Well it has been workshops galore of late ! And why not? Photography and techniques should be out there amongst the people and not just lurking online.
Working with Suffolk Wildlife Trust was an absolute pleasure. Along with SmellSense Charity I created a series of walks and cyanotype sessions responding to the unique landscape of the Carlton Marshes.
I also an enjoyed running a smartphone workshop for a legal firm in the City. They learned several tips and tricks, and hopefully I improved their awareness of ‘light’ and how their phones respond to it.
Big news, and just out, is my long-awaited Eco Photography Summer School!
Taking place across two green oases in South East London – we will be having lots of fun experimenting with sustainable photography processes! Various types of cyanotype and botanical toners, Anthotypes, prints on fabric and more! If you want to use digital negatives (probably the final session) contact me to arrange. Suitable for beginners to advanced.
I’ve always been interested in the overlap between the senses – sight, hearing, smell… . Many years ago I wrote a dissertation about Synaesthesia in Theatre and TV. I knew as a director that if you bombard the eyes with red for example, you will get a visceral response from your audience. I’ve always believed there are subliminal connections between for example colour and sound. For me a Middle C note is royal blue and always has been. After all, light and sound are just different types of waves, and colours and pitches are different frequencies.
Rosemary cyanotypes
When I work with ultraviolet light in my cyanotype printing I am very aware that the optimal frequency is 365nm. I can see the effects of sun, and all manner of clouds of the final print – I work with the weather to get the precise results I am after … I can control contrast and colour by harnessing the elements in the same way a farmer does to maximise his yield. This week I have noticed that my freckles start forming when UV breaches a certain point, I can literally feel them forming on my skin – no need for a light meter!
Pic of my mozzie bite and freckles
And that brings me to the connection between Earth, Body and Spirit, one that I fear we are losing in today’s concrete jungles. I’ve worked with city kids who have never touched a growing plant and don’t know where supermarket veg comes from beyond the plastic tray. When I lost my senses of smell and taste for years after Covid, the world felt a very 2-dimensional place. I felt detached, like I was living in a simulation of reality, a character in a computer game. When my senses returned I felt euphoric, and determined to never take these senses for granted again. I found out about the charity Fifth Sense who help people with smell/taste disorders and I did their training and now volunteer for them, to help raise awareness.
On the day that my sense of smell returned I happened to be picking rosemary at the John Evelyn Garden in Deptford. So this is where we are running an informal workshop on Fri 16 May 2025 2.30-4pm. Suitable for anyone wanting to explore the senses and nature, and to get hands-on with plants and make a cyanotype print with sunlight. We will be continuing the discussions of sensory perception then. Details on how to book a free place here
Since the pandemic everyone wants outdoor work! This job isn’t photography but it’s a bit like working with pixels in photoshop!
Work has begun on a huge mosaic for an exterior wall in Deptford Landings, to mark the Grand Surrey Canal that once ran through the site.
Pre drilling the panels
At first my design went through several incarnations, after discussions with the architects and builders. A log and tile structure, then a huge wave running along the building, then finally we went with my idea of a Birds Eye view showing different elements of the area through time.
I am making the mosaic onto 3 panels. Hundreds of tiles being shaped and collaged to create abstract landmasses and geographical features inspired by old maps I have examined and local knowledge.
I’m using parts from chipped tiles , end of lines, charity shops, inherited porcelain, and some gorgeous blue and beige tiles bought from local suppliers – N&C tiles and London Mosaics. Most of the materials are recycled or natural (stones).
Gasometer emerging
It’s been a lot of heavy work and hours making this mosaic. Cold, fumey, sticky – but fun! Can’t wait to see the final result on the wall soon.
Having finished my “Deep Trouble” exhibition of about 20 framed Cyanotypes, when it came to Deptford X 2023 I wanted to do a single artwork. The theme this year is looking back on 25yrs of the festival. I’ve participated several times, but my standout year was 2021. We had just came out of lockdowns , everything had to be outdoors or online.
I made a big cyanotype collage, and on it I painted a Plague Doctor figure overlooking the High Street. I had interesting conversations with people about local history and about pandemics. My online scripted Zoom ‘happening’ going back in time with an actor really felt like it was breaking new ground.
