❤ old photos

last week was my beautiful Nannie's 87th birthday:

I baked her an apple cake and we laughed and talked:

she gave me her vintage black coney jacket

and allowed me to borrow two of her photo albums:

I have been scanning in every photo so they can be saved

onto disc and given to all the children, grandchildren,

great grandchildren, cousins, aunts and anyone who wants a copy:

then I shall return the originals to Nan:

she told me this is her as a lavender girl:

my great grandmother made all their dresses, this

one included:

she always looks so stylish:

I love this one of her and sister Hetty, strolling down the road:

hair set in finger curls:

Hetty getting a march on:

now I know where I get my quick walking from!

my grandparents were a handsome couple:

a gorgeous photo of contentment:

and look at those billowing sheets!

a sight for sighs:

my Mama and aunts and uncle:

hats and bows:

sandals and no socks:

the light is magical, late summer days:

this is one of my favourites:

my great grandmother, family and a bear:

my Uncle talked about it for months it's been told:

'long time ago we see a teddy bear eh Dad?'

a book of memories:

「」one two three:

after Lazarides we strolled through Soho Square, nearly bumping into

the actress Caroline Quentin who was hurrying along with her children:

onward to the newly sited Photographers Gallery to see

the Deutsche Bӧrse Photography Prize 2010:

talk about celeb spotting .... 

clocked Miranda Sawyer, journo and Culture Show regular,

admiring the exhibition with her friend:

*shame it wasn't Andrew eh Suze?*

so the top pic(k)s for us?

*click on the pictures to view them larger*

 Anna Fox's documentary style photos really pushed my buttons:

I adore the inanimate:

her images of the inside of her Mother's cupboards

with her Father's words were both amusing and disturbing:

*apologies for crap quality photos ~ surreptitious+glass+no flash handheld ain't easy!*

there is something morbidly fascinating about Anna's work 

particularly in the concertina'd pieces 'Notes From Home 1996-2003'

gifts from the cats and making cakes:

*another tick in the box for cake reference*

 

her Parresque eye gives us the humour of everyday objects

as well as making us feel slightly uncomfortable:

Zoe Leonard is another nominee who appealed to my

interest in urban landscapes:

"Analogue Portfolio" a selection of images taken with her old 

Rolleiflex film camera:  

she observes her town, her streets and neighbourhood

as I do:  details and old shop fronts:

particularly the dying age of analogue:

her sharp Rolleiflex and dye-transfer prints remind us 

of what is about to be lost:

drawn to a collage of copies from the pages of a scrapbook of a fictitious

non sectarian by Donovan Wylie:

 this is not a real recipe as I first thought ....

reading on, the pages plainly show responses to the situation:

a curious document with links to the personal albums that

exist within families today:

Libbie loved Wylie's 'Destruction of the Maze Prison'

a series of photos of the perimeter:

of cells and corridors:

Maze witnessed hunger strikes, murders, mass breakouts and ceasefire negotiations:

Wylie spent over 100 days on site while it was being slowly decommissioned:

stark repetitious images and the feeling of absence :

monotony and the architecture of conflict:

*on until 18th April*

〓 part deux

the faile bast deluxx flux arcade 2010

at Lazarides:

Faile, a duo from Brooklyn USA have collaborated again with Bast

to turn two floors of gallery into an explosion of colour and sound:

all their thematic signatures are there:

cut copy paste:

pop culture and flyposters:

I'll try to explain this sensory experience!

walk in and the room is full of 80's arcade machines

covered in paste-up flyposters and colour:

the screens with cut up animation:

you don't quite know what button to press or what will happen!

every machine is free to play but buy tokens that will

give you an extra experience:

shoot em ups or sit n drives:

monochrome or colour:

Libbie loved blowing up sheep:

downstairs ☟

and you're hit with fluoro lighting and illuminous images 

on every surface:

pulp fiction meets punk:

even the floor:

this must have taken some time to install!

there's two bar football tables to play: 

hidden around the corner, a decoupage figure:

we do enjoy some participation and interaction:

this is a very male space but the images are so feminine:

call girl, b movie, sexual:

go see:

till 19th march

*part trois tomorrow ....*

≑ real culture show *part one*

the sun was out all day yesterday:

so we took the train to London:

first stop Oxford Street:

a stroll to the beautiful Liberty shop:

up up up up the stairs to the 4th floor:

oh you pretty things!

a collection of fashion photography exhibited curated by 

Spring Projects as part of London Fashion week:

we loved ↙ slurpee lady and perfect portraits

Libbie loved ↙ fluffy floating hedge girl

and man in the chair with a pig ↘:

I love ↘ anything with flamingoes and the beautiful Liberty

furniture in the space ↘:

downers = bad lighting for glazed photos:

*as you can see by my surreptitious shots*

no takeaway blurb of exhibits or artists:

*who were ~ Alice Hawkins, Daniel Jackson, Angelo Pennetta,

Josh Olins & Jacob Sutton*

in the gloriousness of our favourite London store

we forgot to take note of who shot what:

sorry dear readers:

but here's some more yummy Liberty luciousness that caught my eye ☟

zoo fruit bowl anyone?

lemon lovely doilies and paper cake cases:

swoonsome chair and a tap-tap-ding ♫:

newspaper bug collage chair wOw:

oh how I want to live in that store:

*sigh*

part two tomorrow ....

◾◽▚ chocolate heaven

typolade

*image from their yummy website*

⏅ strange days have tracked us down

it's a gloomy wet February Tuesday here in darkest Essex:

a zip to the supermarket to buy these ☟

and I could not resist a bargain at 49p ☟

but my trolley wheel got stuck on this ☟

which is my sign of the zodiac oddly:

then on my way home, in the gloom I spotted these ☟

 we made and ate these ☟

maple syrup or lemon and sugar?

Libbie loves lemon:

I prefer maple syrup:

happy shrove tuesday:

☯

☐ eye of a needle

yesterday I assisted in a workshop called

the unpredictable guide to constructing a pinhole camera

at coexist arts:

for those not in the know ~ 

pinhole camera =

an optical device that projects an inverted image onto

photosensitive paper:

first we selected a box to become our camera:

any size container can be used as long as it is light tight:

to make it so

we painted the inside of our boxes in matt black paint:

then deciding which end of our box we would place our pinhole:

we cut a piece of tin and pierced it with a needle:

the size of pinhole can vary:

we cut a hole in the box and taped on our tin pinhole:

 then using gaffer tape we finished off our box cameras:

we headed to the darkroom to load them up:

in the almost dark but red light:

we 'tacked' a piece of photographic paper into the box:

*opposite end to the pinhole*

replaced the lid and sealed it all around with black tape:

remembering to also put a little piece over our pinhole

to act as a lenscap:

our cameras ready, we set out into the light to

take a picture and time the exposures:

by estimating camera length, diameter of pinhole

and lighting conditions:

you can experiment with the exposure times to

successfully get a paper negative image!

small but perfectly formed:

2 to 3 minute exposure, indoors:

Dawn used an old washing powder box and exposed

for 3 to 5 minutes outdoors:

she then made a contact print of the negative image:

*top left and bottom right*

really looking forward to creating cyanotypes on the 13th march: