They will start at White Cloth Gallery; if you want to take part you should arrive from 18:00 to 19:00.
Bring a camera (any camera) – and clothing/footwear appropriate for city wandering in the British summer.

Where? White Cloth Gallery is found on Aire Street – close to Leeds City Station, City Square and Whitehall Road.
The nearest multi-storey car parks are at The Bourse (NCP) and Criterion Place – both off Swinegate on the opposite side of the station to the gallery (a 5-10 minute walk). Leeds’ on street parking is free after 6pm and there is a fair amount of spaces on and around Park Place.

When?

• Tuesday 4th June - Facebook signup (optional)
• Tuesday 2nd July - Facebook signup (optional)
• Tuesday 5th August - Facebook signup (optional)
  - socialising from 6pm (activities depart up to 7pm)

Entry: £2.50. Exposure Leeds supporters will not be charged entry.
Note: refreshments are not included in the entry fee. 

These events are supported by

It was misty that day

When Jon was approaching people to share their places with the world at large, he jumped at the chance of asking Morticia Maguire-Broad to take part. Here he interviews her about her images of Meanwood, Leeds. 

Why choose the location you did?
The Bridle path around what used to be Meanwood Park Hospital and the bridge which runs over Meanwood Beck at the Ring Road end of the park are two of my favourite places to go walking and taking pictures. They are easy to get to, and aside from runners, horse riders and dog walkers quite quiet, secluded and atmospheric. I love the way the same features can look very different according to the weather, the time of day and the time of year.

The beck was peaceful

Can you tell us a bit more about it?
Meanwood Hall was built in the late 1700’s and bought by Leeds City Council in 1919 to be a home for the people of the city who were deemed to have learning difficulties. It was the centre of what became known as Meanwood Park Hospital as it expanded over the years to include various residential units. Meanwood Hall is still there but the rest of the hospital closed in 1997, the units were knocked down and housing developments built in its place. The bridle path goes round the edge of what was the hospital grounds, with views out over the ring road and down into Meanwood Woods. The Beck used to be a water source for Headingley and it also used to be the power and water source for mills and tanneries in Meanwood. If you stand on the bridge over the beck nearest the ring road you can’t hear the traffic on the ring road, all you can hear is the sound of the water going over the weir.

The sky bright behind the trees

What approach did you take to the project?
I just went out with my camera at different times and in different weather and looked for the scenes that appealed to me most and tried to imagine a story happening around the images. I like it best when it is misty and the light is quite low and you can imagine that there is something sinister in the trees. The bridge over the beck is a recurring viewpoint – not least because it is one of my favourite places but also because it looks so different depending on the light. When it’s bright and sunny it looks warm and inviting but when it is misty and damp it can look more foreboding and malevolent or just wistful and sad in the true sense of the word.

But then the snowbeast came

Were the resulting images as you planned them?
On the whole yes, I mostly shoot in black and white whether I am using a film camera or a digital camera – my mantra is ‘everything looks better in black and white’. If using digital I use either the film grain or dynamic monochrome setting as I get my photographic enjoyment from taking the pictures that I want rather than spending hours post processing them on the computer afterwards – a bit of cropping or a bit of fiddling with the brightness and contrast is as much as I can be bothered to do on the computer – as my other mantra is take the photo you wanted in the first place rather than spending hours afterwards fiddling about with it. Plus the beauty of digital cameras with their screens is you can (mostly) see straight away whether or not you’ve got the shot you want. I do use film as well – mostly on lovely old 120 and 127 cameras but they are very basic and have no light meters or image stabilisation features so I only really use those in strong sunlight. As we’ve not had strong sunlight for a while I stuck to digital for this particular series of pictures. However I’m not a very technical photographer – I’m much more of an intuitive one but I’m slowly learning more technical stuff.

I fled back to the beck

Have you plans to extend the series?
I would like there to be a few days of strong sunlight so I could try and capture the same viewpoints in that kind of weather and see what they look like then both on film and on digital. Or maybe to take some props there – make it look like a picnic had been interrupted by someone or something…

What ideas or tips do you have for others doing this project?
Try using a different camera or drop to your knees and see what it looks like from that angle but there’s no right or wrong way to do it – just have fun whatever way you decide to approach it.

