First exhibition - Impression Milton Keynes

[Lilserenity]

Hiya,

I've got my first exhibition coming up this Monday at the Open University, not a place many people might find themselves in but it's all about how photography may be a valuable tool in understanding issues of deprivation and other social issues. Well, anyway. I've been invited to show some of my photos, 21 of them in fact.

I'm pretty nervous to say the least!

Anyway -- I'll take some photos from the event but I do hope that maybe this will open doors in the future to try and weasel my way into other bits and pieces; this one came about through an invite rather than my usual cajoling.

I put together a Youtube slideshow of the pictures I'll be showing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv1cXKVWajE

There's a lot more to my Impression Milton Keynes project but it gives an idea.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll let you know how it goes. So long as I don't offend someone and they give me a slap for taking an unflattering photo of their neighbourhood :)

Vicky

[Keith]

Go Vicky ... good luck with the exhibition ... and congratulations.

I was in England in the mid nineties and drove north in a rental car and passed through Milton Keynes ... for some reason it left me with an everlasting impression that I had just passed through the worlds largest supermarket carpark!

[Lilserenity]

Cheers Keith!

Thanks for the kind words.

I doubt you'll be the only one who thinks that. The central area is very modernist and not like anything else here in the UK in layout and design. A lot of the things in CMK were actually copied for retail developments in the UK and around the world, such as its block paving, lighting and street furniture. In 1980 it would have looked unique, now it looks like it was the copier, when in fact it was the innovator.

Of course, away from the car walking around MK, it reveals itself to be more diverse place than the stereotypes of concrete cows, roundabouts and soulless that MK conjeurs up. The place has problems and social issues but its not in the main. I'm just very impressed at what has been acheived in the space of 40 years in a country famed for its bureacracy and tendency to always look over its shoulder than forward. MK may not resemble LA in reality at all (anyone who says it does has never been to LA) -- but in attitude, it has a very strong can do attitude and that's what I like about it, the people.

Anyway, I digress!

Vicky

[chris000]

Here's to the first and many more to follow, good luck!

[wgerrard]

Nice work. I expect it will be warmly and positively received.

[Lilserenity]

Thanks Bill, Chris -- most appreciated. Fingers crossed! :D

[mabelsound]

Good luck, Vicky!

[Lilserenity]

Thanks! This is pretty surreal to me considering that this is something I've probably always wanted to do and now I'm able to share it, which is nice.

[payasam]

No need to be nervous, Vicky. Try to let the pictures speak instead of speaking for them. Make it a good beginning. [edit] It might be an idea to inform all the newspapers you can.

[Lilserenity]

No need to be nervous, Vicky. Try to let the pictures speak instead of speaking for them. Make it a good beginning. [edit] It might be an idea to inform all the newspapers you can.

Cheers, I have done some informing, I don't know how successfully but I do know some people are coming along from the areas I have photographed! From this I hope once the bulk of the project is done I want to put in for exhibiting locally and also more importantly Milton Keynes Gallery (this one's at the Open University HQ that's in MK) -- and also put in for my LRPS using 10 shots from this project. 50 years from now I might say "Well, that was the first and last but at least I've given it my best." Nothing worse in life than regret I think.

Vicky

[OurManInTangier]

Good luck with the exhibition Vicky. Once you've done this you will no doubt find it easier to get other galleries interested and certainly have the knowledge and nous to get more projects picked up.

MK is a pretty unique place in the UK and worthy of a project showing its people and places beyond the stereotypical views that so many of us hold.

I look forward to seeing some of your images from the event.

[Lilserenity]

Good luck with the exhibition Vicky. Once you've done this you will no doubt find it easier to get other galleries interested and certainly have the knowledge and nous to get more projects picked up.

MK is a pretty unique place in the UK and worthy of a project showing its people and places beyond the stereotypical views that so many of us hold.

I look forward to seeing some of your images from the event.

Cheers Simon. I have a whole bunch (Ok, almost 100) of some of the material on my Flickr pages here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilserenity/sets/72157618590943732/

When the book is done, much of it will be taken down although some will remain.

I think MK does need this; I've always been intrigued by the place even when I was little. (it was the nearest city) And that intrigue has stayed with me.

Brits by and large outside of MK don't have a high opinion of the place. Sadly in my view because all the residents I have spoken to are fiercely proud of the place. It has a very real can do attitude in a country of seeming "cannot". We should be proud that we built a city in 40 years (it's actually it's 43rd birthday today, but construction began in 1970) as successful as it is. It's in the top 5 performing cities in the UK; and that's some achievement.

