2011—YEAR OF MARITIME LYME

Misty summer morning 2010

This is an exciting new project in Lyme for 2011 which has been announced where by Lyme will hold a year long festival to celebrate its links with the sea.  Many organisations and clubs have been invited to participate in various ways, see quote below from the publicity material received by the U3A Photo Improvers Group. The members have been invited to take part in a month long exhibition of maritime prints at the local museum.

"Lyme Regis’s history and fortunes have been inextricably linked to the sea - from seven centuries of trade flourishing and fading through its port to its current reliance on tourism as a seaside resort, while traditional trades and crafts of fishing and boat-building have continued and adapted across the centuries.  The ‘Year of Maritime Lyme’ will be a year-long celebration of Lyme’s maritime culture, economy and heritage.  It will promote all the various maritime-based activities and events that already take place in Lyme, and will also encourage and promote new projects and initiatives.  In essence, by creating a lively ‘diary’ of Lyme’s maritime activities across the year, the town wants to trumpet and add value to what Lyme already does by branding it in a media- and visitor-friendly way.

But it’s more than a marketing exercise.  We believe that by working together we will create new relationships, partnerships and activities that will bring even more kudos, publicity and tourists to Lyme Regis and have a lasting benefit. Maritime Lyme is a self-
help, community-led initiative that will run on volunteer effort and minimal resources.  The aim is to achieve high visibility with a low carbon footprint using all available channels of communication (website, blogs, press stories, leaflets, etc) to get the message across.

Organisations that have already agreed to participate, hold themed events and be part of Maritime Lyme include: Lyme Regis Museum, Lyme Regis Development Trust, the Fossil Festival, Lyme Regis Sailing Club, Lyme Regis Gig Club, Artsfest, Somerset College of Arts and Technology, South West Maritime History Society, Lyme Regis Boatbuilding Academy and Dorset County History Centre, RNLI, Lyme Regis Harbour Master."

The photo group will be able to display up to 24 A4 prints for a month long exhibition in September. Prints will be selected throughout the previous 6-8 months by a small group of non-particpating members. Every person interested in taking part will have at least one image on show.

Street Photography Now - Sophie Howarth, Stephen McLaren

This is a beautifully produced book showing some of the world's best street photography. It also explains what motivates and fascinates these 46 men and women contributors.

You close the book and still feel intrigued to understand more about the situations you've seen. Some are very amusing and uplifting, others leave you questioning and thoughtful. The pictures show you that wherever people are in the world they are consistently unaware of themselves and their actions. I thought the interviews were very good and editorially perceptive. So much better than the usual assembly of unrelated submissions. They give a real insight into the photographers and were suitably down to earth as is appropriate for street photography.

This is the most comprehensive book I've read on the subject to-date and it cleverly captures what makes street photographers tick.