Joe Kennedy - Words & images

On Morecambe Bay

2012-01-19T14:05:00.003Z

Spending cold nights photographing Morecambe Bay in the dark. Working with exposures of between 5 and 15 minutes leaves plenty of time to think ( and feel the chill I guess... ).

I'm working on this as part of a project tied in with the reopening of the cockle beds and also the highlighting again the almost forgotten tragedy that happened here only eight years ago.

I'm also filming a documentary mainly looking at the creation of this photographic project and as the rushes come together, I'll post more here.

Super heroes......

2012-01-03T12:44:00.006Z

These are from a new series - nothing too deep just a play on the concept of age and being invincible.

At this age, do kids think they are 'super heroes' and unbreakable? Is it inherent or is it a parent's remit to build them up to make them think that or to doubt it?

Or are these photographs more concerned with the viewer? Is it the parent who feels less invincible be it because of the difficulties of modern life or the fact the Little Jonny is growing up?

Alternatively, they focus on that age when you realise that your parent's aren't going to live forever and the firm belief that they are super heroes and will be there forever suddenly appears paper thin.

See, I told you it wasn't too deep.

Happy New Year.

Oxheys Mill current exhibition

2011-10-03T13:24:00.005+01:00

I took a studio in an old mill in Preston a while back and between myself and two others, we cleaned it up and have been turning it into a gallery space along with our own studios.

There was an open event a month or so back but the place opened officially last week with all resident artists ( 7 now I think ) putting up their work and rolling up the shutters for all to see.

The opening went well and it will be open during October for all to view. Info at oxheysmillstudios.com

My own studio has taken shape and looking good. I've been involved in a bit of commercial portraiture in there with the flash setup I'm running and also have a couple of irons in the fire which I'll explain as they start coming more together.

I'm also starting to build some new sites so my joekennedyphoto site may be due a bit of a revamp - I also found that I own joekennedyphotography.co.uk aswell so may do something with that.

Contrast group exhibition

2011-08-30T20:15:00.006+01:00

Four of the prints in my Off Season project have been included in a group show concerned with contemporary analogue photography.

Although they are digitally scanned and printed, the shots were taken with my trusty Pentax 67 which although it unfortunately doesn't come out as often as in the past ( the 5D M2 sees to that ), it still has a quality that in my mind eludes digital imaging.

If you have chance to pop by - its in Standish near Wigan - have a look in as their promises to be some interesting work.

NY Yankees v Toronto Blue Jays

2011-06-05T21:29:00.007+01:00

While in NY, I went over to see a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. Great experience soaking up the atmosphere and the friendly vibe although being sat in the bleachers it got pretty rowdy.

Saw some homers, a lot of catches, some stolen bases......I haven't got a clue what I'm on about.......anyway, here are some of the shots I took with my Voigtlander.

Central Park image & studio wallpaper

2011-06-04T17:39:00.002+01:00

I shot this image on my Holga in Central Park a couple of weeks back. I decided it would look good as an attempt at wallpaper on a rubbishy wall at my studio. Here's the photo and below is the short timelapse of me putting the thing up.
I'm happy with the finished result - theres a large rack and desk combo going in front of it but it will be viewed through the couple of shelves that are going up. I had to get the wall fairly wet with paste so the matte inkjet paper I used rippled and wrinkled but the next day, most of these have settled down and dried out.

Gasland here in UK

2011-05-30T22:27:00.001+01:00

I watched a documentary a couple of weeks back called Gasland. Thought provoking and it presented a fascinating insight in to something I knew nothing about.

This morning, here in Lancashire on the local news, I heard a short story about a small earthquake in Blackpool about 30 or so miles from where I live. Geologists believe that this tremor, the second in a short timeframe, was caused by hydraulic drilling for gas.

This is exactly what the documentary Gasland concerned itself with. As something that is banned already in certain places within the US and also in France, it is terrifying that it is happening now only 30 minutes or so up the coast.

News articles on the net state that Cuadrilla Resources, the company behind the gas exploration, are to dig next month closer to my home in a place just outside Preston.

I feel that something here needs to be followed up and questions asked before we see in the UK's northwest the same water taps emitting gas and poorly families forced to drink bottled water and keep away from what is a supposedly safe water supply like what has so clearly happened in the States.

Independent 1/6/2011

BBC News 1/6/2011

Cuadrilla Resources Press releases up to 1/6/2011

Gasland

Under the Humber

2011-04-01T20:02:00.001+01:00

Time lapse

2011-03-17T20:50:00.005Z

I picked up a cheap timer remote from Ebay a couple of weeks back, mainly to try and nail some kind of technique for timelapse prior to going away in a few weeks time.
This is 20 minutes outside an old end of pier type coffee shop near the beach at Cleveleys, Lancashire condensed into 30 or so seconds.

