What would you do if you weren't afraid?

This is the question Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook asked in her keynote speech at the 2011 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. I saw this post on Innovative Interactivity blog and found it an extremely inspiring. Please take the time to watch this all the way through - it's worth it.

The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology press release condensed by Innovative Interactivity, highlights the following five pieces of advice given by Sheryl for women who want to stay in a career.

1. believe in themselves, see their successes clearly and don’t underestimate their achievements – no one ever achieved what they did not set out to do

2. dream big, be ambitious – success is positively correlated with men, while the opposite is true with women; but with more women in power, this will change

3. choose a supportive partner – this is the single most important decision a woman can make for her career, because women typically assume the additional responsibilities of raising a family

4. avoid making career decisions too early – trying to plan life too carefully can close doors rather than keep them open

5. start talking – it’s important to acknowledge the challenges women face and communicate them openly, or change will never happen”

One New Years resolution I am going to make and stick to is to celebrate my achievements and successes from the past and continue to be ambitious in the future. I hope all the women I know working hard in their careers will do the same. We don't congratulate ourselves often enough.

The Hinterlands workshop

I'm very happy to announce this year's Hinterlands Workshop which will be held in the Devon countryside. We made a little film last year about the experiences the participants had. If you like what you see we hope you'll join us this year. x

The Hinterlands 2011 from mike lusmore on Vimeo.

Jane Taylor

I've been working (slowly!) to produce a series of portraits of musicians and this is songwriter Jane Taylor - a quick scan from a test shoot.

5 top tips from a tip top storyteller

Mike Lusmore shares his story telling techniques with #phonar in Coventry.

Wye Valley Chamber Muisc Festival

It's been a long time in the making and finally I have finished a photofilm about a group of chamber musicians who come together each year to retreat and to practice their music. This piece was commissioned by the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival.

At the river

These are some images I took at the end of Fotopub when we all took a well earned trip to the river flowing between Slovenia and Croatia. It was a gorgeous afternoon drinking a little beer, swimming and enjoying the sun for the first time all week. I think we may even have managed not to talk about photography for a whole afternoon.

Brenda Ann Kenneally

Lucka

Robert Knoth

At the river bank bordering Croatia

Simone

Into boyhood

Taran on his birthday turning three years old, having his head shaved by a Bhuddist sister in France. Moving from a baby into boyhood and losing his lovely blond curls.

I recently met Brenda Ann Kenneally and listened to her talk on the final night of Fotopub in Slovenia. Her output of work over the last seven years with The Raw File and Upstate Girls is epic and the comprehensive way in which she works across many mediums reflects her deep commitment to telling the stories of the women she documents. The multimedia pieces she has produced provide an entry in to a larger and much more complex story. Her work will stay with me for a long time.

“As a journalist and activist I have dedicated my life to exploring the how and why of class inequity in America, I am concerned with the internalized social messages that will live on for generations after our economic and social policies catch up with the reality of living on the bottom rung of America’s upwardly mobile society. My project explores the way that money is but a symptom of self worth and a means by which humans separate from each other. Poverty is an emotional rather than physical state with layers of marginalization to cement those who live under them into their place. The economic crisis as it is called has done some to take the moral sting out of being poor, though the conversation remains centered on economic rather than social stimulus relief. Thus indicating that it is those that are recently without money rather than Americans whose ongoing struggles left them un-phased by the headlines.

My project has followed seven women for five years as their escape routes out of generational poverty have lead to further entrapments. I am looking to compile a gererational history of the emotional spiral of those resigned to the lower class in The United States.”

As part of her lecture she showed a short piece of multimedia with audio from Heather (one of the women in Upstate Girls), and a collection of family photographs, text and other material pasted into the pages of a book. Heather is recorded talking through the scrapbook she has made and tells the story of her life so far. I found the piece very moving and Brenda has kindly allowed me to share it here.

Brenda describes the process of making the scrapbooks as a way for the women to create “their own visual record via gathering photographs and ephemera and writing passages to bear witness to their own past and validate the culture that has been created by our contemporary social policies”

I left my heart in Novo mesto

Wow - or OMG! as Brenda Ann Kenneally would say. I just had the most amazing and intense week at Fotopub festival. I am now resting my voice which I've almost lost from talking so much. Mike and I had a brilliant group on our multimedia workshop who produced some great photofilms. Everyone worked very hard (outside of drinking hours) and got their final pieces finished. Mike and I stepped up and delivered two lectures which was terrifying but exciting all the same time. We watched and learn't from Robert Knoth, Brenda Ann Kenneally, Ed Ou, Uros Abram, Vilma Samulionyte, Jean Christophe, Ivana Tomanovic, Bostjan Pucelj, and of course the bright and bouncing Borut Peterlin and Simone de Greef. It will take me a while to digest everything I've experienced in the last week but as Mike said - thanks duckrabbit for believing in us and sending us in the direction of Slovenia. Chris de Bode is one of the funniest men I've had the pleasure to meet and is truly gifted as a performer, photographer and art director of the festival.