Learning Curve
This year instead of a Cyanotype collage, I wanted to use a collage of photos of Deptford taken over the last 25yrs. That is where I made mistake number one! I had these images in my head, memories, but I had to find them in my archives! It took days to do this.
There was a mixture of darkroom prints, iphone photos etc to source. As I was scrolling my vast library it was a bit like seeing your “life flashing before your eyes”. (Similar to BeReal which I am very into. ) What is life, if it isn’t a series of photographic images in your memory? It is no coincidence that my background is in TV, the collage felt a bit like 24 frames per second , but laid out on a flat plane. However, glued down on a recycled piece of cardboard the images were underwhelming.
After the draining process of collating my very meaningful images I had lost energy to paint the Plague Doctor figure on top! But Deptford X is playful, and allows you to experiment, so I got deliberately sloppy with the paint.
I was fed up with painting the black colourless figure! Then I ate some custard and thought that would be a good colour for his ‘all seeing’ eye “. From there on it started to look like a GCSE art creation… but I’m ok with that. I know full well that if I had immaculately framed my stunning photos individually, they would have have had a very different impact. Instead, they are butted up against each other and give the impression of haphazard, slightly messy, clashing, loveable Deptford, The punky DIY assemblage also suited Overdrive music studios, where my piece hangs.
Public reaction has been fascinating so far. I will report back on that later. I am learning loads.
Catch it on 23, 24, 30th Sept & 1st Oct 12-10pm at a unit 7 Resolution way opposite Deptford station. Details here
I’ve been studying the recent record temperatures of oceans, and all the implications. The extinction of species, the new species found in the deeps and immediately threatened by deep sea mining. Those creatures look otherworldly, and unbelievable.
These thoughts put surreal images into my head, and from there into Cyanotypes. Exhibition “Deep Trouble” opens next week, in the friendly gallery at Woolwich Front Room in the town centre.
I’m going to bed tonight thinking what I can do with a photo I took of a stingray. Those things have human-like faces!
Heads up to my blog readers, that there will be a workshop (in Cyanotype and Anthotype) with booking opening at 10pm on 1st Aug. Book here
Also I’m there to chat to people about my work on Friday, come and say hi.
2023 has got off to a bright start! I’ve been working on the Light The Way Festival for Hive Curates. I’ve run workshops with local residents – we’ve been on Nature walks along the Ridgeway, the Orchard, and the canals in Thamesmead. Then we made cyanotypes which will be scanned and incorporated into the “Nature Through A New Lens” installation.
I’m also presenting my own piece “Dark Path”. This is a recycled version of my previous “Dark Alley” work, with updates made to the vandalised boxes, and some faces from the workshops featured in my unique lightcrates. I think I did pretty well snapping the participants during our tea break. I love the site I’ve been allocated on the Ridgeway, and I am scattering the boxes there so that they are more site specific. As you can see from the header picture it is currently drenched in blossom. I hope to involve some plants and UV lights too! Its been quite intense work – lots of late night soldering and splinters.
Winter can be such a depressing month, especially the cold dark days in London. I am delighted to take part in “Light the Way”, getting people out in Nature for a long walk, its the best medicine! Light festivals seem to replacing things like Bonfire Nights, we really need safe outdoor events so people can socialise.
Similarly, I have been helping out with Pepys Warm Welcomes in Deptford. I had to drink a lot of wine (kidding) to provide enough bottles for people to recycle into lamps with me! The lamps came out so well. Its a great idea to get people in one centre to save money on their own heating bills. So many wins for the environment all round! Next week I’ll be running a casual “painting to music” session, and Paul and I will be performing some of my songs unplugged !
This year I have been perfecting certain formulae and techniques of sustainable photography. Traditional photography can contain toxic materials and be heavy on the use of water and electricity. I wanted to share my findings with local artists and photographers (of all levels) and to open up discussions of climate and Nature. Thanks to a grant from Bexley Three Rivers and Arts Council England I was able to do that. Over July and August we made sunprints, plant emulsions, and a photowalk in the woods.
