Unique outdoor photography festival announces photographer line up

A new outdoor photography festival being held in Preston will showcase the work of two of the world’s leading documentary photographers.

Lancashire Photography Festival, created by photographer Garry Cook, will display projects by renowned photographers John Davies and Peter Dench on the streets of Preston.

John Davies is part of the British photography establishment, with his stunning large-scale black and white images of industrialised landscapes recognised around the world.

The Durham-born photographer, who now lives in Liverpool, has published over 20 books and exhibited throughout Europe, North America and Japan. His landmark publications include ‘A Green & Pleasant Land’ (1986), acclaimed publisher Dewi Lewis’ first photobook, and ‘The British Landscape’ (2006).

Since 2006, Davies has also been active with campaigns to save open and green space.

Davies said: “To view the landscape as a pictorial composition of elements is simplistic. To perceive the landscape within the context of its functions is a way people can deal with the complexity of meanings that are presented in our environment.

“We are collectively responsible for shaping the landscape we occupy and in turn the landscape shapes us whether we are aware of it or not.”

Photojournalist Peter Dench has tirelessly documented British culture, publishing several acclaimed books including England Uncensored, A&E: Alcohol and England, and Dench Does Dallas.

The Dorset-born photographer, who now lives in London, has developed a reputation for producing beautifully brash colour images depicting brutal scenes of alcoholic excess. His project The British Aboard will be shown at Lancashire Photography Festival.

Dench said: “During my career, I’ve had the privilege to work on assignment in over 60 countries across the globe but it’s towards the British I’ve consistently pointed my lens. It’s my home, my passion and its people are the ones I want to document most, warts and all.

“When not annihilating themselves with alcohol at home, many young Brits can be found slowly turning pink in the party resorts across Europe. I look forward to exhibiting some of what I witnessed at the festival.”

Lancashire Photography Festival will also show the work of dozens of local photographers, plus projects by Blackpool Sixth Form students and Preston Photographic Society. Cult artist Foka Wolf, known for their controversial spoof posters across the UK, will also exhibit work at the festival. Images of Preston skaters will also be displayed at multiple sites across the city.

The festival will see images exhibited on walls, hoardings, in shops windows and on specially built displays. There will also be unique innovative photography displays, including a planned shop-window installation. The city-wide exhibition will include sites on Preston Market and on the hoardings of the former BHS building on Fishergate.

All images in the festival will be able to be viewed from the street, in a totally safe, socially-distanced way compliant with lockdown restrictions.

The festival is set to launch of Friday, Apr 2nd – a few days after the stay-at-home lockdown guidance is scheduled to be lifted in England.

Organiser Cook said: “I’ve wanted to hold an outdoor photography festival for a long time. After a few months of lockdown last year it was obvious that an outdoor exhibition was the single best way to keep people engaged with the arts and culture in a safe way.

“I was able to bring an exhibition of Cold War Steve’s work to Preston last summer during lockdown, putting large scale prints of his work in the windows of The Larder on Lancaster Road.

“Thousands of people saw Cold War Steve’s wonderful work and were able to see it at any time of the day a totally safe way. The reaction to it was tremendous – people absolutely loved the art.

“That success enabled me to secure funding for this photography festival. It will start off this spring in a small way, an experimental pilot event, but the plan is to make it into a major festival held every year.

“An outdoor festival is such an obvious thing to do in lockdown when all cultural venues are closed, as they have been for most of the past 10 months. This festival will allow people in Preston to experience great art in a unique way.”

Cook added: “I’m already working with Preston BID, the Harris Museum and the city council’s cultural department to help make this festival the best it can be.

“Although lockdown means this pilot festival will be kept small, the aim for future years is to help define Preston as cultural destination for visitors through the world-class photography projects which will be put on display in the city.

“I really want the festival will inspire local people and make them proud that this unique event is taking place in Preston. And I want to inspire the people who run the city and get them involved so that we can come back next year with an even bigger and better outdoor festival of photography.”

Full details available at enjoyshow.co.uk

Test intsall for Lancashire Photography Festival – taking place Apr 2nd to May 23rd, 2021 outdoors on the streets of Preston.

I’m working hard on organising Lancashire Photography Festival, which will exhibit stunning documentary photography images outdoors in the city of Preston, Lancashire, in the spring of 2021. We’re working for an April launch. I’ve spoken to one or two brilliant photographers about displaying their work. And will confirm their participation once the right venues are secured. Conversations are ongoing with dozens of independent businesses and property owners, so I’m really hoping they will get on board and make Lancashire Photography Festival a major cultural event in the city. Support and practical help from the city council has been a bit slow so far but hopefully when they are ready to get in touch they can contribute to what I hope will be a long-term annual project. This city – like any city in the UK or around the world currently in lockdown – needs innovative cultural events and exhibitions to maintain arts engagement and encourage all the health and wellbeing benefits which come from this. Lancashire Photography Festival addresses all of these issues by displaying all art works in an outward facing way so they can be viewed outdoors in a totally safe way, whatever the lockdown restrictions are. I believe this is will be a truly innovative festival, bringing an under-used but highly respected art form – documentary photography – to an area where similar festivals are not held. That area is Preston, Lancashire, the North West, Northern England. While other countries do outdoor photography festivals brilliantly, we in the UK are far, far behind. This is the first step in redressing this imbalance and I hope Lancashire Photography Festival can become a hugely respected event internationally – but it starts from small beginnings and we need support from the city of Preston Get in touch with Garry Cook at gazcook@googlemail.com if you feel you could offer us support through venues, wall space, window space, sponsorship or with the physical installation of the images. Thank you Garry Cook

Open Call / call out – photography festival

Create your own photojournalism/documentary photography project

Lancashire Photography Festival is seeking people to take part in a photography project.