What other photographic projects are you working on?
Building up my collection of vintage film cameras and using them as often as conditions and finances allow – film isn’t cheap but it is beautiful and tactile and it has an excitement that digital just doesn’t have. Plus I’m location scouting for a photobook…

You can catch up with Morticia on her blog or on Flickr;  while the exhibition at White Cloth Gallery concludes on 25th April this online gallery will continue, as will the project.

Only to find my refuge had been claimed by the snowbeast.

Sun Chair

Why choose Butchertown?
I explore this area quite often for it’s industrial plentitude and turn-of-the-century housing. I never know what I might find in the way of urban decay, graffiti and interesting architecture.

Can you tell us a bit more about it?
Over the past few years, The Butchertown neighborhood has seen a good amount of gentrification, art studios and boutiques similar to the process that is occuring in the NULU district. Yet, the past remains present in the architecture and air of the neighborhood. There are still many factories and warehouses that offer a beautiful patina of mood, decay and abstraction.

Self Portrait of Grass

What approach did you take to the project?
I wanted to show the beauty of abstraction, that it can be found in abundance among urban decay, how texture can become art if we are open to see it that way.

Were the resulting images as you planned them?
I don’t think results are ever as planned. Sometimes, I’m surprised, other times, disappointed. It’s like a garden – if you don’t have a few road apples mixed into soil, nothing grows well. That said, I’m happy to say I was more than pleased with the images from this project.

What Future ?

For the benefit of UK readers – ‘road apples’ are natural fertilisers created by horses.

What ideas or tips do you have for others doing this project?
Be open to whatever you may come across. Explore everything and go back to the same spot in a different mood. Experiment, even if you don’t think the results will be good. You may be surprised.

Recycled Barrels

What other photographic projects are you working on?
I have a forthcoming book exploring classic cars and trucks, rat rods, street rods, cars rusting in a fields for decades. I had a lot of fun putting this one together with the help of many automotive enthusiasts. And I’m working on another book of textures I hope to have ready by winter.

I look forward to that – I’m often spellbound by your textures – including those in the ‘Textures of Two Cities’ book. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!

You can see more of Sheri’s photography on her website and on Flickr. This article is an extension of the ‘This is my place’ launch exhibition – which closes on April 25th. The project continues into late 2013.

Under Construction

All images © Sheri L Wright. Used with Permission. All Rights Reserved.

Over the past few years, and after many visits, we have explored and photographed the old town of Lagos in Portugal including its marina, its harbour, its coastline and some of the events that take place throughout the year.

Each day spent in Lagos involves a photo walk where we usually spend time looking for interesting architectural details and views of the town, both of us having a different perspective on the city.

This talk gives us the opportunity to show some of the wide ranging images and techniques we have used in Spring, Summer and Autumn.

• Street Life – people, events and retail.
• Coast – beach and harbour.
• Architecture – details and structures.

Exhibition prints from ‘This is my place‘ will also be available to view

Where? White Cloth Gallery is found on Aire Street – close to Leeds City Station, City Square and Whitehall Road.
The nearest multi-storey car parks are at The Bourse (NCP) and Criterion Place – both off Swinegate on the opposite side of the station to the gallery (a 5-10 minute walk). Leeds’ on street parking is free after 6pm and there is a fair amount of spaces on and around Park Place.

When? Tuesday 7th May – socialising from 6pm (talk starts at 7:00pm – please note time change)

Entry: £2.50. Exposure Leeds supporters will not be charged entry. Sign up on Facebook (optional)
Note: refreshments are not included in the entry fee. 

The event is supported by

Images © John and Jan Dolan – used with permission; all rights reserved.

On the first day of the ‘This is my place‘ exhibition opening at White Cloth Gallery, project curator Jon Eland caught up with exhibitor Mark Jaffe to find out a little more about his imagery.

So, Mark – why Roundhay Park?
It’s close and has many features that I like and seems to have a more sympathetic ‘character’ than a lot of places.

What approach did you take to the project?
I’ll take lots of everyday stuff to be in generally the right area and then let anything more unusual or involved unfold as it wants to and try not to influence or steer the image to any significant degree. Life is always moving so it’s bound to happen, all you have to do is be able to spot the story, become engaged by it and document it.

