However it means finding the motivation to sit down and write up a simple blog post isn't a priority. Instead I've been out doing a lot living and a lot of shooting. And eventually I got all those rolls of films developed. And now I'm overwhelmed with how much I have to blog about.
There is one thing that I am determinedly finding the time to sit and blog about though and that's my participation in another exhibition. My second of the last few months! How exciting.
It wouldn't have been possible without the help of two people to tell the truth. Firstly if it hadn't been for my boyfriend ending up as something of a co-curator I doubt I would have gotten involved in this exhibition. He was asked to help out and from there he pretty much said I had to submit something for it. So I was lumped into a Facebook chat where I received the very vague brief for the exhibition. You see the exhibition itself was a part of a music festival that was due to take place here in Manchester called A Carefully Planned Festival. I brainstormed, I came up with ideas, I came up with action plans. But one night on Flickr and a link to a piece of work I admired led to an excited boyfriend suggesting I try something similar.
And that brings me to the second person I owe thanks to. You see the other month I began going to a photography group called 'InCamera Arts' run by the lovely Jenn Brookes and it was her Flickr that I shared with the boyfriend. I really like the way Jenn experiments with destroying her films using various methods and the beautiful results she gets from doing so. In particular one shot caught my eye and it was this shot that led to my boyfriend excitedly encouraging me to try a similar technique.
I mean how amazing is that? Those colours are just insane. You couldn't replicate them at all. Jenn's dedication to experimentation has left her with a pretty niche style and I really admire her work. Now kindly enough Jenn shared her technique with me so I could try this for myself. I won't post it here in detail but will say it involves soaking the film in lemon juice. I should also say she kindly developed my destroyed films as well for which I'm eternally grateful.
So one day I went out on a great big walk of Manchester with a list of shots I definitely wanted to get and some general ideas of what I wanted to shoot. Having been given something of a brief for the exhibition I wanted to make sure my work somewhat related to it. I planned to shoot the venues involved as well as some iconic Manchester buildings and sights. After two rolls of film I believed I'd shot everything I could shoot and now it was time to experiment. Following Jenn's guidance I carefully destroyed my films. And from 60 carefully destroyed shots, here's the final 9 I presented.
My own version of the birds flying was directly inspired by Jenn's but mine doesn't work half as well as hers for sure. To tell the truth as much as I enjoy the shots I don't think they compare to what Jenn produces so her crown as Queen of film destroying is firmly in place. Quite frankly my shots pale in comparison to her work so if you want to see how film destroying is really done then check out Jenn's Flickr or her website.
As for my future in experimentation. Well maybe I'll try this again sometime but I don't think I'll make it a regular thing. I do have some other experiments I want to give a go and if I ever get round to them then I'll try share them here. But for now, well actually I'm having a bit of a quiet period of not shooting at the moment but when I do make my return then I'll stick to what I do best. Whatever that is.
So thanks again to the boyfriend and Jenn. I couldn't have done it without either of you. To anyone still reading this blog then as always feedback is appreciated.
Laters,
P x
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