GradAcad day 20: The Spring Project wrap up and a fond farewell. 20th July.

So today was our final day with D&AD Graduate Academy, so the mood was a little bit sombre at the start of the day. The programme today was very fitting, 25 days ago we all came together as strangers and were introduced to Darius and Andrew from the Spring Project, we did not realise how powerful the Spring Project would be.. to be honest, the first session with the Spring Project made me feel quite weird, as there were a lot of long silences and "deep" conversations; but 25 days later we found prolonged silences comfortable and "deep" conversations easy to get into. So as our final GradAcad brief and also as a thank you to Darius and Andrew, we worked in groups to come up with concepts which would encourage people to go on Spring Project programmes. 

We pitched back our ideas, they were all great an really unique. I was pretty impressed with the concepts we generated within the space of 45minutes, it has really proved how much we have developed as a group within the past month. 

On our first day, which was also our first day with the Spring Project, we had to go out in small teams and do creative acts of kindness.. that was great fun and a little bit challenging. Today we all formed one big team and went out together to do a big creative act of kindness, this was to find out the name of one person and to have all of us say "Hello *insert name" to them.. this was great fun and I loved the reactions of the people we interacted with. I recorded interviews with the people after they had all the hello's said to them, so I shall edit them and post them up a little bit later on!

So, a massive thank you to Darius and Andrew for laying on an amazing Spring Project programme for us, I never realised how much I could learn from them... it was a great experience!

http://www.springproject.co.uk/

Most of us went out for a Vietnemese meal at the end of the day, it was great just chilling with everyone at the end of the Graduate Academy. We have all gelled so well together, we came from a really wide range of disciplines and formed a strong collaborative group. Not going to lie, I will miss these guys, but I'd like to think that we will see each other again and work together in the future! 

It's been a great journey, thank you Kati & Lottie and all the sponsors and agencies. 

#GradAcad

www.dandad.org/talent/graduate-academy

www.ruthjones.org

www.facebook.com/ruthjonesphotography

GradAcad day 19: Zed Nelson, Mother and The Park Study. 19th July.

Today was left quite free to allow people to recover from last nights party. I decided to do a little bit of shooting for The Park Study, which went alright until it started raining. But  I did meet this little squirrel, who was very friendly.. probably because he wanted food or something!

This afternoon GradAcad had a session at Mother with Sam Payne, there is a little exhibition inside the Atrium at Mother by Zed Nelson and it is about the transformation of Hackney, as it used to be seen as a dodgy gang-ridden borough of London, but now it has transformed into the trendy hipster part of the city. The series explores the merging of gang culture and hipster life within Hackney, it is titled "The Tale of Two Cities" and rightfully so as it explores two very different cultures which can both be found within Hackney. Another reason why I found the series so interesting is because I have been living in Hackney for the past month, I recognised a few of the places and also found out that a girl had been shot through the window of a fast food shop just round the corner from where I am staying, so it is a little bit haunting. 

I definitely recommend that you check out Zed Nelson's work: http://zednelson.com/

Our session with Sam Payne was great, he talked all about Lies Vs. Culture, so how adverts can either lie to sell their product or they could be culturally accurate so that their product appeals to the right audience. It was really interesting and the things which I learnt were easily transferable into my own photographic work. So thank you Mother and Sam Payne! 

http://www.motherlondon.com/

#GradAcad

www.dandad.org/talent/graduate-academy

The Park Study

As I mentioned earlier I went for a shoot earlier, but I also went for a shoot after our session at Mother, I shall definitely miss working on this project as tomorrow is my last day to get everything shot as it is sadly my last day in London!

http://www.ruthjones.org

http://www.facebook.com/RuthJonesPhotography

GradAcad day 18: Spring Project, Party Prep, Wrap Party and Secret Walls. 18th July.

