A Dozen Eggs - Private View

Had a fantastic evening on Thursday, officially 'launching' A Dozen Eggs at Bank Street Arts Gallery. John Clark, the Gallery owner, said that the exhibition had already had some very positive comments (especially the Installation) (the exhibition actually opened to the public on Tuesday), which was really encouraging.

Unfortunately my Mother couldn't attend the exhibition as she is quite poorly (and immobile) in a Care Home, so I promised her that I would make a little video for her to see (which features both the exhibition itself and a few of my sisters who were able to come along). My wife also took a couple of photos of the event, which I have included below.

All in all the evening went superbly well, and the Installation proved to be an enormous success (it was rather pleasing to see that everybody gravitated towards the 'family room' by the end of the evening, being 'drawn' to the comfort of the setting). The way that the images were viewed between the Gallery and the Installation settings was fascinating to see (the former being 'detached' and 'elevated', with the latter creating 'connection' and 'intimacy') and was exactly the kind of reaction that I had intended when I decided to split the exhibition into the two different contexts. I am now really fired up to taking this work further.

A Dozen Eggs - Exhibition Launch

I'm absolutely delighted to announce that after an intense day of setting-up on Monday, my exhibition for A Dozen Eggs opened to the public yesterday at Bank Street Arts gallery in Sheffield. I'm really pleased with the result (and will post a few images of the exhibition after the Private View, scheduled for tomorrow evening).

Elizabeth Underwood (from UnderwoodWorks) has done a marvellous job with the PR, getting features into the Sheffield Telegraph and the Big Issue in the North, as well as onto various websites, such as Arts Council England, Ephotozine, Sheffield Town Talk, and Sheffield's official Tourist Information site. I owe her a debt of gratitude and I hope for some positive reviews after the show.

Jose Navarro, from the Open College of the Arts, is going to be hosting a student visit day within my exhibition, based upon family photography, on 24th November, which I hope lots of people will attend and get the opportunity to comment on my images.

I've already started work on 2 projects that have stemmed from A Dozen Eggs. The first is a collaboration with my mother, who is now in a care home in Salford, exploring aspects of memory and meaning within possessions, and the second is an extension of the family photography album, exploring  the lives of the children (and grandchildren) from those depicted within A Dozen Eggs, thereby creating a visual (and fluid) family tree. I shall post images as the projects develop.

A Dozen Eggs - Exhibition Update

As the exhibition date for A Dozen Eggs draws nearer (12 Nov to 1 Dec 2012), it's really exciting to see that the gallery (Bank Street Arts in Sheffield) has advertised it, with a synopsis and an image (of my brother Graham) for all the world to see.

Even more exciting, the Open College of the Arts have just launched a small video of my work on their blog We Are OCA (developed through Vimeo), with my tutor (Peter Haveland) discussing the development of the project and his thoughts as to its success in achieving my aims. The OCA have been truly amazing in their support, not just with A Dozen Eggs, but during the entire time I spent with them as a student of Photography and Creative Writing. I really cannot recommend them enough.

Gillian Rose Blog

I have been researching opportunities for PhD study for next year and have been very keen on studying with Professor Gillian Rose, from The Open University. Professor Rose's book Doing Family Photography: The Domestic, The Public and The Politics of Sentiment was an enormous influence on the work that I did for A Dozen Eggs, which is to exhibit at Bank Street Arts Gallery in Sheffield between 12th November to 1st December this year.

Whilst trying to find some contact details for Professor Rose, I came across her blog (visualmethodculture.wordpress.com), which is absolutely fascinating and is a well of information and ideas concerning visual cultures. I shall be visiting the blog regularly; I'm sure it will inform a lively debate upon which I can base future practical application for my photography and art.

A Dozen Eggs - Book Now Published

HaVe Photography are pleased to announce the publication of their 3rd book, A Dozen Eggs, looking at the lives of a family of 12 siblings from Salford. The book is published as part of Harry Pearce's final degree show, which includes a 'one-off' Artist Book. An installation, displaying all the images from the book, as well as other imagery and paraphernalia within a family 'living room' setting is planned for the Autumn (details to be advertised in due course). Click on the link above to view the book online.