It's not for everyone, but no one's forcing anybody to live there, I don't live there, but I love it. It's got problems, as with anywhere, but it was high time someone ripped into the obnoxious statements such as being soulless and laid it bare. At least as I see it anyway :)

Thanks,
Vicky

[brainwood]

I enjoyed your slide show very much Vicky. I like your use of light and exposure and rich colours are great. Good luck with your exhibition hopefully the start of many but looking at your work you should be confident.

Chris

[Bingley]

Congrats on the show, Vicky. I've followed many of these photos on your flickr, and I like your sense of color and composition.

[Lilserenity]

I enjoyed your slide show very much Vicky. I like your use of light and exposure and rich colours are great. Good luck with your exhibition hopefully the start of many but looking at your work you should be confident.

Chris
Chris,
I'm really pleased you enjoyed it. That's all I could hope for, I enjoy taking pictures, I hope people like looking at the pictures. Fingers crossed, I feel confident in the project for sure, I've got real conviction in it. With any luck, I can push it forward from here. We will see. You can be sure I'll give it a bloody good go though!

Vicky

[Lilserenity]

Congrats on the show, Vicky. I've followed many of these photos on your flickr, and I like your sense of color and composition.

Thanks Steve, bizarrely enough, I never really did much colour before this project; a lot of black and white. I feel that I'm seeing colour more clearly now, perhaps the concentration on luminence for so long as opened my eyes to what sometimes can be the miasma of colour!
Vicky

[leica M2 fan]

Good luck, you should have no worries ... everything will go smoothly.

[Lilserenity]

Good luck, you should have no worries ... everything will go smoothly.

Cheers Tony, much appreciated :)

[nathanp]

Congrats on the exhibition.

Your attitude towards MK is similar to mine towards Slough. I lived there for 4-5 years and grew to appreciate it but the majority of the country just talk about what a horrible place it is (and invariably mention that bloody Betjemen poem!)

Your pics on Flickr have reminded me that I really should make more of an effort to try one of the rolls of K64 in my fridge.

[newspaperguy]

Lovely work Vicki...
the Chamber of Commerce/tourist bureau
should be hiring you!

[Lilserenity]

Thanks for the comments guys, it's really appreciated.

Well I have good news.

The exhibition went really well; a lot of people came along (I wasn't the only exhibitor of course) but a lot of people seemed to enjoy the pictures and they seemed to be a good talking point. Lots of people came up to me to ask questions and I had community workers who worked in some of the areas I had photographed explaining the situations in much better detail than my cursory glance at places with my camera may show.

I had also somehow taken a picture of two people's houses, all by chance! They were rather pleased.

I have now been asked by the city discovery centre and the Living Archive organisation to get in touch with them so they can help me to promote the project locally in the city, and push it into more exhibition spaces in the coming year. So this was fantastic. I have also been asked to help out a few groups in MK who need some photographs of their local community and the community organisers -- which was nice. I'd never turn down a chance to push more work of mine out there even if there's financially not much in it, baby steps after all!

So if people are true to what they say on the night, it looks promising to getting this project out there.

Anyway without going on too much more, the main thing people were asking me was which body is funding you to do this. When I answered that this was all off my own back, out my own pocket entirely -- it left them quite surprised.

Anyway, I feel quietly happy and glad that I was able to give a little something to the people of MK this week. It was a small affair, perhaps 100-150 people at any one time; but it was nice to share the pictures.

So, onwards and hopefully upwards I guess!

Thanks again for your support, it's nice to have kind words -- even though I don't expect everyone to like it, and indeed I do expect people to be critical, but the kind words did help the nerves a little. As did a couple of glasses of wine with the canapés when the exhibition was opened! :D

Cheers all,
Vicky

[MPerson]

Vicky - I am pleased it went well and miffed. I just saw this thread and I would have popped up to view the exhibition.

Great it got such a positive response and I really hope the offers come through for you.

It seems a long time since this: English Suburbia (http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76895&highlight=Milton+Keynes)! As you rightly say, small steps. I wish you luck for the future.

By the way, did you get a soft release?

[Lilserenity]

Hi Andy,

Vicky - I am pleased it went well and miffed. I just saw this thread and I would have popped up to view the exhibition.

Ahh, next time! Hopefully further chances should arise, and there will be more of it to see as this was just a slice of the wider body of work.

It seems a long time since this: English Suburbia (http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76895&highlight=Milton+Keynes)! As you rightly say, small steps. I wish you luck for the future.

It does seem a little while ago from that post; but I've always wanted to do this project, and was about to pick it up seriously and run with it in 2006 but various things got in the way. (My priorities were all messed up!) But yep, properly I've been working on this now for a year already. Yikes!

By the way, did you get a soft release?

No, I still will do though but a Minolta Autocord came along at a price I couldn't pass on; and so I ended up splurging on a TLR. But as with the Leica; it's a superb camera that really works with the way I shoot!

Cheers,
Vicky