Y CAE / THE FIELD - A VALLEY FFOCWS PROJECT

Y CAE / THE FIELD is an ongoing series of exhibitions curated by Valley Ffocws art collective in collaboration with the Ynysybwl Regeneration Partnership (YRP) on the subject of the former Lady Windsor Colliery site, a few miles north of Pontypridd. Each exhibitor will take over the six presentation boards located along the the Windsor Trail for two months, host a shared community event and create a publication available from the YRP office.

The common focus is the site of the Lady Windsor Colliery and its future. Each contributor brings their own expertise, including photography, industrial archaeology, social history, illustration & storytelling, fine art, ecology and surveying. The aim is to both inform and stimulate given the backdrop of the site’s industrial life between 1886 and 1988 and provoke fresh ideas in the context of today’s challenges; in particular, climate emergency.

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Dr Steven Murray has been recording the Lady Windsor Colliery site for 14 years and finds a mosaic of biodiversity, an accidental haven for wildlife at a small scale. His macro photographic landscapes across this tapestry of habitats are displayed much enlarged, but the originals can still be spotted by the naked eye. Steven works as a Science Teacher in Beddau.

Listen to Steven discussing his work and images for this project below…

“Valley Ffocws is a multi-disciplined, inclusive creative collective making innovative work in and on the Valleys. Outcomes can take any number of forms, but activism and change lie at the heart of its endeavour. This shifting collective invites creativity beyond the traditional arts”

— Julie Cook, Valley Ffocws founder

You can follow the Valley Ffocws collective and their progress on Twitter @valleyffocws2
Or contact Julie Cook at: juliecook1@icloud.com

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Original Valley Ffocws piece shared here in Ffoton News on 12 March 2021

The Valley Ffocws Collective have a new project seeking photographers interested in contributing creative work

Click the image to download 2-page brief as PDF file

Ynysybwl is in many ways a typical valleys village with the Former Lady Windsor Colliery (closed 1988) at its core. The historical names of the fields also tell us that this site was also once a calf field and in the surrounding area there were apple fields, pasture, woods, a cottage garden and croft. However it is the recent past that dominates the heart of the community as its reason to be: people living, working and dying for the coal industry. Today there is little evidence of this history and the colliery site lies eerily vacant, whist finding a new use as a community facility; a site for leisure activities. It has also matured into a diverse landscape and a haven for wildlife. We support the notion that it could be ‘saved as nothing’; hence, biodiversity might flourish beyond human intervention.

The site is currently threatened by development by Persimmon Homes and proposals have been moving forward with very little consultation with the community.

THE PROJECT

To bring together photographers/artists/writers to make work on and around the former colliery site to include issues around history, geology, nature and community. The outcome could take a number of forms with activism and institutional change at its heart.

Julie Cook is leading the project and anyone interested can contact her via details provided in the document opposite.

@valleyffocws on Twitter

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Eyelevel Gallery launch

Anglesey-based photographer Adrian Cann launches
EYELEVEL GALLERY - a new Virtual Gallery space
to showcase photography online when bricks & mortar Galleries are closed.

Eyelevel Gallery’s first exhibition features work by photographer Philip Butler titled ‘Small Hours’.

Inspired by the 1977 John Martyn track of the same name - a brooding nocturnal soundscape recorded across a lake at 3 a.m. - Small Hours is a collection of photographs produced to document the peaceful cinematic atmosphere that isolated points of artificial light create after the sun has set. Captured in and around his small hometown of Malvern, Butler wandered the streets after dark searching for inspiration.

His photographs have been published in a number of different magazines and newspapers including C20 Magazine, RPS Journal, La Vangaurdia, Digital Camera, The Modernist and The Guardian.

Ffoton’s Brian Carroll spoke with Eyelevel Gallery curator Adrian about Small Hours, the inspiration to create the new website, its aims and submission guidelines for photographers interested in having work featured. Listen to their conversation in the audio below.

Philip Butler’s Small Hours photobook

Eyelevel Gallery opens its virtual doors to the public on Saturday 20 February 2021 at www.eyelevelgallery.co.uk

The Small Hours exhibition us free to view and runs 20 February - 1 May 2021. A selection of prints are also available for sale on the site.

You can view more of Philip Butler’s work on his website > www.philipbutlerphotography.com
The Small Hours photobook is available via the ADM Publishing online store > www.artdecomagpie.bigcartel.com

You can listen to John Martyn’s atmospheric Small Hours free on Spotify here >

Ffoton Socials return online

Join us for new supportive community discussions and guest talks as we double-up on our popular Monthly Ffoton photography socials -now online during Covid-19 lockdown

We’re excited to announce the return of a double-dose of our monthly Ffoton socials online via Zoom in the immediate future.