I feel there is a real gap for summer activities in London, especially after the isolating lockdowns. Many clubs and classes shut down completely for summer. This became a bit of a ‘summer camp’ and was a lot of fun. It was full of moments of magic, discovery and laughter. Everyone said, they had never done anything like this before, and that was very rewarding for me as I strive to be original.
I’d like to say a massive thanks to all the enthusiastic participants, and to the helpful organisers, to the Belvedere Centre, and my assistants Tabby and Lewis.
I took this photo of the dry ferns when I was doing a reccee for our PhotoWalk day. It was the peak of the heatwave and drought. I could see smoke and was told there were firefighters dealing with a forest fire in the woods. I got out fast.
Seeing evidence like this in nature, plants struggling for survival, and human litter around the edges, we were able to discuss the threats to the green environment.
This dropped out of my fortune cookie and reminded me of a very important point. We learn most about the world by interacting with others. It’s no surprise to me that war and climate change came hot-on-the-heels of lockdown isolation, when we were detached from the lives and minds of others.
Until now I’ve not enjoyed ‘teaching’. My mum tried to make me follow in her footsteps and become a teacher. She taught PE, and I lacked the genes for that. I rebelled, and grew up thinking “those who can’t do, teach”.
With age comes wisdom. As I get older I have an urge to pass on knowledge. I have been able to educate people about Nature and Climate Change in the last few years and that gives me huge satisfaction. Added to that, income from workshops has been a great way to keep afloat during lockdowns and beyond. After all, I see my work as ‘experimental’ and experiments are not ‘commercial.’
This photo is from a drop-in workshop I held for Thamesmead Global Festival. The kids were ‘wowed’ by the process, and wanted to know “why” the paper turned blue.
I thoroughly enjoyed running a workshop in my natural habitat at the Gate Darkroom, I am doing another one on Thurs 29th Sept. I will post details on Facebook first, so keep an eye out.
My Cyanotype with Nature workshop at Birchmere Community Garden was a fantastic day I will never forget. More on that later. Big thanks to Bryan the gardening volunteer who joined in, and we all got talking about crucial issues of soil, specific plants and growing patterns.
Myself, Malcolm and Shiroma (working as Green Space Art Collective) recreated the old May Day traditions at John Evelyn Garden. It was great to get everyone celebrating Nature with Art workshops, Music and a history walk.
After giving a talk to a large audience in Winchester about Experimental Photography, I was asked back to do a workshop. This was an amazing day with accomplished photographers in an owl sanctuary. Fantastic.
I’m currently running an Eco Photography Project for Three Rivers Bexley, including 3 days working with local residents: on Cyanotypes, a photowalk in the woods, and finally Anthotypes.
The entreprenuer in me should have known that all those online workshops I led would lead to more demand for workshops, and less time spent on my own artistic output. This trend continues. With September exhibitions approaching I am very busy indeed.
2022 got off to a good start, as I won a commission in a design competition for Woolwich. I responded to a brief to make something for Myrtle Alley that explored women’s safety at night. It’s funny because I was expecting to be making something about the history of Woolwich, the old and the new, which really intrigues me. But, I was always avoiding this particular alley after dark, even if it was only 4pm, and I had never given that a second thought to that until this brief came along. Why should I have to avoid this convenient shortcut? I wondered if other women also avoided it.
At the same time Greenwich Council launched a map where women could drop a pin at areas where they felt unsafe. You can fill in the survey and make suggestions to spend money on lighting, cameras, etc … but it finally dawned on me that it wasn’t the “space” itself that was unsafe, it was the predators that might lurk in the dark corners that make it unsafe, and no amount of cameras and lighting will get at that root cause.
At the same time Greenwich Council launched a map where women could drop a pin at areas where they felt unsafe. You can fill in the survey and make suggestions to spend money on lighting, cameras, etc … but it finally dawned on me that this wasn’t addressing the root cause of the violence, and we will be still walking around scared, because there will always be some dark corners left.
My idea for “Dark Alley” just came popped straight out of my head, like all the best ideas do. I would photograph women passing by and ask them what they thought of the alley and take a photo of them. I’d been working with boxes a lot in 2021, there was Deptford Xwhere I painted on cardboard boxes, and the commission for London Alternative Photography where I cyanotyped the inside of a Ilford paper box. This time I wanted to use the wooden crates that I would sometimes see discarded in the street, and around the market stalls.
