I recently shot a few images for the opening night of the Wing Assignment exhibition in the fantastic Asylum Chapel in Peckham. It’s well worth visiting the space as well reading up on the history of it. Emma interviewed Nina and Asa about the project a while back.
There were some great pieces and the industrial lighting really worked well to create some dramatic lighting effects along with some fairly remarkable shadow play as people walked around. We also shot a time-lapse for the duration of the setup, private view and open day the following day which also included a children’s workshop.
Working as an Architect and occasional photographer I find that graphical representation comes far easier than words. Sure I can write formal emails, structure planning reports and minutes of meetings, but being any way creative with words isn’t something that comes easy to me really or that I have much practice at. One of the reasons for re-designing this blog was to find an outlet for longer pieces of writing and to maybe think of longer more structured pieces. Choosing the font and space surrounding text was a big part of the re-design. I often find it hard to think of things to say when it comes to writing pieces here and to avoid the temptation to simply use superlatives and then add a picture then hit post.
So when I had some time off in lieu recently I went for a ride along the river east and found myself taking a series of pictures recording my trip. I got back and then processed and wrote a hurried description including superlatives and added pictures. Done. What I had actually wanted to do was write an account of all the fascinating things I’d seen along that route, with carefully inserted pictures illustrating my points, and showing a thoughtful account of an interesting context.
Fortunately a few days later Building Design magazine Tweeted about wanting people to write about cycling and Architecture so I pitched the idea of re-writing my existing post for them which they accepted. The hard part was actually writing it which I procrastinated about and delayed until I had to just sit down and just do it. As usual I also thought about how I would use technology to help me achieve it and found a great little writing application called IA Writer which cuts out all the distractions and even lets you focus on the text sentence by sentence which I found invaluable, especially in full screen mode.
So armed with this and Google Maps I went along plotting all the interesting things I’d seen and working out how my pictures fitted in with the story. I was also keen to make sure I didn’t bitch or moan about anything that might upset anyone reading (and be attached to my name) but write it from the perspective of a guide book and let people make their own decisions. Three hours and 690 words later I found something I was happy with. I read through it another three times and then hit send on the email.
Fortunately BD liked it and published it a few days later. Even better was that it didn’t attract any nasty comments!
I was pleasantly pleased to see this last night on my bus ride home from a quick shoot in Queens Park. Great to see Ström Architects getting such great publicity and obviously nice to see my shots there too.
The Ashmolean has made the shortlist for this years Sterling Prize! Fantastic news. There’s some interesting projects on there especially the DSDHA school as well as the incredibly beautiful Theis & Khan studio and apartment.
The coverage in the national press has been huge! I’m definitely a big believer that normal press is far more useful than the journals. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a few of my images published on the BBC, Guardian, Independent and RIBA Journal amongst others. What I’m also really pleased about is that the image below seems to have become a signature image with most publications choosing to go with this one. Great exposure for Rick and of course Andy Matthews Photography!
The bad news? Well some people aren’t very good at crediting the Photographers. BBC & RIBA Journal I’m looking in your direction!
Apparently this has been published in this month’s MBR magazine. Not a winner in their photo competition but nice to be printed. Will see if I can find a copy in WH Smiths at lunch.