AVAILABLE IN TWO FLAVOURS!

We will be hosting Ffoton Socials every second and fourth Thursday of each month: one being a small, friendly and supportive Community Discussion social between twelve people; and the other with a guest speaker talking about their work or services contributing to the wider photography community.

These online Ffoton Socials are not only a unique opportunity for those new to or studying photography to meet and engage with other photographers in a relaxed, friendly and supportive environment but also offer a platform to build new relationships for ongoing discusson, advice and personal & professional development.

• Monthly Community Discussion Socials are free to join but limited to twelve participants on a first-come first-served basis.
  Places can be booked using the form at the bottom of this page.

• Our Guest Speaker Socials have lots of places available at just £3.00 per place/event or £5.00 for two events (one event per month). Places can be booked via our online store here.

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Guest Speaker SocialS

Thursday 25 February 2021

Euan Ross - photographer and founder of Biblioscapes.com

Euan Ross is a Glasgow-based photographer and founder of Biblioscapes.com - a website and Podcast which he describes as "the digital library of my personal collection of photobooks".

Euan is being modest - we think the Biblioscapes website is more than that!

Biblioscapes hosts an extensive and growing library of video flip-throughs of the photobooks in Euan's collection with new entries added weekly. In late 2020, Euan added a 'In Discussion' section to the website - a Podcast in which he talks with the artists, photographers, book designers and publishers who have worked on the books in his collection.

Euan will share his background in photobook collecting and the fascinating ‘origin story’ of Biblioscapes and its ongoing development with a new Podcast series. There will be an audience Q&A and discussion.

Book a ticket for this event here >

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Thursday 25 March 2021

Cary Benbow - independent writer on photography

Indiana, USA-based Cary Benbow is an independent writer, editor, staff writer at F-Stop Magazine and photographer.

Cary's articles, interviews and book reviews have been published widely in a number of online and print magazines and he's a regular contributor to the popular F-Stop Magazine on Medium. He is also the publisher of Wobneb Magazine

With photography articles and reviews being important components in promoting new work, exhibitions and photobooks and those delivered online gaining more popularity and large audiences, Cary will talk of his background in writing on photography and his approach to keeping a finger on the pulse of good work being produced internationally. This event is a great opportunity for photographers to interact directly with a knowledgable writer based in the USA but whose work reaches audiences worldwide.
There will be an audience Q&A and discussion.

Book a ticket for this event here >

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Community Discussion Socials

Complete the form below if you’d like to join our first Community Discussion Social.
Places will be allocated to the first twelve respondees.

Doc Cymru Collective

In this exclusive first interview with its four members, Ffoton explores the project behind Wales’ new photographer Collective - collaborating to document
the impact of Brexit on people across Wales.

Ffoton’s Emyr Young talks with DocCymru photographers Rhodri Jones, Kristina Banholzer, Roger Tiley and Glenn Edwards about their new documentary project in Wales and what it aims to achieve over the next three years.

Follow the photographers and development of the project on Twitter @DocCymru24

© 2021 Ffoton

Wales 2020 Photography Survey

Ffoton are Excited to present the Results of the Photography Survey Wales 2020

The survey was intended to run from 15 February to 31 May 2020 but was extended by a month and closed 30 June 2020 during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK. The survey was open to anyone with an interest in photography in Wales.

This online survey sought to create a ‘snapshot’ of current opinion on photography activity across Wales and gather comments and suggestions on any areas that might be improved. We believe this to be the first photography survey of its kind ever undertaken in Wales: open to all and unaffiliated with any commercial or formal organisation or body. 

All contributions by those who completed the survey were treated anonymously as we wanted anyone with an interest in photography to feel they could provide honest feedback and air their views in confidence. Comments by respondents have been included unedited - the only few adjustments were ‘tweaks’ for profanity or disguising personal information submitted.

Structured with an Introduction and three main sections, the survey sought to gain insight and views on the following:

Photography and You - geographic location of respondents; their current interest in photography; aspects most important to them; their favourite way to access photography; and their preferred skillset if working collaboratively.

Photography in Wales now - preferred online engagement; preferred exhibition types; preferred photography Festivals organised in recent years in Wales and preferred photography-specific spaces receiving funding in terms of best value and visiting experience offered.

Photography in Wales going forward - any preferred new exhibition types/locations; preferred publications, workshops and meeting formats; preferred organisation to organise and deliver photography activity in Wales; any preference on how photography activity is funded; and views on photography activity, funding, opportunities and strategy going forward. A final question invited respondents to suggest what would help develop the wider photography community in Wales in the future.

Ffoton has made these survey findings available under a Creative Commons license and the 122 page document is available for free download via the button below.