Stephen Lawrence Trust photo award shortlisted

Posted on April 25, 2019June 13, 2019 by carlotta

Stephen Lawrence Trust photo award shortlisted

I was so pleased to find out that my photograph of the Stephen Lawrence Trust Centre has been shortlisted for a photography award. It feels especially significant because this has coincided with the very first Stephen Lawrence Day on 22 April.

“Stephen Lawrence Day is about the part we all play in creating a society in which everyone can flourish. It is an opportunity for children and young people to have their voices heard, make the changes they’d like to see and create a society that treats everyone with fairness and respect.”

I spent a year documenting the transformation of the Centre into a co-working hub that supports up-and-coming architects. When you read the intentions and aims of the Trust in the quote above, I am sure you can see why it was such a privilege to help support their project. You can find out more about the Trust here.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss how we can work together. I deliver photographs that delve deeper than showing just the surface of things.

UPDATE: My photograph came in second place out of a shortlist of 12 in my category.

The carousel that made people happy

Posted on April 11, 2019April 11, 2019 by carlotta

The carousel that made people happy

Once upon a time there was an amusement park on the edge of a beautiful lake where people came to be happy. They arrived from far and wide to ride the roller coaster and fly in the space rockets. They loved getting scared in the Laff in the Dark, laughing with Laffing Beulah and having their fortune read by the gypsy Esmeralda.

At the very centre of the park the best of all the rides was a carousel of beautiful horses that rode round and round to the sound of the Wurlitzer organ. The horses wore flowers and feathers and armour, their manes flew and their nostrils flared as they pranced and jumped.

The man who owned the park had a daughter. This little girl loved being at the park and going on the rides that made people happy. Most of all she loved the carousel. Every day she visited her favourite horse, the one with the golden rosette and flowers on her blue harness, and rode her to the sound of the organ music.

After many years the park closed its gates and the rides that made people happy were shut down. All except the carousel, which was placed in a city park where it continued to be ridden and to make people happy.

Many, many years later, when the little girl had become an old woman, her daughter took her to see the carousel and ride on her favourite horse. The carousel did its job once more and made them both very happy.

My mother’s family owned Meyers Lake Park in Canton, Ohio, for over 50 years. When the park closed in 1974, the historic Stein and Goldstein carousel was moved to Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut, where it continues to be ridden by generations of children and adults. My mother had not seen the carousel for 40 years when we went to visit it last week. You can see more photos of this beautiful carousel here and find more information about Bushnell Park here.

Red Fox visits the orchard

Posted on April 2, 2019April 8, 2019 by carlotta

Red Fox visits the orchard

I have been digging further into my archives for various projects and look who popped up!

I was photographing the extensive and overgrown grounds of the Langney Priory when I ventured into the orchard to find this beautiful fox standing there staring at me. She continued to do so, unblinking and completely still, for several minutes. I was a bit unnerved so I didn’t go further into the orchard and instead went to photograph the walled garden. I returned 5 minutes later and there she was again, stock still, looking at me.

She appeared so perfect and well, foxlike, that I had the strange feeling she was one of those hyper-realistic computer generated images you see in children’s films. Then suddenly, silently, she was gone and I didn’t see her again. The grounds around the Priory have now been cleared and I am hoping she still has her den somewhere safe in the undergrowth.

More of my photographs of the incredible Langney Priory can be found here and more landscape photographs (with occasional inhabitants) can be found here.

The new within the old at the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange

Posted on April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 by carlotta

The new within the old at the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange

I have been photographing the huge beautiful windows of the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange for nearly two years now. I love that they never look quite the same depending on the time of day, the quality of light, the stage of renovation, with panes of glass and without, and sometimes covered by large sheets of semi-opaque plastic.

The amount of work that has gone into their refurbishment is enormous. The size and shape varies for every pane of glass, meaning that each one has to be individually fitted into its specific place. I counted 185 panes in just one of the 11 large windows of the main hall. In all, this has been a monumental task.

It was very exciting, therefore, to see the finished result this week. Several fully renovated windows were freshly painted and pointed and sporting all new glass. Within these shiny panes you can see the reflection of the new modern extension. This white steel and glass box creates a dazzling light-filled space where the exterior becomes the interior and the beautiful old windows are in pride of place.

More photographs of the refurbishment of the Brighton Dome Corn Exchange can be found here.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss how we can work together. I deliver photographs that delve deeper than showing just the surface of things.

Sun Street in the sun

Posted on March 14, 2019March 15, 2019 by carlotta

Sun Street in the sun

I have been busy looking through my archives to dig out photos of the area I live in for a big year-long project. It is lovely to look back at what is now years of work photographing the towns, landscapes, people and events in this wonderful part of the country.

This photo is one of the first that I took when I began to reclaim my love of photography and teach myself how to use a digital SLR camera. Sun Street in Lewes is where I photographed my first renovation project, which is around the time that I took this photo.

I don’t know why the street sign has been painted white while its edge has stayed black, but I like how you can read the letters because of the angle of the road’s namesake, which is also highlighting the edge of every single brick in the similarly painted white wall.

You can find more of my photographs of towns and cities here.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss how we can work together. I deliver photographs that delve deeper than showing just the surface of things.

A city bursting with colour and pattern

Posted on January 10, 2019January 11, 2019 by carlotta

A city bursting with colour and pattern

I was in Lisbon for a few days recently. Every summer of my childhood I spent a month in a small town nearby so I know the area very well, but it had been over 30 years since I had been there. This time I went with my teenage daughter, and together we (re)discovered the joys of this incredible city. Much about it has changed, but so much of it hadn’t as well. I found myself continually accosted by the beauty of this place.

It is a city bursting with patterns and colours. Whole building façades, entire squares even, are covered in the typical tiles called ‘azulejos’. Some streets run straight up and down the steep hills, lined at regular intervals with balconies, windows and doorways. Others slowly wend their way around ancient squares. The famous yellow trams offer a fairground ride of a journey through the vertiginous narrow alleyways of the oldest parts of the city. I can’t believe it took me 30 years to return. I definitely won’t let it be that long next time. More photographs of Lisbon can be found here.

Category: photo of the week