This Month I’ve Mostly Been…(August 2025)

This month has mostly been about family holidays and time off, so plenty of down time to dip into various things I thought might be worth sharing.

As always there are some affiliate links that will bring me a bit of money if you make a purchase.

This month I’ve been reading…

‘Show Your Work’ Austin Kleon

This is a great book for creators, artists, and anyone looking to share their creative work with the world. “Rather than focusing on self-promotion, Kleon champions the idea of generosity over genius, encouraging readers to open up about their creative process, share something small every day, and let others learn from—and be inspired by—them.” This book is set out in bite sized chapters that are easy to refer back to and never feels preachy, just full of great ideas!

'Afonydd: Poems for Welsh Rivers’ Various

This is a really accessible book of poems that celebrates the rivers flowing through the heart of Wales. Fifty poets share their work in both Welsh and English, each poem capturing the magic and movement of Welsh rivers. Reading this book really made me feel like I wanted to be outside, exploring the landscape, experiencing the kinds of sights and sounds that are brought to life so vividly in this collection.

This month I’ve been watching…

'Daughters’ (2024)

Daughters is a 2024 American documentary directed by Natalie Rae and Angela Patton, following four young girls, Aubrey, Santana, Raziah, and Ja'Ana, as they prepare for a special Daddy Daughter Dance with their fathers in a Washington prison.

“The film offers an intimate look at the bonds between fathers and daughters strained by incarceration, focussing on the girls’ anticipation and emotional journeys leading up to the event. Over eight years, the documentary observes their lives before, during, and after the dance, providing extended insight into their relationships and the long-term impact of separation from their fathers. The documentary intentionally avoids focusing on the crimes of the fathers, instead choosing to humanize them and spotlight the effects of the prison system on family bonds, especially the emotional experiences and resilience of the daughters. It highlights the challenges families face in maintaining connections during incarceration, and the significance of moments of physical connection, forgiveness, and healing.”

You can watch this one over on Netflix

Finally this month I’ve been listening to a lot of…

'Private Music’ Deftones one of my all time favourite bands are back with a bang!

'The Clearing’ Wolf Alice Album highlight for me is the track 'Bloom Baby Bloom’.

'Refugees of the Symbolic Network’ Cerpintxt This album is an atmospheric phenomenon, I love it.

'Interior Live Oak’ Cass McCombs If you’ve never heard of Cass, I’d recommend working your way through the entire back catalogue before getting to this gem

'Murmuration and Stasis’ Fredrik Rasten Something from leftfield…excellent if you’re needing to focus but like some background “noise”

(August definitely felt like more of a “music month”!)

Thanks as always for checking in, see you at the end of next month for another short list of more things that have piqued my interest.

Image spread: The Squares Project

Some images from a recent shoot for Platform Thirty1 and the Greater Creative working party. The squares project has seen the local community make over 5000(!) crochet squares which will form part of displays across Blackwell Parish at the end of the year. It was certainly an impressive sight to see at the first sorting event.

‘Concept’ Northampton 2025 - Image Set

Last week was so much fun, I loved every minute of 'Concept’ at NMPAT delivering Arts Award for Pedestrian. The staff team worked with 8 young people to help them to write, record and produce their own original pieces of music whilst completing Arts Award Explore.

Here’s a selection of some of my favourite images from the sessions.

A family break and reflections

A much needed break with family took us to Wales. I completed my PGCE in South Wales and spent a lot of time between Newport and Cardiff but spending a week on the coast was something else. What a beautiful landscape to explore.

It’s also felt like a great opportunity to get out with the camera and just make images for the love of the craft, and whilst not working to a “brief” for a change, looking back at the images I’ve selected here I really get the sense I was almost notetaking and generating ideas for future projects. I can’t wait to get back to my desk and start working up some of the drafts I have in my head.

This Month I’ve Mostly Been…(July 2025)

Another busy month of work and family life, looking back on it I didn’t read, watch or listen to much but what I did get  around to delving into is, in my eyes, definitely worth shouting about!

There are some affiliate links that will bring me a bit of money if you make a purchase.