Today started off with a session with Darius from the Spring Project, it was quite a fun but poignant session. We started off by doing a few exercises which would engage our mind and body.. because we were all feeling a little bit sleepy, this helped us wake up and feel more focussed for the session! We then learnt all about "The Unbendable Arm", this is an exercise where you hold your arm out and through focussing on different things your partner can either easily bend your arm or not... It's an amazing way to discover the power of unifying the mind and body.

http://www.bodymindandmodem.com/CoolKi/Unbend.html

Another interesting activity was where we had to pair up and draw together, but one line at a time. The first two turns we drew things which one of us decided that we would draw, the third time we agreed on something to draw and we drew it together, and the fourth, fifth and sixth times we didn't tell each other what we were trying to draw and we drew what we wanted to draw. It was interesting to see the drawings from all the different groups to see how they worked together and the quality of the drawings they produced.

http://www.springproject.co.uk/

This afternoon we all got our party planning hats on and prepared for tonight's Wrap Party/Secret Walls challenge. We had a large gallery to decorate and personalise, so photo collages were created and printed, quotes were copied down, the stairwell was covered in our faces, a massive yellow pencil pinata went up and so many other things! We worked together to create a great party space for a hugely successful party!

GradAcad round 1

GradAcad round 2

The main event of the night was a Secret Walls battle (a bit like a rap battle/dance off but with graffiti style art). Four different teams entered the battle, the battle was the first of the "Pro Series" so all of the teams were from professional backgrounds, the first team was from Jelly, the second team was from LBI, the third team was a mash up of pro illustrators, and the fourth team was GRAD ACAD! The battle is made out of two rounds, the first round all four people draw, but on the final round only two teams get to draw.. so Grad Acad made it through the first round and so did the Mash Up team.. and Grad Acad went on to be runners up of the battle (both teams created amazing pieces of work!)

http://www.thesecretwalls.com/

#GradAcad

www.dandad.org/talent/graduate-academy

GradAcad day 17: Pitches, Party Prep and 90second Portraits. 17th July.

First thing this morning we all had the opportunity to present back our group brief pitch from week 2 to the rest of our the Graduate Academy guys. It was really great to see the work which the other groups produced for their pitches; the briefs ranged from creating an easy way for parents to communicate with their children about packed lunches, to raising money for a kickstarter campaign. Everyone seemed to approach the brief really well and came out with great responses.

We then went to check out the gallery where we were holding tomorrow evenings Wrap Party, it was a very rustic style space and we have to use it as a blank canvas which we can decorate to showcase the work of our Graduate Academy. 

One of our decoration ideas was to fill the space with our portraits; we all drew a portrait of each person on the academy, everyone focussed on drawing one person at a time and had 90 seconds to draw each portrait.  We now have about 600-700 portraits of everyone! Joanna Houghton drew this amazing portrait of me, I think it is amazing for a quick 90second sketch.. she's a great illustrator: http://joannahoughton.tumblr.com/

#GradAcad

www.dandad.org/talent/graduate-academy

The Park Study

I had a really quick visit to the park today, I discovered two photographers/filmmakers in the park, so I couldn't resist taking the typical "photographer photographing a photographer" picture.

A Feather, People Watching on the Train, and week 4 of Graduate Academy Commences. 15th July.

This little feather was in my garden today.. like a typical Instagrammer I decided that it would make a sweet little subject for a pointless photograph! 

I headed back to London this evening for my final week with the D&AD Graduate Academy! The last three weeks have been really amazing, and I know that this final week will also be great, so I am looking forward to getting stuck in with it. 

I'm a bit of a people watcher, so getting the train is great... my carriage consisted of the half sleeping man with headphones, the newspaper reader, the couple who are deeply in love, two giggling teenage girls.. and the lady secretly reading 50 shades of grey on her Kindle... I guess I was the annoying person with the camera!

GradAcad day 15: Overground, Tate Modern, Candid Portraiture and Jelly Pitching time! 13th July.

Today was quite laid back, I popped into Google Campus first thing to finalise the final few things I had to do for the Jelly Brief... and then I went on a little Tube-Trip (the London version of a Road trip!). I haven't really been on the London Overground before, but I found it quite cool.. it's a bit different to the underground because a) It's overground (doh!) so you get to see all the buildings around London, and b) it's one big train carriage... I decided to photograph all the faceless legs that filled the carriage.  

