Interim Show.

Reflecting on the interim show.

This was somewhat of a 'trial run' of our upcoming exhibition. It took place in the Creative arts atrium at the university of Huddersfield. There was a great range of work on show, displaying a high standard that should motivate us all for the final exhibition.

This exercise promoted a lot of thought about how to best display a project. I have largely focussed my energy towards producing a photo-book. Does the exhibition have to be reminiscent of the narrative structure of the book? or can it be used entirely differently? 

Many questions have arisen, conceptual and logistical. 

Ahead still lies our future

Today I am sharing one of my favourite pieces of work from the Format festival.

Sohrab Hura 'The song of sparrows in a hundred days of summer'

Thomas J. Duffield ©2017

Thomas J. Duffield ©2017

'Barwani in the central state of Madhya Pradesh in India is one of the hottest regions in the country. Since 2013 I have been photographing the summer in Savariyapani, a small village panchayat secluded amongst the barren landscape of this region. With little rainfall and extreme temperatures life here can sometimes take on an unexpected reality in the twilight moments of the heat.'  - Sohrab Hura

For me, the photographs offer a gentle and beautiful insight into the pace of life during these hot summer days. Human priorities stripped back to the simplicity of enduring the heat. Furthermore, the presentation of the photographs was enchanting. They where mounted in positions that almost resembled the pages of a book, the white spaces of the mount board giving them a great presence. The window mounts allowed my eyes to rest so comfortably on the images, promoting a slow and more gradual discovery of the work. This is a great example of small details all coming together for the good of the photographs themselves - the work deserves it.

Next week : Inspired, I search for a printer and a bespoke framing service that will allow me the same attention to detail.

Thanks for reading! and thanks to Sohrab Hura for sharing the work at Derby.

more of the series -

www.sohrabhura.com

Miniclick in Leeds : Seba Kurtis

Hope to see some of you later at the Brunswick in Leeds where Seba Kurtis will be talking about his work!   **6PM FREE ENTRY

I little bit from Seba here...

Fashion Collaborations.

It seems that as time progresses more is expected of photographers. Previously I always believed that I should focus on one 'genre' for lack of a better word.  

Personally, I have always enjoyed a variety in the work I produce. And now more than ever photographers are branching out from Art based practice into commercial or vice versa.

Thomas J Duffield  © 2017   

Model's : Chloe (left) and Drew (right) from Industry models.

Styling: Blathnaid Leahy

Makeup: Iram Manahil

Currently, I am trying to negotiate a portfolio that incorporates an eclectic mix of photographic styles in a harmonious manner. Previously, when trying to do so I have just created a confusing mess.  

Book making process.

I have arrived at the point where I have almost finished the sequence of my Photobook - titled 'The whole house is shaking'

So, for now I am looking over all my scraps and prototypes and trying to find what will be best for the final form.

I have ordered a paper sample to test next week. The difference between the coated and uncoated papers is vast, all of these choices alter the way the work is experienced by the audience.

Alex Stapleton from Magnum agency.

Slightly belated post.**

We were lucky enough to have a talk and a portfolio review with Alex Stapleton who is currently working in London with the legendary Magnum agency.

Photo courtesy of BA photo Huddersfield 2016.

Alex was very articulate with regards to photography and has developed some real skills in her career. Alex offered some excellent opinions on the classes work, including my own current project.

We discussed my prototype photobook and how to best incorporate text into the book in a benificial manner. The text is there to relay the nature of the photoraphs rather than to anchor a fixed meaning.

Thankyou Alex !  

Format Opening.

I had the great role of photographing the opening weekend along with others at Format 2017.

The whole atmosphere at Format was great and I would highly recommend it. It was a chance to see a great range of quality work and in a lot of cases speak to the artists themselves.

The Format festival is still ongoing so I would recommend a visit.

I spent some time around the book market looking at the range of photobooks that utilize such a wide variety of paper/binding/printing techniques. There were hand sewn books, perfect bound books, and even no binding on some. 

