London Villages Project............the show

Life Force by Simone Fisher

The show is up, the private view is over, and the photographs that represent individual members of London Independent Photography's views of their personal spaces or 'villages' within the London boroughs are on show at Goldsmiths University of London in New Cross.

It is a moving show; so many voices, each represented by a single image. Some celebratory, some sad, some thought provoking, and all very personal to the photographer.

They are are explained and elaborated upon in the beautiful book produced as a lasting record of the project shown here.

My personal favourites are shown below

Here may be removed without warning by Nick Scammell

Nick's work and website can be seen here. My understanding of it is that it considers memory and lost spaces. His multilayered images show the decimation of a small green space.

We are Camden by Anne Clements

This for the expression on the girls' faces; no more need be said. Anne's aim was to show the rich diversity of people living in Camden.

Olympic Street by Martin Hanna

This one is so relevant to what is happening in London right now, and yet has a humour all of it's own. The dog makes this one for me.

The Alternative Limb Project by Rosemary Williams

This photograph I find compelling for the love with which the  girl appears to work on the artificial limbs that she creates for amputees that allow them to express their individuality.

Nature has its own Agenda by Ingrid Newton

This is my personal favourite; for its ambiguity and the fact that her theme is similar to mine, in looking at man's endeavours and interactions with nature. This image is from one of her model landscape series.

There is one final image that haunts me, and that I cannot bear to show. It is by Brendan Delaney, of the site of a cyclist's death at Tower Bridge where four cyclists have been killed by lorries since 2009.

As I said before, these individual projects are intensely personal and are well worth exploring further if you have a chance to visit the exhibition.

Summer in suburbia...........the sky should be blue

Roses © Caroline Fraser

The image above was showing until yesterday at the 4th Greenwich Annuale at Viewfinder Gallery, Greenwich.

I returned to the same site today to find a very different view; the roses have turned to hips, and there were light clouds in the sky. One of the criteria that I have self imposed for my contribution to the London Villages Project London Villages Project with my series "Seasons in Suburbia" is that the sky is blue. This was not a problem in May, as we had blue skies almost every day; summertime is proving more of a challenge, but I shall try to stick with this , as I feel it adds to the slightly surreal view of suburbia that I am trying to create. The same view a few weeks later has less impact with a cloudy sky.

Rose hips © Caroline Fraser

As I strolled with my dog this morning I carried my newly refurbished Rolleiflex. Looking through the viewfinder with everything reversed slows me down, and with only 12 frames on a film focusses the mind on composition, lighting and finding the best viewpoint for a particular subject. I find myself standing in the middle of the road to get a perfect shot of a house or tree, as each image costs a significant amount unlike  digital images that can be discarded by the hundred. Taking my life in my hands I tie dog to a fence post and leave her while I wander around in the road, dodging cars as they pass by. I took a perfect shot of two trees, only to realise further down the road that I had forgotten to focus the camera in my excitement over metering with a hand held meter using the road as my grey card.

Sunflowers © Caroline Fraser

These sunflowers caught my eye on a grey day last week, but they look so much better on a blue sky day.

One of the joys of the London Villages Project is the extraordinary variety of ways in which individual members interpret the brief. At the monthly meet up last week I heard about the Transition Network and the projects in London that are working to

 " support community-led responses to climate change and shrinking supplies of cheap energy, building resilience and happiness"


I love the idea of building happiness; something that we all have within our power to do.

Jonathan Goldberg, an active LVP member has been exploring Transition Towns across London as his contribution to the project, with some beautiful portraits of individuals who are actively involved in their local communities. Growing vegetables on a railway station platform in Kilburn, or campaigning against another runway at Heathrow, these groups are passionate about their local environment and communities.

As regards my project, waiting for blue skies has been the main problem through August; roll on September, when the Indian summer traditionally graces us with its presence, and I shall be out looking for autumn colour in the gardens of suburbia. 

Summertime in Suburbia .....................the dog gets a wash

With my new found freedom from sticking and glueing that was the PG Cert in Photography, I am finding tradtional ways to fill my day. Today dog and I ventured out to do a little photography; summer is here, and the London Villages Project waits for no man.

We ventured into some different streets and found all sorts of delights; red roses, dead conifers in concrete tubs on lawns, and some wonderfully green summer trees. Suburbia is so "suburban". The more I look  the more I see the different styles of gardens and window dressings that make up the whole. Double glazed windows with net curtains, window boxes and garden gates all seek to define the occupants and make their dwellings unique. Stopping to take photos I am always wary of figures behind the curtains wondering what I am up to; I don't know that they would believe me if I tried to explain that I am taking pictures of their bushes and trees.

