Pappelwick Pumping Station has a wonderful and massive old Victorian underground reservoir. It would still be in use if it did not have a few small cracks in the walls. But it’s safe to visit, which is what Ellie Gorski and I did for an absolutely fantastic dance photoshoot. It’s eery, and damp, but wonderful.
As well as photographing dance, and performance art, I also help run a community darkroom: Leicester Lo-Fi. Every season, we do some new workshops, and like to put in some less known alternative processes, so I thought I’d do one on Luminograms. First, I had to learn how to do them. Luminograms are photographs taken without a camera, just manipulating light, in the darkroom. The absolute master of the process is Michael Jackson, and I still can’t figure out how he does some of his techniques.
I started fairly simply, using a pack of old resin coated gloss photo paper and a darkroom enlarger. This gave me control of how long my light source was on for, and with this I experimented with glass and objects, finding the exposure times that gave me black, various shades of grey, and also white.
Continue reading “Luminograms”After enjoying Lud’s Church so much for the photoshoot with Harriet Curtis-Hampson & Hettie Holman, here, I thought I’d take a rare trip out, between lockdowns, this time with my conspirator, IsoElegant. We wanted some nice contrasting clothes, so she chose a flapper dress, which I think works well.
In Staffordshire, UK, there’s a crack in the Earth, called Lud’s Church. It’s a wonderful place to go, and I was excited to take two dancers there for a photoshoot. Harriet Curtis-Hampson & Hettie Holman, were terrific, and we all enjoyed being in nature for a bit.
I’ve collaborated with Aimee Lily Williamson to make a dance film. The urge to be creative continues in lockdown, but I wanted to make something that looked like it had been made during unrestricted times. So, with a few instructions, I asked Aimee, who I photographed dancing, here, to film herself dancing using her phone, and from there, we’ve constructed a narrative. I hope you like it.
If you like the birdsong I recorded for it one morning, it can be found here:
My first solo exhibition Fluid Dynamics: Dance in unexpected places is currently on display at Déda in Derby, UK. It comprises some 26 dance shoots I’ve organised in some interesting locations. The exhibition is on until May 9th 2020, so come along, if you’re in Derby, and see what it’s all about.
I photographed dancer Lauren in an old Church, somewhere in Leicestershire. Here she introduces herself:
So I’m Lauren…. I’m your standard left wing, vegan, alternative, feminist, glitter covered, Dr Martin wearing, hippie. I started my professional dance journey at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts and, after two years of pushing myself to try and fit into various boxes and one too many rejections, I decided conservatoire training was not in my big master plan and came to De Montfort University instead. I have recently graduated and, like most DMU dance alumni, I have a passion for weird and wonderful contemporary dance. My specific area of interest lies within politically charged creations that explore issues surround gender identity, performance, and feminism. Through both practise and research my love for vogue dance has blossomed and I have great respect for the LGBTQ+ community and ballroom children. Their struggle against such oppression birthed something so beautiful, gritty and raw. Through my practise I try to entwine elements of vogue into everything I do… Paying homage to the legendary children who came before me, sharing knowledge, and making sure everyone in the room knows that Madonna is a copy cat!
Laura Ryder is a performance artist and dancer from Derby. I met here originally as she is an enthusiastic performance goer, so I often saw her at Derby Theatre. She is currently developing The Bee Project, which has just got Arts Council funding, so I thought she would be ideal for PoPA .
We started our talks in the cafe at Quad, Derby, and the subject of ecology kept arising. That led us to the parks of Derby.
Continue reading “People Of Performance Art #17: Laura Ryder”
Professional photography for commercial portraits and actors’ headshots covering the East Midlands.
I can photograph in any location of your choice, with my portable studio. This has allowed me to photograph portraits from the middle of a field to the Royal Albert Hall. I cover all areas of Leicestershire, Derby and Nottingham and most areas of the UK.
Since 2009, I’ve been commissioned to photograph various national actors and actresses in the theatre, artists, dancers and numerous businesspeople. I am here to help show who you are and what you’d like to represent.
So, Isoelegant said to me, “Let’s do a shoot with water”. Maybe she was thinking of next to a river or lake. I thought, let’s throw buckets of water over each other. We set up in the studio, with a complicated mechanism involving squirrels & rope to release the water. After a bit, we decided to simplified things by getting Adrian involved.
It was only after a few goes that Adrian had the idea to warm up the water…
