Nemesis. 31st March.

So today I have another iPhone photograph for you, mainly because I was at Alton Towers.. which isn't a very camera-friendly place! I have to admit, I am a little bit of a thrill-seeker even though the rides at Alton Towers do not excite me as much as they should, I probably need to go to america and experience one of the theme parks out there. I do like theme parks though, they are interesting, people wonder round holding massive teddies they have won, rollercoasters stand as twisted lumps of metal, and greenery and props create scenes to excite the imagination. I would love to go to a theme park for a day with my camera and just capture life within the gates of the park, I think it would make for an interesting project.

Enlarged. 30th March.

This morning I was working in the darkroom on prints of the film which I shot today. I was in there with a group of other photographers, I love working in the darkroom and it's great to gain feedback on your prints an share opinions on other peoples prints! I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with traditional printing, but it is amazing when you print a perfect photograph and know that you had hand crafted it!

Headstock and the Awkward Noise collective exhibition. 29th March.

I've been out shooting more film today with my group, we've been shooting portraits to use as part of our collective exhibition on the 25th-29th June. Our collective is called Awkward Noise and we are all currently working on independent projects which we shall be showcasing alongside each other. It's exciting as we watch each other's ideas form and come to life, I'm going to be shooting like crazy over the next few weeks, it's exciting, I love it! More information will come about the exhibition over the weeks leading up to the exhibition, so keep checking this blog, twitter or facebook for updates!

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/TheRuthJones

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RuthJonesPhotography

Wind turbines on the riverside. 28th March.

I have been taking photos today, but sadly I do not have anything to show you as I've been shooting on film... so I've uploaded an iPhone snapshot of a river which I drive past all the time (I didn't photograph this whilst driving though). I have been in the studio with a few other photographers and we were shooting a number of portraits with a few different cameras; we first shot with the Holga, a camera which I have a love hate relationship with depending on the quality of the Negatives, I then used the Bronica, a camera which I love using (although I prefer a Mamyia and it's 6x7 negative format), and then I did a shot on the 5x4 pinhole camera. Developing these tomorrow and hopefully scanning them too, so keep tuned to see the results!

Summer on the Island. 27th March.

I was out shooting for my project about The English today, this is a quick phone snapshot as I was shooting with the Mamyia on film (so I can't upload it right now!). I shot at a couple of locations today, a country park and a housing development, so they are very different types of location... but I am hoping that the photographs will be strong when put side by side. 

Mamyia. 25th March.

So recently I've been shooting with a beautiful beast of a camera, the Mamyia RZ67, it produces slightly larger than medium format negatives (6x7), so pretty great for landscape and portrait photography! I've been using this for my current project about the English and how we live, the negatives are amazing quality when scanned in and it is an exciting piece of kit to use. 

I can't lie, it is a very hefty piece of kit, especially when you have a tripod, lenses and a digital SLR to cart round... but it does make me feel like a legitimate photographer rather than someone who just sees a photo and takes a snapshot of it on their phone. Cameras like the Mamyia take time to use, they make you focus on creating the perfect shot, that's one of the reasons why I love these cameras so much.

Life On The Riverbank. 24th Marh.

I was walking along the Peterborough Embankment today and due to the lovely weather there were quite a few people out biking, walking, boating etc... There were these people sitting outside their boat sunbathing and relaxing in the weather, I thought it would make a great snapshot to capture the day and the way that us British embrace the weather. 

Ad-Apt. 23rd March.

I was photographing a concert tonight at Kingsgate Peterborough. LZ7 & Ad-Apt were the guys performing, they are really great at what they do and it's always a pleasure when I have the chance to photograph them!

Here's a video for LZ7's latest single supporting the A21 campaign:

Daytime at the Fair. 22nd March.

There's a fair in my city at the moment, people only usually see fairs at night when everything's open and it's bustling with people. The fairground has a completely different atmosphere in the daytime; a few people walk about the grounds chatting together, on a couple of rides there are men checking the mechanics, some girls play together on one of the "£2 for 5minutes" trampolines, and dogs sit next to the caravans gnawing on bones. It's a friendly environment, it feels a bit like a morning at a festival, it's a community of people who travel and live a really unique way of life. 

So today I visited the fairground armed with the Mamyia with a roll of colour 120 film and captured the people and the environment which they call "home". 



Empty House. 21st March.

Houses are interesting, most of them represent people, reflect the lives of dwellers and provide an environment which people find secure. Sometimes you find houses which are blank canvasses or torn paintings which used to contain an identity but now have been stripped of it, this house is one of them.

The Open Barn. 20th March.

Hidden in the Corner. 19th March.

I found this gas mask hidden in the corner of my shed today, I have no idea how long it's been their for, or why it's there. A simple small object like this gas mask could have so many stories to tell, stories which we will never know. 

The Shire Horse Show. 18th March.

Today I was shooting at the Shire Horse Show, this is for the new project I'm working on. The show is held at the East of England showground in peterborough, there were horse events, stalls, and dog agility events so I thought it would be a really great event to shoot for my documentary. I was working with medium format film today, so I only took a few digital images as instant reference images (this photograph being one of them). I love shooting with film, especially medium/large format, as you find yourself really considering each show and composition in depth. Hopefully I'll be getting the film developed tomorrow, so I'm rather excited about that!

Polluted Darkness. 17th March.

