Bruce Gilden at work
For our photography class at uni this week, we took to the streets of Belfast. We were shown some examples of Bruce Gilden’s work, informed that there is no legal restriction on photography in public places and told to go out and get snapping.
Street photography is something a lot of people are misinformed about. The most common retaliation we received was “Hey, you’re meant to ask for my permission first!” It’s generally assumed that it’s illegal to photograph without consent. However there is no presumption of privacy for individuals in a public place at all. If you’re outside, you’re fair game for any photographer.
Regardless of the legalities though, if you snap their picture, there’s a chance they’ll snap back. We encountered a few people who really didn’t want their picture taken and wouldn’t hold back in telling you so. To be honest though, you can’t blame them, it’s undoubtedly intrusive to give no warning and just take their picture, especially at a close range and with the flash on.
If street photography is meant to be observing true moments, candidly and unstaged then it’s not really possible to capture that the same way if you give warning. Looking back, it feels mad that I partook in this. I can’t think of a time before this where I just took the shot without knowing or asking the person first. I had to get close to my subjects as I didn’t have a zoom lens and that was nerve-wracking. Here are a couple of the photographs I got that day.
The Ulster Festival is back, hosting a range of events from the 17th to the 24th March. There will be exhibitions, talks, workshops as well as the more unusual live art experimentation in The Glass Box. Many of the events have a limited number of tickets so if you are keen, you should act quickly. I have enrolled in the 2 and a half day Type Design Workshop: What A Wonderful World by Underware. Click here to go to the site and see all events.
I was fortunate to get a lot of Christmas cards this year. Most stylish, some beautiful, some funny and one edible (a Christmas Bun instead of a card) I found this card to be the funniest by far. It had me at “festive weasel”
Created by Sue Cathcart, these cards are made entirely from recycled Belfast Telegraph pages. Mr Papers is my new favourite card range. A funny card that’s actually funny, that’s a novelty in itself.
At the weekend I went to Belfast’s Chilifest. I was helping my friend Kyra with her jewellery stall. She has recently started making and selling bracelets, earrings, necklaces and hair ties. Hear Hoofbeats Think Zebra Jewellery. Check out her facebook page here. You can catch her at the Black Market and other craft fairs and she takes custom orders.
There’s another Pecha Kucha night on the 14th June in the Black Box, 7pm. Tickets are £3 with all proceeds going towards Japan. If you don’t know what a Pecha Kucha night is, read this. You can book tickets here. The confirmed speakers include:
Chelley McLear [Poet]
Ciaran Murray [Fresh Made Media]
Gail McConnell [Writer]
Gillian Colhoun [Design Writer]
John McDermott [AV Browne]
Josephine McDermott [Artist and Printmaker]
Lisa Dynan [Book Designer]
Rick Monro [Tibus]
Rory O’Connor and Anita Murphy [The Creativity Hub]
Shelly Wilson [Front]
Next week is the Ulster Festival of Art & Design. It runs from the 1 – 12 June and there is a lot on – the End of Year show, lectures and workshops. Visit the website for a full list. I’ve enrolled in the Karen Nicol workshop with a few friends. I bet it’s going to be amazing. Karen Nicol is a world renowned embroidery and mixed media textile artist. The workshop runs from 10am -4pm and we will get the chance to try out some of her techniques.
It’s Polish Cultural Week in Belfast at the moment. This is it’s fifth year and there are events, exhibitions and concerts happening in town. Yesterday I went to the Taste of Polska and enjoyed a Polish hot dog and some other pieces. Just like at the Festival of Colours event the other month, there were bollywood dancers. I’ve since discovered Bollywood is quite big in Poland, learning something new every day and all that. It looks very fun, I’m seriously tempted to learn it myself. There were some great craft stalls and a drum workshop, all in all, a great day! Until the 17th of May there is a photographic exhibtion by Polish photographer Tomasz Tomaszewski in the Red Barn Gallery on Rosemary street, you should check it out. For a full listings of events happening in Belfast, check here. There’s a lot going on!
Today I went to St. George’s Market in Belfast to join in the Festival of Colours celebration, commonly known as Holi. Holi is Indian for colour and celebrates the arrival of spring. It was a cultural blast! Organised by ArtsEkta, this was something for everyone. Amy and I had been looking forward to this for ages. Bollywood music, dancers, world food, henna tattoos, chopstick competitions, a craft market…It had it all. The highlight of the festival was clearly the powder paint party. Amazing.
Today I attended another of the Drawing Unlimited workshops held in the University of Ulster, Belfast. The theme was animals and we did various drawing exercises, using our other hand, negative space, limited time etc. The results are quite loose and free. We used ink with sponges or cardboard as the tools instead of paintbrushes. There’s a website and video for Drawing Unlimited under way so hopefully that will be ready soon. There will be photographs of everyone and all the work.
Here are some of my chicken and geese drawings. The goose looks pretty angry.
We also made the animals out of cardboard. Karen and I both looked at the same chicken model and here is what we made.
Aaaaand I just realised this is my 100th post on here. Crazy.
Martina Scott 