:00

I checked my Flickr account on Sunday evening, which I rarely do anymore, only to find I had been contacted by a New York publishing company. They want to use two of my photographs for a book they are going to be publishing on self-portraiture.

2011-10-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

After thinking about it for a while, I've decided to make this into a general everyday blog. Now I'm no longer at uni and in the scary world of full employment (which has only been 1.5 years so far), I don't have as much time as I'd like to dedicate to photography. So rather than boring everyone with my photography endeavours, I'll bore you now with my everyday life too!

I'll post something slightly more interesting later, I had the best morning with Nicki, hanging out with some cute animals.

I'm still not using my iPad 2 to it's full potential, I won it in a raffle at work, never do I usually have such luck. A £1 raffle ticket was totally worth it!

This is Jason Frye

2011-10-22T05:00:00.001-07:00

Autumn 2011, Vol I

2011-10-16T07:08:00.001-07:00

It's been a while ..

2011-08-28T09:11:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time since I have posted anything, or even done much on the photography front. I finally got a new job (Email Marketing Executive) and will be working in an amazing glass building with a sea view!

I'm waiting to shoot a few more rolls of film before I can send off my bulk of film to be processed and printed. The first film will hopefully come out as anticipated and go toward my first Margate zine 'Margate Gym Factory'.

Although I haven't been taking many photos I'm always reading and researching so here is some work that I've recently discovered, have been reading about:

Mauricio Palos - From the series 'Mr Perro Rano'

Ed Templeton - 'The Seconds Pass'

I bought this book a couple of months ago. I love all of Templeton's work.

Alessandra Sanguinetti - Old and new work

Always:

Rinko Kawauchi - 'Illuminance'

(One of the most beautiful books I have ever bought)

Margaret M. De Lange - 'Daughters'

Matt Collishaw - 'Insecticides'

Matt Collishaw's 'Magic Lantern' at the V&A

I bought a poster of this, still waiting in it's packaging to be framed.

This is the miniature version of the zoetrope that was on top of the V&A

(and me looking very grumpy)

This is Margate

2011-06-14T10:00:00.001-07:00

Margate zine coming soon ...

It's Been A While

2011-05-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a good few months since I last posted on here, I'm not entirely sure why.

I've been living in Margate for the past 6 months now, and was living in Broadstairs previously. This means I have been witness to the Turner Gallery being built.

Many people are unhappy with the amount of money that has been spent on it. £17.5 million I think? They think it's a waste of money and that it could have been spent in, what has been described, as "the most deprived area in the South East".

It's definitely not a waste of money, it's going to bring in a lot of money to the local community, particularly Old Town, which was once full of unoccupied shops, and now not a single one is vacant.

I went down to the gallery on the opening day only to find a very long queue waiting to get it. I came back later on in the evening and went on in. My only criticism is that they could have done a bit more with the space. However, the exhibits were all impressive, particularly those of Ellen Harvey and Conrad Shawcross. I won't talk about the art works/exhibits because I think everybody should go and see for themselves rather than reading about it. On the opening night there was also a lighting rig which was just fantastic. I don't need to explain anything. You can just see from my photos below.

2010-11-18T10:11:00.000-08:00

“It’s the same for all of us. We play-act when we look in the bathroom mirror; we instantly make an adjustment to our expression and our face. Quite apart from the reversal of the left and right, nobody else ever sees us as we see ourselves above the washbasin. And this dissimilation is spontaneous and uncalculated. It’s as old as the invention of the mirror.”

Some Older Work

2010-10-24T11:26:00.001-07:00

Roadside Flowers

2010-10-12T15:47:00.000-07:00

Currently working on a series, which will be eventually made as a zine. Each part to be made of four polaroids.

2010-09-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

Box Brownie Test Roll

2010-08-07T08:09:00.001-07:00

Antiques Fair

2010-07-06T10:43:00.001-07:00

On Saturday I went to an antiques fair in Canterbury. EJ showed me an amazing stall she discovered, crowded with old cameras and Victorian photographs. I couldn't believe my luck, plus the cutest little old man with an awesome beard owned the stall. I ended up coming away with two cameras, a 1930s art deco box brownie, an Olympus OM-1 (not pictured) and two Victorian photographs for £45. I'm currently putting a test roll of film through the box brownie so hopefully I'll be able to post some up next week.

