Jane Bown exhibition at the TopFotoGallery, Edenbridge

Yesterday, I visited the TopFotoGallery in Edenbridge to view the Jane Bown “Exposures” exhibition.

In her eighties now, Bown is mostly known for her portrait work at The Observer, which started way back in 1949. This long relationship with the paper has led her to photograph the great and good from the past sixty years. Bown developed a quick way of working, capturing candid portraits, yet revealing the private side of many of her famous subjects.

Bown’s working practises have remained the same throughout the years; she shows great allegiance to her 40 year old Olympus OM1s, shooting no more than two rolls of film at a time, always just available light, metering from the back of her hand. One of her most famous portraits is that of Samuel Beckett from 1979. The shot was taken in an alleyway by the Royal Court Theatre. Bown only took five frames with the third shot being ‘the one’.

Viewing the fifty or so portraits in the exhibition, it was interesting to see the quality of the shots which have all been taken on film. I’m so used to the digital images that I shoot these days; it’s been nearly ten years since I last on shot film. The cameras have improved so much since the early models came out, which were expensive and produced small files. As technology moves on, the balance has tipped the other way, with much more affordable cameras producing fantastic large files. Bown’s images show the qualities you get with film. There’s great tonal range to the prints and often a graininess due to fast film being used with available light indoors. Some of the images look soft, which could be a focusing thing, the cropping and enlarging or the film used but nothing detracts from the content of the image and the way she captures her subjects.

David Bailey describes Bown in the foreword of the accompanying book as “shy, modest and charming in equal measure”. Good qualities to have when you’re dealing with larger than life characters.

Woody Allen (1994) and Jayne Mansfield (1967)

Zsa Zsa Gabor (1968) and Cilla Black (1967)

Autumn Morning Spiders Webs

Isn’t nature wonderful?
Yes, it’s that time of year when spiders really go about their business. The large-legged ones that dare to come inside the house, usually end up under a glass until myself or Maggie (my eight year old) are around to put them back outside.
This morning, I dusted off the macro lens and took the camera into the garden looking for some interesting patterns. Hand holding a macro lens at about a foot away with a slight breeze is a little hit and miss, but that’s where digital really comes in handy (to preview the pics on the back of the camera).
Anyway, I couldn’t help but be totally amazed at the formation of the droplets on the web. No wonder so many artists and creative types go back to nature for their inspiration.
If anyone knows the type of garden spider here, feel free to let me know. My research only managed to narrow it down to about five types.

Reading Week at Southborough Primary School

There was lots going on last week at Southborough Primary School.
It was their Reading Week and I went in for a couple of sessions to photograph, amongst other things, dads and grandads reading in the classrooms, trips up to Southborough library and a visit by the Mayor of Southborough, Jacqui Jedrzejewski, who came and read to three different age groups. The Ugly Duckling was a real hit with the little ones and the story was helped along by a small squeaking duck which Jacqui had brought along and got passed around for everyone to have a go.
When asked, ‘Where did you get the duck?’ she replied ‘Sainsbury’s.’ (Other supermarkets are available and I’m sure they all do a fine range of squeaking ducks too).
One of the highlights of the week was the visit by author and illustrator Paul Geraghty. As well as being a very talented storyteller and artist, Paul has a unique way of presenting in front of a live audience. He certainly kept the children enthralled with his distinct style, especially the way he strongly emphasises certain words like ‘book’ and ‘school’ to give them extra weight. After three sessions of storytelling and questions from the children, Paul did a book-signing session. The queue was long and winding around the Junior hall.
The rest of the pictures can be viewed here.

Wedding Photography in Sevenoaks – Kate and James

Following a week of horrible weather, the sun finally broke through just in time for the wedding of Kate and James at Seal St Lawrence Church near Sevenoaks. Kate’s bridal outfit was finished off with some antique Brussels lace which had been worn by Charlotte (Kate’s mum) and grandmother before at their weddings.

This was a lovely wedding to photograph and so much effort had been put in by the families to make the day look fantastic. Charlotte had been gardening like mad for weeks and James’s mum had made not one but two wedding cakes, one of them decorated with little flip flops. In fact, it was mentioned on the wedding invite that flip flops would be very welcome as suitable evening footwear.

Wedding Photography at Poundon House – Hannah and David

More pics from Hannah and David’s wedding at Poundon House in Oxfordshire. I boarded the Routemaster bus in Buckingham where most of the guests were staying and en route was shown the rings which had been tied to the collar of a toy dog’. I believe this belonged to David’s nephew who was to make an entrance at the appropriate time, although I think stage fright may have got the better of him.
It was the first time I’d seen a full Indian meal being served at non-Asian wedding but this was probably due to Hannah and David being based in Leicester and having so much fine food up that way.
A ceilidh band got the evening underway – absolutely the best way to finish off any wedding day.

 

Wedding Show at Royal Wells Hotel

Go on, give those legs a stretch….

I will be attending the wedding show at the Royal Wells Hotel in Tunbridge Wells on Sunday 11th September from 10.30 – 3.30pm.

Click here to see details of the show. If you’re in the area, why not drop by and have a chat. See you there.

Preview pics from Kate and James’s wedding in Sevenoaks

Just finished editing Kate & James’s wedding from a couple of weekends back.

The reception was held at Kate’s parent’s place in Sevenoaks and this first pic was stuck to a cupboard door in the kitchen.

More to follow shortly.

Errr…RIGHT KATE !

Preview pics from Hannah and David’s wedding at Poundon House

Three preview pics from Hannah and David’s wedding, yesterday at Poundon House in Oxfordshire. More to follow in a couple of weeks time.

(Now uploaded) School Life – The Final Days in Year 6

All of the pictures from this project are now on the website and you can view them here. You’ll need the password supplied last week at school.

Thank you for all your comments and hopefully I’ll be able to do something similar in the future.

(Exhibition of) School Life – The Final Days in Year 6

Just finished putting up the exhibition of twenty framed pictures in the Junior Hall at School in time for tomorrow’s Open Evening and the Year 6 Leaver’s Performance the following day when they perform it to the parent audience.

The rest of the pictures are on contact sheets at the end. Not included on these sheets are the Junior Sports Day, the Leaver’s Performance (in front of the school which I will photograph tomorrow) and possibly some pictures from the last day at school. Once these have been shot, I will make up a final slideshow which is playable on a PC and will be available, hopefully, some time next week.

If you are interested in having a copy of the slideshow (free of charge) containing all of the pictures, please leave your name and email address on the sheet that will be left in the hall and I will email you the file.