Fotopub have got something very right in the formula for the festival and the team that puts everything together behind the scenes work their socks off (Andre j, Dusan, Ursa to name a few). Seriously, if you've never been to Fotopub sign up for next year as soon as you can - you won't regret it.

All you lot from last week - sending you GREAT ENERGY and looking forward to another river swim soon. xxx

A quiet life

Fotopub

Off to Fotopub on Saturday and looking forward to running the multimedia workshop with Mike Lusmore. Starting to pack up my kit and got that nice feeling of going to somewhere I've never been before. I'm really looking forward to seeing Brenda Ann Kenneally's work. Women of Troy is a particularly interesting piece made in collaboration with In verse who are "a multi-media project that combines poetry, photography and audio footage to create documentary poems" and is about the working women of Troy in New York. I really like the brilliant poetry by Susan B. A. Somers-Willett that accompanies the images. It's a layered and powerful piece.

Pippa

Fotopub 2011 in Slovenia

Along with Mike Lusmore I'll be a mentor at this year's Fotopub in Slovenia for the multimedia workshop. I'm extremely excited to be asked and really looking forward to the experience . It looks set to be a great festival with some very interesting workshop leaders including Brenda Anne Kenneally, Ed Ou, Espen Ramussessen and Uros Abram. Hope to see some of you there - that includes you Marcia Chandra, apparently there's a nice river swim to be had. Thanks duckrabbit for the recommendation :-).

The Legendary Dougie Wallace

Shame this is black and white - that pink wig was gorgeous!

Make Hay while the sun shines...

Got back from the Hay Festival on Sunday after a few very nice days gathering material for a photofilm commission. It's a very civilised festival with big camping pitches and a view of the hills - also lots of panama hats and Telegraph newspaper readers. It was lovely and sunny for a few days and there were starry nights above our rusty white van. We were working on a piece about opera and comedy which I saw around six times and still found very very funny.

Work took priority so I didn't see any talks but did pop up the road for the HowTheLightGetsIn festival which was apparently where the 'hip' people were hanging out. Feeling decidedly unhip I saw a very nice acoustic set by Jim Moray who sang some beautiful folk ballads.

As usual I have gathered far too much audio and way too many pictures, so now going to shut myself away for some serious editing.

Decompressing after our wonderful workshop

Back at home now and still coming down from the workshop. It started with an idea and grew to a full blown amazing experience. It surpassed all my expectations and all the hard work in the lead up was well worth the effort. It's been a roller coaster of emotions I felt exhausted, energised, overwhelmed but over all so, so happy we were able to create a space for the participants to learn new skills and go away feeling they had value for money.

Myself and Mike are passionate about good food, sharing skills, the great outdoors and good company - The Hinterlands workshop bought all this together and so much more. I feel proud to have been part of the team and glad duckrabbit agreed to come along and collaborate with us. The training was outstanding and Benjamin and David bought an amazing amount of energy to the five days.

There were also some brilliant speakers who I feel are well worth a look and want to say thank you to as they provided a wonderful interlude to the hard work and were truly inspirational. They include; Tessa Bunny, Jonathan Worth, Nick Hand, Georgina Cranston and of course David White and Benjamin Chesterton from duckrabbit.

Now away from the Devon hills and back in my terraced house with brown roofs to wake to and no birdsong, I am feeling more than a little separation anxiety from the people who I've laughed with, eaten delicious food with, learned with and worried over!

Those who are close to me know these last few months have been hard since the death of my father, but I feel he would be proud. So thank you Dad for everything you've done for me in my life. x

It's all over...for now

As our wonderful participants from The Hinterlands disappear over the Devon hills back to their homes we are happy they enjoyed themselves and a little sad that they've all left.

We've had so much fun!

It's gonna be yurt lush..

Can't wait for the start of The Hinterlands workshop, which has now sold out - five day weather forecast is sunny and only a bit cloudy. Some brilliant stories lined up along with some tasty food.

