Beyond the Line – Salisbury Hospital

Week three of the project, and for the first time we were able to go outside to take photographs. It's a fascinating site – a mix of new build and the old single story brick air base buildings. We found some good spots in the alleys connecting the two – bright primary NHS house colours alongside cast iron pipes and old brick just glowing in the soft light of an overcast Wiltshire…

Have just written to Manfrotto to see if they will lend the project some tripods and pistol grip ball and socket heads to make our photographers less dependent on me setting up the shots….

Relays – Art of Sport workshops

Just completed the last of these workshops on Friday. 2000 school kids, 300 RELAYS student volunteers, about 20 artists, three film crews (one on a cherry picker), a mayor, a choir, two Olympic athletes and a couple of very forbearing Olympic mascots – just as well it was chilly or they would have been walking around in personal saunas, given the amount of padding in the suits.

Great fun just to see the excitement this whole olympic thing generates, and hats off to Virgina Bailey of RELAYs who organised the show. We (thanks again to my three student helpers) ran workshops getting the various school groups out photographing the sport, the art, the grass, each other, and mocking up newspaper front pages with the images…

right – what's next…?

Student Success

Just heard one of my City & Guilds students has had an image bought and published by the Daily Mirror in February… Graham submitted work through Demotix, who managed to place it.

Salisbury Hospital – Spinal Unit

Just heard I'm going to be working with the Spinal Unit on a photography project leading up to the paralympics…. Can't wait to get started!

More about the project here…

Relays Sports Leader

Had a great session last Friday in the new indoor Tennis Centre at Wey College in Weymouth. RELAYS are training young people to run and facilitate sports events around the South West in the build up to the Olympics. We worked with groups from two schools exploring camera skills and how to take great sports photos, then covered a three hour event of a range of indoor sports in the afternoon. Wonderful soft lighting from the translucent roof – just like being inside a huge softbox. A bit chilly, but some excellent photos.

There may be scope to extend this workshop to younger groups, and teachers – watch this space…

"RELAYS aims to inspire young people and their communities to participate in, create and promote cultural and sporting activities; engaging the region with the London 2012 Games and creating a lasting legacy beyond 2012."

Photo Echo website up and running…

It's still a bit rough around the edges (default Wp install and free template), but the site for the Photography/ESOL project is up – and thanks to Sunnie has its first article on shopping in England.

Have a look, spread the word… - www.photoecho.co.uk

Photography and Environmental Art for the Visually Impaired

Great feedback from our first trial session at Holton Lee – on a rather chilly afternoon in early December. Despite the weather, we were able to trial some approaches which were well received, exploring a sensory approach to the landscape through touch and photography. It was good to have Tim and his wife from BSVI to help and document the event.