How to stick photos to a wall

I was in a considerably better frame of mind on Wednesday (the fact it was a beautifully sunny day certainly helped), which is more than could be said for Adrian, the Festival Director.

I didn’t find out the details, but when he arrived at The Hut this morning, he’d clearly had a run in with someone not long before. However, I give him full credit for being up for the idea of allowing that grievance to barrel straight down the lens of the camera.

To avoid the fixed-grin camera-face most people have as soon as the camera appears, I’ve been asking people to stare intensely into the lens, as it nearly always makes for a much more interesting photo. Some really struggle, but most get there in the end. And every now and then you catch someone who has all the emotion right at their fingertips.


Festival Director, Adrian

I’m now over halfway through the Festival and what has become clear is I miscalculated how many photos I thought I would be able to get. Partly I underestimated the amount of wall space available in The Hut, and partly I overestimated how much time it would take to chat to people, warm them up, get them on board, get them to fill out a form, take the photos, edit the photos, print the photos, get the photos stuck to the wall of The Hut, convert the photos to web-sized images with my watermark on them, and finally upload them to Facebook and Flickr.

The actual amount of time I spend lining up the camera and going ‘click’ 3 or 4 times is only about 15 seconds. Everything else probably averages out at about 20 to 25 minutes per person.

Back during Spring Fling, at my peak I managed about 50 portraits in a day. However, everyone was coming to me (I wasn’t having to go out and recruit), and I had an assistant to explain to visitors what was going on, convert them to the cause, fill in the paperwork and stick the photos to the walls.

Now I’m managing about 15 per day. However, accumulatively this now means I have about 90 photos on the walls and it’s starting to look good.

Another problem I was faced with was how to stick the photos to the walls.

I began with the idea of drawing pins (thumbtacks), but the board density is too high – it took so much pressure to push one in, by the time I’d stuck one image to the wall, my thumbs were sore.

From then on I started using blu-tack. The problem here is I know from experience it has a wall-life of about a week or so, and then the photos will start peeling off.

A few days ago I tried using panel pins with a hammer, but the boards wobbled so much, I feared they would break before I could successfully hammer them in. Someone mentioned using a photo-mount spray, but then someone else said that didn’t have a particularly long wall life either.

However, writer-in-residence, Robert Twigger, immediately suggested a staple gun as soon as I told him of my difficulties. Perfect. Why didn’t I think of that before?

So last night, David and Jennifer – a couple of the Interns at the Festival – helped take down all the blu-tacked photos and I stapled them all back on the wall.

This also gave me the excuse to spread them out a little more, as I’d been over optimistic when I began and started overlapping them when putting them up. This would have resulted in barely covering one wall, which would have seriously dented the impact of the exhibition.

My favourite hang-out during the Festival when I’m not in The Hut, is The Writer’s Retreat - which is a sort of Green Room for visiting authors. As well as being comfy, it’s quite a good place to recruit faces for the project. Not only can I talk them into it, I can use the natural light from the large Georgian windows to take their portraits. The one of Rab Wilson in the last post being a good example.


Writer’s Retreat (devoid of writers at that precise moment…)

Don't forget, to see the latest portraits, visit the Facebook or Flickr photo collections.

Tartle

Before I began this artist in residency, I figured it would take me a few days of confusion with a steep learning curve, but by Tuesday I’d have fallen into my stride and it would all begin to flow.

As it turned out, on Tuesday I just felt tired and flat. It was like the intensity of the past 4 days had finally caught up on me.

In fact, I hadn’t even really made it to Tuesday. My mood had started to drop in the latter half of Monday and rather than staying at the apartment provided, I headed home for the night, desperate to see Maggie and the kids. And leaving them in the morning to head back to Wigtown, I was certainly heavy of heart.

I barely reached double figures in the number of portraits I took over the day. This was in part due my decision to try and focus on catching up on editing and printing photos, and putting them on the walls, as I was woefully behind schedule on this.

Highlight of the day, however, was meeting and chatting with Rab Wilson, who is a great advocate for Scots language. Not Gaelic, but Scots – the language of Robert Burns.


Rab Wilson

In some circles there is fierce debate about whether Scots counts as a separate language or simply as a regional dialect. But whichever side your support lies, there is no doubt it is full of rich words, some of which have no direct English equivalent.

Rab mentioned the word “tartle”, which is where you hesitate when introduced to someone because although they are familiar you cannot remember their name.

This sounds like a word that could have been invented specifically for me.

In fact, given how common it is, I found myself amazed to realise there isn’t a dedicated word in English for such an act.

Suitably impressed, I told him I’d be attending his festival event that evening, where he was reading from his book, “The 1957 Flying Scott” – a series of poems about his love affair with a classic pushbike, interspersed with Jazz music from the band “Bright Noise”.

Shortly afterwards I remembered I generally have very little interest in poetry, and jazz has never really done anything for me. Too late to back out now without losing face.

