Opting for a study visit to the Hereford Photography Festival instead of going to see a retrospective of Martin Parr at the M-Shed in Bristol wasn’t an easy decision to make, but we couldn’t have possibly missed the longest-running photography festival in the UK. BJP’s editor Simon Bainbridge, who seems to have embarked on a […]
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WeAreOCA’s recent post Introducing Miranda reminded me of a photograph that the web editor of Hotshoe magazine took earlier this year. The photograph shows the place where Miranda Gavin’s grandparents were married and are now buried. Miranda’s photograph also shows her newly married grandparents walking out of the church the day of their wedding. This […]
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It is 6 months since a group of dedicated OCA students volunteered to take part in a publishing initiative with The Big Issue in the North (BITN). We thought it was time we shared the experience on We Are OCA and showed you the images that the editor has chosen so far. The Big Issue […]
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Had Jacob Riis been born in the age of the Internet he may well have invented crowd funding. As a photographer committed to bring about social change, as Miles Orvell noted in his book American Photography, the late-19th-century photographer used his images to influence public opinion and as an instrument for direct appeal. Riis was a dedicated social […]
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I guess Muammar Gaddafi will not be having a ride in his hot air balloon again anytime soon. The end of his regime must have felt as surreal to him as it felt seeing his UK-made hot air balloon when I was out on a bike ride in Ashton Court in Bristol. I had completely […]
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Writing a review of a book which features one’s work may seem a rather cheeky and unintelligent attempt at self-promotion. But Maria Short’s new book Context and Narrative, recently published by AVA Books, is the kind of learning resource that many OCA students will want to have on their bookshelves. In any case my participation is […]
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Ever since I read One River by Wade Davis, many years ago, the figure of Richard Evans Schultes has held great fascination for me. Ethnobotanist, adventurer, activist and supporter of indigenous causes, Schultes led a life that those of us with a taste for travel and remote places can only be jealous of. He also […]
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The last thing I wanted to be told at Ouagadougou passport and health control is that I needed to have an injection to enter the country. I looked at my vaccination certificate in total disbelief. They were right; my yellow fever vaccine was out of date. I would have to have a yellow fever jab […]
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As surreal weekends go, last one is hard to match. I found myself at the top of Rhinog Fawr in North Wales talking to friends about the Royal Wedding and the death of Osama bin Laden. All on an uncharacteristically sunny and warm day up on the mountains. Stunned at the news of the death […]
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My respect for Tim Hetherington, documentary photographer and film maker, and photojournalist Chris Hondros, who were killed in a mortar attack in Libya two days ago. Anyone committed, talented and determined enough to do the work that they did has my deepest admiration. I didn’t know Tim Hetherington, I didn’t know him personally I mean. […]
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