I have a thing for chairs..

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Americana, art, cafe interiors, chairs, colour photography, interior design, Panasonic lumix, photography, retro style

 

 

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The story continues beyond the frame…

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flash photography, Just Do It!, Panasonic lumix, photography, street photographers, street photography, women in street, women street photographers

Using flash and getting as close as possible on the streets these last months, trying to fill the frame but show there’s more to the story continuing outside the frame.

Capturing a story on the street is, for me, the hardest part of street photography , as ‘street’ gets more and more popular with everyone and we are all out there with a camera of some sort, it is easy to just point and shoot, we do it in the hope that we’ll catch something worth keeping, posting and maybe even printing but I often found mine were just snaps of people ‘milling about’.

So, with this in mind this last winter I promised myself I would be more selective in what I try to capture, would get as close as possible with a prime lens and use a small off camera flash gun. Have found that the more am on the street the more I enjoy my photography and the more inspired I am to try something different. Fill a frame, catch a story and hope the viewer can see that there’s a story on the street. I have been organizing photowalks and encouraging friends and students to get out on the streets and do it, just do it. Get close, fill the frame, try and capture that one subject that looks straight into your lens, straight at you, it’s a great feeling and so liberating with small flash. Enjoy!

Art everywhere again

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colour photography, Lumix G2, Panasonic lumix, photography, postaday, street photographers, street photography, The Daily Post

Another find from the bus ride today, this was on the way back from the meeting with friend. Had seen it on outward journey but getting on and off buses and never getting anywhere started to seem like a waste of time so waited till return journey and was rewarded for my patience because it had stopped raining. 

 

number 4

Tags

a northern town, abandoned buildings, Lumix G2, Panasonic lumix, postaday, sinister tales, The Daily Post

On the bus today going to meet a friend but as the bus passed a small local village I saw this derelict cottage and the bear on the chair

Thought to self friend could wait and got off the bus at the next convenient stop, I ran back  to find the building , thinking to self “why am I running? …the bear isn’t going to move and doubt that the cottage will be demolished in the next five minutes”…but run I did..

and was paid for my efforts when I finally got there. Catching my breath and rubbing the stitch in my side I investigated the situation.

 

The gates were locked, nettles and brambles prevented me climbing over the broken wooded fence but the more I saw the more I was sure I would not have liked going any further onto the abandoned property. The body of the teddy was firmly lodged into a child’s plastic chair, dressed in a string vest, which strangely seemed to fit it very well and a small woolen hat pulled onto it’s head it was heavy and squelchy with rain water.

Corrugated sheeting was rusting and peeling and the dripping paint of the number 4 gave everything an eerie sinister feeling. Might go back again and see if I can see someone there..but as soon as someone starts to play a banjo I’m leaving!

 

People watching & eavesdropping

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b&w photography, beach, Blackpool, Christo James, coastal town, eavesdropping, Lumix G2, natural light, Panasonic lumix, people watching, street photography, streetphotographers, The Daily Post

Overheard conversation about the beautiful endless grey light we often find on the prom in Blackpool, the cool damp fog creating a colorless wall making it hard to define where the sky ends and the sea starts…or as a friend called it ‘The Horizon Mislaid’

Arts,Futures & being Creative

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Aishley Docherty, b&w photography, beatbox, Blackpool, Canon 50D, charity, colour photography, Creative Arts and Futures, dance, David Hirst, drama, Edge of Humanity, hiphop, Lumix G2, Panasonic lumix, Sam Bell, Skool of Street, The Daily Post, Wingz Academy

Creative Arts and Futures are an exciting, passionate and innovative charity that began work in 1998 in the ex-coal mining communities of West and South Yorkshire. Since the beginning they have supported over 4000 children and young people and 100s of families from areas of high social disadvantage. Over the past 10 years they have provided over £2.4 million worth of education and personal support programmes through commissioned work and grant funding.