Dunes

2011-02-13T20:21:00.003Z

Last month I got rid of my Canon 5D and backup digital and some lenses I wasn't using much and picked up the 5D Mk2 and a 1DS Mk2 as backup. Both lovely cameras, the 1DS creates images that are so full of detail and with a tone that is just to die for. The 5D is just as good but also takes full HD video.
I'm trying to teach myself Sony Vegas software and pick up the best / easiest ways of transcoding, editing and rendering. With this I'm starting on mini movies just to give myself things to work on.
This was from yesterday at Lytham St Annes - first nice day for a while so had to get out.

Cubeopen 2010

2011-01-24T11:12:00.006Z

This exhibition is now over but I popped by with my son on a quiet afternoon and attempted to make a short video showing my work there.
No oscar winner but its something for the people who missed it.

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Liverpool Winters Art Fair

2010-11-24T09:59:00.000Z

Hello - if you took away the flyer to buy work online, this is your blog post!

Please click below for the gallery and remember to use Passcode: liverpool2010 and the coupon lpoolart before checkout.

CLICK ON HERE FOR ONLINE GALLERY

For shipping - in order to keep costs as low as possible, use the option for the largest item if you are purchasing more than one print / canvas. It should work everything out ok but if you have any issues, please email me on joe@joekennedyphoto.co.uk

Also please be aware that some of the images would have to be cropped to produce some of the sizes offered - wherever necessary I will email a quick proof to you prior to printing to ensure you are satisfied if there has to be any changes.

Thank-you,
Joe

Cubeopen 2010 opening night

2010-11-18T22:55:00.003Z

Just got back from the private view and couldn't be happier with the position and placement of my photographs. As you walk in, they are along the facing wall and as a set they look fantastic ( ok, I'm biased.... )
There's some great work in there and if you are in Manchester up til the end of January, it is well worth a look.
I produced 30 or so of these mini packs of a concertina image and a postcard from the Sandcastle series and one from After - life and within 15 minutes there were maybe 3 left. I'm back in again next week and will produce more of these to leave.

Liverpool Winters Art Fair

2010-11-16T01:47:00.004Z

Had confirmation that I've got a stand at this. Looking forward to gauging reaction to the Red prints - I've produced them at around 600mm x 1m and mounted on to foamex panels. They look great and hopefully the feedback will be positive as I'm going to start pushing these next.
I also have been asked to be part of a new photo crit group setting up in Preston - if anyone else is interested, it seems fairly informal, let me know and I'll pass on the details. It starts next month.
I also took the kids in to the local library last Friday and after passing across a concertina of Off season prints to the ladies ( they always like to know whats going on after showing some of my work here a few years back ), they had put up the prints proud of place near the main desk. Very nice and a big thank-you to librarians of Fulwood!

Cubeopen 2010

2010-11-04T21:20:00.003Z

I submitted six of the photographs from my Off season series to Cube in central Manchester for their annual Cubeopen exhibition. I have visited this show most years and always thought & hoped that my images would fit in with what they look for.
They picked all six and after printing and framing the shots went in and the exhibition opens on the 19th Nov 2010 for the public. It looks like it is going to be a fantastically broad church of differing art styles and multiple ways of producing work. I cant wait to go and see whats been picked.

The flyer is below and I'll post more when I get chance and it gets closer.

Preston's closing PAD Gallery

2010-10-19T12:33:00.005+01:00

As a new city Preston has the opportunity to reinvent itself as whatever it chooses to be. The slate is clean, the old industrial ways of the North fading away and newer possibilities could lie ahead.
Preston is a city full of students with the evergrowing UCLan campus sprawling across & through the centre - a centre that surely can create a vibrancy with more potential than 75p a pint happy hours and kebab shops. Humankind must be able aim a little higher than a new shopping complex and bus station. To create a legacy from this empty page and the limits of imagination can't be that imposing for a council, can it?
With all these students and all the permanent residents, with all the beautiful old buildings still dotted across the streets, and certainly with the fact that this is a CITY, the arts must be well taken care of in Preston mustn't they? Mustn't they?
Outside of the venerable Harris ( every town must have a museum... ), there was the one gallery. One gallery away from the upstairs of gift shops and framing places, one hall in the whole of Preston's city centre, one room funded by the city for the arts......
And on the 31st October 2010 it closes.
Blamed on the imminent cutbacks that will decimate the arts ( and most nonessential things in this country ), it is such a shame in hindsight that when times were good we didn't open more so that when the times got tough, the only one didn't have to close.

Alternatives

2010-10-17T21:15:00.005+01:00

Had an operation on my ear - I was told I was deaf a few years ago by my local PCT but after buying a new phone and in-ear headphones, I thought I'd google to check I was ok popping the buds in.
I was ok but it was by chance I also found out what I had been diagnosed with ( otosclerosis ) is treatable.
I've had the op and all seems to be fine - I cant hear a sausage until the packing comes out of my lug but straight after when the surgeon speaks it was LOUD so fingers crossed.

