Join Us TODAY – Tower Hill 2pm

The 60 images sourced from London Metropolitan Archives offer visitors the chance to step back in time as far back as the late 1800s and immerse themselves in the rich seam of history that surrounds Tower Bridge, the Pool of London and the surrounding areas.

Walking over the top of Tower Bridge is well worth the £8 the tickets cost (payable on the day); it’s such an enjoyable and unique experience! We’ll also get to see some amazing black and white photos of London, and take photos of our own from the bridge.

The photographs have been chosen to represent six categories of London life: Tower Bridge, waterways, work, life, buildings and boats. The shot chosen as the main publicity image is of St Paul’s Cathedral seen behind an early 20th century river frontage that is very different to the present day structures – today, the newest river crossing the Millennium Bridge stretches across the Thames in this very spot.

“There couldn’t be a better venue for this exhibition than Tower Bridge,” said Tower Bridge director David Wight. “ Some of the locations shown in the photographs can be seen from the Walkways which adds a unique dimension to the experience. Tower Bridge is a potent symbol of the rich historical significance of the City, surrounding area and the River Thames so the opportunity to be able to share this with visitors from both home and abroad was unmissable.”

Read more on the Tower Bridge Exhibition website.

Photography Exhibition

Today I was down at Southbank and had a chance to spend an hour at the World Press Photo 2010. If you get the opportunity, it is well worth a look at and is showing in the Royal Festival Hall until 5th December.

This year’s exhibition showcases 167 winning photographs, including work by seven photographers from the UK. The winning photographs encompass the horrors of war, natural disasters, sporting endeavours and the beauty of the natural world.

For the beginner photographer, going to see an exhibition is a great way to learn more about photography. As you go around it, have a go at studying photos for their composition and gain ideas that you can turn into your own photographic themes.

This exhibition doesn’t include technical information on how the photos were captured, but if you see a photo you like, trying asking yourself the question, “Why do I like this image?” and have a go at guessing what the aperture or shutter speed might have been.

The exhibition is on both sides of the Royal Festival Hall. The Photo School won’t be going as a group this year to see the exhibition, but it is open until 11pm every night so I hope you do get a chance to be inspired.

Photo Exhibition This Friday!

If you find yourself shy when taking portraits or even shying away from taking people photos, then Friday night’s exhibition on at the Tate just might help!

“Exposed offers a fascinating look at pictures made on the sly, without the explicit permission of the people depicted. With photographs from the late nineteenth century to present day, the pictures present a shocking, illuminating and witty perspective on iconic and taboo subjects.” Tate

Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera

Our next Friday night social will be to see the Tate Modern’s current exhibition ‘Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera’. The tickets for this exhibition cost £11. This is a chance to learn from professionals about photography and share your thoughts with other hobbyists.

We’ll go for drinks after looking round the exhibition, giving us a chance to get to know each other. I encourage you to bring and share your own ‘Exposed’ photos; just 1 or 2 prints will do!

Photo Exhibition Details

From the Tate website, “The UK is now the most surveyed country in the world. We have an obsession with voyeurism, privacy laws, freedom of media, and surveillance – images captured and relayed on camera phones, YouTube or reality TV.

Beginning with the idea of the ‘unseen photographer’, Exposed presents 250 works by celebrated artists and photographers including Brassaï’s erotic Secret Paris of the 1930s images; Weegee’s iconic photograph of Marilyn Monroe; and Nick Ut’s reportage image of children escaping napalm attacks in the Vietnam War.

Sex and celebrity is an important part of the exhibition, presenting photographs of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, Paris Hilton on her way to prison and the assassination of JFK.”

Location & Meeting Point

We’ll meet inside the Tate at the top of the Turbine Hall. Please buy your ticket online and let me know via email once you have purchased it. Buy your ticket for the 6:30 entrance. If work keeps you late, you’re welcome to join us later, but please do text/phone to let me know.

Bored Of London, Bored Of Life

There’s so much to see in London it seems weekends just aren’t long enough! So I’ve decided, like Wednesday afternoons at uni were for playing sport, my Wednesdays (some at least) will be taking and viewing photos!

The first Wednesday afternoon event I’m going to will be to Somerset House and is aimed at those who have different work/life schedules (like me)!

A Positive View

What: More than 100 pieces including rare and vintage works across a century of photography

When: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 3:00 PM

Where: Somerset House @ Terrace Rooms

Highlights:

• Henri Cartier-Bresson’s masterpieces: Seville (1933) and Queen Charlotte’s Ball, London (1959)
• The iconic Kate (1990); the photograph that marked the beginning of Kate Moss’s career
• Wim Wenders’ contemplative interior Lounge Painting, Gila Bend, Arizona (1987)

Learn More About Photography

Taken from Somerset House website “A Positive View showcases an extraordinary range of photography on an international scale, under the Royal Patronage of Prince William supporting Crisis, the homelessness charity.”

Taken from A Positive View website “A provocative exhibition which brings the best of 100 years of photography into collision, collusion and dialogue. The rich collection of photographic images from around the world together challenge preconceptions.”

Are you free to join me? Please get in contact if you are!

Social, Exhibition & Friday Night Drinks – Please Join Us!
The Photographers’ Gallery is currently showing the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. On March 12th at 6:30pm we will have an expert, introductory talk to the exhibition and gallery.

We’ll have a few drinks after looking round the exhibition, giving us a chance to meet other photo-hobbyists. I encourage you to bring and share your own significant photos and photo-stories; just 1 or 2 prints will do!

Contact me (details at the top of the page) if you’d like to join us for the evening.

What’s On
Deutsche Börse Photography Prize rewards a living photographer, of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution, in exhibition or publication format, to the medium of photography over the previous year. The four shortlisted artists for this year’s Prize are:

- Anna Fox (b.1961, UK) - part of the new wave of British colour documentary photographers that emerged in the 1980s, Fox creates a compelling study of the mundane and bizarre in British life
- Zoe Leonard (b.1961, USA) - a chronicler of the overlooked, for the last 30 years Leonard has recorded urban landscapes, creating an eclectic and personal inventory of our material world
- Sophie Ristelhueber (b.1949, France) – investigates the impact of human conflict on architecture and landscapes and records the resulting aftermath in places such as Bosnia, France, Iraq, Lebanon
- Donovan Wylie (b.1971, UK) - systematically documented the fabric and physical structure of the eponymous Northern Ireland Maze Prison and its subsequent demolition

Location & Meeting Point
We’ll meet inside the Photographers’ Gallery at the reception desk. I’ll be wearing a badge saying The Photo School. The talk starts promptly at 6:30pm. This get together will probably be 3 hours in total (first 1h30 at the exhibition and the second half having drinks). If work keeps you late, you’re welcome to join us later, but please do text/phone to let me know.

Please note the Photographers’ Gallery is now at 16 – 18 Ramillies Street behind Oxford Street.

5/5 To Eamonn McCabe’s Exhibition “Artists And Their Studios”

It’s currently on show at the National Portrait Gallery and is a small and sweet, yet great insight into the world in which others – artists – work. It features photos of Gilbert & George, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst amongst other less well-known artists.

It’s well worth a visit if you are in town. You can whizz round the 14 portraits probably in 14 minutes, giving time to stop off at the cafe just next door :) It’s on until the end of the October.

McCabe Began His Photographic Career In The 1970s.

He joined the Observer in 1976 and was voted Sports Photographer of the Year four times between 1978 and 1984. In 1988 he moved to the Guardian as Picture Editor and became the chief photographer of the Guardian profile portrait. In 2000 he left the picture desk to concentrate on photographing people in the arts.

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