Friday turned out to be a whirl of visual inspiration and delight. Amongst the rain drops I whizzed between Bethnal Green, Tottenham Court Road, South Bank and finally over to the V&A for an "In Conversation with...." Saturday morning and I'm sitting here aglow, head slightly spinning and feeling like a sponge that just got dipped in a crazy colourful watercolour rainbow..........

First STOP......

I popped in to this exhibition on the South Bank en route last night to the V&A + whilst there are tough subjects to look at I was intensely moved by the diversity and inspired by the stories which visually unfolded in front of me. These are stories which are in all of our subconsciousness's (I may have just made a new word up! I apologies).

Farming and deforestation in Borneo is having a HUGE impact on our fragile eco system and the Orangutan's who live there - these images big and bold accompanied by the text was really humbling and the whole wildlife section was really beautiful but tinged with an edge of sadness yet after viewing all the other incredible, humbling and moving stories I returned to this area to soak in the colours of the amphibians and peacefulness of the whale swimming with it's cub.

All of the stories are harrowing, don't get me wrong I don't live in a bubble oblivious to suffering or what's happening in the world but there are times when it feels like we are only seeing bad situations and awful acts of human brutality but this is a relatively small, concise exhibit (it's split in two + spaced either side of the auditorium). The winners stories here depict our every day lives over the course of the last 365 days. It's current and beautifully, beautifully put together. The size of some of the pieces - bold and large stop you in your tracks, whilst the smaller pieces encourage that intimate connection with the photograph. As you would expect, the consistency in layout and descriptions ensure maximum information delivered quickly.

There were two projects in the area displaying the refuge crisis projects which have stayed with me too. I found the images really powerful and stood shaking my head to myself thinking.."what year are we in - we're not in the dark ages yet sadly it feels in many ways we are".

*****Go see this exhibit!! It's FREE

Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall

Belvedere Road, London, United Kingdom

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/

~In Conversation with Cathleen Naundorf at the V&A Image©CathleenNaundorf

Breathtaking and mesmerising.........firstly I'd never been to the V&A Lecture theatre before and was in awe of the design and space, secondly it was fantastic to listen to Cathleen's life story and how her work evolved and unfolded. From travelling to Mongolia and capturing tribal portraits to Brazil and then to Paris and the Haute Couture scene.....obviously my description is extremely brief!!! Using only Polaroid since 2003 Cathleen has created exquisite works of art and I loved hearing of her persistence and connections and workings of a fellow photographer. It was really enjoyable, refreshing and stunning to look at the slides projected behind her. (my camera phone doesn't do it justice + for me they are reference but I'm sharing here :-)).

This Friday Photofrenzy was just what I needed..I've been asked a lot recently what personal work I'm working on and in truth...just ideas...I'm searching, I have a list of projects I'd like to do, a book idea which I'd LOVE to bring to fruition but I just need to focus. The dust is settling on a whirlwind of a year and with winter approaching it would be great to have a hibernation project to work on! :-) I'm off to get a fresh sketch book and begin....the hardest part is starting...I'm off to do just that!

Have a great weekend everyone xx