While recuperating I've squeezed in the making of some images I've been working with for a while - I've been picking up stuff from Ebay in readiness.

The finished prints are a 1m x 660mm and mounted on foam board. If I may say so, as my friend Shabba Ranks would say, they look da bomb. I've applied for the Winter Arts Fair in Liverpool at the end of November so I'll be gauging interest then.

Dev Chart Iphone app

2010-09-25T15:34:00.003+01:00

I'm probably preaching to the converting here but while on the subject of apps, I've always used the Massive Dev Chart online as it is a fantastic free resource.
As I pretty much only use Rodinal which comes with no times for my usual films of TriX 35mm and Neopan 100 or 400 120 its really helped out over the years when I keep forgetting.
With the Iphone app it not only has the times but also works doubles up as a timer counting down all the processes - you can even amend times as I need to with my DIY rotary setup.
Awesome and well worth coughing up for if you dev your own b/w films.

Hipstamatic

2010-09-23T17:28:00.005+01:00

I know I'm neither the first nor will I be the last to swear by this little app for the Iphone.
The Iphone 4 has a much better camera I'm sure and doesnt need any of this trickery, but doing away with the necessity of quality and approaching Iphonography from the same standpoint of the Holga or another toy camera adds so much to the pleasure.
Instead of their being gripes about quality, there is only unique moments of smudged clarity.
As the great Holga Bible so perfectly puts it - don't ever be disappointed by what comes out of the camera......be amazed that anything came out!

Liverpool Arts Fair 2010 - Online Image Gallery

2010-09-13T16:39:00.007+01:00

Coastal cubes

2010-09-13T16:39:00.004+01:00

I've had a number of these made up - they're around 8" x 6", wooden and look incredibly cool with the seaside images inset.
They'll be for sale at the upcoming Liverpool Arts Fair and also online through here after this weekends event.
I can almost smell the fish and chips.....

Liverpool Arts Fair 2010

2010-09-11T13:33:00.003+01:00

Submitted to and got the acceptance email back so had a week of putting together large fabric stretched prints and also these little picture wooden cuboid type frames.
I've also had two images mounted on to exhibition grade foamex panels and laminated - looking forward to seeing these.
I'll post more as I finish them.....

Mono at the Liverpool Maritime Museum

2010-08-22T22:57:00.005+01:00

If I can't be bothered carrying digital, I have a number of 1970s rangefinders that I always take out especially when on the street. They're small and very quick to use and I've always been mucho happy with quality.
I have four Yashica Electro 35s - a couple of GS's, a GT and a lovely GTN. These were with the GT. Kodak Tri X 400 - Rodinal and used the Dev Chart app for the first time - fantastic idea and if you dev your own film and you've got an Iphone, well worth the £5.

More from the coast and slightly inland

2010-08-19T19:47:00.003+01:00

Off Season 3

2010-06-02T22:00:00.003+01:00

Another day, another forage through Lancashire's coastal towns.

Switcheasy Nude Iphone case

2010-06-01T20:44:00.006+01:00

Haven't seen much about this case on the net as far as reviews go and the case seemed to be garnering interest at pre-order level, so thought as I got one a day or so ago, I could at least put a couple of pictures up.

I've been using the Switcheasy Vulcan for a while and was expecting something similar but thinner. When it arrived I was a little surprised to find its more like a hard case than a silicon sleeve - not a million miles away from the ones on Ebay for a pound or so - except it is very thin and fits perfectly around the bottom dock, camera, power and phone socket and also around the bezel.
The Vulcan went over the bezel which in doing so protected the glass a little as it couldn't be scraped face down, this case sits just below the bezel so doesn't overlap the edge.
I have to say I think it looks well and if like me all you need is something to stop the back getting scratched and you aren't looking to be phone juggling any time soon, its the thinnest choice I could find. Protection from drops - not much - but a definitely neat well fitted case to prevent scuffs.

Off Season 2

2010-04-05T20:51:00.002+01:00

After - life

2010-04-02T19:05:00.002+01:00

Coming to the end now of this blog - After - life - in order to write what I needed for my book and also get all the information out, I collected my thoughts there as I put together the images.

It was interesting to go back over some of the info and re-read the reports.

There was also a documentary on a night or so ago about John Darwin - Canoe Man - which was although not completist by any stretch, still an interesting bit of TV.

Off season

2010-03-19T22:03:00.004Z

Part of a new series which is slowly taking shape.

I live close to the coast of North West England and along the water's edge lie a number of seaside resorts that once fluorished from tourism.
Now with an influx of immigrants - ethnic and social - filling the hotels and the promise of investment these areas are slowly changing shape and purpose.
Even with the so-called staycationers remaining in the locale or travelling here and with pockets of the places creeping back in to vogue with a lick of paint, there remains an almost otherworldly appeal to these places.

Framing the sights in my 6x7 Pentax over these early months before the dogwalkers and street cleaners arrive in their low numbers and with the still-winter sun scraping through, there is something here which, although slightly stained around the edges, compels a person to look closer.

