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// Edition 015. Consolidation
New York City’s Oculus, The Singing Hills feature and exhibition, news and endnotes.
Welcome to you all, especially those of you who have come over from my other newsletter, Notes from The Singing Hills, which I have consolidated into this one. This is the second edition of The [ED]it to feature a more image-centric format, such a small edit from a project or the preceding month’s various photographic explorations.
The Oculus
I’d never been to the Oculus before, so on our summer visit to New York I made a point of going and hanging out there for a while. The stark, white-ribbed structure seemed to lend itself to black & white, as many other photographers have found. Let me know if there’s images here that catch your eye and if there’s interest in a print, I’ll make them available in my shop.
Speaking of prints, newsletter subscribers will be the first to know of any upcoming prints sales. One of the best ways to support my work is to subscribe or forward this newsletter on to someone else who you think would enjoy it. Just use the buttons below:
// Notes from The Singing Hills
The Singing Hills featured in The Guardian
In the run up to the Camp Good Life exhibit the project was featured in the culture section of The Guardian online. It was wonderful to see the reception for the project and the resulting interest through new subscribers and followers. Thanks again to Michael Bennett for helping to get the feature.
One of the more interesting ways it got picked up was in ‘The Raven’ (section 7.x.), a football/soccer newsletter by ‘Men in Blazers’. I found out about this through Melissa’s tweet!
The Singing Hills at Camp Good Life
When I heard the rain begin to splatter on the tent walls the night before Camp Good Life, I feared the worst for the images I’d just hung in one of the marquees [ED: note, marquees are not completely watertight]. Thankfully, I had chosen to encase the prints in sleeves to prevent potential damage. It was a bit of a DIY setup, but thankfully the prints were ok, and the event was really great. I made a couple of excellent connections pertinent to the project also. You can read a bit more on my website, here.
// News
Photo Print Day prints
In early September I participated in Photo Print Day. It is an event designed to raise money for charity, started and run by documentary photographer Jim Mortram. It was amazing to see people come together this way and I’m so happy that I was able to raise more than £150 shared between three charities.
Farnham Craft Month
Lastly, a soft launch announcement. I am debuting a new piece of work that is completely non-digital, using only film and darkroom techniques during Kiln Photo’s participation in Farnham Craft Month this October, which celebrates Farnham’s status as a World Craft Town.
The work is my reaction to the digital, NFT/Web3.0 craze and the associated environmental concerns in a year when even London was burned by heathland wildfire. I am also hoping it challenges notions about the practice of photography and art also. I’m not providing any images because that would defeat the purpose.
Please do come along, directions and opening times here.
// Endnotes
I wouldn’t be where I am today without the critical eye and mind of Ray Ketcham. After several interesting interactions via the blogosphere [ED: You’re dating yourself now) I was taken under his wing as part of a group of several other photographers that used to meet monthly for video calls before Zoom and Teams where a thing. We also attended workshops run by him to explore visual voice and storytelling. So, whenever I need to go back to ‘first principles’, Ray’s writing and teaching is my first stop.
I found episode 497- Hometown Village of 99% Invisible emotional and fascinating. Is ‘Hometown’ (in Korean) in this sense, an emotional cognate to cynefin or hiraeth in Welsh?
The British Empire was Much Worse Than You Realize. Required reading for every Brit. On Caroline Elkins’ book, by Sunil Khilnani in the New Yorker (Limited free articles / $ paywall)
Unbroken Solutions in Loupe Magazine features Mark Phillip’s work documenting the right to repair, Restart Project, fixing factories and more. Where I live, we have the Farnham Repair Café, which I will make use of in the future.
Thank you for reading The [ED]it, I hope you enjoyed it. Please do forward this on to anyone else you think might enjoy also it. If you have questions, comments, ideas, projects, sponsorship or anything else stimulated by this edition, you can reply to this email, or get in touch by leaving your thoughts in the comments or contacting me via email at edbrydon@gmail.com
Take care,
Ed
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About me:
I am a photographer and writer available for commissions based near Farnham, Surrey, in south east England, just 45 minutes from London. I also regularly work in North Wales.
My more recent work explores personal connections to place, the land and natural environment, how each of those, and the connections between them, are changing.
In 2017 my ongoing project on people of North Welsh heritage in the northeast US was exhibited at Northern Eye Festival. I was subsequently awarded a commission from the Welsh Parliament in 2019 to make new work for exhibition around Wales in 2019-20.
You can find out more on my website here.
Have to say I miss those monthly talks with Ray and the others. I like those black and white photos at the top of this post.