Creative Arts & Futures Ltd was formally called Escape Training & Development which was set-up in South Elmsall in 1998 by friends Pete Bradley and Simon Bassett.

Over the past 11 years the charity has been lead by David Hirst, a passionate Education & Arts practitioner who has over 25 years experience as a qualified Youth Worker and Senior Education Manager for Statutory Services and the Voluntary Sector.  From his experience in the youth work field he saw that many children, young people and families were ‘falling through the net’ of support provided by the local authority and voluntary sector due to funding cuts or services just not being available in certain areas.  With this in mind, the charity strived to fill some of these gaps and challenge some of the effects of social disadvantage and poverty.

 

Over the past 6 months CAF has been busy devising and planing a new dance & performing arts academy for under 18’s with Wingz Academy and Skool of Stree  -founders & artistic directors Sam Bell and Aishley Docherty – A world class provider of urban dance tuition  The Academy was started in April 2016 and has seen over 50 young people attend the classes. The project will engage local young people in a workshops in performing arts which will give them FREE, FUN tuition in Dance, Music and Theatre. At the end of each 10 week block of training the young people will then devise and share a new performance piece and link into our urban arts projects.

The academy is open to all young people from the local area and the classes run every Saturday 11am-1pm at Revoe Leaning Academy Grasmere Road Blackpool FY1 5HP.

We also hope to run this project idea across Fylde and replicate this model to as many young people as we can budget for.  The main drive for setting up the academies is to give access to young people who can’t afford tuition in performing arts and help nurture and develop their talents as well as have lots of fun…and learn to BeatBox!

Beatboxer in Blackpool @wingz_blackpool @aishleyeverafter #sound #beatboxer #beatbox #music

A post shared by DawnMander (Bird) (@dmanderphotography) on Apr 17, 2016 at 12:17am PDT

Dance everywhere

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ballroom dancing, Blackpool, Blackpool Dance Festival, colour photography, Lumix G2, Panasonic lumix, postaday, seaside, street photography, strictly ballroom, The Daily Post

Caught these two rehearsing in the sunshine on Blackpool prom yesterday, love how the people sat down are watching them and probably wishing they could still do that.

Horizontal

Tags

Blackpool, Caffe Nero, contemplative photography, lights, Lumix G2, Miksang, Panasonic lumix, photography, postaday

I saw these light fittings yesterday when, after a day of shooting dancers on Comedy Carpet and capturing the finishing touches of a new piece of urban art on a wall in a car park, I decided I deserved a brew. I ordered my cup of tea and as I sank thankfully on to the soft leatherette seating I spied these lights. I had to sort of move around a good bit and slide nearly horizontally along the seat as I tried to capture them so there wasnt too much natural light and end up overexposing the bulbs. People did exchange questioning glances but one of the benefits of getting to my age is I am past caring what people think and will do all sorts, go in places I shouldn’t, talk to all sorts and everyone and go to any lengths to get my shot of the day.

And yesterday that meant nearly lying down prostrate on the sofa in Caffe Nero.

Stopped Clock

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a coastal town, Blackpool, Lumix G2, nature, Panasonic lumix, parklife, postaday, The Daily Post, time

Spent afternoon in park yesterday was with grandson so didn’t go with intention of shooting unsuspecting public or looking for faded street signs. However as always have camera with me did end up taking pics of time passing..

. youths growing..

.swans preening..

and buttercups opportunistically colonizing the grass.

 

Drapes

Tags

arteveywhere, drapes, Lumix G2, Manchester, northwest, Panasonic lumix, photography, The Daily Post, walls, windows

Out and about in Manchester at weekend and looking for one thing found something else..

The bright pink of the walls and ghostly torn drapes made me stop and exhale a sigh of sheer happiness and excitement. How could I not? Well you would too wouldn’t you?  This wall, these windows and the fabulous torn sheer drape are what makes me really believe art is everywhere and everything is photographable.