As Annie Lennox once sang.....

2010-03-01T22:12:00.004Z

here comes the rain again......

Changes and ranges

2010-02-18T20:27:00.003Z

Quite busy at the minute - I've built another website showcasing galleries for print reproduction, I'll post a link once finalised; started to write some copy to go with the After - life images, something I need to complete and sort out what to do next asap; building a further site / concept / brand for a photo idea I'm also working on......
and also trying to get out as much as possible to photograph a new theme looking at first Blackpool and then poss moving along the coast.
We have a lot of wonderful spots along the waters edge throughout Lancashire that are looking decidedly grimy now from certain angles.....

Waterside Open 2010

2010-01-25T21:55:00.003Z

Admitted two images for selection to this event and both were accepted. The gallery is in the centre of Sale, Cheshire - on the Metro past south Manchester and looking at the previous exhibitions seems well worth a visit. The main show is from the 29th January 2010 for a couple of months.
I'll post with images once I've been to the opening.

I have to say I was hoping for it to be on another night as I wanted to see the opening of this - always good to keep an eye on the new things happening in the city but I'm sure I'll see more another time.

Bigger prints

2009-12-06T16:26:00.003Z

After moving over to a roll fed printer - Epson 7800 - the size lends itself to images just a little bit different such as a wall canvas at approx 550mm x 2.1m in width...

Panoramics

2009-11-27T19:05:00.004Z

With this new Epson printer, its opened up some big print possibilities but with this comes the headache of the best or most cost effective way of display.
Do I take the prints to be backmounted to acrylic, facemounted to Dibond or Foamex or do I look in to quality prints behind glass in frames?

Although my personal preference for a gallery print is framed either behind glass or not, the only way at the moment to do everything in house is to stretch either fabric or canvas over wooden frames.
I've just finished an 18" x 40" of the first one below and have printed the Langdale image at just under 20" x 2m which looks incredible. I've got to stretch it this weekend ( I picked up a Stanley electric stapler which makes it a chunk easier ) and should have it ready for the gallery next week.
Once I've finished I'll post photographs of them on the wall for scale.

Parrworld

2009-11-17T16:26:00.002Z

Had the chance to go and see Martin Parr's Parrworld exhibition over at the Baltic.

First off, what a fantastic gallery - great location, facilites and incredibly helpful staff who want to chat about the stuff on show instead of just casting a nonchalant bead across any visitors.

As a curator, Martin Parr's selections of others' photographs are without question - considering these are his personal prints I am green with envy: Friedlander, Eggleston, Chris Kilip, Graham Smith and plenty of his Magnum colleagues. The photobooks as well are superbly picked and laid out giving the desired response of wanting to flick through and covet. The collected artifacts of miners strikes, Obama ephemera and US/Iraq/Afghanistan material are all interesting to look at but what exactly am I looking at here.....
I know as Parrworld we are invited to see the person (the genes of a chronic collector) but perhaps after seeing Damien Hirst's Pharmacy which is also showing here I wanted something with more substance then a Saddam wristwatch as nice as that may be.

I didn't think the images shown within the new Luxury theme Martin Parr has been working on were the strongest I had seen - plenty of the images are typical Parr: juxtapositions of class against class or in this case class against class aspiration and most show the signature effect of artificial light/ringflash (you can also spot it in sunglasses reflections so it can all be ticked off as suitable Parr-isms). My problem is that the selection shhown here feel almost Parr-lite.
If one of the highlights is that Newcastle glamour girls drink cans of Fosters instead of champagne at the races then ok, but I think we could have all taken a punt on that. Maybe its that we see it all now and that perhaps human nature in this sense is stagnating under X Factor and the likes of Heat magazine but I came away impressed the least from this new selection of photographs.

I must conclude though, that regardless of the quality of these new photographs - and any Parr is good Parr for most, myself included - and in a setting like the Baltic, t'was a most enjoyable day out by far.
Shame as I walked in to Newcastle to visit Side Gallery it was closed, but that's my excuse to go back....

A number of changes

2009-10-11T00:23:00.003+01:00

After printing most of my images to sell on a Canon Pro 9500 A3+ printer, its finally been at the repair shop too many times and my patience with it has grown way too thin. As good as the printer is it has developed some kind of feed error and prints the first swathe slightly off and then bands repeatedly throughout the print. Canon showed no interest ( except quoting me approx £180 + VAT for someone to come out to look ) and I had to find alternative means to get it up and running.

With the ink costing a fair chunk of money - £9 for a thimbleful and its also 10 colour - I decided to sell on some equipment that I wasnt using and take the plunge in to something more usable. The 135mm F2 lens for the 5D has gone ( I shed a quiet tear.... ) but I'm now running an Epson 7800.

Being roll fed - 24" - and the inks costing around 4 times as much as the Canon for 20x the amount, its opening up a whole new arena of larger scale prints. As I printed most images at full A3 for max impact, a 24" x 40" has a wow factor the smaller models just can't match.

