Archive by Author

Santander Photo Exhibition, 2 years on

It’s been two years since the #Picbod class took flight opened the first Santander Photo Festival. I have had chance to reflect on this collaboration recently and think about how learning communities are extremely powerful and can truly build friendships. I still speak to Charo often about possible collaborations and projects, albeit it is very difficult to get traction on them when we both work full time. Nevertheless, I have still submitted my part for this year’s festival and look forward to playing a bigger part next year.

Online communities making a big impact on creative practice

So, I went with Jonathan Worth to Lincoln University on Monday to speak to academic staff and students about open and connected photography courses.

Something that budding creative practitioners have to tackle is getting work seen above all others. Now in photography, in an age which is image rich, standing out and having an audience for your work can be extremely challenging. I have a unique perspective of both being a student of an open photography class and also recreating one. But what I wanted to highlight particularly to the students in the room was that their work could get noticed and using appropriate online networks their careers could really benefit.

I often wonder whether I really can speak as an average joe considering my most successful project was about an established photographer (George Rodger) whom played a significant role in the history of photojournalism. However, just yards from reaching the university, I had received a voice message from the BBC who wanted to talk to me about another project I had done- about Coventry and UK cinemas.

Now, this project is not going to feature in BJP, but it is important to local history and despite Coventry having a rich cultural history in cinema, there is not much of it online. Being one of few to discuss this topic in an online space meant that I had to be credible in what I was sharing.

I asked how the BBC found my work and they said that it was through Google search. One of the things that I claimed to be extremely important about digtiising archives was that they were findable. This is exactly the same for your work; because everything you do online is archived. I can’t remember who, but in a #dmlcommons discussion it was said that the blog is like an external brain; somewhere that you can put your thoughts, categorise them and archive- but these thoughts are only a search or a couple of clicks away (neat right?).

These thoughts, findings and conclusions are not just available to you (unless you want them to) but also to others, letting them into your work. This should be seen as a huge asset to creative practitioners, educators and students.

Transparent Blogging

This week’s #dmlcommons welcomed the blog sisters – high five ladies! I sometimes wonder what I must look like when I’m sat smiling and nodding at my computer because when I caught up with the Hangout on Air, it just solidified everything I thought I knew about why I blog.

I’ve moved from (in 8 years) from writing on a personal level, to writing about notes, research and project development in photography to not blogging at all. To worrying about my lack of blogging, to reading about blogging, to watching videos about blogging, to then starting to want to blog again. HOORAY. KateGreen28 is back!

I’m kinda gutted that I haven’t blogged all the much at all about developing Phonar Nation classes for 8-11 year olds. Because I look at what I did and have forgotten a lot of the challenges I had to overcome and why. This isn’t just for my benefit, but it would also benefit the growing Phonar Nation community so that some of the answers are already out there.

There is also so much to be said for ‘being transparent’ online which is something I have learnt and grown to love (thanks to Dan Gillmor). I think that showing your work and thought process not only opens bloggers up to get advice and help, but it is a frank and honest display of motivation. I think that says a lot about a person and makes them more trustworthy- as long as they are a actually discussing something with integrity (obviously).

Picture: CC-BY-NC Wonderlane

MySpace Profile – Deleted

I just logged into MySpace for the first time in years. Until today, I thought that I was only an active blogger since starting university in 2011; but that’s absolute rubbish- I’ve been blogging since 2007.

I just downloaded and read all of my blog posts from my adolescence and it is what you would expect any teenage girl to write- a lot of angst and inside jokes. There were a lot of ‘urghs’ and ‘arghs’… How cringe.

But still, the blog is a narrative of my life. What is also interesting is how much I refer to my Crohn’s, but make a conscious decision to not dwell on it publicly. I guess, I was more sensible with what I was writing than the pictures I uploaded. I packaged all the posts and deleted my account. I know full well that the pictures and posts haven’t been removed from the MySpace servers. Since reading Mediactive by Dan Gillmor, I’ve learnt that I need to keep hold of my online profile. So I’ve been backpacking across old websites I used to write and share pictures to really see what kind of digital fingerprint I have left and do what I can to pull in the reins.

Christmas 2007 – Sourced on Myspace