Our 20 minute morning stroll extended into an hour long exploration; checking where the sun lies, and when to go back to catch the light in the best position is part of the initial research. Summer sun is harsher, and requires a certain devotion to duty on my part to get up while the light is still kind enough to the flowers on a sunny day.





Dog had a wash today; her first for many months; I have time at last to do a little spring cleaning. Tied by her lead to a garden chair she endured first a cold hose and then some "strong" shampoo from my bathroom. she hates this, much preferring her own, doggy smell. She has been known to run up the garden after a wash to roll in some fox poo  to restore the balance that her senses prefer.

I was getting my own back on her for the worming tablet escapade that she led me on last week. Every few months I have to get three large brown tablets into her; a feat which gets harder every time and the one time when she well and truly lets me know that she is not as stupid as she pretends to be most of the time. I have learnt through experience that there is no point trying to hide these tablets in her food; she simply goes on hunger strike until normal service is resumed. So I wrapped the tablets in a delicious piece of  pork loin.

 Foolishly I let her see this process, and she happily took the whole parcel into her mouth, only to refuse to swallow it. I tried holding her muzzle closed to encourage her to swallow. She salivated wildly all over the floor and refused to play ball. I put her outside, where upon she swallowed the meat, and out popped  the tablets onto the lawn. We repeated the proess, this time concealing the tablets in a slice of bread; she ate two, and the third was again discarded with disdain. At this point I gave up, and left the tablet in her food bowl, hoping she would forget and eat it with her tea ( which , of course, she expected as usual despite the extra snacks).

Tea came and went; the tablet remained in the bowl. Dog wins................

 Later that evening I put some boiled cabbage water into the bowl ......................water and tablet happily consumed..................I win........................

3am the next morning.......................dog needs to go out to the loo becuse of the extra drinks she had; I have to get up and take her............................DOG WINS!!!

So today we have clean, healthy dog...................................WIN WIN

A photography show at Central St Martins



So, the show is on the road.

Last night we had the private view, agonised over how much to sell catalogues for, dressed in our finery, hoping to become famous. Many of the punters were there for the free booze, and certainly not looking to spend money either on catalogues or works of art. The big buyers had visited earlier in the day when I was still trying to sort out postcards and having a calming walk with the dog.

For some reason the bodyguards controlling the front entrance felt that the best way to create a frisson of excitement on the street was to let visitors in, one at a time, very slowly. So mummies and daddies from far and wide got soaked in the rain waiting to meet up with their respective offspring who were locked inside waiting for the party to start.

I forgot to take my camera in the excitement , so photos of the artwork will have to wait; for now here's a couple from my portfolio. The first is one for the London Villages project  london villages project, being my next-door-neighbour's tree. Some would argue that I should remove the airplane trail; I would argue that it is what the sky always looks like around my home, and I will therefore leave it as it is.



Crab apple from the series 'Springtime in Suburbia' 



Tonight we are out as a family for the first time in a while; celebrating new jobs for both my children. Somehow that feels more important than photography right now. The restaurant we have chosen sent me an e-mail this afternoon offering me a last minute ticket to their fashion show tonight due to 'last minute cancellations'. I had visions of dining amongst the Chislehurst wags, surrounded by ladies in high heels and men with fast/big/black 4x4 cars. Not quite what I had  planned ; so I gave them a call and was pleased to hear that the fashion show is in a marquee; which should be fun as it is currently full-on June monsoon weather and very cold. We will be fine, tucked indoors in the warm.......................... lets hope the chef is indoors too.



from the series 'n'aller pas trop vite'



Hawkwood ; a sanctuary in suburbia

Hawkwood by Caroline Fraser | Make Your Own Book

There is a real feeling of an end in sight for all the members of my course; today most of us have been busy printing off our final assessment of our projects, getting work ready to hand in tomorrow, and wondering how we will fill all the time that is suddenly going to become available. Already some of us have found time to read a novel, go to the shops and have a lie in. For myself, I find this weekend that I can suddenly sleep again; a welcome relief after weeks of waking up at 6am thinking about what else needs to be done. I was able to enjoy a walk on the beach at Camber without worrying about the time passing and feeling that I should be somewhere else. Most importantly of all, I actually wanted to take some photographs, something that I have been avoiding for the last 3-4 weeks, as I didn't feel I would have time to process them. I feel quite excited at the prospect of having some time to think.

