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laura ward
  • laura ward
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2018 photography review

I’ve come to look forward to my annual year in review.  I’m not much of a blogger but the odd scraps I write up here are getting a bit better. My website has had a little face-lift too with the addition of a ‘places’ section and a general tidy up.

Last year I wrote that I’d be scaling things back in 2018 which is funny now that I think about it. I’ve packed in more this year than I ever have before. I knew I had to focus on other things, but the universe didn’t really agree with those plans.

Some of the things I’ve been up to, in no particular order…

  • I exhibited six times. Four times with Shutter Hub (The Shutter Hub Open at 5&33 in Amsterdam and Truman Brewey in London, Because We Can at Festival Pil’ours in France and Girl Town Tel Aviv, at Alfred Gallery in Tel Aviv), a co-headline exhibition called Dino Island and The Lake with Nik Strangelove and at the British Museum Staff Art Show. I was also featured at FIX Photo Festival at Menier Gallery

  • I moved house and couldn’t stop photographing it

  • The super hard-working power house Karen Harvey of Shutter Hub asked me to curate an exhibition called Out of the Ordinary which is on until the end of January

  • I was 2nd in the judges vote for Women of the Year at FIX Photo Festival

  • I went to Italy to do a little photography work, and onto Zurich after that to photograph a party

  • Lomography gave me a Diana 120 to test

  • I pitched an idea to a magazine, they said yes, and it’ll be published in February 2019.

  • I’ve just finished working on something with Stylus Boy

  • I was fortunate to be on the long list of nomations for the Hundred Heroines

One of the non-photography projects I’ve worked on this year has been a pre-requisite for getting to the next stage of something really huge. I’ve gone back chronologically and written, in great detail, about every significant moment in my life and how it made me feel. Doing this kind of work would feel really self-indulgent if not for the fact that someone, in a very professional capacity, needed me to do it. This coincided with winning a place on a cross-boundary leadership programme. If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, I can assure you that I didn’t think it would be mine either. Both of these non-photography related things have been really magical in ways that I hadn’t expected. 2017 closed a few doors for me, but this year they swung back open again.

There are a couple of things in my notebook for 2019. Let’s see what happens.

These photographs are some of my favourites taken with Olympus Pen EE2, Canon AE-1 and Diana 120.   Go here for 2017, 2016,  2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009.

 Green House, Kew

Green House, Kew

 Snow day, Bloomsbury

Snow day, Bloomsbury

 Rusty Laptop, Crystal Palace

Rusty Laptop, Crystal Palace

 Women, Bloomsbury

Women, Bloomsbury

 Home

Home

 Kathryn, Barbican

Kathryn, Barbican

 Somewhere in south London

Somewhere in south London

 Bus window, London

Bus window, London

 Birds, Glasgow

Birds, Glasgow

 Plastic, York

Plastic, York

 Cricket ground, Grantham

Cricket ground, Grantham

 Favourite rose

Favourite rose

 Chelsea Physic Garden

Chelsea Physic Garden

 R

R

 Green House, Kew

Green House, Kew

 Birthday, London

Birthday, London

 Pops, Nottingham

Pops, Nottingham

 No 3, Brixton

No 3, Brixton

 Olympus Pen, London

Olympus Pen, London

 Pear drop

Pear drop

 South London Botanical Institute

South London Botanical Institute

 Leo, Grantham

Leo, Grantham

 Crystal Palace lake

Crystal Palace lake

 Ferns, Arran

Ferns, Arran

tags: film photography, 35mm, arran, grantham, crystal palace, green house, cinestill, cinestill film, olympus pen ee2, nottingham, kew, york, glasgow, london, kathryn joseph
categories: Exhibition, Projects, Collaborations
Saturday 12.29.18
Posted by Laura Ward
Comments: 3
 

Notes

So much has happened in my life during the last six months. I've been more London based than ever, in part due to a big house move (I've inherited 28 roses bushes), but I managed to squeeze in a magical break in the Isle of Arran and quick jaunts to York and Southend. Arran was a truly picture perfect place, though I was blown over by the wind as I tried to descend a cliff side path on a mountain. Things like this always happen to me. Thankfully I put my camera away just before it happened.

For the last couple of years I've been taking pictures of my mum on her journey through vision loss. Last week her specialists admitted that 'she came to them too late'. Her mission to save some vision was thwarted by a blood clot the size of her entire lung - they said it massive, they meant it.  I'm not quite ready to publish the pictures yet because I thought she'd have a happier ending, but I'll get there.

In contrast, I've come to the end of my own years-long-hanging-around-in-waiting-rooms which is like having a chain cut off my neck. When I look at the pictures I've been taking, I wonder if they're better because they have more depth to them but to be honest, I'm happiest taking pictures of a wet landscape and blooms on a blissful morning. It's not difficult to understand why when photography is your true escape.

Some good news... I'm exhibiting with Shutter Hub in a show called Because We Can at Festival Pil’ours, Saint Gilles Croix de Vie in France.  That is going to be wonderful. Shutter Hub are wonderful. 

Here's a few of the pictures I've taken..

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2018-01-21 05.38.55 1.jpg
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2018-03-02 05.41.47 1.jpg
2017-08-11 09.29.18 1.jpg
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2018-05-27 10.30.19 1.jpg
2018-05-28 06.25.23 2.jpg
2018-05-31 03.52.31 1.jpg
2018-06-08 08.32.45 1.jpg
tags: london, arran, roses, 35mm, kodak portra 400, film photography
Saturday 06.16.18
Posted by Laura Ward
 

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