I also shot my first wedding a few weeks back - I'll post pictures in another post.

Liverpool Piazza Market

2009-06-20T13:32:00.004+01:00

Involved in this tomorrow - should be interesting.
Only problem is the weather forecast - whether or not it pours down or just continually drizzles... I'm going to nip over to Argos later to see about a gazebo - dont know whether it'll stand on the paving but its either that or sou'wester and soggy pictures.

Penwortham Gala, Preston

2009-06-14T01:22:00.005+01:00

Screaming kids, funfair rides, smell of greasy burgers. Inadvertently released overpriced helium balloons head skywards - cue more screaming.

Ruffs Dog Show - Preston

2009-06-07T15:07:00.005+01:00

The world of competitive dog ownership comes to Ashton Park in Preston.
Pooches and partners of all varieties and sizes queue in the sporadic drizzle in front of judges - four eyes yearning for rosettes ( at least I like to think the dogs know whats going on ).
Waggiest tail and shiniest nose clinched, crowds disperse to the tombola raffle and inevitable dog training stalls.

Made in Britain

2009-06-05T20:35:00.002+01:00

Not necessarily a statement on the country as a whole, more just elements available to point a lens at.

New images in PAD Gallery Preston

2009-05-21T16:33:00.003+01:00

It was about time I changed over old images and refreshed with new at the PAD in Preston. A couple sold from the last submission and hopefully more of these will be taken.

Now we know that swine flu isnt really going to obliterate the population or those kind bankers aren't going to take back all our homes, there is really no excuse not to pick one up and adorn that empty wall space between the pictures of a woman scratching her arse at tennis or dogs playing pool.....

A lot of the photos I've been taking are getting more thematic or series led - I seem to be spending a lot of time at the beach or barren moor - and also playing with off camera flash is a new nightly ritual so picking single images can sometimes be a little difficult.

Week off the treadmill

2009-04-24T22:25:00.006+01:00

3 days in the lakes, 1 day at the beach, and 1 at the Museum of Science and Industry.....
It can't be school half term can it?

In this 'economic downturn' or whatever the name is for it this week, I can do what I enjoy best and pull on my boots and go for a walk.

More MPP

2009-04-06T20:48:00.004+01:00

A chance to escape to Cumbria, a forest being felled illuminated by the afternoon spring sun, and a box of HP5 5x4 in the bag.
Bliss.

After-life 2 - Severn Bridge

2009-04-04T00:12:00.007+01:00

And then came Severn Bridge.
Not chronologically - first was Danes Dyke and then Immingham - but I'll write more about the series later.I'll just post as I go through.
Severn Bridge is famous enough as a feat of engineering, and in the UK at least it's famous as well as a suicide spot similar in notoriety to Beachy Head.
Richey Edwards' car was left nearby in the motorway services along with the many number of others who choose it as their place to go. The bridge imposes itself across the water and over the skyline and although I didn't go here for photos of just a bridge, it's hard not to gawp and click.
More info if wanted.

After-life

2009-03-25T20:39:00.004Z

I'm collating all the images of the pseudo-suicide spots I shot now for prints and to put up on my website. I've got a piece to write to accompany it and also to lay out in order for a short run book.

With all the places I visited, I could see in each why it was picked - some obvious because of background connections or popular history - but inherent in all was the despair of both selection and practice.
None were random places of moment or at least they didn't feel that way and as much as many suicides can travel far to fulfil self-believed necessity, these could well have been decided upon months, if not years or decades, before.

I've called the series After-life for the reason that the act of faking suicide is not to full-stop life totally - it is to put a painful parenthesis around the former and then place everything in the plan of what comes next.

Below are the first I've been working on and are from Beachy Head, East Sussex.
Info for the interested.

All change on the camera front

2009-03-21T20:53:00.007Z

Must be the cold lifeless / lightless weather that forces the photographer into changing equipment when there's little else to do.
All the Pentax digital kit has gone - replaced with a Canon 5D. The arrival of the 5D Mark II has finally shifted the cost of full frame down to my kind of level......

The Mamiya RB67 has also gone, superceded in a different way by an old 1950s MPP 5x4 press camera. Some issues resolved on this and negatives now coming out of it something like the images seen going in.
A day in the presence of the UK Large Format Photography Group and Lancashire Monochrome helped with some of the theory. Thanks to all and if you visit their forums , advice is freely given.

Some of the images below are from that day, others from others but all out of the MPP.

Graffiti

2009-01-13T22:49:00.007Z

As you walk around and see the city, the amount of spraypaint scribbles and art seems to be growing. Perhaps new artists are seeing what can be done off the back of the Banksys of this world and adding tags to see in turn what they can do.
I think some of it looks fantastic and deserves places like upper space in Manchester - as I write this however, I've googled to find their site and due to the landlords requesting a 50% hike on the rent, the place is gone. Too bad and I hope from some of the stuff I've seen the collective produce, they find a home worthy of the talent on show soon enough.

