the mantelpiece - mark waddington blog

pray about everything

By Stewart Redwine

on the spot photo challenge

Last Sunday the Ilkley flickr group met up for the on the spot challenge. This came from the idea that creativity is enhanced by constraints. Another way of looking at it is that we tend to go for the obvious choices unless disrupted in some way. And so the on the spot challenge was designed to take the participants along a different path.

We randomly chose 7 spots on a map around Ilkley which Ian published as a route map. Each participant had to stand in the spot for a maximum of five minutes and take the most interesting shots they could find.

I wasn't sure whether it would work or not but in the event it was fun and very rewarding.  To make it less lonely we did the challenge in pairs which was very sociable and worked well.

See the the flickr photos here

light from darkness

Download video loop

position and momentum

Round here cairns often mark the way, reassuring you that you're on the right path or at the summit. This one is at the top of Beamsley Beacon not far from where we live.  The triangulation point in this photo marks the highest point of the hill, but as the walkers leave their stones, the highest point in fact becomes higher than the official record.  

There's something interesting about the way these cairnes reflect the many people who have been here at the top and the instinct to change the environment or leave some kind of message.  

It reminds me of the idea that you can't observe something without changing it.

The Tate Channel

I have been enjoying the Tate Channel  -  an online collection of videos with artists of various shades. This is a rare and inspiring resource.   I say rare because these videos have been prepared with the context in mind, on the whole they are not mini documentaries, news reports or commercials, but are made for the web audience. The videos are very simple interviews (usually minus the interviewer) which allow the artists to talk in a very natural and open way.  Here is the deadpan world of John Wood and Paul Harrison, a pair of unusual video artists.

Leftbank Advent

The Advent exhibition at Leftbank last Friday was was one of those thrilling 'glad we came' evenings. Everything about it was glorious - the magnificent building, the friendly ambiance, the red sofas, live music and of course the art works. I won't go into the details here, much better to visit the blog or the website , but it was great to see such a wide variety of artists celebrating the advent theme in different ways. The photos of the inn signs and the incense jar. I also liked the inclusion of the lovely work by the primary school children. Here are some grabbed stills and video, doesn't do it justice but will give you an idea.

Raynville School film crew

Today I was at Raynville School in Bramley giving a couple of sessions about working in a film crew to year four children. The chief reason for doing this was to encourage the children to think about their own hopes and dreams for the future. What are they good at, what are they passionate about?

The film making process is quite good at connecting with young people and helping them to work through their own skills preferences. I met one girl who has consistently said she wants to be an artist and I'm pretty sure she has it in her to succeed, and a couple of chunky lads who wanted to be rugby players.    When I was their age I wanted to be a vicar, I'm not sure why, and then at ten or eleven I decided radio, TV or the theatre was going to be my thing.

The routine we used was to talk to them about the various jobs required to make up a film crew - camera, lighting, sound, interviewer and so on.  Within these categories we broke down into key responsibilities.  After a period of deciding whether their preferences were around people skills, creativity or technical skills we allocated roles to the volunteers. 

In the classroom we had a number of pieces of equipment - camera, microphone, light, headphones, reflector and other props. We didn't actually do any filming but it was clear that by using tools as props we were able to more effectively discuss and role-play the different jobs quite effectively. They looked really professional.

Getting the kids to use the space and to assemble the pieces of equipment and look like a crew worked extremely well. I'm only sorry I don't have any photos because they looked great. Many thanks to Raynville, you're all brilliant.

more thinking on the workshops

Regional news returns to ITV.com

When Erik Huggers joined the BBC he said that the BBC's internet service tended to be a lonely experience, meaning he wanted to be aware of the other users on the site an interact with them.

ITV Local Yorkshire, when it existed, was not a lonely experience. The comments and interactions over the death of an Emmerdale star, the demolition of a local landmark and the inclusion of viewers photos and films made it a space of genuine interaction and participation.  At the time the service was running we had a stream of visitors to Kirkstall Road and even a dedicated studio for viewers to have their say. I witnessed some real passion.

The internet has come a long way. Once upon a time it was a place to put information that was already available on other services, but now it has become a medium in its own right with its own way of doing things. ITV Local was an attempt to respond to this trend.

And so I was interested to see the return of Calendar News to ITV.com  I wanted to find out whether it is old fashioned TV being recycled on the internet or a new offering from Calendar News. Perhaps a complementary service that extended the value of their excellent TV journalism?

To its credit, the site is simple. It's a list of reports that you can see again if you happened to miss them on the evening news. A catchup service. So far I haven't been able to find a comments section nor a way of watching the reports on my iphone. There doesn't seem to be a way of adding my own version of events. In fact there isn't even the obligatory "contact us" button.   All in all disappointing as this is just an old fashioned web site in the model of old fashioned broadcasting. A lonely experience.

All this is a shame because ITV's big strength has been its relationship with audiences.  When I was at the BBC we were for a time aware that the corporation had the image of a distant authority figure - reliable but dull, intelligent but aloof, high quality but slow, unapproachable, behind closed doors etc.  ITV, on the other hand, was daring, fun, risky, approachable. Above all it was someone you could talk to - not distant and forbidding.

It was for these reasons that I'd hoped that ITV could be a people channel through services like ITV Local, offering points of contact and engagement. I'd thought that it could offer an open door to its audiences and be a place where people could really meet one another and have a bit of fun. That does sound a bit like Britain's Got Talent and X Factor doesn't it, but perhaps not much else. It would be great if participatory thinking could permeate through to other areas of the output even to the regions. 

trees, they move

Love this. such a simple idea.

invitation to ascend

Tomorrow night sees the continuation of Ilkley's alternative worship services - yes it's true, even respectable ilkley folk are rocking the liturgical boat.