This month I’ve been reading

‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ by Mohsin Hamid

I’ll be honest, I bought this book because I was drawn to the cover and the title, I didn’t even read the blurb and against the odds it turned out to be a wise purchase! The book centres on the central character Changez, a young Pakistani man who graduates from Princeton University and lands a prestigious job at a top valuation firm in New York City. At first, he seems to have achieved the American Dream. However, after the 9/11 attacks, Changez’s relationship with the U.S. begins to shift. He becomes disillusioned with American foreign policy, especially toward Muslims, and increasingly feels alienated. This culminates in his return to Pakistan, where he adopts a more critical opinion on U.S. imperialism. The entire novel is a one-sided conversation between Changez and an unnamed American visitor in a Lahore café. Told as a monologue, tension builds throughout before we reach the book’s dramatic conclusion.

This month I’ve been watching…

'Licorice Pizza’ (2021) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, is a coming-of-age romantic comedy-drama set in the 1970s. The film follows the unconventional relationship between Gary Valentine, a confident and ambitious 15-year-old child actor, and Alana Kane, a 25-year-old aimless young woman trying to figure out her place in the world. The story unfolds as Gary and Alana navigate various entrepreneurial ventures and chaotic adventures—from waterbed sales and acting gigs to brushes with Hollywood figures and local politics. Despite their age difference a strong connection grows between them…also the soundtrack is GREAT!!! I watched this on Blu-ray and you can rent a copy for FREE by clicking this link

I also watched and loved 'Dahomey’ (2024) directed and written by Mati Diop on Mubi. Set in November 2021, the film documents the symbolic journey of 26 royal treasures—looted from the Kingdom of Dahomey (modern-day Benin) by French colonial forces in 1892—as they are repatriated from the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris back to Benin. It features scenes of the artifacts being respectfully packed in Paris and ceremonially received in Cotonou. Discussion at the University of Abomey‑Calavi, where Beninese students “challenge the politics, symbolism, and sufficiency of cultural restitution” a lot of whom make the point that only 26 items have been returned out of an estimated 7,000+ looted objects of cultural significance. My favourite sections of the film though are the voice overs from the perspective of the statue of King Ghezo, one of the artifacts being returned—as though the statue itself is reflecting on its centuries long exile.

You can stream this one on Mubi and if you if you subscribe using this link we’ll both get 30 days free!

Finally this month I’ve been listening to a lot of…

'Dog Eared’ The new album by the wonderful Billie Marten. The highlight of which is the absolutely brilliant 'Leap Year’.

'Self Titled’ Kae Tempest. Still one of the most important voices in UK music if you ask me.

Thanks as always for checking in, see you at the end of next month for another short list of more things that have piqued my interest.

Image spread: A selection from a recent shoot for Platform Thirty1.

The working party for the ‘Home Truths’ project gathered at Grow Outside to make their own bread and butter.

#photography #eventphotography #eastmidlands #Derbyshire #freelance

Image spread for The Spark Arts for Children ’Takeover’ and ‘In Your School’ events, Leicester June 2025

This Month I’ve Mostly Been…(June 2025)

What a month! Myself and the family relocated from Leicestershire to Derbyshire and so as a result we had an incredibly busy time of unpacking, settling in, working in between and waiting for the internet to get plugged in! So whilst I didn’t manage much in the realm of leisure, there were still a few interesting cultural finds that grabbed my attention. As always there are some affiliate links that will bring me a bit of money if you make a purchase.

This month I’ve been reading

‘The Day of the Triffids’ by John Wyndham. This turned out not to be the book I expected it to be but was excellent all the same. I’d always been led to believe The Day of the Triffids was more of a survival horror style tale of a populace running in terror from an army of attacking plants, whilst that’s partially true it’s a lot more subtle than that. It sees the human race mysteriously blinded by a rare celestial event, save for a “lucky” few who retain their sight. This allows the mysterious “Triffids”, a genetically modified plant species, to seize their chance to multiply and begin the slow take over of the planet. I also recently read Wyndham’s “The Midwich Cuckoos’ which also contained similar themes of survival, loss of control, the disruption of human systems and constructs that we foolishly believe are infallible and bound to last forever. The really unsettling thing about the 'The Day of the Triffids’ however is it’s ability to display just how fragile we are as a race and that all that we take for granted could be changed in an instant. It also brought to mind the fantastic 'The Death of Grass’ which is also worth checking out if you like your science fiction with a dollop of plausibility.