Fred Perry

2010-06-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

I have been using Flickr for years. I never expected to gain anything out of it, it was mainly just a way of managing my photos online. I have always updated it regularly and have mainly spent my time on there looking at the photographs of others. Recently I was contacted through Flickr by the director of an advertising agency in Nottingham who also happened to be the art director of the Fred Perry advertising campaigns. He came across my Flickr (and lucky for me) liked what he saw.

So he asked me to do the development photography for the Fred Perry Subculture Project. I had to produce 5 images for the beginning of June. So here are some of the images I made, using polaroid and my Bronica medium format camera.

You can also read some more about this on the awesome blog Priory of Zion

It's Final

2010-06-13T15:24:00.001-07:00

Lately, I have been so busy. Finishing uni, moving to Broadstairs, finding a full-time job etc. We have only just got the internet in our flat and I have been intending to post my final polaroids on here for a while now. What could be a better time to do than on the night I find out my final marks? I'm feeling quite happy that it has come to and end and now all I have left to do is to attend my graduation ceremony.

I had almost 100 polaroids to choose from, I think I'd go back and edit them again if I could but the idea of this work is to view them as one image rather than individual images. Hence the reasoning behind me making a concertina book.

2010-05-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

After 18 years of education I am finally free. I don't know if it has fully sunken in yet but I couldn't be happier to have finally finished uni. I sometimes think that I should never have studied photography but now I have a clearer idea of what to do with my life.

Here a few photos of my concertina book (part of my final major project)

(book photos by Rob Cursons)

The Virgin Suicides

2010-04-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

A few outtakes from my final major project about a twelve year old girl, Bethany.

A Few Old Polaroids (continued) ...

2010-04-14T05:53:00.000-07:00

Fuji FP 100c

A Few Old Polaroids

2010-04-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

600

Toddlers & Tiaras

2010-04-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

There are a lot things that I get frustrated with and many of them are rolled into this one awful tv show. I couldn't get hold of the embedded code for the video I wanted to show, a mother telling us how it is OK for a seven year old girl to shave her legs because it allows fake tan to go on more evenly! Many of these girls (and even babies) are forced to do beauty pageants against their will and it makes me sick.

I Love Sylvia Plath

2010-04-03T12:17:00.000-07:00

Apprehensions

There is this white wall, above which the sky creates itself---
Infinite, green, utterly untouchable.
Angels swim in it, and the stars, in indifference also.
They are my medium.
The sun dissolves on this wall, bleeding its lights.

A gray wall now, clawed and bloody.
Is there no way out of the mind?
Steps at my back spiral into a well.
There are no trees or birds in this world,
There is only sourness.

This red wall winces continually :
A red fist, opening and closing,
Two gray, papery bags---
This is what I am made of , this and a terror
Of being wheeled off under crosses and a rain of pietas.

On a black wall, unidentifiable birds
Swivel their heads and cry.
There is no talk of immortality among these!
Cold blanks approach us :
They move in a hurry.

-Sylvia Plath

FUCK YOU TOO

2010-04-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

Instead of deciding to write a contextual essay about a pretentious photographer I couldn't care less about, I decided that I will write it on this body of work by Glen E. Friedman and his book arrived in the post today!

(I apologise for the bad images but I don't have my scanner with me!)

I was also happy to find this flyer today from one of the first shows I went to circa 2004/5

Something for the Spring (beautiful words)

2010-04-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early  leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So  Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can  stay.

-Robert Frost

I hate lies and that's why I hate you.

2010-03-31T16:08:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately this video was the only one I could find and is pretty bad quality, but it's one of my favourite songs.

I need a bigger camera bag

2010-03-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've used black and white film, but since I have got my Fred Perry commission I decided it was time to go back, and use some trusted HP5. Luckily for me there was none left in stock and I tried some Ilford XP2 which goes through the C41 process and is easily the nicest black and white film I have ever used.

