A photo-tour of Southbank and Westminster. 3rd November.

I have the weekend off, so I have been able to do my own thing on this rather beautiful but chilly day! Onto the DLR I hopped to get myself into central London to do some shooting. The problem with taking photos in London is that there are so many things to take photos of I need to plan what I am actually going to focus on photographing. 

My focus for today was South Bank skate park; a skate park which has interested me over the years, it has been something I've always wanted to delve into... so today and last wednesday were perfect times for me to delve away!

Daniel was just mending his bike when I asked him for his portrait, he was doing some pretty sick moves before I took this photo though ('scuse the street lingo!).

After spending a bit of time meeting great people and taking photos at the skate park I headed down the embankment; I was astonished to find a number of people clutching Ice Creams, it was such a cold day.. far too cold for Ice Cream!

Jubilee Gardens (a green space next to the London Eye) has had a make-over and I have never really had the chance to walk through it, so I had a nosey and then perched upon a small hill and watched the Street Performers from afar. I was quite disappointed with two performers who's act was the Cha Cha slide and the dance to Gangham Style, not overly original... it was great to see people joining in though!

Westminster Bridge was crammed, but amongst all the hustle and bustle I found this man pushing a cart full of souvenirs he had been selling.

Thought I'd check out Parliment Square to see if there were any protests going on, and indeed there was one small protest about wanting Democracy in Lybia. The passion and enthusiasm of the people protesting and shouting the chants was quite inspiring.

After my little photo-journey around Southbank/Westminster I headed to Kings Cross to meet Sarah Page, a friend of mine who is a Photographer/Filmmaker, she was in London for the weekend filming part of a documentary she was making. It was great to meet up with her and catch up with all she's been doing and I was able to share with her a little about what I've been doing. 

London can be such a lonely place despite the fact it is full of people, so it has been nice to see a familiar face!

Sarah Page: www.sarahkathleenpage.co.uk/

www.ruthjones.org

www.facebook.com/ruthjonesphotography

www.twitter.com/theruthjones

The Burger Van Project. 19th October.

Possible new project: Photographing burger vans that I stumble upon during my travels. My Dad used to run a burger van and still uses it for catering events, so maybe that is what has interested me in this subject! I'll see how it goes, so watch this space!

The Fenland Roaster. 21st September.

This is my Dad and Matt, one of the guys who sometimes works for my dad. My Dad's business is the Fenland Roaster, he does hog roasts, lamb roasts and any other roast you could imagine as well as a load of other catering options. This means whenever I eat with my parents the meal is almost always going to incorporate some kind of leftovers from a previous job, I won't complain though as his cooking is great!

http://www.thefenlandroaster.co.uk/

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/  

Emmaus shoot 2. 27th February.

I visited the Emmaus Community in Cambridge for the second time today, it was a great visit as I was more familiar with the surroundings and the people there. I got to chat to a few of the guys who live there, I learnt a little bit about their stories and how they came to live at Emmaus. I'm going back next week to spend some time with the community in the Evening, they have a band practice and I am really looking forward to photographing that. 

This documentary is great and I am really enjoying working on it and starting it, I hope you are all looking forward to seeing it expand!

Don McCullin Shaped by War exhibition and London underground portraits. 9th February.

I went to London today with a group of photographers, we went to see the Don McCullin and Ori Gersht exhibitions. I took a few tube-based portraits of my colleagues as an idea for a future piece of work, I find the symmetry of underground station walkways interesting. 

The Don McCullin exhibition was amazing, it's currently at the Imperial War Museum and I highly recommend it. I found myself  connect to the subjects in the photographs when I looking at the exhibition, McCullin's work perfectly captures the emotions and moments which a war environment contains. The prints in the exhibition were all hand printed, the dodging and burning of each photograph carefully done to produce the perfect print. The exhibition finished with his latest work, some of which are his landscapes, I personally see his landscape work as the peace he is finding after being so involved in war environments, his landscapes still contain hints of conflict and drama, displayed through how he captures and prints them. I find McCullin's work inspiring and insightful, he is a photographer who has left a great legacy for photographers like my to look up to. 

Mark, the bike salesman. 8th February.

I was working on my forgotten shops portrait series today, it was hard to find shops in my city which had been around for as long as I can remember, but I found this little cycle and motor shop which I can remember being around from when I was a child. I walk past it all the time, but today I actually realised it was there for the first time in years. The man in this shop, Mark, was a great character and I found him to be the perfect subject for a portrait.

Rockingham Rapper Dancers. 30th December.

Today was my brother's 21st birthday, he decided to celebrate this by having a party! He is part of a rapper sword dance team (rockingham rapper), this dance style is commonly seen at folk festivals across the uk. He did a couple of dances with the team during the night and I think that the motion of the dance is something which is so hard to capture in just a photograph. 

The Carpark. 29th December.

As I said yesterday, I was in Lincoln today and we parked in a multi-storey car park in Lincoln. I had to photograph it as it reminded me of a scene which would fit right into a film noir style film as it was quite drab, no one was there and only every other light worked. I had to photograph it! I may have to visit it sometime in the future as I think that it would be a great location for a portrait.

I worked more on my forgotten shops project today, it was very hard to find people who would agree to be photographed. I have produced about four strong portraits from the day which I shall let you all see sometime over the next few days! I am really enjoying this project as I am meeting loads of new people and it is just very fun. I enjoy talking and interacting with people who I do not know and I think that these interactions are something which the British society is sadly starting to loose.

David. 19th of December.

I had my last shoot of the month for my Schools at Home project as it's Christmas time and most families are wanting to spend the time together and take time out from giving children structured lessons! The family I visited today were the Davies family, It was great spending some time with them and photographing them. In the photograph is David, he enjoys making models and he is holding a model shed he made which was quite impressive. The whole family are quite creative and I highlighted that through the photographs I took today. The project is really starting to lift off and I am excited about seeing it develop in the long term!

The Stephens Family. 13th December.

I had another shoot for the Schools at Home project today, I have one more left before Christmas! This shoot was great, the family was wonderful. They have a very relaxed and autonomous approach to education but encourage the children to learn by doing activities and reading etc... I am very happy with the shoot and am so excited about the fact that the project is really starting to develop and come to life! 

I am also currently working on my website, it's going to be a lot different to what it was previously, but I am developing it so it can really showcase my portfolio. I am hoping to have it done by Christmas.

A C Ostler Garden Centre. 29th November.

So today I started working on a new documentary project, where I take portraits of people who work in small independent shops. These shops are the ones that our towns and villages rely on, they are the ones that some people take for granted as they have "always been there", people may not even notice them. Recently I have watched a number of these independent shops close due to either retirement or not being able to live up to competition, this made me want to capture the small British independent shops as there is always a possibility that they will be taken over by clinical commercial large scale retailers. 

One shop which I can remember from my childhood is a Garden Centre called A C Ostler, it sells everything! Toys, Kitchen Utensils, Garden Tools, Plugs, Christmas Decorations (when it's christmas!), Clothes Dyes... the list is endless!  I know that this Garden Centre may not be around forever, I hope that it is, but it is one of the many shops which would be missed if it did have to leave our high street.

I shall update this album during the production of this series: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150983027765046.767614.407058550045&type=1

Flower of Light. 24th of November.

Here is a flower, not a normal flower, it's a flower of light... the normal eye can't see it, but the camera can!

Today I have been researching into and planning my new project, a series of photographs documenting home education families in England. I was home educated up until the age of 16 and I absolutely loved it and benefited from it a lot, this subject is something I am passionate about and I am really excited to start working on this project! I will keep you informed whilst I am working on it!