- a-n The Artists Information Company

Back into the groove

After last weeks slump I have been more ‘up for it’ this week. Not all my browsing last week was work aversion. I did browse through a couple of arts listing sites and identified some opportunities. So this week I have:

Sent off a proposal to a gallery that was asking for artists

Entered a photographic exhibition/competition in Sheffield

Working on a body of work for another competition in Scotland

The hardest part in all this has been having to write about my work/theme as part of 2 of the submissions. I am ok talking about my work with a real person in a 1 to 1 setting. But putting it down on paper, especially about a selected part of my work I found very hard. I viewed other artists statements but I just felt intimidated by the confidence they had in their words. That does not mean that I have no confidence in my work it’s just that I lack confidence in expressing my thoughts on paper. I just struggle with what words to use. I had a limit of 300 words but after 30 minutes I had about 50 and couldn’t think of anything else to write. So I printed it off and pinned it on the studio wall and waited for some inspiration to strike. After a couple of hours I had changed a few words and decided that my best 50 words would have to do.

I think part of the problem is that I was trying to talk about what were seperate individual pictures taken over a period of time with only a mental note of an underlying theme. So to help me with this I decided over the weekend that I would spend the next four months taking photographs based on a pre declared theme.

So my theme is seascapes and coastal views around Morecombe Bay. They will be black & white, use long exposure and visit some shoden spots at different times of the tide.

I bought a map of the northern shore and spent Monday identifying about 15 spots as possible shooting locations.

Finally I am off to Brougham Hall tomorrow. There are 2 photographers based there and they have a collaboration space and exhibition space for hire.

http://www.broughamhall.co.uk/our-community/no-10-…

So that will complete my more productive week.

Colin Reynolds

I have been interested in photography for most of my life. I have owned a variety of cameras since I was a teenager. In the last five years I have switched to digital photography and begun to take it more seriously. Since July of 2012 I have decided to try and turn this passion into a business and earn a living from my photography.

I am mainly self-taught. In 2008 I went on a landscape photography course with Jonathan Chritchley in the south of France. In July 2011 I took a 6 month distance learning course also with Jonathan.

I am passionate about Fine Art Landscape and Abstract photography based around the sea, coast, mountains, rivers and lakes. Although I originally started working in colour, through my tuition with Jonathan Chritchley and inspired by the work of Michael Kenna, I have now moved to working predominantly in black and white. I am attracted to the patterns of light in the sea, land and sky. I often use a long exposure to soften and blur the boundaries between sea and sky and bring the focus on the play of light in these areas. Using long exposure and camera panning techniques I have begun to create abstract images based on the differences in light and shade in the sea and sky. With my landscape photography I like to work with dramatic skies or grey skies where you get the light providing a variety of shades to work with in the finished picture.

Since December 2011 I have been living and working in Kendal, Cumbria. This gives me a great opportunity to explore the surrounding hills, mountains and coastal landscapes. In July 2012 I moved into my studio as part of the Green Door Studios based in Kendal.

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Colin Reynolds