Fake suicide spots

2008-11-27T20:37:00.004Z

I'll post the full intro text for these shots once I've got the last of the images.
I'm mesmerised walking around these places as to the thoughts going through the minds of the people carefully laying down premeditated clues before they attempt to disappear as sucides.
For the suicide the place they commit is just part of the means to their chosen end - with the faker, the scene is as important as what they leave behind to be found: it is all part of an intricate fabricated plan. Regardless of whether they convince and for how long, the dedication and desperation needed is something to be admired.

All are being shot on the Mamiya with the 50mm and all on Ilford FP4.

Harris Open 2008

2008-11-27T20:16:00.004Z

Two photographs entered into the exhibition, both accepted. They will be on show until late December 2008 within the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, Lancashire.
I'm looking forward to seeing what else is on show.

The first image is part of an ongoing series looking at the surroundings where people have faked their own suicide. Instead of a place that signifies the end and death - these places were meticulously selected as the area to restart their lives and begin again. The next post will have a couple more of these fake suicide spots.

The picture below is of a cigarette lighter complete with instructions. I don't know who the manufacturer thinks its target market is ( smokers I guess... ) but if you need instructions in order to fire up your smoke, I think it's probably time to quit.

Dead roads

2008-11-10T20:56:00.004Z

Roads that have been laid but go nowhere, streetlamps that have been pushed in and never turned on, pavements flagged and don't reach any doorsteps.
Byways and highways where plans have been submitted and permitted but nothing has been built except for a slither of tarmac and strips of kerbstones to divide the wasteland from the wasted land.

Leeds city centre

2008-10-25T00:00:00.007+01:00

In Leeds city centre, men while away the lunch break battling minds at chess. With oversize pieces on a pavement-painted board, they conspire moves against the other while crowds glance as passing or wait and watch.
Shot with a Konica Auto S3 1970s rangefinder on Kodak Tri-X.

Stripped images

2008-10-03T23:40:00.005+01:00

Isolating elements, looking for colour, light and shape.
Some of these sold at the Preston Arts Market where I had a stall on the 28th September.

When the builders stop

2008-09-28T21:18:00.005+01:00

As more and more construction sites are slowing down and in some cases stopping, the partly built land left behind becomes a desolate waste waiting for the decision to start again. In one site over 20 acres of turned land holds broken rubble and grit like a long and wide scar anticipating the revival of an economic turnaround. The land taken, a solitary tree left standing - what remains in limbo is recreationally paralysed.

Nestea Beach Volleyball - Blackpool

2008-09-13T01:53:00.009+01:00

Had a couple of days shooting this with press access. Great time sport watching and always good fun trying to shoot something different or push yourself to try different things.
Shot on manual - exposure taken before each game and worked around as the light changed. Most shot with a 70-300mm Sigma I picked up a while back which isn't the best lens in the bag but gives decent enough results.

People watching

2008-08-30T01:24:00.005+01:00

Been putting together a number of prints for sale and also some large exhibition prints for hopefully something that may happen soon. These few don't fit in with anything as yet but there's probably something here to follow up.

Week off so camera happy

2008-08-16T00:38:00.005+01:00

Legoland last week and out and about this week - New Brighton , Malham Tarn , and Liverpool. Plenty yet to upload and just got back the colour shots from Windsor.

Legoland Windsor

2008-08-08T21:20:00.005+01:00

Great place as long as you dont have an aversion for all things tetris like. Loads of stuff - loads of queues - but you've got to love the miniland with faithful replicas of worldwide landmarks and places in the UK you never knew even existed in real life bricks and mortar not the plastic stuff with nipples on.
These are from the Holga- colour films gone to be processed - post more when can.

Preston PAD Gallery

2008-08-01T23:58:00.002+01:00

Visited the preview evening for this new gallery / shop earlier this evening. I'm going to try and get some prints on the wall but at the moment the space is full of images and the emotions of Preston. Paint, ink, collage and photographic, there is certainly a healthy artist's community in the locale looking at the stuff on display.
Great work putting it all together - I regret missing the deadline as some of the landscapes would have fitted in well with other images on display but hopefully I can do something once this show runs its course. Hope they sell well.

Images on show at Fulwood Library, Preston

2008-07-31T22:32:00.004+01:00

11 images from my Under a different light series and other prints in a similar vein are on permanent show. The library is on Garstang Road, Fulwood in Preston.
All framed and sorted yesterday so looking forward to seeing the response.

Off the back of this, I'm approaching others within the area.

Website all live - at last....

2008-07-18T20:46:00.004+01:00

www.joekennedyphoto.co.uk all finished as far as layout and a chunk of the images goes. Need to look at a way of having a table or something on the front page that I can easily slot new images into but I've still got the library books for a few weeks yet.....

