Fay Weldon Exhibition

Fay Weldon

Fay Weldon

I followed a link from the OCA 'We are OCA' February 27th 2011, the Open College of the Arts Blog, to an article of an exhibition called 'Revelations from Back Home' reviewed by Gareth Dent, link here:

http://www.weareoca.com/photography/revelations-from-back-home/  

and onwards to a review of the Fay Weldon exhibition at the National Media Museum in Bradford,  link here:

http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/PlanAVisit/ExploreOurGalleries/GalleryTwoLandRevisited.aspx

I met Fay Weldon once, in the 1990s, when I attended a course in Twickenham on landscape photography.  She showed pictures taken of the British landscapes which depicted how it was being spoiled by the invasion of man into the wild and remote places that still existed at that time. All I can remember is a small, slight blond woman but who was full of energy and passion who wanted to get as many photographers as she could involved with saving the places she loved. I didn't realise at the time that she was also president of the Ramblers Association.

What I also didn't know then was that she had been an eminent portrait photographer and had moved away from that genre in the 1970s.  I followed further links to one on the National Portrait Gallery where there is a section showing 48 of Fay's most notable portraits.

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp08162&wPage=0

I am very interested to see how she portrayed the people she photographed as I am working on the People & Place module final assignment and, through discussion with my tutor CliveW, am taking portraits of local characters where I live in Lyme Regis.  It's interesting to see how, in her published images, she posed her subjects in a very similar way coming in close to feature mainly portraits of the head and shoulders of a person. This goes against the advice I have been given by my OCA tutor, who says it is important to produce an image which tells a story about the sitter and this story can usually be found in the surroundings that the subject is shown in, ie, their own home. Sometimes a strong full face portrait can show much more character than one where the subject is smaller in the frame. There is a place for both, dependent upon what it is you want to show about the sitter but |I think that a full face or profile picture can be a very strong image.

Trawling for new ideas for People & Place Assignment 5

8 Feb 2011

I was trawling through OCA student blogs this morning for inspiration and read a student's reading list which included photo mags. I've always liked looking through magazines for new ideas for pictures so followed the link to Photo Pro magazine. Whilst I can't afford to  take out subscriptions or buy the latest offerings, it's always interesting to look at what 'new' photographers are doing. It often seems that young photographers are out to shock and thrill so I was keen to see what Patrick Fraser, a 'new kid on the block' could offer. He's not so new as he a wide portfolio of images on his website. It was fascinating to see his different styles with different age groups and how he managed to extract the idiosyncrasies of individual personalities. As my next assignment (People & Place assignment 5, on assignment) will feature a variety of local characters in the town where I now live, I was very keen to see how he portrayed a wide age range of people showing their individual strengths.