I've just spent a nice few days down on the farm getting things ship shape and am now looking forward to meeting everyone, see you all tomorrow for a cider.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." -Plato

Another wedding

Saw this lovely lady enjoying her gin and tonic on the Royal Wedding day. Cheers ;-)

One Shot Stories: Okaasan お母さん by Josef Kubota Wladyka

I watched this yesterday on the duckrabbit blog and was totally blown away by its beautiful simplicity. Such a powerful piece. Perhaps we don't always need so many complicated layers to create emotion in a really interesting way.

One Shot Stories: Okaasan お母さん from Josef Kubota Wladyka on Vimeo.

Sping wedding #2

A few more images I have just finished scanning, I feel very pleased to have taken the time to shoot some film at this wedding.

The Opportunity Area exhibition

I am proud to be part of an exhibition in the Elephant and Castle shopping centre from the 13th - 22nd May along with nine other photographers. Come along to the opening night if you are in the area.

Instant coffee anyone?

I'm popping along to Instant Coffees Projections on Saturday eve in Bristol. There's a distinct lack gatherings for the photographic community here, so well done Alejandro for organising this.

"As cool as carrots"

Very happy this week as my photofilm little bear was featured on the duckrabbit blog ;-)

Spring wedding #1

I spent Friday and Saturday photographing a very nice wedding. The weather was absolutely stunning which made everything very easy. It was an alternative wedding and so the bride and groom celebrated their marriage through a series of meaningful events, rather than having a traditional celebration. One of the things they did was ask people to write down some advice on some luggage tags for them to take in their marriage suitcase. I came away warmed by the sun, the beautiful location and the delicious lemon polenta cake made by Nina.

Four weeks later

A few spaces still left for The Hinterlands workshop

The Hinterlands workshop is featured on the BJP website today. Head over to the site to read more about it if you're interested in coming along.

Julia blue

I am not there

Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sun on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there; I did not die.

Mary Elizabeth Frye - 1932

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Perhaps a little early, but I've been humming that tune mindlessly for a couple of weeks now whilst editing this little photofilm I produced with my Mike (it's amazing how catchy Christmas songs can be). We decided to do this quick one as it seemed like a really nice festive story. Rather than sending a link round for people to view online, on Wednesday evening we bundled up the projector and and a lap top and headed over to Chepstow to show everyone from the singing group. We all crammed into a small room with a glass of wine and some cake to view it - a really nice way to share the work and a lovely evening. I can definitely recommend marmalade cake if you've never tried it!

New photofilm - Blackdown Yurts

I want to share my first commercial photofilm produced for Blackdown Yurts in Devon. It seems a long time ago that myself and Mike headed down to the Blackdown Hills in the sunny (ish) days of last August to gather the material to make this. This beautiful location is where The Hinterlands workshop will be held in May with training by duckrabbit.

This photofilm was challenging to make as it involves several different voices and noises, needing some serious editing to make it work. As always it's hard finishing a piece off and I think there are parts that could be better, but it's also important to have an end. After seeing and hearing it about a hundred times, scrutinising every tiny detail you become too close to it to see it impartially. It would be lovely to have any feedback, so if you have a spare minute please write me a comment. Thanks ;-).

After the swim

The Hinterlands workshop

So it started with an little idea, what if there was a really great workshop in the heart of the Devon hills where photographers could get together, do some photofilm training with duckrabbit, drink some lovely scrumpy and meet loads of other like minded people all under one big starry sky? Well now there is...

Take a look at The Hinterlands workshop to read more...roll on May.

A treat for the ears

I've just spent several days at the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival - a ten day long retreat for world-class classical musicians to practice their music, perform to the local community, drink wine and eat delicious food.

The musician stay at Treowan House in Monmouthshire for the duration of the festival. The house is an amazingly atmospheric place which seems the perfect venue for music to be played in every available room. Protected from the January winds outside, the musicians practice their instruments together and later perform music at intimate concerts. It's also a place where they can relax from their hectic schedules, see their families and catch up with one another each year.

Having been invited back for the second time I decided to use this opportunity to experiment and make a photofilm. It seemed the perfect situation to combine audio, music and images. I hope to post the results sometime in the near future. Not really knowing Bartók from Beethoven didn't really seem to matter, and the musicians were very nice about my lack of knowledge. Photographing to music being played on hundred year old violins was amazing and having the privilege to hear it in such a unique way was a really wonderful introduction to chamber music.