Leaving Blaenavon. Sunday 28 August 2011
Wild Horses.
**BEST VIEWED WITH SOUND OFF**
Blaenavon make some noiiiiiise!
Last night was my final official photo shoot for the Blaenavon project commissioned by Ffotogallery. A series of portraits of young musicians at a gig in The Workman’s Hall. With a tiny studio space set up in a small secluded corner to the left of the stage I made a portrait of each performer straight off the stage in the spirit of the James Ward painting ‘A Young Man’ 1815.
Above are a selection of the 22 portraits.
This was the Salvador Promotions launch gig. A group of savvy Blaenavon teenagers who’ve set up their own music promo company securing £2500 from The Princes Trust.
Bands included:
Headliners ‘The Guns’ with support from The Calling Card, INC, and The Loren Balaam Band.
Thanks to Salvador Promotions for the re-tweets. To Melissa & Adrian for assisting set up & gathering model release forms. Thanks also to Paul for driving me to The Workmans Hall in monsoon like conditions and to the staff at Workmans Hall for letting me do a quick location scout on Friday afternoon. Biggest thanks to the bands for taking time to participate straight after the gigs. Some good souls in this community!
This is my final week in the Valley’s. Last week was the most productive & enjoyable week of the residency to date, those of you who have followed this blog will know it’s been challenging at times. It was great to finally meet the Male Voice Choir & to work with some inspiring folks. I’ve appropriated a handful artworks from National Museum of Wales collection with a focus on individuals from the local community. Most of these have been chosen through instinct having met the individuals. I will present the work in progress to Ffotogallery this Thursday. I’m really looking forward to having a dialogue about the images.
Before the Bard… & the saddest pony in the world
Tonight I photographed John Rodger as ‘The Bard’ & was lucky enough to have two assistants. We were set up well in advance of Johns arrival & I’d chosen a lump of slag, an emblem of the post industrial landscape as the location.
Louise & I told Luke, my additional assistant, that although we’d be knee deep in horse & sheep poo remarkable things may happen. We we tweaking with cameras when an unexpected curious wild pony arrived and decided to join us. She examined all our equipment then took a shine to Luke who led her up to the position I’d chosen for the bard. She then kept us company for a while before roaming into the distance. Possibly the most melancholy pony I’ve ever seen but well worth a few snaps as we waited for our subject to arrive & the sun to set.
The photographs of John as ‘The Bard’ shall be shown at a later date.. Films in the lab tomorrow.
Tonight I photographed 32 members of Blaenavon’s Male Voice Choir. I’ve been hoping to photograph the choir since I saw them singing on World Heritage Day but found them difficult to pin down… they get the school holidays off.
With the help of their coordinator Ian Cook I arranged to photograph ten members of the choir this evening at a studio I’d set up at The Workman’s Hall. Thirty three showed up. There are group portraits of the men in many Blaenavon shops, pubs and publications. I wanted to portray the choir as individuals but also as a collective. Two of the thirty three portraits are above.
Thanks to Mike & Sheila from The Workman’s Hall for allowing us to use their wonderful space. To Ian for helping gather the troops, to Louise for assisting and to Ffotogallery for providing a last minute spare part.
I spent yesterday photographing staff at The Big Pit National Coal Museum. There are some great folks working there, many of them like Paul, above, are ex-miners. Bethan, above, works in the Pit Cafeteria and is also a photographer. She’s a 2010 Fine Art Photography graduate from Newport.
I’m sad to report I did not get permission to photograph in the mine due to high visitor numbers. Gutted.
This afternoon I collaborated with the unstoppable Sheila Hawkins of Hawkins Corn Store. Sheila is in her 70s and still ball of energy running two businesses. Sheila, a mining widow, chose ‘In Wales’ by Richard Ansdell. Her cat Freddie is also in the image. I still love the tension of waiting for films to process & looking forward to getting these ones back. 
This morning I collaborated with Blaenavon local legend George Spencer. George is in his 80s and runs an electrical shop in Blaenavon six days a week. George studied medicine but came back to his hometown in Blaenavon when his father became ill. He is keen on filmaking and worked in the local cinema, his wife was an usherette, they were both champion ballroom dancers. George has held many posts in local council & was Mayor of Blaenavon in the 1970s. A very cool dude! The film from our shoot is currently being processed but here’s an iPhone snap if George.
I spent a large part of today at The Big Pit: National Coal Museum in Blaenavon discussing two potential series of images I’ll be making there with curator & ex-miner Ceri. The first series will be made down in the mine…awaiting permission. The second series begins this Friday and will feature portraits of Big Pit staff, mostly ex-miners, and visitors from all walks of life. Thanks again to Ceri & co for making me feel welcome & making me laugh.. The Big Pit is a real gem with lots of community spirit.
www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/bigpit/
Lots of folk stopped to say hello & waved at me today in the town… I’m starting to feel like part of the community which is lovely. There have still been some odd incidents.. yesterday my assistant & I went into a pub for some food & received an icy reception. Everyone stopped and stared. No-one spoke. It turns out were not serving food until 7pm so we left and went to the lovely Butterfiles pub & restaurant instead. Highly recommended!
A snap of a sheep I took for my nieces..
