News items - ffoton

Ffoton went along to the recent launch of the Common Ground collaborative exhibition at the Wales Millennium Centre by Scottish Collective Document Scotland and Welsh Collective A Fine Beginning. We grabbed a few minutes with representatives Colin McPherson and James O Jenkins, of the Scottish and Welsh Collectives respectively, to get a little more insight to the exhibition and discuss some of their own recent photography work.

Document Scotland

Document Scotland

Document Scotland

A Fine Beginning

A Fine Beginning

A Fine Beginning

Document Scotland

A Fine Beginning

A Fine Beginning

Common Ground runs until Sunday April 10th at the Wales Millennium Centre - read more about the event on our South Wales events page.

Part of the exhibition space in the Atkinson gallery in Southport.

Tim Collier. Image © Emyr Young

A year-long collaboration with his brother Mike and three others, the project began life as a series of walks which developed into a ‘walking symposium’ along the Sefton Coastal Footpath in 2014 and led by natural historian John Dempsey from the Sefton Coast Landscape Partnership.

The resulting exhibition ran from 15th August to the 15th November 2015 at the Atkinson gallery in Southport. As part of his contribution to the project, Tim' work provided studies of the ornithological heritage of the Sefton Coast seen through the eyes of a keen birdwatcher. Mike Collier incorporated illustrations and texts from historical family guide books about local flora. Jake Campbell’s poetry weaves together a range of social and natural history heritage themes from the area; and sound artists Rob Strachan and Sam Wiehl created a new audio-visual work drawing upon a fusion of contemporary recorded sound from the coast, highlighting the key role that memory plays in framing our sense of place and of self. Additionally, each artist contributed their own written Essay for inclusion in the resulting book and available for download online via the project website.

Enjoy the conversation below. We did. And we came away, once again, inspired by a very talented and passionate photographer.

To find our more detail on the background and content of the exhibition, and the excellent book available to purchase, visit the website www.ghosts-of-the-restless-shore.co.uk 

See more of Tim's work on his personal website www.timcollierphotography.com and follow him on Twitter @timcollier58

Making the return to University studies after the Summer break can be exhilarating and challenging in equal measure for most second year students, but Cardiff-based Craig Redmond also juggles his airport flight schedules as an environmental and ethical wildlife photojournalist.

From 'Mountain Ponies at Night' © 2015 Craig Redmond

With a passion for animal protection, extending this into photojournalism has long been an interest for Craig and formalising a Degree qualification to specialise in this as a career is his goal. He has recently exhibited his Brecon Ponies at Night images as part of the Ffoton Wales landscape exhibition in collaboration with No.18 in Crickhowell - one of which was Commended in the Sony 2015 World Photography Awards from over 170,000 entries.

We spoke with Craig about his environmental volunteer work, University studies and photography. Enjoy!

Craig's Photojournalism work: www.craigredmondphotos.co.uk and Wildlife: www.fruitbatphotography.com

Follow him on Twitter @CraigPhotoJ_USW

Links...

University of South Wales - BA (Hons) Photojournalism website

Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) http://www.komitee.de/en/homepage

'Emptying the Skies' - film about CABS' work. Watch the Trailer on YouTube

Photographer Jon Pountney at his launch event.

This last weekend saw the official launch of Jon Pountney's God Forgive Me exhibition at the rather splendid Redhouse Cymru in Merthyr Tydfil and we went along to have a look.

God Forgive Me is one artist's interpretation on the dark legacy of Robert Thompson Crawshay - described as the Iron King of Wales and owner of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks in the industrial town of Merthyr through the nineteenth century.

Jon has used photography - including some lovely Cyanotypes - amongst other mixed media works in the exhibition. The audio below is our recording of the Q&A at the end of the launch event - with questions fielded by the artist in his own inimitable way!

God Forgive Me runs until Monday 7th December at Redhouse Cymru in the centre of Merthyr Tydfil.

Photography by Francesca Jones & Brian Carroll

Images © Hannah Saunders & Peter Evans

Running from 10 - 18th October, Made in Roath 2015 has joined forces with Jon Pountney and Fotofringe Wales to stage a number of photography exhibits with various photographers and venues around the Roath area of Cardiff. The full listings of photography events and venues can be found on the Made in Roath website.

We grabbed a drink and chat on the opening weekend with Hannah Saunders and Peter Evans in the Roath Park Pub on City Road to discuss their involvement and the work they'll be showing through the week of Made in Roath.

Hannah's 'A Hyena in a Petticoat' show is currently in the Sherman Theatre on Senghennydd Road and Peter's 'Bradford PA' is on the walls of the lounge bar in the Roath Park pub on City Road.