I wanted to light up the alley, so it wasn’t so dark and scary, and so it stopped to make people think. I decided to put lights inside the photo boxes.
Of course when you make a pie-in-the-sky design like this, you never dream that you will win and end up making it ! So here I am today on the 5th day of sawing, glueing and assembling those crate ‘frames”, splinters in my fingers, solder burns from the wiring …. it was not as easy as it looks ! Let alone making transparent sunprints in January from fast street portraits.
The hardest part was that I had photographed about 12 women and had to narrow it down to only 6 for the final installation. But I will be posting each of the women a nice print. I am so pleased by my own bravery with street photography that I might continue this into a larger project – the light , the people , and the changing architecture are very special in Woolwich. I have known the place for 30yrs and when I compare my memories , with the post-pandemic town, there is a massive difference that I learn so much from, you can see how the future might go.
I am really proud that I’ve used mostly recycled materials. Including some red drapes which I made from netting from a building site. The fronds will drape down and tickle you as you go through the alley – a bit like the ghost train at the fairground. I remember feeling so scared when I was a kid on the Ghost Train, and its exactly the same feeling I get when I reach the bend of this dark alley. Fear is funny thing, you imagine the worst things that can happen, the adrenaline comes, and then when you exit the alleyway you breathe a sigh of relief. You were one of the lucky ones.
Its been great having the support of Resolve Collective and Lison, who have been working really hard getting everything ready for the opening this Saturday 12th Feb. There is another prizewinner Evie painting silhouettes onto the alley walls – so we will certainly be brightening up this neglected space that the locals call “piss alley”.
I am really grateful for this opportunity to have made something site-specific and sculptural – it certainly stretched me out of my comfort zones. I am proud of what I am creating.
On Saturday 12 Feb the organisers are leading a tour around the artworks dotted about Woolwich town centre. I will be there. There are 2 further walks on Sunday, I am not sure if I will be at those, but contact me if you are going and I will do my best.
The following Friday I am doing a photo walk around Woolwich – mainly for film shooters, but anyone is welcome, I will take you past some of the artworks then too.
So I was playing with the “FaceApp” on Instagram that gives a very convincing gender swap effect ! And I looked at the male version of me with my camera and thought “how would this guy be regarded if he walked into a room for a shoot? or to impress a gallery owner?” . I think he looks a real hotshot doesn’t he? (Of course we are both in need of post-lockdown haircuts!) He looks like he is confident, artistic and accomplished … whereas I look at myself and I see a flakey housewife or multi-tasking mum. This has made me examine my own prejudices. Women are prone to ‘imposter syndrome’ and I still have to pinch myself when I get an award or commission.
Darkrooms and camera clubs have long been the territory of mainly men. But I am pleased to say our group darkroom The Gate has a large number of women at the helm, and the local camera club (Woolwich Aperture) also seems around 50/50 so we are doing well in this region.
In colleges there are many more women studying photography than men. And yet at the professional level men wipe the board.
Its all food for thought. When I look up to “Master Printers” and “Magnum Photographers” they are almost exclusively male. I’ve always aspired to be a “Master Printer”, but is that even possible? Perhaps I would be a “Mistress Printer”?! How many men do I know that print photos on fabric? Zero.
I come from a background in TV when I was often the only woman (except for the PA and makeup artists) directing crews of up to 50 people. Then I didn’t think anything of it, and I never faced prejudice. But when I look at the guy above, I can’t help thinking what life would life have been like if I’d been born a boy? I had a brother who died as a baby, and I was adopted shortly afterwards as a boy wasn’t available. Growing-up I remember being pushed towards teaching, nursing, sewing, cooking while boys were encouraged to take metalwork, woodwork, farming, science and run businesses. Makes you think. Hopefully the playing field is more level now for my daughters – one has just gained a first in Physics. Gender should be an irrelevance, as should race and age.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences
Above pictures I took on a recent photowalk with the SheClicks group, thanks to Karin for organising the meet-up.
Sarah Garrod 