Inspirations & Frustrations

It's been a busy week again only this week has been all about getting out of the studio.

On Tuesday a group of us went to Derby to the Format Festival which is a city wide exhibition showcasing all types of photography under a unified theme. Their website describes it as "one of the UK's leading international contemporary festivals of photography and related media. FORMAT organises a year round programme of international commissions, open calls, residencies, conferences and collaborations in the UK and Internationally. The 2013 festival welcomed over 100,000 visitors from all over the world."

Having been in 2015 I was thoroughly looking forward to the day and it didn't disappoint. Unfortunately we didn't get around it all, in fact I bet we probably didn't even manage half of it, but time was not on our side. However, what we did manage to see was very good.

I was inspired by some fantastic work but the two bodies that stuck with me the most was Feral Children by Julia Fullerton-Batten and Thread Whispers by Shivani Gupta. Sadly you don't get the same impact seeing the images on a computer screen but they're worth a look never the less.

On Wednesday, a small group of us went in search of the perfect exhibition space in Leeds. We had a few venues in mind and four hours to spare so we traipsed the length and breadth of Leeds city centre to see what we could find.

It wasn't quite the success we'd hoped for. If I had to use one photo to sum up the day, without a doubt, it's this one,

Six and a half miles, seventeen floors climbed and still no definite venue. Whilst some spaces inside were perfect, their locations left a lot to be desired. Of course the flip side to this was that some of the venues with the best locations just didn't have the capacity to hold all the work.

We spent hours walking, calling and emailing various letting agents - and surprisingly getting nowhere. It actually shocked me how many commercial properties were vacant as we moved around the city but given the hassle we've had trying to get hold of the letting agents, I now understand. Still, we won't be put off. We'll find that perfect venue if its the last thing we do.

So heading into the Easter break (ha!) and I've so much stacked in my 'to do' pile. I have two modules to complete and get ready for hand in after Easter as well as planning everything for the next shoot. Time really is of the essence now so I can't afford to take a breather just yet. I was thinking, (at 2:30am this morning - as you do) and I only have seven weeks left at college. Thats seven weeks to complete everything, get it all framed and finished, done and dusted. It's not long, and with that in mind, I'm going to head off now to find a tree. Yup, a tree. As a prop. For the studio. Well, go big or go home right?