I think I've developed quite a skill when it comes to designing and putting together catalogues for up and coming photography exhibitions. This is the second photographic book i've put together to advertise a degree show, but i've also put together a book for two graphic artists.

It is a tedious task if you let it be, but i'm rather enjoying it. I've learned my lessons from last time and i'm now able to continue without and problems. I'm spending most of my time looking at different ways to develop the text so that it looks professional and not so 'studenty'.

The image above is from Jessica Taylor, who happens to be rather close to me, so she doesn't mind me using her work in this post. But for the record it's from her series 'Room With a Purpose'. Once their website is up and running i'll link it below.

InDesign is a brilliant tool and has become staple in my creative endeavours since last year. I recommend you all try it! You never know when it may come in handy!

I guess I completely forgot to post these images on here. Anyway, these are two images from a possible new series of work which deals with my family. Now i've never been one to express my true emotions about my family or the homes I grew up in, so this series is very new to me. I'm focusing on the dominant environments which ignite childhood memories associated with those places.

I'm experimenting with a mixture of formats (DSLR, 6x6, 6x7 and even mobile photography), so this really is still a work in progress, although I can see some of the images i've already taken working well in some method of display.

In my spare time (lunch breaks, after work and weekends) i've been planning and starting to produce a new and very cheap publication. It's essentially a zine, but with a higher quality paper and finish. I'm going to give a few copies away, but also sell them on my Storenvy/Etsy and maybe my website, who knows?

I would say it's about half way done, but knowing me i'll end up changing it and the release date will change. Once they're close to completion, or once they're online, i'll post more about it on my social media, other blogs..

In other news, i've just started a new job at University of Sunderland in the Northern Centre of Photography. It's pretty great, I have to admit. I'm around some of the most creative minds and I get to see new work daily. It's my dream come true, to be honest.

I'm working with the Art and Design research groups, so my focus isn't 100% on photography, which I like. I think it's nice for me to have a change of scenery now and again.

In terms of my blog, it's crazy the amount of views and positive comments I get. I was asked to go down to London for an Acer event, which was bizarre as I never get to go to these things, but after emailing I was informed that my blog was saw by someone down there and they wanted me to come along to try their new product; sadly I could not go, but there'll be other times, right?

Free Photoshop Course From Lynda.com Through May 10th

Want to improve, or just possibly brush up on your photoshops skills? Lynda.com is offering a free 1 hour and 37 minutes video to help you enhance your photos. In this course, the Photoshop senior product manager takes you on an insider’s tour of the key photo-enhancement features in Adobe Photoshop CS6. Even if you consider yourself a master I’m sure they have some tricks for you. This course is only available through May 10 so act fast.

All you need to do is go to their Facebook page HERE, click on the link and like their page.
If you have never heard of Lynda.com I highly recommend checking it out. You can try it free for & days. They have hours on hours of tutorials, not just for photography but for 3D + Animation, Audio, Business, Design, Developer, Video, and Web.

Today my new iPhone tripod mount arrived! I ordered it from eBay for £3. It is identical to the one above made by Glif, which retails for $30! Bargain of the year for me. I've always wanted a tripod mount for my iPhone 5 but never got round to buying one, that was until I found a gift certificate I got for Christmas.

I can't wait to try it out. I think i'm going to use it mostly for video work, as i've just got a new app which I find amazing for recording 1080p with tilt shift.

Once i've shot some video i'll upload it and share with you all, but for now I just wanted to show you my new toy.

The tripod mount can be found on Studio Neat for $30 here. Alternatively, you could try your luck on eBay.

NEPN Reading Group: John Darwell at Hatton Gallery

11 April 2013, 6.00-7.30pm
The Hatton Gallery
Newcastle upon Tyne 

Join us at The Hatton Gallery to meet John Darwell to discuss his current exhibition ‘After Schwitters.’  

The ‘Reading Group’ format invites informal discussion, reflections and refreshments.

John Darwell has travelled to sites particularly relevant to the life and work of Kurt Schwitters including Elterwater, the Isle of Man, Hanover and Norway to produce his own photographic responses to these places.  The results are exhibited at The Hatton Gallery until 20 April 2013.

The Hatton Gallery is home to Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbarn wall, which is on permanent display at the gallery.   The event is programmed in partnership with The Hatton Gallery.

Places are free but limited, so please book HERE 
John Darwell is an independent photographer working on long-term projects that reflect his interest in social and industrial change, concern for the environment and issues around the depiction of mental health.

To date he has had seven books of his work published, of which the most recent are ‘Dark Days’ (Dewi Lewis Publishing 2007) documenting the impact of foot and mouth disease around his home in north Cumbria, and a twenty five year retrospective ‘Committed to Memory’ (Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery 2007).

Previous books include ‘Legacy’ (Dewi Lewis 2001) an exploration of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, and ‘Jimmy Jock, Albert & the Six Sided Clock’ on the Port of Liverpool (Cornerhouse 1993).

His work has been exhibited, and published, widely both nationally and internationally, including numerous exhibitions in the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, the USA, (Houston Foto Fest, New York and San Francisco) Mexico, South America and the Canary Islands, and is featured in a number of important collections including the National Museum of Media/Sun Life Collection, Bradford; the Victoria & Albert Museum, London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

In 2008 he gained his PhD for research into the visualisation of depression for his work entitled ‘A Black Dog Came Calling’. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Photography at the University of Cumbria in Carlisle.

www.johndarwell.com

Image Credit John Darwell, Bag in Fence from Hannover (from After Schwitters).

