Free Range 2018 – The Old Truman Brewery

If you follow me on social media, you may have seen me share lots of info about Free Range. If you don’t follow me and have never heard of it then let me explain…

It has nothing to do with chickens or eggs!

Free Range is an annual show held at The Old Truman Brewery on Brick lane in East London to celebrate the graduate work of creatives across the country. A culmination of fashion, illustration, graphic design, photography, fine art, interior design and architecture are all exhibited in the season of art.

I am happy to share my thoughts and opinions on all the places I visit but I am a bit biased about Free Range as the work of myself and my fellow class mates is currently on show.

Shows are split up across the month as follows:

• Design Week 15 – 18 June
• Photography Week One 22 – 25 June
• Photography Week Two 29 June – 02 July
• Art Week 06 – 09 July
• Interior Design & Architecture Week 13 – 16 July

If you want to catch my work along with 13 other universities it is showing until Monday 25th. For my final work, I created two images that I took in Amsterdam, one at Keukenhof gardens and the other at Royal Holland flower auction I also added a book entitled A Floral Perspective. These were used for grading at our university gallery but right before the Free Range show I decided to print out a set of photos from the book, at the last minute the curation team thought it would be better to just use these in the exhibition.

Work from a few other students at London South Bank

As you can see not all the work is just photographs on the wall, there are installations, video, projections and wall hangings. Throughout all the university shows there were lots of innovative ways of shooting and displaying work. I didn’t actually get to see all the shows but I will be going back before it closes so may get to see some more.

Work from students at other universities

A few of the shows I saw included Middlesex university, Blackpool and the Flyde College, Birmingham City University, University of Westminster and Canterbury Christ University.

The Truman Brewery is spacious, bright and airy so even when it was really busy on the opening evening, it didn’t feel too overcrowded. It is a large space spread over 3 floors so you may not get to see everything during one visit but there is a free programme you can pick up to see all the exhibitors at a glance and choose who you want to visit.

All the work on show is years in the making. If you do manage to see the show and admire a particular piece then be sure to let the artist know, follow them on social media or share it with your friends, it is not easy trying to make it in the creative industry and every bit of encouragement is welcome!

 

 

 

Still life floral photography

I am currently working on my major project at university and the theme I have chosen is the importation of flowers. I am going to travel to Holland later in the month to visit the flower gardens and look more into the floral industry. In the meantime I have been researching lots of other photography projects and the way people photograph flowers.

Although I have come across some really amazing pieces of work by talented artists, I have found that in general flower photography is very generic. Flowers are normally displayed in vases to look their best so I have decided to try and create some images that break the rules and focus on the flower as a whole not just the pretty part at the top, and displaying them in an unconventional way.

 

 

 

Photography project – Flower market

I am currently working on a project for university where I have to produce a body of work by the end of the year, I can then extend this further as my major project to be completed by May of next year.

I have decided to work on a documentary piece depicting the journey of a flower. I started on my own journey by visiting New Covent Garden flower market in Vauxhall.

Although I really admire fine art photos of flowers that concentrate on colour, detail and shape I am looking at the way they are packaged, lined up and moved around during this stage of being passed between grower and seller.

I really enjoyed my time at the market, there is a real buzz around the place and lots of energy for somewhere that operates between such early hours of the morning (4am – 10am) The market is split into companies that sell everything from freshly cut flowers to decorative items and is all under one roof.

Most of what is sold is for wholesale purposes but the market is open to the public if you wanted to have a look around and purchase for yourself, although it is recommended you come during the quieter hours of 8 – 10am and it is quite difficult to find on your first visit as there are no helpful signposts and you have to navigate past the busy car park.

I am hoping to go back and spend some more time at the market with one of the florists that has a workshop upstairs as well as visiting a farm that grows flowers and spending some time with a charity that makes bouquets for well deserving individuals out of flowers that have already been used at events.

I’m sure I will share updates with you as the project develops!

 

Taking a break at Borough Market

I feel a bit like I am drowning in work at the moment and my to do list seems to never end. I am a few weeks into the second semester of my second year studying for a photography degree, the projects and tasks I am currently working on include…

• Creating a photobook of Elephant and Castle including archived images that I have to source myself
• Setting up a photography website
• Writing an essay on photographic debates, my subject is questioning the ethics of the paparazzi and whether celebrities have a right to privacy in public (your views on the subject are welcome in the comments)
• Mentoring first years on a commissioned project
• Collaborating with sound design and digital design students to create a film
• completing different types of work experience (paid or voluntary) to gain new skills across the industry
• Creating a live portal installation in collaboration with a group of creative industry and engineering students based in London and Toronto to be placed in the windows of our two universities. (This is a competition that has 10 groups of students, the winning team get to fly to Canada to install their idea…no pressure!)

Now I am really enjoying the work and it is exciting to get to meet and work with new groups of people but being the biggest procrastinator there is I am always looking for a distraction and what better place to take my mind of it all than somewhere filled with loads of food!

I had to visit the local history library in Borough to look at their archived images so decided to meet my daughter for lunch while I was there as she works around the corner.

I haven’t been to Borough market for many years and was surprised at how big and how busy the place was but it may have been because it was the middle of the afternoon and everyone was on their lunch break.

You can pick up just about anything you feel like eating, from fish to fresh fruit smoothies, the finest cheese to the fluffiest chocolate brownies, it’s probably best not to go when you are too hungry because you might want a bit of everything.

There is a mix of stalls where you can buy products (anyone for liquorice covered in white chocolate and chilli powder?) or cooked meals. I really like the way you can pick what you want and then watch the chefs cook it for you.

After walking around for a while we decided to eat at Café Brood as they had a nice seating area away from the crowds. We chose the steak sandwich with fries as it sounded the most filling and we were salivating from the smell of food everywhere. I do like steak but don’t order it very often. At £7 I thought it was quite expensive for a sandwich but I have to say this was one of the nicest pieces of steak I have eaten for ages so was well worth the price.

Visiting Borough market was on my list of 10 places to visit in London so I can now tick that off but I will definitely be back in the future to try out some more of the dishes as there was so much to choose from.

Have you got a favourite food market?