Charlotte's Web || UK Lifestyle & Photography Blog: April 2012

I thought it would be a good idea to get some additional experience before University so this year I volunteered for Bristol’s Festival of Photography, I’ll be helping out at one of the exhibitions at Quakers Friars however there is so much to do all over town! It is really worth popping by, there is something there to interest just about everyone. For now I’m going to leave you with the press release but nearer the time there will be lots more updates.

3 - 31st May Bristol Festival of Photography

South West gets ready for start of one of UK’s top Photography events

Organisers are putting the finishing touches to one of Britain’s most vibrant and successful photography festivals – the Bristol Festival of Photography, which runs in the southwest’s capital city throughout May 2012.

Starting on May 3rd, the biennial event will feature:

> Exhibitions by INSTITUTE’s award winning international photographers Zed Nelson and Paolo Woods. Nelson’s Hackney – A Tale of Two Cities looks at the opposing faces of one of London’s poorest boroughs, with bizarre juxtapositions of wealth and poverty, aspiration and hopelessness. Paolo Woods documents the voices of Haitian radio, highlighting its importance as both a form of entertainment and a crucial method of communication. These shows will run consecutively upstairs at the new Philadelphia Street Gallery; downstairs sees the latest show by Bristol’s nomadic Antlers Gallery, featuring work by Charles Emerson and Helen Jones. The gallery opens with a joint preview evening on Wednesday 2 May from 6-9pm;

> The presentation of the RGB Awards to the winners of Bristol’s new photography competition – and an exhibition of the 50 best images from the contest. The preview for this curated exhibition coincides with the Festival Launch party on Thursday 3 May, 6-9pm at the Grant Bradley Gallery in Bedminster;

> Talks by internationally renowned photographers – including Jim Naughten at the Royal West of England Academy, Clifton on Wednesday May 9th (6.30pm-8.30pm) and Simon Norfolk at the QEH on Thursday May 17th (7pm-9.30pm) - entry for both by ticket, costing £6. London photographer Jim Naughten is best known for his acclaimed series ‘Re-enactors’ – which Foto8 website and magazine called ‘compelling’ - and will also present work from his latest series on Namibian tribe members, entitled ‘Hereros’. More can be found online at www.jimnaughten.com. Tickets for his talk are available from the RWA. Simon Norfolk has been described as 'the leading documentary photographer of our time'. He will take the audience on a tour of his career, from Clifton to Kabul, discussing the many award-winning projects he worked on along the way. More can be found online at www.simonnorfolk.com. Tickets for his talk are available from Bristol Ticket Shop, plus a 10% booking fee.

> Around 100 exhibitions and events by local, national and international photographers: the full programme will be published online at www.bfop.org shortly. Shows already registered include work by acclaimed local photographers Paul Blakemore, Rachel Sokal, Simon Caplan, Sarah Macfarlane, Michael Reeves and Martin Edwards; by members of the city’s Second Look Group and many more;

> The Lomo Show, a curated exhibition of 30 works showcasing the work of photographers who use lo-fi, cheaply constructed analogue film cameras to capture charming images that often have a dreamlike quality and can evoke a sense of nostalgia. Organised in partnership with the Bristol Lomography Club, the show runs from May 16 – June 3 on the Grain Barge at Hotwells;

> A display by the Royal Photographic Society of significant works from their national archive, showing in a pop-up gallery space in Cabot Circus from May 8-13;

> An unusual open air exhibition to be held in Johnny Ball Lane in the city centre (BS2 8DW) for two weeks from May 5. Entitled "We shape our cities and then they shape us", the exhibition by emerging photographers will explore our relationship to cities. Organisers say the work will “seek to portray some of the various invisible correspondences that take place between people and urban environments and how we look to our cities, consciously or not, for narrative and meaning.” For further info on the exhibition and the kind of work being shown, visit: http://ruinusgarden.wordpress.com/

> A showcase of short talks and slideshows by photographers with unconventional techniques and cameras entitled ‘Photography: The Outer Limits’ at the Cube Microplex in Stokes Croft on Thursday May 24th (7.30pm-late). Tickets at £6, including Cube Membership for the night, are available from Bristol Ticket Shop, plus a 10% booking fee.

> Award winning documentary Bill Cunningham New York gives us a rare glimpse into the life of a man who is perhaps the most famous of all street fashion photographers. Screening three times at the Cube Microplex in Stokes Croft on Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 May, including a Babycinema matinee;

> The Bristol PhotoMarathon on Saturday, May 5th – where budding photographers of all ages are set the challenge of capturing a series of images on a given set of themes using a simple, disposable camera. The event, staged by the city’s Second Look Group, will kick off at the city’s new M Shed Museum at 10am and work captured during the day until 5pm will be displayed from Monday 21st - Thursday 31st May in an exhibition at the Southbank Centre, Dean Lane, Bedminster. To take part register online at http://www.secondlook.org.uk/photomarathon/2012/

Entry costs £7 in advance or £10 if you simply turn up on the day

> The Instant Tattoo Emporium will be set up on Bristol’s harbourside on Saturday 5 May, offering people the chance to have their face paired with a tattooed body in the traditional ‘seaside fun’ style by local photographers Martin Edwards and Kathryn Gatt;

> A rare chance to have a go at the historic Collodion wetplate processing technique in a unique exhibition, workshop and drop in event at The Motorcycle Showroom, Stokes Croft, May 11 – June 3.

Further highlights will be announced before the festival opens.

Here are a few of my favourite images so far however there is such a wide variety of work throughout the festival month I would really recommend visiting. For more information you can take a look at the festival’s website http://www.bfop.org/.

Close Shave, Sarah Macfarlane

Country Lane, Michael Reeves

Institute, Zed Nelson

I have’t posted for about a week now, how rude. I’m back to college so things are getting all hectic again, it was also my little brother and sisters birthdays this week and as you know I’m the worst person at getting distracted. I also have a few little photography projects coming up which is exciting aswell as our final exhibition and getting ready for University! I can’t wait :)