Have you plans to extend the series?
Well it seems a good frame to work in and I’m always looking for those, so why not? You learn a lot about a place this way.

What ideas or tips do you have for others doing this project?
Don’t go in with any preconceptions, treat it as an exercise in letting your subconscious take over, let the area reveal itself to you at its own pace - be an impulse-buyer in the supermarket of your visual world.

What other photographic projects are you working on?
I’m working with models to get a more natural feel to those types of images. That may be a contradiction in terms to some of course so it’s a challenge. I’m also thinking of a portrait series which I’m trying to find a ‘frame’ for but places are far easier to arrange appointments with than people!

Were the resulting images as you planned them?
To be honest two of them were chancers, I just tried them on a whim with the angles and compositions and with the seated man I just managed to get the timing spot on (for me, anyway) by watching how he was moving and his general mood. I also really liked the resonance with the chap in the shadows. Others I’ve taken whilst doing this little project have lots of little stories unfolding in them too – at least to my eyes. They may not be the most appropriate for this exhibition and therefore not giving me what I planned in that respect but that’s not really a bad thing to me.

That’s fine by me – I’m happy for this project to include sketches and trials.

I think there’s an element of chance sometimes about pushing the bounds even in quite little ways. It never feels settled and right at the time and fails more often than it doesn’t but often when you review the results you can find plenty of images that have worked in at least one way – if not always the one intended! And since digital film costs nothing it’s easy to bin the mistakes isn’t it!

Cheers and thanks for taking the trouble Jon.
Thanks for contributing and answering my questions, Mark.

This is My Place, the exhibition Mark’s images are in continues to April 25th. The project has just started and is looking for more contributors. You can find other images by Mark on his Flickr stream.

Corinthian Helmet’ by Stuart Burrows, ‘Machine Gunner’ by Ian Wray, ‘Charge’ by Ian Biggins

Hi Ian – thanks for offering to talk to Exposure Leeds about your current exhibition – how did it come about?

Well it’s strange really that the Royal Armouries museum is a major feature in our home city, but we had never done anything together before. It all started when the museum approached us asking if our members had any material to demonstrate the effect war has on individual peoples lives.
Although we do have some good travel photographers in the society, that sort of stuff was a bit beyond our remit.

We were interested in doing something with the Armouries though, so we had a meeting with Karen Whitting, the museum’s Head of Creative Programmes and she told us about their ‘Inspired By’ series of exhibitions. This is a series of installations and exhibitions of all kinds, with the emphasis on the inspiration behind the artists work.

The upshot was the decision to put together a series of images, shot by our members, of the actual museum and its collections.

The LPS exhibition at the Royal Armouries museum, Leeds

What types of access did you have – and how did you go about planning shoots – was it around themes, or individual projects or..?

Yes we arranged four shoots in total to give our members flexibility to arrange things around their day jobs. We were generally there in small groups during opening hours, chaperoned by the Royal Armouries’ project manager Jo Sullivan who subsequently did a brilliant job of arranging the exhibition from the museum’s side.

Although the Armouries is happy for visitors to take pictures for none commercial use, they do not usually allow flash or tripods to be used. Obviously this would have severely limited the quality of the work we produced, but the museum kindly waived these latter two restrictions. One thing they, quite understandably could not allow us to do, was have the display cases opened. This created some challenges in avoiding reflections on the glass panels, but really focused our minds as far as to sorting out the lighting goes.

Members of the Leeds Photographic Society with museum staff.

As for themes, other than having the title of ‘Royal Armouries In Focus’, we deliberately avoided giving a specific brief, so as to leave each photographer free to work to their own strengths shoot in their own style. Bearing in mind the wide ranging styles of our members, this was really the only way to go.

How has response been to the exhibition so far?

The exhibition opened at the beginning of March and will be running through to mid June. In a word, the response has been fantastic! The museum team were thrilled with the quality of the 34 finished images we produced and it has had a great reception from the public.

What did your photographers say about the experience?

I think many of our members really enjoyed the sense of purpose that ‘shooting for the exhibition’ gave them. Furthermore, every image is accompanied by a caption explaining the authors thought processes and motivations in capturing their particular image. This added an extra dimension to each photographer’s task.