This is a test printed on fibre based paper. This paper is so expensive but is totally worth it when it comes down to the print quality and the tonal range that you get from it. The other reason for this choice of paper is so that I can also try some different toning processes.
Tomorrow I am going to Laybourne Grange with my good friend Tom (check out his blog) to shoot some images for his work and to shoot for my Fred Perry commission. I've been told to take minimal equipment as we might have to make a quick get away from security but I can't possibly travel light when going to such a wonderful place!
My equipment list for tomorrow:

Tripod
Bronica
Canon 30D
Fuji mini instax
Polaroid Land Camera
Leica
Rob Ryan fish eye
Ilford XP2 120mm
Fuji Pro 400H 120mm
Fuji Pro 160S 35mm

I may have to narrow this down as I don't have a bag big enough to fit it all in!

A Few Favourite Images/People

2010-03-22T15:21:00.001-07:00

There is a fantastic blog which has recently become active again Them Thangs. Everyone should go and check it out, although I think it is predominantly aimed at men. I can't get enough of the images on there.

Rochester

2010-03-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

There is not much I enjoy about living in Chatham, other than the short walk into Rochester. I love the cathedral and the cute shops. An exhibition of inspirational women throughout the ages is currently on in the cathedral. I was surprised to see that Emily Pankhurst was not among the women.

I couldn't avoid a closer inspection of my bearded friend: and my bearded lovely: I discovered the most adorable fabric shop. I can't sew to save my life, I broke sewing machines when I was at school but I am a terrible impulse buyer. I don't think about things before I buy them. However, I think these are cute but I doubt I shall ever have use for them.

2010-03-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

Since my love of photography began, I was always adamant that I would never use digital. The SLRs I own were given to me and I've only used them for photographing weddings. I've always thought that in a way, by using digital, I would be cheating. Film was and still is more desirable to me, the quality achieved and the process of loading the film, developing, printing.
The idea of the digital compact to capture snapshots never interested me. I have always used polaroid in that sense, up until this week. On Monday I bought a Canon IXUS

I couldn't be happier with it. It won't replace my love of film and using polaroid but it is great for carrying round with me everyday. Definitely money well spent.

Exhibitions

2010-03-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday I went to London to see a lot of exhibitions. Eight exhibitions. A few of them were too pretentious for my liking but one of them was so fantastic, I cannot even put it into words.
Celeste Boursier-Mougenot at the Barbican was a wonderful experience. I wanted to take one of the Zebra Finches home with me. It's on until the 23rd of this month. I recommend that everyone should go and see it.

Are Art Degrees Worth It?

2010-03-02T01:23:00.000-08:00

When I first started my BA degree in Contemporary Photographic Practice I was so excited and could not wait to learn new things and be set lots of work. I knew that I wanted to pursue photography as a career, it was all I wanted to do. 'Was' being the most important word.

Now I have only 3 months left of my degree and the only reason I haven't left yet is because I want to teach, and in order to do that I need to have a degree. I now know that any art degree is probably not worth it if you want to get a job in the industry. Potential employers are only interested if you have experience. They do not care about a piece of paper. After the first year of my degree I knew that photography was no longer my desired career path. I knew that I would always make my own work in my spare time but that I really wanted to teach.

Two weeks ago my faith in photography was restored a little, I was contacted (through Flickr of all places) by the man behind the Fred Perry advertising campaigns. He liked what he saw on my Flickr and now I am doing some development photography for the Fred Perry Subculture project. I am being paid to deliver five images by June. Never did I think that I would get an opportunity such as this. It still doesn't seem real. Anyway, my point is this: You don't necessarily need a degree to be able to do what you want. It is almost always down to experience, contacts and of course luck.

My wonderful friend Leah is also doing an art degree. She was contacted through her blog to work at London Fashion Week. It was through luck and the work that we produce in our spare time that we have got these great opportunities.

This post is mainly a dig at art degrees, and I know that many people enjoy them, but my question is this: Are they necessary to pursue your chosen career?