However, I needn’t have worried as it turned out to be fun after all.


Bright Noise with Rab Wilson

If you’re into poetry, jazz and/or bikes, then I think you’ll enjoy Rab’s book, which has been rather nicely bound and includes a CD of the music and linocut images by Hugh Bryden. It’s a collector’s item too, with only 500 having been produced. You’ll find it online here: http://www.hughbryden.com/?p=651

Meanwhile, if you would like to see the latest portraits, indeed all the ones I’ve taken so far, then do visit the Facebook or Flickr photo collections.
.

A Quieter Day

The mania of the weekend seemed to have calmed down somewhat in Wigtown on Monday. Although there are still plenty of events during the week, the weekends either side are filled with far more, and tend to contain the biggest names.

I’ve tried to use the day to catch up on editing and printing, but of course there were more people photographed, so I’m still nearly as far behind – striding briskly, yet not seeming to get any further forward.

Highlight of the day was a talk by Hope London, an American artist now based in Scotland, who also has a background in copyright law. As well as being very intelligent and creative, she has a tremendous energy to her.



Turns out she also plays the fiddle. When I told her I had my bouzouki with me, she said she’d look into trying to find a music session this Friday.

My favourite photo of Monday was actually the very first one I took. She was enjoying a courgette and chocolate cake from ReadingLasses café and was quite happy to incorporate it into the image.



As before, if you would like to see the full set of the photos taken so far, please visit the Facebook or Flickr photo collection.

A day in the studio

In contrast to Saturday, every photo I took of faces on Sunday was done in the studio. I had 10 people through during my open hours in the morning, but after lunch and an author’s talk, I returned to the studio specifically to photograph Leah Black, the new Spring Fling manager.



However, across the rest of the afternoon, a steady stream of people came wandering down to The Hut. Before one person had left, another would arrive. A few friends, a few other Spring Fling connections, and a few random visitors meant the afternoon seemed to disappear.

One way or another I’m going to have to find a way of managing my time better. So far I’m well behind on getting the photos I have already taken printed up and put on the walls; I missed several author’s talks I really wanted to see; and I was up until 2am on Sunday night editing Saturday’s images to go into the blog and up on Facebook and Flickr.

And I’m missing Maggie and the kids.

I found myself, this morning (Monday), feeling a little overwhelmed with it all.

Photograph of the day on Sunday, for me, had to be Eva – a young woman with a tattoo creeping over here shoulder up from under her shirt.

I’m doing my best to try and convince people not to smile, but look intensely down the lens. This will hopefully increase the impact of the experience for visitors looking at the accumulated photos on the wall. It’s also a way of trying to get past the “smile” everyone has for the camera, which is usually a cross between a grimace and fixed grin with fear in the eyes.

Some people are managing it quite well, while others have to take time to compose themselves, and one or 2 just can’t keep a straight face. But Eva was a natural. I would hate to be on the receiving end if I’d done something wrong, but for the kind of photography I love to do, it was wonderful.



To see the full set of the photos taken so far, please visit the Facebook or Flickr photo collection.

Getting Started

I now have Internet access again.

Although ReadingLasses is a wi-fi café, unfortunately it doesn’t stretch out as far as The Hut, and the apartment I’m staying in was supposed to pick up the wi-fi connection from the apartment next door, but didn’t. Fortunately festival manager and all round organiser extraordinaire, Anne Barclay, managed to get the get an extension cable to the hub moved closer to this place, so finally I have a signal.

After moving everything into The Hut and the apartment, getting a bite to eat and attending a debate on the “Arab Spring”, it was too dark to photograph anyone. I was given assurances by ex-reporter, ex-politician, man-in-the-white-suit, Martin Bell that he would come by The Hut in the morning, but I think he was just humouring me. He certainly didn’t show up.

Saturday, then, was the first real day of being “Artist in Residence”.

I’ve made a commitment to be at The Hut from 10.30am to 12.30pm most days, so didn’t feel I should skip the first day to attend a reading I was interested in. I dutifully set up a studio area in the studio and put up a board at the entrance to the close visitors need to walk down to reach The Hut.






It was nearly an hour before someone came in, but my first arrival was Pam, who turned out to be the mother of Richard, the mohawked drummer from “The Geese” who I photographed back in July (see post on other blog - Appearances). She’d seen my image of him in the Wigtown Book Festival brochure so thought she’d investigate. Fortunately for me it meant my first face to photograph and put on the wall.




I only had one other set of visitors - a family of 4 plus a friend - during the next hour, and they had heard about my event in Spring Fling earlier this year, so wanted to take part in this one.

This confirmed my suspicion that I would not be receiving hoards of people beating their way to The Hut each morning to take part in the project, so if I’m to make this work, I’m going to have to go out and find the faces – they will not be coming to me.