A Dozen Eggs - Image Update - Margaret

Margaret is 'Egg Number 6' within the Major Project. This photo-shoot was arranged for the Friday morning before the children went back to school. In discussion with Margaret, we decided that the Friday morning offered two possibilities: (1) because she was off work, it would allow me to photograph her daily life (which, in essence, is looking after the house and children), and (2) it was a 'special' moment for her, as her son (Alex - who was due to attend secondary school the next week) was going to try on his school uniform for the first time. I took a variety of shots (in a close-up, reportage style), but the shot below was my favourite, capturing not only the wonderful relationship she has with her son, but also her great sense of fun.

A Dozen Eggs - Image Update - Angela

This was an interesting shoot in that it was very spontaneous; it had not been pre-arranged, but I had my camera with me because I was taking my Mother out for the day at a National Trust garden and I wanted to get some shots of her. Angela decided that she would come along, which I was extremely pleased about as I thought it would be nice to spend some time together (and get some shots of her as well). Angela does amateur dramatics, and therefore plays to the camera a lot; in fact, trying to get her to be completely herself whilst a camera is around is quite difficult. Although I captured a few 'candid' shots (which could only be captured if she really didn't realise I was lining up a shot), I like the image below because of the texture and detail within the image. It is posed (naturally - by Angela - as opposed to any intervention on my part), but this is all part of Angela's character, which I was pleased to document.

A Dozen Eggs - Image Update - Graham

To represent Graham (Egg Number 3) within the Major Project, we decided that rather than any specific 'moment', it should be more of a general portrait session. Graham leads a simple, almost 'introvertive' lifestyle; when he is not working as a fork-lift truck driver, he is found in 'his chair' watching TV or reading a classic car magazine. His main hobby (aside from reading about classic cars or watching F1) is fixing bicycles, which he does from his shed, or on the bench, in the back garden. Other members of the family, when asked how to sum up Graham, have all said, "sitting in his chair, putting the world to rights". This seemed the logical perspective for this shoot. The image below represents Graham as everybody knows him. The image is full of texture and detail, and (as Roland Barthes comments) has a series of punctums for members of the family viewing it - from the graduation picture, to the photograph of the dog, to the yellow plate on the bookshelf - details of familiar items, bought and gifted by others who are the focus of this project.

A Dozen Eggs - Image Update - Self-Portrait

This has been, by far, the most difficult part of my project. How to represent oneself! I have discussed this in detail within my written logbook, so I won't dwell too much on it here, but self-representation is a very difficult thing to do. As well as challenges with the shooting itself, there are a myriad of decisions that need to be taken into consideration, mainly in terms of how I fit into this project successfully. I am, by its very nature, the only one of the 'eggs' that has made a conscious decision to create an album representing myself to others, and the decision of 'intimacy' and 'how much to reveal about myself' is a consciously slow and purposeful act. It is something I will be working on over the next few months. I have included a couple of shots below as a starter. These represent precious moments that I have at home - playing with the dog and enjoying a coffee on a Sunday morning - simple pleasures that are rare in my life because my work keeps me away from home for 5 out of 7 days.

A Dozen Eggs - Image Update - Mother

I recently shot some images of my Mother, for my major OCA project - A Dozen Eggs. Whilst the images will not be going into the final project itself, one image will be used for the 'cover' of the project (as a representation of 'Mother Hen'). I have chosen the following shot, which was a candid shot taken in the grounds of Speke Hall in Liverpool:

My ideas for representation of the project (which may well change) is currently as follows:

1. A large eggbox (for a dozen eggs) will be used as the 'case' for the images. This will have the project title (etc) (as well as the image of my Mother, shown above) on the top of the box.

2. Each sibling (egg) will be represented by five images chosen from a selection of images shot to represent a specific 'moment' in the individual's life.

3. Each sibling will write a short account of the images, which will be included as an introduction to their 'section'.

4. The images will be contained within a small folder - the likes of those given by street-side photo-labs. This represents the 'snapshot' nature of the family album. Each folder will contain 6 'eggs'.

5. The images will be developed as 4"x6" prints (as per the 'family snapshot' of old). These will be C-Type Metallic prints, published for this project as a 'one-off Portfolio Edition'.

In addition to my Mother, I have shot the images for myself as well as 2 brothers (Godfrey and Steven) and 1 sister (Linda). Over the next few days I am planning a further 2 shoots, with 6 more to follow over the next couple of months.