Images from Manchester taken recently but not on the site :

Kids and colours

2008-07-14T11:58:00.003+01:00

A busy week of birthdays and sports days....
Images :

From the shadows to where?

2008-07-09T21:16:00.006+01:00

Another series of images being collated and printed for a book idea - the cricket shots have already gone to be printed.
Mainly focussed on the shadow and light of the high sun and the objects, be them people or places, it strikes.
Here's a few of them.

Also in the midst of putting together a site - in its second form already and soon to be changed again as I get through this dreamweaver manual.....

Its not just cricket.....

2008-06-29T10:06:00.005+01:00

Been too busy over the last few weeks ( apologies blog...) - portfolio being updated, images printed and mounted to push for exhibiting....new stuff taken and worked on....

These are to be part of a series I took at Old Trafford Manchester at the final cricket Test Match - great day, great people. All shot on Holga.

Mamiya RB67

2008-05-26T20:23:00.005+01:00

Trying my hand with a new camera. Large 6 x 7cms negs, plenty of depth and feel. Get through the ISO 400 stock and then have a play with some fine grain 100. I like the grain of a fast film, but with the negs this size, I'd like to see how sharp it could be.

HDR

2008-04-25T21:32:00.008+01:00

Slowly working my way through a number of shots - and taking more - that will be part of something bigger. I've shot them all as 3 exposures, converted through Photomatix and trying to mute colours back to give a painterly feel.

Dolphin ashore at Cleveleys

2008-04-11T07:39:00.007+01:00

If a 120 metre ferry washing up on your coast wasn't quite enough, yesterday a smaller yet still highly unusual animal decided the coast at Cleveleys was the place to be stranded.
A small dolphin got itself beached on the sand and had to be rescued by coastguard and RSPCA. I didn't get to see the full outcome, but was assured the professionals were taking the dolphin, who was distressed and possibly poorly, to facilities to care for it.

Merseyside mono

2008-03-14T13:59:00.004Z

Had to visit someone next to the park and took 5 minutes to take a shot of the pavillion in the middle. A dog walked in to see what was going on and I got this.

Amidst an empty Southport beach, I also shot this on the K10D and converted to mono. Shot with the grad for the sky detail - having to shoot most things with it on as I can't get it off the lens....

More from the toy camera

2008-03-14T13:54:00.005Z

Holga

2008-03-08T15:48:00.005Z

Picked up a couple of Holgas from Ebay. The plastic lens version - 120N - is a real horror to get in focus and it gives virtually no contrast in the negs. It does however give the real dreamlike 100 year old quality.
The glass lens - 120GN - however is a little marvel but the voice in the back of my head says it's too high tech with the glass lens and it's images too sharp and well developed. It's still a $20 toy camera right??

Lunch in the city

2008-02-18T21:48:00.007Z

Manchester again - got 40 mins or so for a lunch break and wanted to pop into George's barbers to give him a print of the shot I'd taken previously. He seemed chuffed.
Grabbed these shots as well.

Also managed to get this when driving to Runcorn. Converted mono through Lightroom as seems the norm at the minute and contrast boosted / blues dropped back for more sky definition.

Wasdale

2008-02-12T11:24:00.001Z

Never been up as far as Wasdale in the Lake District. Absolutely jaw dropping - got there quite late in the day so didn't get to see as much as I would have liked but the colours and light were phenomenal.

Thinking in Mono

2008-02-08T08:25:00.000Z

Was up near the lakes and although the weather was clearing, a clump of fog sat on top of one of these hills and refused to clear. I managed to get some shots and converted to black and white.
Sometimes when you see the image, the colour drains away and while you're looking all you're focussing on is the depth of contrast and how it all looks desaturated.

Washed up at the beach

2008-02-03T21:15:00.000Z

There's been some really bad weather here in the northwest over the last few days - gales, rain, sleet and some snow.
On Thursday night / Friday morning a cargo ship got hit by a wave which knocked it off course and on to the beach at Cleveleys near Blackpool.
I went across to have a look.

Gig : King Creosote

2008-01-30T16:07:00.000Z

Manchester Academy 3 - 30/1/08

If you haven't heard of this band / Kenny Anderson then you need to listed to the latest album Bombshell. Then look for KC Rules OK.
As the founder of musical initiative Fence Collective, he is included in that rare set of singer songwriters who seem to sum up feelings or emotions in a way that seems almost effortless.
Live, everything comes across as recorded. The nuances of the band, his guitar work, the enjoyment obviously there on record. All are present to make this one of the best gigs I've been to in a while. The only difference between live and disc is the humour between tracks. Kenny clearly is at home up there and even in the close confines of Academy 3, there is little else on this band's mind other than getting the music across and making sure everyone there feels part of it.

Oh, and for some reason it made me feel of this I shot earlier in the week.