You can listen to a One Image story behind one of Hannah's images here; and one of Peter's here

cargocollective.com/hannahlouisesaunders  On Twitter @saundershannah

www.petetakespictures.com   On Twitter @petetakespics

Work by Eleri Griffiths on the walls at Littleman Coffee in Cardiff

Work by Eleri Griffiths on the walls at Littleman Coffee in Cardiff

To give some background as to why we worked with the great team at The Littleman Coffee Co. in Cardiff to stage our first modest Ffoton Wales Exhibition, just listen to head honcho Rob Cooper. Says it all really.

With a life-long interest in Wales' wild flora and plants, retired Botanist Alan Hale now spends much of his time examining both the wild and relaxed life of Aberystwyth and the surrounding area through photography.

A selection of Alan's work is currently on show in Aberystwyth's Gas Gallery until 5th September and you can find out more about Alan via his website www.alanhale.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @alanhalephoto

Alan Hale speaking with Ffoton Wales at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
Image © Glyn Shakeshaft

Botanegwyr wedi ymddeol yw Alan Hale a diddordeb mawr ym myd Natur Cymru. Y mae ffotograffiaeth yn chwarae rhan bwysig ym mywyd Alan ers ei ymddeoliad. Gellir gweld gwaith Alan yng ngaleri Nwy Aberystwyth. Y mae'r arddangosfa yw gweld tan y 5ed o Fedi. Gallwch wrth gwrs ddarganfod mwy amdano trwy ei wefan www.alanhale.co.uk ac ar twitter @alanhalephoto

Having previously worked as an Archivist in photography and the moving image at the National Library of Wales, Iestyn Hughes continues his passion for Archiving and his own photography in retirement. We discuss Iestyn's current photography and book projects. 

Find out more about Iestyn via his website www.atgof.co and follow him on Twitter @Traedmawr

Archivist and photographer Iestyn Hughes speaking with Ffoton Wales at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
Image © Glyn Shakeshaft

Yr oedd Iestyn yn gweithio fel archifydd yn adran ffotograffig y Llyfrgell Genedlaethol tan ei ymddeoliad ac ers hynny wedi cael amser i ddatblygu ei dalent ffotograffig. Yn y cyfweliad mae Iestyn yn trafod ei waith a'r llyfr ar Geredigion bydd yn gweld golau dydd cyn hir. Gallwch wrth gwrs ddarganfod mwy amdano trwy ei wefan www.atgof.co.uk ac ar twitter @Traedmawr

Gallery Images © Alan Hale © Iestyn Hughes  :  Interviewee images © Glyn Shakeshaft 

Edinburgh. © Brian Carroll

Brian Carroll met with Alastair in Edinburgh to have a relaxed conversation about Documenting Britain, wet plate and Alastair's many projects in the visual arts here in the UK and Internationally. 

See below for a small gallery of Alastair's wet plate collodion tintypes (alumitypes) from his McArthur’s Store series. Images © Alastair Cook. Last artist portrait by Carl Radford.

And here's Alastair's video of 'World Wet Plate Day 2010' mentioned in our conversation: the spark that made him explore the Collodion process for future projects.

You can find out more about Alastair's photography, film and other projects on his website www.alastaircook.com and follow him on Twitter @AlastairCook

Links from the conversation:
Street Level Photoworks
Stills Gallery
Documenting Britain on Instagram
Film Poem 
Fèis Monochrome
John Brewer - Wet Plate 
Katie Cook - Heyoka on Flickr / katiecooke.com

Ani Saunders at home in Cardiff. © Brian Carroll

Artist, musician and photographer Ani Saunders is showing her first photography exhibition 'Cardiff to the See' of monochrome images featuring the architecture and streets of Cardiff.

Ffoton Wales spoke with Ani about her style, influences and the growing importance of photography in her work. 

Cardiff to the See is currently showing in ARTEAS Cafe, 591 Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff (opposite the entrance to Victoria Park) until 23rd August 2015.

You can follow Ani on Twitter @AniSaunders and her Blog www.cardifftothesee.com

Making our way to the Philip Jones Griffiths exhibition in the National Library of Wales

Celebrating the work of Wales' most important photographer, the new exhibition in the National Library of Wales displays some of Philip Jones Griffiths' most iconic images alongside a selection of his cameras, correspondence and personal belongings.

Ffoton Wales planned a weekend trip to Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion around the exhibition launch in Aberystwyth and were pleased to attend the official exhibition reception on Saturday 27th June and record the opening speeches by Dr Aled Gruffudd Jones,Chief Executive and National Librarian; Lord Dafydd Wigley and Katherine Holden, daughter of Philip Jones Griffiths.

We're pleased to present the audio from this important event below, and highly recommend visiting this fantastic exhibition which is open now and ends 12th December 2015.

Prior to the official opening, Ffoton Wales were given a sneak preview of the exhibition by Will Troughton, Curator at the National Library and he also kindly took time out in a very busy day to talk with us about planning, the work on show and the importance of Philip Jones Griffiths in the wider photographic world and the Magnum Photo Agency where he served as President for five years.

Will Troughton, Curator of the Philip Jones Griffiths Exhibition at the National Library of Wales.
Image © Glyn Shakeshaft