Speaking of plausibility in fiction, I managed to find time to watch 'Flow’ on Mubi.

It’s a visually stunning, dialogue-free animated fable directed by Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis. Set in a post-human, flood-ravaged world, it follows a lonely black cat whose home is overwhelmed by rising waters. Evacuating on a makeshift boat, the cat encounters—and reluctantly joins—a group of other animals, namely a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog. Along the way they attempt to overcome not only the environmental challenges put before them but also the challenge of finding unity amongst themselves after being randomly thrust together.

Like I said you can stream this one on Mubi and if you if you subscribe using this link we’ll both get 30 days free!

I also squeezed in the short documentary 'The Quilters’ on Netflix directed by Jenifer McShane it offers an intimate glimpse inside the South Central Correctional Centre in Missouri—a Level 5 maximum‑security prison . The film centres on a select group of men participating in a Restorative Justice sewing program. For around 40 hours a week, they craft personalized quilts for local foster children, including weighted quilts for kids with disabilities. It’s a beautiful and heartfelt look at remorse and the power of creativity to help make positive changes in people’s lives.

Finally this month I’ve been listening to a lot of…

'Quilted Lament’ by Claire Rousay/Gretchen Korsmo

'In Limerence’ by Jacob Alon

'Solace of the Mind’ by Amina Claudine Myers

And the triumphant return of Pulp!

Thanks for checking in, see you next month for more things that have piqued my interest.

A recent shoot for Greenfield Primary School saw me spending some time with the Pre-School creating promotional images for their new website. A really fun shoot with lots to photograph, I had lots of interest in the camera equipment too!

This month I’ve mostly been…(May 2025)

I’ve had a busy month in terms of commissions but still found a bit of time to delve into some distractions that I thought would be worth shouting about. As always there are some affiliate links that will bring me a spot of cash if you make a purchase.

This month I’ve been reading ‘Gold from the Stone: New and Selected Poems’ by Lemn Sissay

Sometimes I feel like the best writing makes me want to write and I always get that feeling when I read Lemn Sissay’s work. This collection of selected poems contains work from the whole of Lemn’s illustrious career and what I really enjoyed is the rawness of the early poems, they feel very direct in their use of language and as a result I didn’t feel I needed to 'decode’ the poems, they get right to the heart of the matter quickly so you’re never left wondering what Lemn is thinking or feeling. I’d also recommend a look at his autobiographical work 'My Name Is Why’ as it makes a great accompaniment to this book of poetry. As the book progresses you can see the development of Sissay as a writer which is always interesting to me as an artist, feeling like I’m peeking behind the curtain at the process of making.

Speaking of which I also watched 'A Dog Called Money’ on Mubi.

'A Dog Called Money’ is a 2019 documentary film directed by Seamus Murphy that follows English musician PJ Harvey as she makes her album The Hope Six Demolition Project. The film is a mixture of documentary footage with music and poetry performances which let us see the creative process behind the album. During the film Harvey gathers inspiration, field recordings, and ideas for lyrics. We also get to see the recording process of the album, which was shown as a public art installation in London where attendees could observe the recording and rehearsal sessions through one-way glass. It’s well worth your time if you’re interested in the nuts and bolts of putting a project together and the ways in which artists use their experiences to influence and inspire their creative output, you can find it on Mubi and if you if you subscribe using this link we’ll both get 30 days free!

Finally this month I’ve been listening to a lot of…

’Reverse Earth’ IE

'A Requim’ Penelope Trappes

I won’t say too much about these albums, but they are ambient in nature, sometimes feeling like soundscapes easy to get lost in if you’re giving them your full attention but ultimately have been great soundtracks to a month with A LOT of time spent at my desk editing!

Thanks for checking in, see you next month for more things that have piqued my interest.