Follow us on social media: @EnjoyTheShowUK

The project will see participants produce a short photo story (a series of photographs which tell a single story) which will be exhibited outdoors in Preston as part of Lancashire Photography Festival 2021. The festival is provisionally planned for Spring 2021.

The workshops will be held online because of lockdown – but are free and open to anyone.

The workshops will focus on basic photography techniques and how to tell a story in a series of images. You will produce a set of images which will be viewed as a set. These images will be in the style of either photojournalism or documentary photography – both genres are closely linked. The workshops will go into detail on both styles of photography and how to produce these types of images. All images must have been taken in 2021 as part of the project.

During lockdown, photographic stories are harder to create. But photography is able to be carried out during lockdown conditions, either at a safe social distance (because you can photograph things/people from a distance) or images can be taken within home environments. Some of the best photojournalism and documentary projects over the past 12 months have shown life in lockdown through creative imagery. These workshops will show you how to apply photojournalistic techniques to your own images.

Participants will be expected to photograph a story in approximately six images, and can expect some or all of the images to be exhibited in an outdoor or outward facing location – such as a wall or shop window in Preston.

There is no cost to take part in this project. Workshops are free to attend. Printing costs of images will be paid for by Lancashire Photography Festival. For anyone wishing to take part but who is unable to join online workshops, communication will take place via printed worksheets delivered in the post.

Workshops will be held on weekday evenings (dates to be decided) beginning in February 2021. There will be approximately three workshops. Support materials will be available for those unable to attend a meeting.

The festival is being held in Preston, Lancashire. People taking part in the project DO NOT have to be from the area – or even the UK – to take part in the project. Images taken for the project DO NOT have to be taken in Preston or Lancashire.

Spaces on the workshops will be limited. Apply now by emailing gazcook [@] googlemail.com (applications can be on a word doc, pdf or in the body of an email).

To apply give your:

Name:
Contact details (phone and email):
Give a short statement about your photography and why you want to take part (no more than 200 words):

Optional – send up to five images of your photography with this application (please label images with your surname first i.e cook_001, cook_002 etc).

DEADLINE: 11.59pm, Jan 31, 2021

For more information about documentary photography, watch this video:

On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq4Ee28o2h0
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/60934222690/videos/730154267581666

NOTE: If you run any kind of social or community group and would like to take part in this project, get in touch with Garry Cook at gazcook [@] googlemail.com to discuss the possibility of taking part in the photography festival.

Garry Cook @EnjoyTheShowUK

2020 has been a disaster for live shows, arts and culture – but Enjoy The Show was delighted to bring the cult You, Me & Cold War Steve exhibition to Preston in an outward-facing window exhibition during the lockdown, ensuring that the arts continued in Preston and Lancashire.

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This was the press release:
Cold War Steve’s latest exhibition comes to The Larder, Preston

Britain’s leading political satirist Cold War Steve is exhibiting his latest work You, Me & Cold War Steve at The Larder, Preston, for a month from April 4.

 You, Me & Cold War Steve – The International Exhibition of the People is the third exhibition by the cult artist and is being exhibited by The Larder, a social enterprise cafe from April 4 to May 2, 2020.

Under the pseudonym Cold War Steve, artist Christopher Spencer has built an international reputation for his satirical artworks, which he began publishing on Twitter in 2016.

His artworks, often featuring images of political leaders alongside Cilla Black, Noel Edmonds and the eponymous EastEnders actor Steve McFadden, have been featured in publications around the world and even graced the cover of TIME magazine last June. It has also been featured heavily in The Guardian and The Big Issue.

Midlands-based Spencer began creating his work on a photo editing app on his iPad and publishing them on Twitter – where they soon began grabbing attention through a mixture of cutting political criticism and absurd visual storytelling.

Cold War Steve has published two books with Thames & Hudson and received commissions from National Galleries of Scotland and the Whitworth in Manchester. His work has also been printed on a giant billboard in Liverpool and at Glastonbury Festival, collaborating with Led By Donkeys.

In December last year, one of his pre-election images featuring Boris Johnson was set in Preston Bus Station’s former cafe.

The exhibition at The Larder, Lancaster Road, Preston, runs from Saturday, April 4 until Saturday, May 2.

You, Me & Cold War Steve – The International Exhibition of the People, is exhibiting at dozens of venues across the country simultaneously, has been organised by local events promoter Garry Cook.

Cook said: “Cold War Steve is the most iconic artist working in Britain today. His work, which is so simple yet cuttingly satirical, appeals to so many people and I’m delighted to bring the exhibition to Preston.