So it is with great pleasure that I release details of my book "Hawkwood"; a very personal project for my family containg a poem I have written for them,with photos taken there in the last few months. Hawkwood is a haven in suburbia, owned by the National Trust. I have walked there countless times, and as I describe in my poem, it has kept me alive through good times and bad. My hand made book with the same title is still not right; I need to work on getting the paper and format perfect. In the meantime this softcover book will have to do. It forms another strand of my work for the London Villages Project in which memebers of London Independent Photography record their chosen localities within the London suburbs.

Hand made books and self publishing. Hawkwood Press is born

late afternoon, Hawkwood

Now that I am focussed on outoor photography and "beauty" I am back enjoying my photography. I have ventured in to the woods at dawn and dusk, taken shots for my own diorama, and had fun with the bushes of suburbia. Suddenly walking the dog around the block has taken on a whole new source of pleasure; finding playful shots of bushes, fences, lamp posts and the like.

trees in BR1

 All of these subjects will fit well into the London Villages Project.London Villages Project


I have decided to self publish a book.

 I would like it to have a ISBN number; that way I can sell it in shops or on-line ( getting confident here...........), and a copy of it will have to be placed in the British Library. I like the idea of that. So I have been researching ISBN numbers, which are easy to acquire from the UK ISBN agency, Nielsen, who happen to be in Woking, where I was born. The numbers are supplied to publishers; in batches of 10 or more. Unfortunately they can't be passed on, so I will have to create my own publishing company and if anyone wishes to use one, they would have to be published under my company name. The alternative is to use an existing company, but then I would lose the overall control and the opportunity to choose a publishing name.

So what should it be called?

More research; on how to name a company; so much more fun than reading books or taking photographs; I feel as though I am moving into a whole new subject area. But that is the joy of this course; it takes one down new roads that were never imagined before starting. A hand made book and my own publishing company; this is fun.

So here are my top tips on how to name a company from the reading that I have done

It should be

• relevant
• a word that sounds strong
• easy to spell for searches
• a word that creates a visual image
• short
• not likely to tie you down too much in the future should your aims change

I looked on the British Book Fair website for the names of existing publishers; here are a few that stand out as being well known or memorable

• Aurum
• Envisage
• 21st editions
• Camberwell Press
• Penguin

I considered using my own name but it is too long and not visually strong. I thought of several related to photography, the outdoors or with visual connections, but they have all been thought of before. So I am going to use Hawkwood Press. This relates to the first book that will come off the press, and is personal to me, but short enough and visual enough to work for other titles or other people should I wish to collaborate in the future. It is traditional, the word "press" meaning, amongst other things

a.printing press


b.a printing or publishing establishment

c.the art, business, or practice of printing

So for me it represents my foray into the publishing/printing world, but also represents my preference for the outdoors and doesn't restrict me to photographic works.

In order to apply for the ISBN number I have to submit exampes of the "Title Page" and "Title Page Verso"

The title page verso is

"a page on the back of the title page, where the bibliographical details and the copyright notice are printed"

examples and more information about ISBN numbers can be found at Nielsen.

This lead me on to further efforts to produce a document in InDesign. I can now import images, but it is a very steep learning curve. I really need to decide what type of binding and size my book will be before I do any more work on creating it.

I found some beautiful hand made books at Leijonstedt. The creator uses a white peacock fanned tail as her artist's mark, which represents the open pages of a book to great visual effect. I would like to create a logo, but am conscious that I am digressing further and further away from getting on with the project.

experimenting with symmetry

Having just returned from the V&A's new exhibition "The Cult of Beauty", I now also know that the Peacock is one of the key motifs of the Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900 ( more on that later).

The aesthetic movement exhibited at the V&A in "The Cult of Beauty"

For now I need to decide on the size of my book, the type of binding, and get cracking.



my street; wherever I am in BR1 there are plane trails in the sky



London Villages Project

On Saturday I attended the first meeting of a London-wide photographic collaboration of LIP members for a year long project on London villages; the London Villages Project . The aim is to cover all London boroughs and to create a body of work that is a unique contribution to the photographic record of London over the next 12 months. The participants can each choose a place that defines itself, be it a community, an emotional centre, home or street, and make their own interpretation of the dynamics and nuances of that community. 

We met in Piccadilly and heard examples of projects already underway, such as Anne-Marie Glasheen's exploration of the Excalibur estate in Catford; a unique development of post war prefabs that has survived far longer than intended, and is now under threat of re-development.

 Over 120 members of London Independent Photography are signed up to the project, and will get together monthly to discuss progress and share ideas. My intention is to focus on Widmore, Bickley and Chislehurst as these are all home territory. I started with a stroll up my own street on a sunny afternoon, and look forward to capturing it in all weathers and through the changing seasons.