A small group are committed to meeting once as month to grow ideas for creative worship.  The group is made up of people who are involved Churches Together in Ilkley and so it's supported not by just one church but nine churches in the town. Can't believe that there are that many.

There are many such groups around the country but each of them is quite different - the styles of worship grow around the creative talents, needs and inspiration of those involved rather than being imposed.

Tomorrow's service is called Ascending/Descending and responds to the space in which we are holding the event.  Because we haven't settled a permanent venue we decided to hold the service in entrance hall of our house and use the stairwell as a vertical labyrinth.

The stations of activity will include - personal preparation for the journey, sustenance, difficult decisions, sanctuary, companionship, the top and the return. The stations will include video, music, projected images and ritual.

If you would like to visit us tomorrow or join the mailing list please drop me a note and I will give you more details  markwadd1@googlemail.com

st mary's ealing

came across this fab shot of our old church st may's taken by H4SS4N*STills

character of bradford

I spend quite a lot of time in either Leeds or Bradford. One thing I've noticed is that people in Bradford go round in groups or couples much more than they do in Leeds. Usally there is a lot more interaction between people - smiling, laughing, joking, arguing, fighting.

In Bradfoird there seems to be quite a lot of alternative and interesting people - much less uniform and much more individual.  

fireworks

Camera: Canon EOS 350D Digital Exposure: 0.5 sec (1/2) Aperture: f/4 Focal Length: 10 mm

misty morning

can't resist a bit of mist so had to get out of the house this morning. this is from just below beamsley beacon looking towards ilkley.

believe in sheffield

realising wildness

I came across Realising Wildness on Vimeo today. The videos are refreshingly simple and underproduced, but the quality of the photography and the subtle inclusion of movement and sounds makes them very powerful. How often do we think that a video has to have jaunty camera angles, effects and music. In these films you feel transported to the location and connected with the mood of each place. Here's the blurb from the project:

REALISING WILDNESS is a film project hoping to reach and inspire anyone (via the internet) who is perhaps spending too much of their life working on projects, or on the internet.

REALISING WILDNESS is about wandering and wondering.

REALISING WILDNESS is about going outside- going somewhere different, or somewhere familiar- and exploring. It is about taking a really good look around. It is about noticing everything else- everything that is real and everything that is really beautiful. It is about discovering more of your senses, and sensing more and more. It is about finding a place, and a moment, and your self.

And it is really about something so much clearer than all of this...

THAW from REALISING WILDNESS on Vimeo.

streamclip demo

A few people have asked me about converting video files to other types and codecs, and about resizing. It's not a particularly exciting aspect of video production and can be very frustrating so I thought I'd try my hand at making a video demo.  This one is for Mpeg Streamclip, a small piece of free software that has become very valuable. It is simple to use an offers a way of preparing clips for both for editing and for compressing them ready for output to the internet. 

much wealthier than you ever imagined

Having been part of the branding and marketing world I have come to appreciate the way advertising, brand and 'spin' often have very little to do with actual content and much to do with perceived value. I have also been aware many people in advertising see their world as having a close association with art; the changing or challenging of perceptions.

"Poetry is when you make new things familiar and familiar things new", "we are perishing for want of wonder not for want of wonders"  These are a couple of GKC quotes picked up by advertising man Rory Sutherland in his TED talk. He has some interesting things to say about the way value is subjective and has some great illustrations from history.

He says that if you live in a world of fewer material goods, intangible value can be a pretty decent substitute. "when you place value on love, health, sex and other things, and learn to place a material value on what you have previously discounted for being intangible - a thing not seen - you realise you are much, much wealthier than you ever imagined".

He says we should spend more time appreciating what already exists and less time agonising over what else we can do.

Watch it here:

on the spot

At the Ilkley Flickr group we have occasionally discussed the way constraints can often lead to creativity.

When you have a free reign originality is often more difficult to find than when there are limitations; somehow a constraint sets us off on a different path and we see things differently.

There's also the idea of using what we have in front of us. Sometimes we feel that we wish we had more than we've got. We might wish for better tools, a better viewpoint and so on. There is something quite refreshing about seeing what is in front of us and making the best of it.

These two thoughts about embracing constraints and looking at that resources we have (rather than those we don't have) can be very constructive.

At the ilkley flickr meet-up in November we have in mind to take photos on a pre-designated spot. The challenge will be to make the best photo we can with the given situation.

The door with no name

Last night we held the first of what we hope will be a monthly alternative worship services in Ilkley (as yet un-named). The theme  was "the door". 

The Door seemed a good place to start as this kind of service represents a new entrance for the church here.  There were some good ideas and we had a very interesting discussion on what worship actually is.

My questions was, using the idea that "less is more" what would be the minimum you could get away with in an act of worship.  We discussed the Quaker silence and whether that really constituted worship, or whether it required something more elaborate.  We also considered whether or not the worship was the starting point - as one said, the life of the church is like a jam dough-nut with Christ encountered in the worship at the centre from which everything else grows.

One particularly good idea to come from Stuart Jenkins was a small cardboard door held open by a rubber band. You could choose whether to keep the door open or to close it - but if you closed it the door could not be opened again. A confession, or something you wanted to close the door on, can be written inside and then you can decide if or when you want to close the door.

This was very pleasing as a gift for everyone to take away and more meaningful as Stuart had made them himself.

The next service will be on Thursday November the 12th at our house. We have the title "ascending-descending" and were going to use the stairwell with the three or four different levels as stations. As yet we have no name for the group.

If you want to follow our progress you can visit the Fresh Expressions section of the Churches Together Ilkley website.  The site itself is new and so a bit sparse at the moment, but I hope will blossom.

Of course you're welcome to join us.

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