Elliott

2008-01-27T21:15:00.000Z

Picked up a PK-A 50mm f1.7 off ebay this week. Wanted to try it for the DoF which I'm not getting off any of the digital lenses. Taken a few of my kids today to try it out and although I've got to say my eye is hopeless on manual focus ( I'll get used to it... ), the sharpness and colour rendition from a £35 lens is at least as good ( if I'm honest it's much better ) than the 40mm limited I picked up a while back.
If the K20D is the right price or the knock on effect on the price of the K10D is like it should be, I know where the 40mm is going.

Sunset over water

2008-01-24T21:29:00.000Z

Going through some shots taken last month and I hadn't noticed this one. Untouched except for a slight crop and straightened the horizon.

A couple more from Manchester

2008-01-22T21:26:00.001Z

Smoke break - I'm slowly putting together a piece on all the people forced onto the streets for their daily drags. Walk through the city centre mid morning and it's incredible where they pop out from and what local features they've turned into their new natural habitat.

George's Barbers

2008-01-22T21:14:00.001Z

Had an hour free while in the city so walked across it with the camera. Spotted an old barber's near Piccadilly and asked for the shot. George didn't say much but didn't seem to mind - I was polite, grabbed a couple of shots and thanked him before saying when the barnet needs a trim, I'll be back.
I wonder who uses the other chair - I hope George's legacy doesn't end with him as there aren't many of these barber shops left.

Tombs and trees

2008-01-18T21:17:00.000Z

Shot as three exposures all 1 stop apart ( 0, +1, -1 ) then merged.
Came out pretty moody with the colour of the sky and the obvious content - posted it on Deviantart and within ten minutes the goths had snapped it up as favourites. Great taste I guess....

City gents crossing street

2008-01-17T10:30:00.001Z

Seem to be thinking more and more in black and white from looking at what;s being posted on here. This was shot colour on the Pentax and then desaturated and tweaked in Lightroom. The contrast LR gives seems much better that Photoshop.
These three chaps were stood at the crossing chatting, I leaned back and got off a couple of frames before they marched across, got to the office and clinched a couple of deals....

Another B&W

2008-01-14T21:45:00.000Z

Trying an image from earlier in Lightroom - the colour scales are so much better than CS2 - need to check if they're in CS3....
Only issues so far are why not call it open and save, not import and export. When will people realise that Bill Gates actually does rule the world.

Adobe Lightroom

2008-01-12T13:49:00.001Z

Playing around with lightroom a little more. Seems to be more in depth when it comes to post process - changing to mono, flicking about with colour channels. This was a shot of Morecambe - colour raw then into CS3 to clean sensor spots and tweak contrast slightly, then into lightroom to convert to mono. There are a lot more settings to give it the edge like the old filters when enlarging or the lens filters when shooting on to b/w film.
Looking to change some portraits to the high key contrasty that seems popular - I'll try the convert in this.

Hay bales, fields and winter sun

2008-01-12T12:43:00.001Z

Shot these back in December 2007 - the low winter sun, the hay bales, and the cypress trees reminded me more of a painting. It was freezing out there - roll on spring - but I was happy with the results. After these and a couple of other scenes, I decided to look at the other lenses available for the Pentax - the kit lens 18-55 is good in the right environment but lacking when given any test.
I saved a little and picked up the 16 - 45mm DA which seems to cope a lot better but I'm still learning....

Lytham - winter sun over the water

2008-01-10T22:16:00.001Z

Another from Lytham St Annes - real cold here and the batteries were feeling it as well as my fingers.

The northwest coast

2008-01-08T15:41:00.000Z

As well as being close to both the cities of Liverpool and Manchester, the coast of North Wales, Blackpool, Lytham St Annes, as in the photo above, and all the way up to Cumbria is only up to an hour or so away. As you'd expect, there are some fine locations to be found in all of them.
From the boozy weekenders at Blackpool to the serene quiet of the Lakes, the NW has it all........I sound like an advert.....

Manchester

2008-01-08T12:31:00.000Z

Living in the NW of England, Manchester is only 20 minutes or so away. Coming from Preston ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston ) which was given city status in 2002, Manchester is a true city in every sense. The architecture, the characters, the diversity ( oh, and I guess the shops ) is what really highlights the difference from a town.
In another life I have an apartment just off Deansgate or the Northern Quarter and work via the net from a balcony watching the world walk past.

Quick introduction

2008-01-08T10:51:00.001Z

Just before the birth of my daughter nearly 12 years ago, I picked up a compact camera from a large electrical store that will remain nameless. The sales person popped in the film, I paid and walked back to wait for the call.
A couple of days later, she was born and the camera came out for the pictures of my newborn. These amazing images of my daughter would have been treasured forever, pored over as she grew up to become the person she is now.
They would have been treasured.....but for one small problem. The shop had not put the film in correctly and the miracle of childbirth was witnessed by a 35mm film canister that resolutely refused it's contents to be pulled across behind the shutter.
Walking back from the chemists staring at the glossy black 6x4s, I made myself a promise that that would never happen again....