Due to a mess up by my ISP, i will shortly be moving my website to a new home, this blog address will change as well to
http://darkoptics.wordpress.com/

There has been a lack of updates recently because of exhibitions and issues with the website but hopefully I will have more time from now on
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After picking up the hire van this morning, i started to load up the packages. I had ran out of duct tape when i was packing them up and thought it would hold but this morning, the tape had lost its stickiness and the cardboard was falling apart, the big wooden frame that i made was slightly too big for the van and it broke when i put the other prints on top of it

A swift stop at homebase and 2 rolls of duct tape later, the contents of the van were secure(ish) and so i started the trip to Oxford.

I had seen the walls of the Jam Factory with art work on it and it looked big then… seeing the bare walls this morning was quite a shock, were my prints going to fill this up?

unpacking the prints was an easy task as they just fell apart
placing the prints was straightforward, the area is split into 2 rooms, one smaller but more airy and a bigger area. The larger prints were hung in the smaller area and the other prints arranged in the bigger area with the industrial series separated from the experimental series

it took a good few hours and lots of hammering and drilling but all 22 prints found a home on the walls
some pics will follow after the preview night

Its been a long journey to this point but its arrived like a bullet train in the end.
I thought this weekend would be full of last minute panic and a rush to finish everything but actually, I find myself all organised and ready. The prints are packaged up as best as i can and ready for transport, the mini van is booked for tomorrow morning and so long as everything goes well hopefully i will be able to get them there in one piece and unharmed
then there’s just the small matter of hanging them. I think that Ive got enough to give myself some options as I haven’t thought too much about the hanging plan except for a rough idea of which prints go together
tomorrow will be an exciting day!

When I set up my flickr account, which was about the same time as this site, i decided to keep all the photos consistantly B&W, recently though ive been thinking about putting colour ones up as well, I think that it I will still be choosy about which ones I put there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkoptics/

Its been an odd week, I had my first interview with a newspaper in oxford, it was quite strange talking about growing up in oxfordshire as it seems almost a lifetime ago, I always worry what will get into print after a conversation, maybe im just too much of a control freak who likes to see the finished result before anyone else does. The paper should be out next week so i guess i will find out then

I submitted a magazine article this week as well and finished one of my Detroit prints for the oxford exhibition. Its Easter weekend now so im hoping to get a few more prints sorted over the long break, may is definitely creeping up quickly now.

A few updates to the website, the first was an overgrown mansion in north Wales. A damp and overcast day didn’t do this place justice – definately worth a revisit. The mansion would have been really impressive on its day, a big footprint for both the mansion, outbuildings and garden. The interior was completely wrecked, floors collapsed and rotten wood everwhere. Fireplaces were visible up the interior walls showing where the floor supports would have been secured.

>> Overgrown Mansion

Dadi Park- A traditional playground : swings, slides, roundabouts, it would have been good wholesome fun in its day, no electronics or steam needed here, just energy and imagination. Even now the park was (unofficially) open, kids were playing on giant hamster wheels and couples walked hand in hand through the park

>> Dadi Park