“Christopher Spencer is a genuine post-modern cult hero who helped make sense of the non-sense of Brexit through his daily collage creations. It’s absolutely  brilliant that Preston is part of this unique exhibition by a genuinely unique and remarkable talent.

“Cold War Steve’s work relates to real people and I know he is delighted to have it exhibited in a venue like The Larder in a city like Preston, which is home to the kind of people and ideals that the artist stands for.

“If you only go and see one exhibition or artwork this year – make it this one. These images will give you huge enjoyment, they will make you laugh and you will be staring at them for much longer than you ever thought you would stare at a photograph.

“You will also be supporting a relatively new and brilliant social enterprise cafe in The Larder, whose community work and ethical message is already having a huge impact on the city.”

CALL OUT: Targeting PRESTON’s creative community affected by lockdown (i.e. you lost income).
DEADLINE: JULY 24, 2020 – 5pm.

This call out is for all creatives in Preston – artists, musicians, photographers, performers.

I’ve been trying to raise £1,000 so that I can commission several Preston creatives to produce new work, and help ease their financial strain during these difficult times. Fundraiser details here – you can still donate: https://www.gofundme.com/f/preston-artists-coronavirus-hardship-fund

One of the commissions will be picked by Preston’s No.1 independent music venue The Ferret, with the aim of that performance.art to be performed/displayed at their venues after lockdown.

The other commissions will be exhibited or performed in the city sometime after lockdown.

All you have to do to apply is send some brief details of yourself and your idea, and demonstrate a link to Preston (i.e. you live in the city or work in the city.

Thanks to everyone for their support so far – shares and donations – including The Ferret who have made a big donation in order to be part of this community funder for Preston.

As lockdown is slowly lifting, the fundraiser must now come to an end so the deadline to apply for funding is Friday July 24, 5pm.

Here are the details:

Email gazcook@googlemail.com with:

Your name, address and contact details
Your connection with Preston (one sentence)
Brief description of new work you would like to create (300 words max)

NOTE: Photographs/videos/web links of proposed work/previous work are welcome (and are not counted as part of the 300 word project description)

 

Lancashire Fringe festival had an audience of almost 1,000 people for 14 performances over 10 nights in May 2019.

Here are some of the fabulous audience comments:

Absolutely  amazing. I really enjoyed it. I hope this festival will become a tradition in Preston and grow bigger and bigger. Fantastic.

Excellent. More please. Let’s make Preston the centre of culture.

Enjoyed immensely. Preston has been crying out for this for a long time. Special mention to Amy Lee Tempest and Richy Integer – great.

Fantastic mix of spoken word performances. Great to see emerging talent.

Absolutely fantastic. Funny, moving and thought-provoking (and I’m not being patronising) Superb night out.

Wonderful. Lovely to hear a litany of language fast, sad, sorry. I’ll be back for more.

It was a great introduction to the art of spoken word. very good variety of work and a high standard of performance. Can’t wait until the next one.

Excellent – great to see fringe theatre of such high calibre in Preston. Lovely stories – warm, funny and thought-provoking.

Brilliant content v well acted. Funny stories, poignant moments, sometimes strange heart-warming. Great energy, the actors seemed immersed in the stories, like they were really their own.

Original, moving, entertaining, inspirational – can’t wait for the next one! Brilliant acting, high quality performance – a great night with a convivial atmosphere and leaving me with plenty to think about.

I loved the range of monologues, the commitment from the actors. I liked the traverse staging. It meant everyone could see and it meant we could really feel transformed into a different place at each monologue. Lovely night out! Thank you. I felt the sounds were a little distracting – especially as we were near speaker. Really liked the monologues! Maybe that could be your next theme.

Excellent, very expressive. Full of emotions and understanding of various views of society these days.

Two terrific performances nice to see strong work in development, both are already appealing – look forward to what comes next. Katie is a brilliant improviser and Karen’s insights are relatable, plus gags are great and glad she kept them in!

Enjoyed the show. Initially felt nervous but liked the performance and how Katie switched from her 15-year-old self into ideas about recovery.

Don’t know how to describe it, not just a play, monologue [just a] one-woman show. And it worked! Well paced, kept my attention. Resonated. Will stay with me – which is the sign of a good story/play.

An absolutely phenomenal event, amazing job and a fantastic atmosphere! Well one Bob!

Good. Nice to see something different in a lovely location. Hope to see more events like this in Preston.

Whoa!!

Brilliant performance. Challenging perceptions, asking questions.

Excellent. It made me cry.

Honest, raw, outstanding.

Facebook invited. I came, loved both shows. Absolutely awesome.

Amazing, the female stand up was inspiring and so real!. Need to see more female acts being appreciated. Rock N Roll was emotional and hilarious. Truly Moving.

Mind bending.

 

Absolutely awesome. Nannas so so current. Bras So much info and heart felt.

Great evening (unexpected protest withstanding). Great performances giving insights into women’s battles for having a say and being remembered.

Good quality, Ben put lots of effort into his performance.

Loved Ben’s performance and great to see platform given to new poets too.

Absolutely brilliant