Ian Wray – LPS publicity officer, Chris Walker – Royal Armouries C.E.O. and Stuart Burrows – LPS Vice President

Are there any related events?

The Royal Armouries were very kind in arranging a private view for their staff and our society members. It was nice for our members to be able to meet the rest of the team who dealt with the museum’s side of the production.

How has this benefited the Society?

The publicity we received has been wonderful, with coverage in the local press and radio. What has also been really good for us is the information board which accompanies the exhibition and explains to the public what the Leeds Photographic Society is all about. The exhibition has helped a lot in creating interest and raising the profile of our Society.

View of the LPS exhibition at the Royal Armouries museum, Leeds

Want to tell us more about LPS – and it’s activities?

Our membership is currently at around 110 and we welcome photographers of all abilities from beginner and casual snapper to pro. We have a real spread of people talented in diverse fields from wildlife to abstract art. During the winter we meet weekly, hosting talks by both visiting speakers and our own members as well as running a schedule of in house and inter-club competitions.

We have just entered our summer season and will now meeting fortnightly with a more practical based itinerary of evening shoots and tutorials.
In addition to this, over the spring bank holiday weekend, from Saturday 25th to Monday 27th we will be holding our annual print exhibition at Salt’s Mill, Saltaire in Bradford. These are generally the best works produced by our members over the past 12 months and they will be on display on the top floor of the mill as part of the Saltaire Arts Trail weekend. Our members will be on hand throughout the weekend to chat and answer any queries, so we’d welcome anyone and everyone to call in.

Finally – thanks for giving us this opportunity to tell you about our exhibition and the Society. It’s been nice speaking to you.

‘Royal Armouries Planet’ by Eva Pitt, ‘Armour Side’ by Gudge Chana, ‘Ornamental Sword’ by Terresa Bedows

Royal Armouries: In Focus runs to 30 June at Leeds’ Royal Armouries museum. There is a full schedule of our events on the LPS1852 website. They also have a Facebook page  which is a great place to see some of the varied work produced by our members, and along with Twitter (@lps1852) to receive updates on their events.

All image © Leeds Photographic Society or the respective member, as identified in the captions. Used with permission – all rights reserved.

Bringing together images and photographers from both the UK and Louisville – Leeds’ partner city in the USA – the project also aims to highlight and extend this connection and provide an opportunity for both cities to see one another’s imagery.

Photographers participating in this exhibition:

• Andrew Broad – Elvington Airfield, York
• John Dolan (UK) – Temple Newsam Estate, Leeds
• Mark Jaffe (UK) – Roundhay Park, Leeds
• Michèle Larocque (USA) – Frankfort Avenue, Louisville
• Morticia Maguire-Broad  - Meanwood Valley, Leeds
• Sheri L. Wright Germantown, Louisville (USA)
• Si Cliff (UK) – Whitby, North Yorkshire

Details

Where: White Cloth Gallery (Café space), Aire Street, Leeds LS1
Entry: FREE
When: 9th-25th April  • Mon-Tue 11am-10pm • Wed-Sat – 11am-11pm
(please check with the gallery, open on Sundays when events are running)

An online exhibition will follow during the course of the exhibition.

If you are interested in getting involved, read more about the project.

About LVLLDS

In 2010 Exposure Leeds started to nurture a relationship with Louisville, Leeds’ partner city in the USA. Two years later we are inviting photographers in the Kentucky city to join with us and share their places with their Yorkshire-based counterparts. Two photographers, Michèle Larocque and Sheri L. Wright have contributed to the launch exhibition and further examples of the links can be found on the dedicated website – lvllds.org

Main image © Mark Jaffe. LVLLDS logo produced by Dr Geof both created for Exposure Leeds and used with thanks. All Rights Reserved.

This exhibition is in association with

Photographs often owe a lot to their location – the first ever photographic image captured a view from a window and many forms of photography since rely on or benefit from how the place the image is taken  impacts on the finished images.

This is my place is a new project which calls on photographers of all levels to look at the places they visit regularly, to investigate and find ways of capturing them in images or involving them in the types of photography they already produce – and to share those images with the rest of us.