Fortunately, there is a place called “The Writer’s Retreat”, which is a space set aside purely for visiting authors and those involved in the organisation of the Book Festival, so this proved to be more fertile ground. It’s not so difficult to start chatting with people, point to the pass around my neck which says, “Artist in Residence, please let him take your photo”, and explain what I’m up to.

Highlight of the day for me was Celia Imrie. Despite the fact she’d had a long train journey up from London, and was only here for a couple of hours before the long journey back, she was warm, friendly and seemed happy to participate.




At 7pm I had my “Meet The Artist” event, which was open to everyone. It was a chance for me to explain what I was up to to the masses and use the opportunity to take a few more photos.

Not everything went to plan however. Even putting aside the fact I only had about 10 people show up to it (a very wonderful, enthusiastic, supportive 10 people, it has to be said), I’d only taken 3 photos when there was a bang and the studio light I was using went out.

Despite changing bulbs, changing the lighting socket and changing the fuse on the extension lead, there was no saving it and the rest of the event was spent in conversation with no chance of further photos that evening.

After everyone had left, I tracked it down to the fuse box being tripped when the studio light had got so hot (I really should have switched it off between shoots) that it melted the cable running into the back of it, causing wires to touch that shouldn’t be touching.

There was never any danger to life but it did take a bit of time to eventually find the fuse box and restore the settings.

However, now I have Internet access at the apartment, hopefully I can start updating this blog a bit more regularly.

In meantime, visit the photosets on Facebook and Flickr to see complete set of faces taken on Saturday.

About to begin

In a few hours I'm heading over to Wigtown in time for the start of the Book Festival.

I had a "reality attack" this morning where it walloped me with a sense of what I've set myself up for. This is a major opportunity to screw up and make a fool of myself in front of a lot of people. What if no one wants their photo taken? What if everyone is hostile? What if I forget how to hold the camera? What if I’m up on stage in front of all the dignitaries and important people and I discover I haven’t got any trousers on?

Ok, the last one is less likely. Cold wind around my legs is likely to alert me to any such forgetfulness the moment I step out the door. However, it does show how the mind loves to get carried away in fear.

In actual reality, most things are reasonably under control. Even the leaflets I was fretting about in the last post arrived in plenty of time, and they look quite good.

It seems “The Hut” doesn’t have Wi-Fi access, so uploading images to Facebook, Flickr or this blog will have to be done at other times of the day – quite possibly late in the evening.

The next 2 or 3 days are going to involve a sharp learning curve. I’ll probably be more in my stride by Tuesday.

Meanwhile, now this blog is officially up and running, please feel free to leave comments, ask questions, “Follow”, “Share” and offer words of encouragement.

And if you are in or around Wigtown over the next 10 days, then do seek me out and get your photo taken to be added to the wall.

Leaflets

This project is going to look pretty poor if I only manage to get a few photographs on the wall over the 10 days of the Wigtown Book Festival, so encouraging people to get involved and let me take their photo is vital.

To this end, I've created an A6 sized flyer to leave in as many places around Wigtown as I can, and am getting a couple of thousand printed...

.
(Click on the images for larger versions)

I was told by the printer today that they will arrive this Friday by post, anytime up to 5.30pm.

Which is cutting it awfully fine, as the Festival begins at 6pm on Friday.

If there are any delays, I might not get them until after the first weekend, which would be a real blow.

So if anyone has any close ties with the gods of printing and postage, then please put in a good word for me...

The Hut

With the Wigtown Book Festival beginning next Friday, preparations have been occupying most of my waking thoughts this past week.

As Artist in Residence (see earlier post), I’ve been given a studio space to be open to the public at least a couple of hours each day and to create the artwork in. The space I’ve been provided is in “The Hut”, which is behind ReadingLasses café and bookshop.

Despite my initial thoughts that it might be something akin to a garden shed, “The Hut” is actually a large wooden building divided into several sections and is mostly used for storing large numbers of books that haven’t yet made it out onto the shelves of ReadingLasses.

In the centre of “The Hut” is a room… of sorts.

It has wooden joists rising up to create a frame about 3 feet in from the walls, which has been covered with a muslin kind of material. It’s all rather odd and unlike anything I’ve seen before. It's not unlike being in a tent inside a building.





Novelty is one thing, but the muslin walls are a major problem.

My concept is to take lots of photos over the 10 days of the Festival, of residents, authors and visitors staring into the lens of my camera. And each day I plan on printing out the photos and pinning them to the walls. The idea is that the people in Wigtown during the event become artwork. And as the walls will fill up with all these faces and it will become something of an immersive environment.

But trying to pin photos to muslin walls would be a bit too tricky.

However Anne Barclay, the Festival Manager, is a fast thinking problem solver, and they are going to fix white boards to the joists, giving me a more stable wall to pin the photos to. They will also clear the space around the windows so I should have a bit of natural light.

This should be happening over the weekend so I’ll be popping back out there early in the week to see what it looks like