2016 Review Part 2 : In twenty images

After talking about my year from a personal and business standpoint in the previous part of this review series I’ve picked twenty photographs which I feel sum up 2016 and tell the story of the year from my end very nicely. Above are the first ten , with commentary below (and not in any order of preference , but I’ve tried to make a narrative from them!)

1/Ruthe and Pete – wedding ceremony.  An intense start to the year . Multiply that by ten when you’ve known the bride since school years and count them as a close friend. The guests could not see what I saw at the time , but they could see perfectly well what I was doing , so pressure’s on… it made me concentrate that bit more and I rose to the challenge well.

2/ John (Pete’s father)  reflects on giving his son away as we walk to the reception along St James’ Street , Nottingham.

3/Many faces of Megan. Another bride I happen to know well from school 😉  and one who can pull quite a few faces , even if some of those come from masks! Made tjhos

4/ BE – Wolfgang Buttress. What started as an installation winning a gold medal representing the UK in the 2015 Design Expo has branched out into music , and even a bit of shopfitting here at Rough Trade Nottingham. I was commissioned by Wolfgang’s studio to document this themed shopfit installation , with commemorative books (which also feature my work). It’s so rewarding to play a part in such a successful project and work for a creative who’s achieved so much.

5/Beams , Malt Cross .Another side to what I do – this photograph is different to what I would normally make in the sense that it was rather more illustrative. Here I needed to provide evidence of the substructure of the building for a research thesis by Andrew North looking into the historical use of the music hall building.

6/There’s a lot of bikes in Cambridge, – Andrew then invited me up early in February for a short stay in Cambridge. What immediately struck me was how many bikes were lying around the place , and the abundance of racks for said bikes made for some fun urban landscapes to be made from them 😉 I did make some other photographs not involving bikes…

7/Walking the walls at York. Needed to break out and get away from Nottingham for a few weeks in the middle of the year and re-invent myself. I’m forever grateful for the chance to do that – this photograph a souvenir of York as a spectacle and a city which works well embracing it’s heritage.

8/Looking down from atop the Baltic Mills ,Newcastle . Knackered from getting a bit lost around Ouseburn , meeting painter Jim Edwards in his studio and marvelling at his dreamy takes of Newcastle, and eventually walking down the Tyne Wharf I took refuge in a top-deck viewing gallery , grabbed a gallery stool and watched people come and go from the front entrance below. A lot of geometry can be found within the steel beams and bridges but also within other aspects of Newcastle’s street furniture , a nod to the industrial nature of the side.

9/ Along the banks of the Trent , Not walked that part of Trent , or photographed it since 2011 , but decided to walk it back from Holme Pierrepont after a busy day covering the British Rowing Championships in October. A long walk , but a good one and I got to meet fellow photographer Mike Beard who I’d not seen for a while since he worked at the University (where I’ve got a day job). You never know who you run into.

10/ A beach in amongst The City , Canary Wharf , London . A real “jump out of the DLR” moment. Had a day to myself in London due to unforeseen circumstances , hauling luggage along with my cameras! Not that that stopped me from making this particular discovery on the cityscape , this being one of my favourite moments this year  it shows that good things can come from adversity sometimes and when you don’t expect them but need to be consistent.