Recently however I’ve been doing some organising myself -

Walsall Council in the form of Dan Slee has been using social media, with particular focus on Flickr as a tool for community engagement. Courting the Walsall group via Lee Jordan and arranging exclusive behind the scenes trips to some of the councils buildings – the first of which was at the Council House:

After that meet the talk turned towards the museum and a  potential project there, or rather in the area the public never gets to see – in their stores.

Dan went away and approached the museum and it seemed there was a couple of concerns the curators had regarding copyright, and this is where I stepped in. As I work for a  media centre, which includes exhibition spaces I perhaps better understood some of the copyright issues regarding the photography of  other peoples art and artefacts and it was decided by Lee that I was best placed to liaise on this venture.

A meeting was arranged and Walsall museums sent me a copy of their permissions form to preview… It was archaic to say the least ,I had my work cut out for me!

The restrictions they’d placed,  that they wanted us to sign away copyright of our images and retain the right to demand us to delete our images off Flickr at any time, were going to be a problem – No member of the group would be willing to go on a shoot under these terms so it would be a none starter, yet we (Dan and the Walsall Flickr Group) were still eager to get behind the scenes.

So what did we do?

In principle the Museums team were o.k for us to visit the stores but in practice it seemed to me that they didn’t fully understand Flickr and “the internet” so maybe wouldn’t really the bigger picture and the benefits a visit like this could bring  to them. The only way I could see around the problem was to find a precedent for museums allowing photographers into their “domain” and also find good examples of another museum or arts institute using Flickr.

Also I knew if I was going to ask them to let go of the reins I also was going to go prepared to offer something in exchange – I got researching!

Where to start…..

My first port of call was of course Google, I started searching for names of  UK museums + Flickr – looking for official groups – set up by the institutions and not by an enthusiastic member of the community or museum websites with direct links to Flickr, within minutes I struck gold with The V&A. .
They have a flickr group which they invite visitors to post their photographs to, they’d set it up themselves and had a very good level of activity within the group  -  so there was my precedent of a Museum using flickr and not only allowing, but actively encouraging photography.

Now what could I offer to Walsall that would make this idea more appealing….

Marketing – I work as a digital marketer so the idea of using the internet as a marketing tool isn’t new to me so all I had to do was sell it to the museum, so when I met with Dan, Jennifer and Catherine I went prepared, I printed off the V&A’s own guidelines to their flickr group from their website and the pages I wanted to use to highlight our perspective to the museum and I set out with a plan.

I asked the museum to loosen the reins it wanted on us putting forward a few less constraining rules as alternatives and  then put it to them that they could set up it’s their group on Flickr group BUT include a disclaimer saying any images added COULD be used for marketing purposes, We could then choose to add our photos to it if we wished. By doing it this way the museum has another point of web presence with Flickr – a pool of photographs to advertise the museum and more importantly a tool at their disposal to encourage interaction with their visitor on another level.

I suggested that once the group was established they could even invite photographs to be added to the pool to coincide with exhibitions – Having a show featuring 1970’s toys? – Get the community to add photos of their toys to the pool and then if they wanted set a laptop/projector up in the museum with with access to the Flickr group page OR a power point presentation of the images submitted – complimenting the exhibits the already have on show and encouraging visitors to see if their photo made it into the gallery!

Success

My ideas went down well – I liaised with the Walsall team and put forward my suggestions and met with no resistance what so ever. I explained the benefits for the Museum and for us in the group and why and how I thought it would work. I answered a few questions and asked a couple of my own and left the meeting on a real high – and with good cause, within days a new, less prohibitive permissions form had been drafted and a date for the visit set.

So on a cold spring morning this  is how it came that a group of photographers met in an undisclosed location and were allowed access to an area of Walsall that wouldn’t normally be opened to the public and the Museums opened their world up to a whole new marketing opportunity!

Since then Dan has informed me that the Walsall Museum Flickr Project and received national profile and was flagged up as best practice by the IdEA – this is the government organisation that seeks to raise standard across local government.

I call that a win for the Museum, a win for the Flickr group and a win for the Council!

Walsall Museums Flickr Group.
Dan Slee’s own post on the same project.

I’ll have some serious saving to do if I ever want one of my own.

Between now and then however I’ll be putting it to use as often as I can and whilst getting to grips with how it handles I shot this of my street, sky, pavements, road, houses all of it in shot – oh how I love this 10mm lens!

….and yes my Mom did tell me not to ever play in the road – but she also told me not to talk to strangers and it doesn’t stop me using Twitter now does it!

I post photos to moblog (albeit a lot less frequently than I did before) and soon there will be my own website (but the story of that deserves a whole post of it’s own) but at the moment I mainly use flickr.

I like flickr because it’s a fantastic learning platform – it forces me to improve my photography as when I compare it to some of the work on show mine pales in comparrison and I love it because of the groups.

