It’s funny how our minds bounce around: one idea, sight or sound triggers other sensations ad infinitum! Funny, is quite possibly the wrong word, but it is fascinating, wonderful, magical. I have had an interest in psychology since I was a teenager. Over the years I have thought about studying Psychology formally or even returning from scratch, but I have only ever got so far as to reading about it, and right now I am halfway through reading my most in-depth book on the subject The Principles of Psychology by William James. Originally written in 1890, by all accounts it still remains highly regarded for offering a concise overview of some difficult concepts within Psychology.

I decided to tackle this blogpost as a stream of consciousness, and to see where it leads. The first paragraph is testament to that, although I have to admit to just deleting a paragraph!

Members of London Independent Photography, Crouch End group, and their visitors enjoyed a wonderful atmosphere at our Meet The Artists event on 26th March. I caught up with lots of people that I haven’t seen in ages, and had a really lovely time. Little did I know that one of our illustrious visitors deposited Covid in their wake, and so finally, two years into the pandemic, I got my first dose of Corona Virus, lucky me! I spent way more time in bed than normal, and experienced some new and weird sensations, the like I have never had before, but all in all it wasn’t terrible.

Talking of LIP (London Independent Photography, they have a great roster of interesting talks online. You don’t have to be a member, but there is a small fee for attending. Check them out here

Between the long days of work and travel, I have been taking quite a lot of photographs. They are mostly in the genre of what I like to call observational photography, and all shot on different film stocks. I have a couple of projects on the boil, and of course 4 x 4 x 4 is always with me, but I cannot fully commit to the next phase of that at the moment.

Pauloumi Basu is a young, Indian, female photographer, and everyone of these details is important. I have been following her work for a while now, and I am in awe of her bravery and her creativity. She wins numerous awards. Her Docu-Fiction Centralia “explores the unsteady relationship between reality and fiction and how our perceptions of reality and truth are manipulated” within the context of a (fictional) war. The book sold out so fast, and I do not have a copy! Just recently I went to see some of her newest work Fireflies at Autograph gallery . It is free to book, and runs until 4th June.

YOUR BODY BELONGS TO YOU, an exhibition by Shutterhub is now live in France. “Showcasing almost 100 photographers, and over 200 images, the outdoor exhibition site is in the centre of St Gilles Croix de Vie. This will be the fourth year Shutter Hub has showcased photography in St Gilles Croix de Vie, starting back in 2018 when we created ‘Because We Can!’ (because we could), a group exhibition showcasing almost 70 women photographers from around the world. In 2019 we created the main exhibition for Festival Pil’Ours 4th Edition, ‘Time to Think’, showcasing 145 women photographers from across 15 countries. In 2020, due to travel restrictions, ‘Time to Think’ had an encore and was revisited by thousands of people in the area.

Now, in 2022, we’re returning with this new exhibition, Your Body Belongs to You, co-curated by Karen Harvey (Shutter Hub Creative Director) and Marisol Mendez (Shutter Hub member and photographer of MADRE).  Your body Belongs to You brings together women and non-binary photographers from around the world in a selected exhibition and promotes the future of photography through diverse and creative imagery.” Words from Shutter Hub website, May 2022.

I have been fortunate enough to have work selected for all of the shows to date. The exhibition runs for six months from 18 April – 18 September 2022. It’s unlikely that I will make it there in person, but never say never.

Last weekend I visited the Sony World Photography Awards exhibition at Somerset House with another photographer-friend, Sonia. It was the first time either of us had been to this show, which is kind of mad! We were a little overwhelmed by the event, but not all for the right reasons. It’s a very disjointed show: both in terms of the various awards which are hard to decipher, and because the show was split over two diagonally opposite wings of Somerset house; a large neoclassical complex near the River Thames in London. Within one of the buildings there were many individual rooms, grand in height, but small on the ground. It was busy with visitors, so felt very congested at times. Despite not being the most pleasant visitor experience there were several exceptional projects in the show. Craig Easton’s Bank Top project, shot in Blackburn, northern England on a large format camera, in black & white was stunning. Every photograph sung. Adam Ferguson’s series of migrants on the US/Mexico Border were extremely poignant and powerful. He won first place in the Professional category for these. Edward Burtynsky won the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award, and his huge scenic images depicting man’s marks on earth were as stunning as ever.

A couple of months ago I signed up to a shared studio space in the iconic Lakeside centre, Thamesmead. It is run and managed by Bow Arts Trust, who are an educational arts charity that provides affordable creative workspace for a community of over 400 artists, makers and creatives.

I’ll be there on 14th and 28th May, so swing on by if you get the chance!

Have a great month… or so!

Amanda x