The project launched with an exhibition of images from seven photographers – contributing projects from Leeds, York, North Yorkshire and Kentucky (USA). The exhibition can be seen at White Cloth Gallery, Aire Street, Leeds 9-25 April 2013 and continues online afterwards.

The project itself will also continue online with project galleries, contributor interviews, challenges and also in real world activities.

We invite anyone interested to contribute to the project by email, via messages on our Facebook page or by posting in our (newly-launched) dedicated Flickr group.

More soon…

Zebra

What does your exhibition ‘Natural Beauty’ cover?

It is essentially is about showing the beauty of Leeds Museums natural history collection which is sometimes missed when we just walk round a museum quickly. It also is to increase awareness of the Discovery Centre where all the specimens are to be found.

How did the idea initially come about?

The idea actually came about from Leeds Museums. Then we began working on the concept and looking at the samples and the fact that there were so many specimens available, it just seemed to naturally fall into the categories that were used for the final exhibition, that is Miniatures, Close-Ups, Portraits and Head Shots.

What challenges did you face shooting the pieces?

There are a number of issues that arise with working with museum specimens in that they have to be kept under particular conditions to ensure their longevity. Also some of the specimens were too fragile to be moved. All images were taken on site at the Discovery Centre, with a makeshift studio being created when there was a room free. For the larger exhibits, they were simply shot in situ, with additional lighting used to supplement the lighting in the stores.

Hornbill

How long did the project take to complete?

The project was started in September, with most of the images completed by the end of October. Shooting varied as some weeks I would shoot for two days and then there would be some weeks when there would be no shooting as access was limited. Often a day wouldn’t be a full of shooting as time was taken up with each session in putting together a studio set-up and then taking it apart and for some of the images, the lighting set up was quite detailed.

How did you go about curating the shots for your final exhibition?

Curating the images for the final exhibition was very much a team effort with myself, Helen Langwick who was at the time the special exhibitions curator at the museum and Rebecca Machin, the natural history curator. Proofs were printed out of about a hundred of the images and these proofs were used to create a mock up of how the exhibition could flow. Using proofs is a great way of seeing how images work together. Helen was then able to take this further by creating a virtual mock up of how the completed exhibition would look, so we could do any final tweaks before the images went off for printing.

Fox

Choosing a favourite is a difficult one as there are ones I favour for different reasons whether it be lighting such as the backlit crow or the graphic element that you get with some of the skulls. If I had to choose just one image it would probably be the backlit fox, but if you were to ask me again in 30 minutes I’d probably change my mind – too much choice!

Elephant bird egg

What was your favourite object from the collection –  the most fascinating?

For me personally, I found all the specimens fascinating, I come from a science background, so I already had a huge interest in this area. When you get to work with specimens like this it is easy to just be amazed with the amazing architecture that makes up living things and just some of the beautiful designs that are present on these specimens. There are trays upon trays of butterflies at the Discovery Centre and their wing patternations are just incredible so impressive and the elephant skull is just magnificent.

Did you learn any useful tips or tricks to photographing the collection you can pass on for our readers?

Winter
Model: Camilla Rose Helley
MUA and Hair: Clare Ardern

It’s a little hard to provide useful tips when you have photographed something that isn’t accessible to everyone in the same situation. I know when I was a teenager I would read how-to sections in photography magazines and then find that to produce a similar image you needed a huge studio with about 10 assistants and equipment that would only be affordable on a lottery win (I’m still getting the lottery tickets!). I think as with anything the key thing to get out of this is in terms of composition. With taxidermy some of it can be poorly done and you really need to work out compositions which show it off in it’s best light and also use lighting so that it highlights the good bits and creates shadows around the areas that are not to be a key focus of the image. This can pretty much applied to areas of photography

What next? Have you started working on your next exhibition yet?

I am half way through a four seasons project, I’ve included one of the winter images (seems apt at the moment!) which I am hoping to complete in the next couple of months and then after that there is a longer project which is in it’s early planning stages but I am very excited about as it features a love of mine but I’ll wait until it’s underway before I let you know what it is!

Natural Beauty runs at Leeds City Museum to 30th June 2013 – on that link you’ll also find information of a related photography competition.

You can view more of Sara’s work on her website.