Featured Image Credit : ©Simon Roberts Sunderland vs Liverpool, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, 16^th August, 2008 (opening day of the new football season, suggested by Allan Stone, email to artist, 01.08.08)

www.thesocialnepn.co.uk

As many will know, i've been working with the NEPN as a digital intern since graduating university last July. One of my tasks over the past few weeks has been to help out with a new exciting event that is taking place in Sunderland and the North East later this year. The Social: Encountering Photography is a festival which celebrates photography in Sunderland and the surrounding area, this is NEPN hosted and supported by University of Sunderland and Arts Council England. 

In the process of creating this important event, we decided that a blog would be a great way to house and share the building process, I took this job and ran with it. I love creating blogs, as you know.

I wanted it to be clean, user friendly and the most important, relatable to the NEPN main site. With this in mind, I decided on a minimal look using the same colour's featured on the main site. After some late nights, countless emails and input from eager photography enthusiasts we went live this afternoon and I think it's going to be a vital part of the whole festival.

The blog features information on photographers confirmed to be involved, a call for participation, featured locations and other possible locations. More to come soon!

Please check it out and spread the word as it's important that we share the information with the general public as well as practicing photographers.

Credit: Helge Skodvin from '240'

'2, 850,000 Volvo 240's were made between 1974 and 1993. It became the car of choice of the Nordic countries. 84, 287 were sold in Norway. I have started these cars as they are parked - in front of a house, in a drive way, in a parking lot, in a garage, along side a road, in a courtyard; in their natural habitat.

More than any other car, the 240 became a symbol of Norwegian and Nordic Values. With these photographs, I want to show how we live, how our surroundings look. The safe, the sound, the commonplace - square and homely, yet solid and reliable. Function over form. No frills. Taking you from A to Z. A car. An ambassador for Scandinavian social democracy.

There are still approximately 17,000 registered 240's still driving on Norwegian roads.'

Helge Skodvin was born and is based in Bergen, Norway. Working for magazines and newspapers, he has won awards such as Advertising Picture of the Year and Grand Prix in the Polaroid International Awards. He is also a member of Moment Agence and Millennium Images Ltd.

For more information, please visit www.helgeskodvin.no

Photography Websites: In the last few years we’ve seen web technologies make great strides. We’ve seen the consolidation of web standards, the birth of new browsers, and a cadre of web enabled mobile devices come to the scene. New applications of HTML5 and JavaScript have paved the way for innovative and more efficient uses of technologies, driving heavy Flash based sites to near extinction.

The richness of the web is no longer compromised by misused technologies and limited bandwidth. Photography websites are not oblivious to the overall impact these trends can have. And to successfully navigate this space, photographers can look to the future optimistically by paying close attention to current web design trends.

1. Responsive Layouts

You could think of this trend more like a uniform web design where the goal is to have a single set of codes which run perfectly on all environments. Responsive photography websites are often thought to cater towards mobile browsers, but that isn’t the sole purpose.

The big idea here is to think about website design as a single canvas which is dynamic and fluid by nature. CSS3 media queries allow developers to customize layouts based on limited or expanded screen real estate.

2. Fixed Header Bars

Using the CSS position: fixed; property is a great way to staple a header bar onto your website. As visitors scroll down your page this will offer constant support for navigation and a trip back to the home page. This trend has been around for a while but now we are seeing this in full force.

Fixed headers are so interesting because they can work on practically any website. This includes social networks, blogs, and even design studios or private companies. The design is very trendy and looks great paired with most layouts. But aside from the aesthetics, this bar also provides an exceptional user experience without needing to look very far to navigate the website.

Photography Websites, Design & Development – www.medianovak.com

3. Photography Websites: Social Media Badges

Marketing is one of the ultimate determining factors in a website’s success or failure. Social media and viral marketing are exploding in many different websites. Digg used to reign popular in this domain but has since conceded to rivals like Reddit. But these are not the only two popular resources for sharing stories online.

You can check practically any social community for sharing badges and will likely find a great solution. You can position these badges pinned to blog posts and articles anywhere in your layout. These are still used actively by readers and fans who want to share content quickly on places like Facebook, Twitter, or even LinkedIn.

4. Mobile Navigation Toggle

When speaking of responsive design one of the most difficult questions is how to build a solid navigation. You want to give your readers direct access to all your important links, without flooding the page making it unreadable. It is also a good idea to keep your responsive navigation hidden away until it’s needed.

5. Photography Websites: Circular Design Elements

The trend of circles within website layouts is something newer and has been given a lot of attention recently. Designers like circles because they are clean, neat, and generally fit into any layout block. You can build patterns and even fix your page elements into circular designs (eg. user avatars, share buttons, post dates, etc).

6. Elegant Typography

The days of generic and boring fonts on the web are over. Font embedding technologies like Typekit and Cufon have allowed for creative uses of typography in web design. The variety and options are almost limitless. Special typography enhances the overall effect and experience of a site, adding to the aesthetic appeal of a site’s photography. Much like the rest of the web design landscape we imagine better and more elegant applications of typography across photography websites.