My Tube-Trip culminated in a visit to the Tate Modern, sadly I didn't find any photographic exhibits (I didn't plan my trip very well!), but I did find a great exhibit by Lamia Joregie. The exhibition was about Objects of War, Joregie created four video documentaries where people who had experienced life within a warzone talked about one or two objects which defined their experience within the war zone. Most of the objects were displayed in cabinets around the gallery. I found this exhibition great and could have easily spent hours listening to all the interviews.

http://www.lamiajoreige.com/films.php

After my visit to the Tate I was itching to get my camera out.. so I decided to to an impromptu portrait shoot... the sitters happened to be unsuspecting victims on and around the Millenium bridge. I am quite happy with the photographs I captured, they were up close and personal.. from shots which looked fashion inspired, to people pulling odd faces as they go through life.. none of my "Sitters" noticed me... but it's a shoot I really enjoyed and will have to build upon in the future!

This is a wall near where I am living at the moment... I believe, It used to be the entrance to a club called The Foundry.. and I believe the building is now occupied by squatters. The wall is interesting as it is updated daily with interesting artwork with anarchist themes... I might try and scratch the surface of the artists behind these works. I only have a week left in London though, so I shall have to see how much contact I can get with these unknown artists.

So, the big GradAcad thing of today was my pitch to Jelly London, as I have previously said the brief was to produce a concept which would promote Jelly moving to The Shard (which sadly, they aren't!). My concept was to create a photo-montage which would be seen as a statement, showing that beautiful architectural buildings do not have to be occupied by grey-suited corporate and financial businesses... but they can be filled with creative agencies.. ie. Jelly! The pitch went well and I received positive feedback for my concept.. I would like to develop it further, but I am not sure if I will be able to due to time constraints! 

Thank you Jelly London!

http://www.jellylondon.com/

#GradAcad

http://www.dandad.org/talent/graduate-academy

The Park Study

I shot for The Park Study this morning (before it started raining!), I found myself becoming curious about the installation with yesterday's weather on... so I researched it to find it's purpose, I found out it was created by Troika and it's purpose is to help people can compare the weather today to how it was yesterday (how very british!).. the piece is updated in real time and will relate to the weather exactly 24 hours ago. 

http://www.dezeen.com/2012/07/13/the-weather-yesterday-by-troika/

GradAcad day 14: Cass Art, Gardens, Jelly Brief and The Park Study. 12th July.

I started my day with a visit to Cass Art London, they kindly donated £10 gift vouchers to everyone in the Graduate Academy. They have tonnes of useful arty bits and pieces, and they even had a little Lomography corner of the shop. I bought an artist's mannequin and a few other little useful bits, I have wanted an artist's mannequin for years, not because I'm a great artist.. but because they look really interesting and I think it would be a great photographic subject.

Thank you Cass Art: http://cassart.co.uk/

Whilst walking back from Cass Art to the Bus stop I passed two little community gardens, Colebrooke Row Gardens and  Duncan Terrace Garden.. I couldn't help but photograph a few of the different occupants of the garden as it was all quite quaint!

So after spending most of my morning outside I had to spend most of my afternoon inside working on the Jelly brief, I have come up with a final concept which I am going to be pitching to Jelly tomorrow! I have created a photo montage of a number of iconic London buildings and then created The Shard out of jellies, as the brief was to promote the move of Jelly to The Shard (Jelly aren't moving to the shard.. it was just for the brief!). 

#GradAcad

http://www.dandad.org/talent/graduate-academy

The Park Study.

I have finally been able to get to the park to shoot this week! Today was a pretty great day to go to the park too as there was a juggling workshop going on, as soon as they noticed me a few of the guys in the workshop went a bit crazy in front of the camera! I am hoping that I can shoot tomorrow, but I can't make any promises as it is going to be another busy day as it is Pitch day!