- All of these techniques opened my mind about what is possible and allowed me to see first hand the pro's and con's of each method.

Hectic week...Format festival soon!

It's been a hectic week! 

Apologies for being so inactive on the blog! I have been preparing work for submission to a few competitions... I find that this is a great way to gain a greater understanding of your work because you are forced to tie it together to some extent. Overall it clarifies your intentions.

This week I will be making another prototype photobook and later in the week heading over to Derby for FORMAT festival.

Not to be missed !!!

Charlie Meecham.

There comes a moment when you find yourself sifting through paper types and different binding methods and you question your existence. However, when you see a print that meets your expectations there is a great sense of accomplishmen. 

Charlie Meecham runs us through different types of paper and the kind work they generally suit. The talk encouraged me to be more adventurous, prompting me to test on a number of different papers at varying sizes. 

Colour & Books : Sebastiaan Hanekroot

Sebastiaan Hanekroot is an expert in the reproduction of photography and art into books. A long career immersed in the world of book printing has given Sebastiaan great knowledge of the process, and how it can be optimised for great results.

Following a workshop that I was fortunate enough to take part in, Sebastian ran the group through some golden rules that ensure a captivating print. We discussed the photographic print as a sometimes neglected final form that is deserving of more attention. Sebastiaan's passion for achieving compelling prints was contagios and promted the class to reconsider the way we prepare photographs to print.

After a concise and clear talk we were invited to take on Sebastiaan's advice, appliying some of his steps to our photographs and sending them to print.

Before (left)    &   After (right)

Before (left)    &   After (right)

I would like to say a big thank you to Sebastiaan!  

his blog is much better than mine and you can find it here :

www.colourandbooks.com

New work coming soon.

I am in the process of creating a new gallery for my most current project.

This a portrait taken from the series provisionally entitled 'the whole house is shaking'

Assisting : Discursive Documents

Last month I gave a lending hand in the making of the current Discursive documents exhibition.

Alex Beldea

I helped mainly in the mounting of prints. Furthermore, It was great to see the process of the space being filled with great work.

Silvana and I lending a hand to Seba Kurtis.

The most useful thing I took from this was realising the understanding that the practitioners have of their work and how it should be presented.  I will be taking part in a group exhibition in June and this experience will be invaluable.

I will be testing different paper types and different sizes for the next few weeks that I will post updates on!

Discursive Documents.

Listening to Richard Mulhearn talking about his new work which is currently displayed at Huddersfield Art Gallery. Richard focused on print quality and the unconventional layout of his exhibition space. The talk was facinating and opened up ideas about how work can effectively be presented, In a way that best suits the themes of the work  

Richard M. Introducing his photo book entitled 'kerb'

Richard also introduced into the discussion the work of Richard Higginbottom. Both of these practitioners work center around themes of the 'everyday' 

Richard Mulhearn introducing the work of Richard Higginbottom those less familiar.

Higginbottom's work presented in a newspaper style format.

This work is on show to all at Huddersfield Art Gallery.

More work from Richard and Richard can be found here:

Richard Higginbottom

Richard Mulhearn

Pablo Antolí : Workshop

London-based photographer Pablo Antolí shared his expertise regarding commercial photography.

Pablo was very helpful and open, I certainly took a great amount of knowledge from the session. I found most valuable Pablo's super-efficient workflow methods that ensure all the work is correctly stored and backed up. Furthermore, witnessing Pablo craft a sucessful photograph gradually was great. Adding one light at a time and creating a number of shots Pablo utilised different elements of each photograph to 'comp' together for the final image.

Following the workshop I took some of Pablo's advice on and worked on a new shoot. (below)

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 All Rights Reserved.

Pablo was such a gentleman and shared some great insight. See here his Commercial and Art based portfolios:

http://www.antolistudio.com

http://anto.li