Exhibitions

In just a few months time I will be holding two exhibitions in Shrewsbury. From 16th to 28th June I will be holding a selling exhibition of art photography in the Darwin Shopping Centre. On display will be a wide range of my work including limited editions of images only previously exhibited at the Three Counties Exhibition held at Keele University each year. Details of location within the centre and of opening times will be posted shortly. Please come along to browse and buy for those special gifts or for a stunning photograph for your own home or office.

Subject to confirmation of dates as yet, I will also be exhibiting more of my portraiture, lifestyle, landscape and dance photography at the Photographic Image Gallery in Shrewsbury. This exhibition will feature some very limited editions for sale and there will be a private view. For further details about this unique opportunity to buy outstanding art photography and an invitation to the viewing please contact me on 07932 194779.

Remembering some of the important things

In our rush to find work, to ensure that we are working to our highest standards and that we are taking care of our customers, we focus on latest technological developments. How can we maximise output? How can we improve quality? How can we pass these improvements on to our customers? Yet sometimes quality isn’t always to be found on a computer screen or in a work environment driven by computers.

Recently I was asked by a client to overprint a series of mounts with a logo and text. These were for a corporate occasion and needed to be high quality. I phoned a number of printers none of whom could help me because the mounts were already creased. Prices were high and turn around times were in months in some cases. It was looking like I would have to start with new mounts that could be printed before folding, and even then deadlines couldn’t be guaranteed, when I came across Don Webb.

Don is a traditional and highly skilled printer. He operated the now rare letter press I needed to find and he could turn the work round within the five day deadline I had been given. However, we are talking craftsman here. He didn’t have email to which I could send him the art work. Everything was to be done using techniques with which Don had worked for years. And you know, his prices were incredibly reasonable.

The moral is that quality work is still achieved using methods and technologies that are fast disappearing. What’s more, the work can be cheaper and turned round faster than some of the print houses with all their investment in digital technology. And your customers will appreciate the quality.

Don can be contacted at Colophon Press on 01743 891335 and is based at Minsterley near Shrewsbury.

Doctor Who

April 5th 2008, the start of the long awaited new Doctor Who series! The debate is drawn out by fans and media alike: is it as good as it used to be? Does David Tennant match up to the likes of Tom Baker, Jon Pertwee, et al? Well quite frankly yes he does.

We all remember the Doctor from our childhood. He was very much part of our growing up, a rite of passage almost. Many of us have hidden behind the couch when the Daleks or Cybermen appeared. For me it was the Sea Devils. Talking about the latest episode was very much a playground experience on the following Monday morning. And contrary to what I’m hearing these days, it was not just a ‘boy thing’. The girls were there with us, every bit as involved as us. What I do remember is my parents not watching the programmes. Now that is different. My wife and I sit and watch every episode with our children. When Doctor Who is on, Saturday night has an exciting and fresh focus for our family. We cheer when the programme starts and we gasp at the end. Doctor Who under Russell T Davies, and particularly with David Tennant, has become almost a cinematic experience with convincing effects and substantial sets that don’t wobble. But this doesn’t make it better than previous incarnations. It has evolved and found new ways to engage us through extremely clever scripts and the obvious passion of all involved in the making of each episode. Some might raise an eyebrow at our enthusiasm for the Doctor, but in a sea of mediocrity that is the usual offering on TV, any programme that excites, entertains and gives us something to think about and to talk about is a gem.

Mike Leigh at Staffordshire University

In 2004 there began a series of lectures organised by Peter Cheeseman whose tireless energy and commitment did so much to put the New Vic Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent on the map and maintained the integrity of theatre in the round. His annual lectures are held at Staffordshire University and have included guest speakers Ken Loach, film director, (2004), Alison Chitty, theatre designer, (2005), Eamonn McCabe, photographer and journalist, (2006) and Ken Campbell, performer, writer and director, (2007).This year Mike Leigh was the invited speaker. Born in Salford, Leigh developed a passion for theatre and film early in life and studied at RADA and the London Film School. By his own admission in this evening of conversation with Professor Ray Johnson, his twenties were restless years in which his passion for directing eventually overcame his acting ambitions. Not before a production of Twelfth Night at the old Victoria Theatre in Stoke, however. His memories of that production were no doubt shared by other members of the cast who were in the audience.Throughout the evening Leigh spoke of his storytelling in film and theatre. He was candid about the processes he and his actors, many of whom work with him regularly, experience. In his inimitable way, he was direct. Questions from the audience were thrown back for clarity, direction, focus and simplicity. Bewilderment crossed his face when comparisons were made between sequels, re-makes, the X-Factor and the issues facing modern, young film-makers. This was not an evening for academic mind games or vocabularies!I left the lecture delighted by Leigh’s openness. I was also intrigued by the range of influences he spoke about – the world cinema with which he is fascinated and in the context of which he placed his own work. And in talking about the need for the operatic scale of Hollywood films as well as the smaller budget, independent cinema, he re-emphasized the beauty of the film-going experience.Mike Leigh’s new film, Happy-Go-Lucky, is released in the UK on 18th April. Sally Hawkins who stars in the film was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actress at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. A new book about the director, Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh, a collaboration with Amy Raphael, is released by Faber on 17th April.

Hello

My name is Alan Taylor from Planet Vision Photography. Welcome to my new blog. Blogging is new to me but I hope to share with the world my images and the journeys of discovery shared by myself and everybody involved in my photography. Please come back soon!!