Recently I've been realising how much of our night skies are polluted. It is immensely hard to see the stars or constellations as the sky is lit up, I miss the darkness sometimes, even though sometimes it may feel eerie, darkness is beautiful and peaceful most of the time. I would love light pollution to become a thing of the past, it is now hard to appreciate the beautiful wonder of a full night sky or a moment of pure darkness.

Duncan. 16th March.

Today I was carrying on the portrait project which I started yesterday. A subject which I found today was a man called Duncan, he was quite interesting to photograph and he even gave us a small rendition of his favourite song to sing at Kareoke!

Ric. 15th March.

I have been rather active today! I was with fellow photographer Jac Rudduck and we were working on a portrait series. This series captures people we meet on the city streets, one person we met today was Ric, we talked to him and bought him into our studio and then took a number of portraits of him. He was one of the most interesting people and it was a pleasure to photograph him. I'm going to be out doing this tomorrow too, so I'm definitely looking forward to meeting even more people!

http://jacrudduck.blogspot.com/ 

The Street Diner. 14th March.

Cheap Perfume. 13th March.

This bottle of cheap faded perfume was sitting on one of my shelves; it reminded me of when I was a young teenager getting "glammed up" for a party and putting on the crazy make-up, the garish clothes, the cheap perfume.... It was all taken so seriously, maybe a little bit too seriously.

Receiving. 12th March.

Almost every house in the UK is connected to an invisible network, through aerials, dishes, cables we all receive information which is now a major influence on how we live our lives.

In other news.. I was going to shot at Emmaus today, but the shoot had to be cancelled, so I won't be shooting there until next week now. I am shooting for my new project, which is a study on England and the English, on Sunday at a horse show. I am quite excited about this. I'm going out with the Mamyia and a few rolls of colour 120, I love Medium Format photography, it brings a whole new dimension of quality into photographs!

The Fan. 10th March.

New Project: How the English Life. 10th March.

I have been out at the local country-park today, Ferry Meadows. You may have seen on my twitter/facebook that I have now started working on a new project which is going to be exhibited for the first time in June/July. This project is exploring the English and how we live and spend our time. It's exciting and I am very much looking forward to developing it. 

Today I had my first test shoot, I am currently finding locations and this park is a great one, I found these lads playing football and asked them for a portrait after taking a few shots of them playing, they were great! 

Caged. 9th march.

Fire. 8th March.

Some say the world will end in fire, 

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favour fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice. 

Fire and Ice - Robert Frost

Through a door. 7th March.

I saw this door today, it was quite interesting as the building it belonged to was an old mobile office/classroom. The door of it was open and it felt like through the door there were many interesting things to explore and discover. 

I am also starting to love Instagram, it's a great app, although it has made me want to experiment with my Holga and film more so that I can actually produce these styles and techniques by hand!

Doris. 6th March.

I had another trip to Emmaus Cambridge today, I went in the evening this time though, so instead of interrupting people whilst they were working I could spend time with them doing things which they enjoy to do. I spent most of my evening with the band from Emmaus whilst they were practicing, it's a four piece band, 2xGuitar, Bass, Drums and Vocals, and from my evening I can say they were pretty good! The guy who heads it up is Doris, he's helped each of the band members with learning their instruments and successfully bought them all together as a tight band. I have recorded a couple of videos of them playing, so I'll upload them in the near future.

http://www.emmauscambridge.org/  

Apple for an iPhone. 5th march.

Today I became the owner of an iPhone! It's quite exciting because they are the new compact cameras, many photographers use them as a piece of their equipment so that they can document moments and take snapshots. I have even seen a number of photographers use iPhones as main cameras to produce photographic projects. I've downloaded the instagram app, a photographic application which lets users take vintage-style photographs and share them with other users. There are hundreds of different ways to use an iPhone photographically, and I look forward to exploring this in the future.

At the cross. 4th March.

27 Million Tour & A ladybird. 3rd March.

I was in my garden earlier and saw this ladybird, I thought it would make an interesting photograph as it shows how us, humans, are not the only inhabitants of our gardens, but gardens are actually teaming with hundreds of different life forms!

Yesterday Matt & Beth Redman and LZ7 came to my church, Kingsgate. The concert was part of the 27million tour, 27 million is a song which has been written to raise awareness of human trafficking and the fact that there are 27 million slaves in the world. The song/tour are supporting the A21 charity, it is such a great charity and I highly recommend that you check it out!

27 Million iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/twenty-seven-million/id500399945?i=500399948

A21: http://www.thea21campaign.org/

Here are a few photos from the night, for more visit my facebook page

(http://www.facebook.com/RuthJonesPhotography)

The Facade. 2nd March.

I shot for a portrait series titled "The Facade" today. Each of my sitters had a piece of glass infront of their face, this glass represents the shield that people put up when they are infront of a camera or around people who they are not comfortable with. I asked each of my sitters to draw a face which represents the facade they put on when they are in uncomfortable or unfamiliar situations.

Thankyou to my sitters:

Tara Tilley: http://taratilleyphotography.blogspot.com/

Joanne Cream: http://joannecreamphotography.blogspot.com/

Chloe Baronowski: http://chloeamberbaronowski.blogspot.com/

Jac Rudduck: http://jacrudduck.blogspot.com/

Crystal Brook: http://www.artbreak.com/crystalbrook

St.David's Day. 1st March.

Happy St.David's Day everyone!