Photography workshops at SoulShine's Wild Woman Week

Tomorrow we should have been gathering in person for the 8th Wild Woman Photoshoot. I’ve been collaborating with the fantastic social enterprise SoulShine to co-create these incredible days since 2017 - days of celebrating women in all their authentic, wild and beautiful glory. So much more than a photoshoot, the days involve sharing, connection, meditation, music, dance, all in stunning natural surroundings (you can see some photos from the days on my collaborations page).

We were feeling sad not to be able to run the photoshoot this May - but then an idea started to form amongst us… why not make it into a Wild Woman Week? With activities running online that capture and weave together the many and varied elements of the days, including guided meditations, sharing circles, dance, storytelling, talks and discussions… and it seemed such a good idea, we decided to make it happen! Every day from 31st May to 8th June there will be activities you can access online - either live events or pre-recorded videos that you can dip into at a time that suits you.

I’ll be sharing some taster sessions of my new ‘Magic in the Mundane’ workshops (more about that coming soon - watch this space!), giving the opportunity to use photography to reconnect with your everyday surroundings, and find interest and beauty in things that perhaps you would normally overlook.

You can see all the info on the SoulShine website - the pre-recorded videos will be released day-by-day.

Hope to see you online at some of the events! In the meantime, here are some photos from the gardens at the Wild Woman Photoshoots, I hope you find them as soothing as I do…

Morning

Morning walks are keeping me going at the moment. Especially on those crisp, bright mornings, when there’s still a hint of frost on the ground and a misty haze hangs low in the air, creating those amazing beams of golden light as the sun streams through the trees.

I’ve always walked, and taken photos. My ongoing project Close Range is all about noticing and documenting tiny, seemingly insignificant, and often overlooked details in my local area. With my camera in my hand I notice things, even on the greyest of days or in the most turbulent of times - a shadow, the curl of a leaf, a particular colour or texture that brings a moment of joy, and I can become completely absorbed in the here and now, the present moment, and my mental chatter just drops away.

As well as being helpful to my wellbeing by giving me a break from my thoughts, I feel like it’s helped build my resilience too - by making a practice of noticing and appreciating tiny pockets of beauty in the everyday world, I feel like I’ve increased my ability to cope with difficult situations - to know that even in really hard times, there are pin pricks of light amongst the darkness.

These are some photos I took recently on an early morning walk, just before lockdown. Now we’re only allowed out once a day for exercise, those morning walks feel even more precious.

Why I Wake Early, by Mary Oliver

Hello, sun in my face
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and the crotchety -

best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light -
good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.

Seeing the blossom

In the last few weeks everything has changed, more than I ever imagined possible. In locked-down Britain, currently we are allowed out once a day for exercise. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated walking quite so much. Appreciated birdsong, and green leaves, and blossom.

I took these photos at the end of February. We’d just returned from a beautiful week in the south of Spain, coronavirus was being talked about on the news, there was mounting anxiety about it spreading, and what that would mean and how that would look. But I was, at that time, blissfully ignorant of what was to come. I took these photos on a late afternoon stroll across the meadows near my house. I lost myself for a little while in the light, the colours, the beautiful bokeh created by the low sun streaming through the branches. Delighting in the beauty, and the freedom and safety that I took for granted.

I pass these trees most days now, on my daily walk or run. The blossom has long gone, but there are other delights on which to feast my senses - gently unfurling green leaves, a swathe of violets on the side of the path. And I feel like I’m appreciating it, and seeing it all more clearly than I ever have before.

“The blossom is out in full now… It's the whitest, frothiest blossomest blossom that ever could be, and I can see it. Things are both more trivial than they ever were and more important than they ever were, and the difference between the trivial and the important doesn't seem to matter. But the now-ness of everything is absolutely wondrous.”

- Dennis Potter

Ordinary

I’ve been thinking recently about my approach to creating, about how I sing the praises of finding beauty in the everyday, the mundane and the ordinary. And yet I often feel I have to take myself out of my regular existence in order to create - to make time and space, separate from the humdrum reality of life admin, commuting, work, domestic chores. But what if these, truly ordinary, experiences could become stimuli for creativity, rather than a resented distraction from it? Could I find inspiration in the washing up, or interest in the boredom of my daily drive to work? Could I make work about the truly ordinary, everyday realities of life, rather than the extremes of experience that are more typically associated with artistic inspiration and expression?

I’ve recently discovered the work of Clare Gallagher, whose stunning work investigates the intricacies of domestic life in a beautiful and compelling way. Also my friend, photographer Naomi Woddis has a wonderful approach to capturing the everyday that I’m finding really inspiring.

This feels like a new direction for me. Or perhaps not a new direction, but refining, developing and going deeper. Here are some photos I took in the early hours of this morning (just snaps on my phone, unedited).

I’m curious to see where this current spark of inspiration takes me…

Two exhibitions and a double private view!

I’m super excited to be showing my photography from the magical SoulShine Wild Woman Photoshoots at The Forum in Norwich. The exhibition opens on 8th July 2019 with a private view from 5.30-8pm, and runs until Saturday 13th July. The exhibition forms part of the Thank You Body Festival which SoulShine are running at The Forum on Friday 12th July, a whole day of workshops, talks and activities with the aim of celebrating body diversity, inspiring self-acceptance and building community (including a talk from me - eeek!)

Launching the same day is the Artpocket end of year show, Transition, in which I’ll be showing some prints from the last term of the Art Direction course. Conveniently enough, both shows are at The Forum, and the private view is almost the exact same time, 6pm-8pm on Monday 8th July! It’s almost like I planned it (I didn’t!)

Hope to see you there…

Exhibition: Artpocket Tutti Frutti at St Margaret's

I’ve been doing a brilliant course called Art Direction with Norwich-based independent art school Artpocket since January this year. It’s been absolutely fantastic at gently encouraging me to try new things, move outside my comfort zone and stretch the limits of my creative imagination. And it gives me a day every week to focus purely on my creative practice, which is nothing short of priceless. I’m really pleased to have been invited to exhibit a selection of prints and photographs as part of Artpocket’s student show Tutti Frutti - opening at St Margaret’s Church, St Benedict’s Street, Norwich on 13th May.

Spring rain

April. A morning photo walk, getting caught in the rain. The sheer delight that accompanies the first frothy blossom and really green leaves of spring. Every year it happens, and every year it astounds me in its beauty.

Places of 2019: North Norfolk

I’ve been spending a bit of time up in North Norfolk this year. It’s only an hour away from my home in Norwich, but it’s like another world. A little bit of the wild, and a tonic for the soul.

Here are some recent photos.

Places of 2018: Wales (or, I am not a landscape photographer)

I am not a landscape photographer. Sure, I have some nice photos of landscapes, and skies - after all, who doesn’t love a good sunset? But these tend to lean towards the abstract - a sea of light and colour, the undulating forms of cloud or water - rather than a detailed or lifelike depiction of a scene.

Nowhere was this more apparent than in last year’s summer holiday to North Wales. We were surrounded by beautiful scenery, glorious sweeping views of the Lynn Peninsula. And I loved looking at it. I could happily gaze for hours, soaking it in. But I didn’t want to photograph it. Instead, I found myself, as ever, drawn to the little details. The tiny, insignificant things I often overlook and ignore, unless I have a camera in my hand. When I go out with the intention of photographing, something shifts. I start paying attention, and noticing, and my chattering mind calms and stills, and I lose myself in the moment; the beauty of yellow lichen against grey rock, the textures of rust against sea weathered wood. It’s magical. And it makes me feel better, every time.