Groups are a great, you can share your photos, start discussions and in some cases arrange to meet other people to walk talk and take photos. Groups can be based on anything – a theme, a style, a geographic location.

Recently I’ve taken part in a few flickr projects that I want to blog about but without first talking about Flickr they make no sense at all.

My Flickr:

Why? Well because I could, BUT why then specifically? Because of this: 4amproject. The 4amproject is the brainchild of Birmingham photographer Karen Strunks, she was driving home one morning at 4am and realised just how different her world was at that hour and decided to document it, on it went from there taking the rest of the world with her.

I really wanted to take part in the first 4am project, I set my alarm and everything but when it went off 12 months ago I woke looked out of my window thought hell where do I go as a none driver to take “interesting” photos around here now? and went back to bed. When I rose the next morning and explored Flickr for some of the results I could have kicked myself – I could have just literally walked out of the front door and shot my empty street if I’d wanted as at 4am that IS interesting, so this year I was determined that I would join in.

I made plans with Rich to drive into Birmingham, but we decided that it might be more fun to join the Wolverhampton group,  but then on the afternoon of the 3rd he realised he was maybe being a “little” ambitious trying to take part in the 4am project with me and then driving his wife to Manchester for their flights to Egypt at 5am – so what should I do? Go alone but James wasn’t happy with the idea of me walking around town looking for a taxi once I’d finished with the Wolverhampton 4am-ers , but nor did he want me out on my own locally either, he even offered to get up with me and we’d take TBK out with us so I didn’t miss out. While trying to decide what to do  I tweeted:

Trying to decide; @4amproject is it worth taxi fares to get to town as my ‘driver’ can’t make it, do I go local, or do I just sleep through

Twitter is full of amazing people and the ever lovely Lee Allen saw my dilemma and made me an offer of a lift home – (Thank you again sir) – So I set my alarm for 3am, booked the taxi for 3.30am charged my camera batteries and that was me set.

I met up with some lovely people Lee, Adrienne (and her much coveted LensBaby), Dave (T), Dave (B) and Dale – some of whom I had briefly met before some I hadn’t. We encountered one bemused security guard, one amused cyclist and one confused man topless covered in blood and his lost ambulance.

Lee made a video of us doing our thing:

4am Project in Wolverhampton from Lee Allen on Vimeo.

-Adrienne and Dave (T) have written about it on their own blogs, and despite being told I was crazy by everyone who was tucked up warm in bed at 4am Sunday morning I can’t wait to do it all again next year – which  Rich for the record there will be no backing out of

]]> http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2010/04/06/my-4am/feed/ 0 http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2009/11/24/6-fact-about-me/ http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2009/11/24/6-fact-about-me/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:38:25 +0000 Steph http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/?p=652

I love night photography but don’t get out as often as a I would like to shoot in the evening – come to think of it I don’t  do ANY photography as often as I’d like!

p.s That’s the building I work in.

Taking a walk after it has rained, watching the cat sleep on the sofa, playing snap with the blonde kid or sitting quietly with James listening to some music.

BUT then sometimes I think the things that make me happy mean I am simple.

Seriously how excited can one person get about a new kettle, but in my defense it is awesome, it makes the water glow blue and looks amazing if you set it to boil in the dark!

I love this photo, it’s telling me Spring is definately here and  Summer is finally on the way, the trees are starting to blossom, the grass is green and the new shoots and flowers are starting to bloom…..

…..although I’m being optimistic, it’s throwing it down outside!

They are two of the nicest people in the world who together make the most wonderful couple. It was wonderful day, fitting to the couple and what they stand for.

A toast

The service was beautiful with readings and prayers from  friends of the  couple, the boys playing during the signing of the register, one of their own tracks “Nothing Stands in Her Way “and a stiring rendition of Blur’s “Tender”.

Pretty in pink

After the service we all went to Fairlawns for the wedding breakfast and reception whereRich and Sal greeted everyone with their usual humility and grace.

The best apple tart ever

It was privilege to be able to share their special day with them.

I only hope that when it’s my turn to get married my day can be as special to me as I’m sure the memories of theirs will be for them.

]]> http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2009/04/25/rich-and-sal/feed/ 1 http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2009/03/19/as-hes-getting-bigger/ http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2009/03/19/as-hes-getting-bigger/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:16:05 +0000 Steph http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/?p=527 TBK is appearing less and less in my online world. Before now the focus of 70% of my blog and at least 90% of my photography was about him, What we’d been doing, where we had been, things he had said and so on.

He’s disappearing though, not because we do less together, or because he’s any less of a focus in my life but because well he’s getting bigger. He now has more of a say in his life and he doesn’t always want to be put on here, because he’ll say something that he then realises has obviously amused me and his first response is “Please don’t put that on the internet” or I’ll pull out my camera and he’ll run for cover shouting “Don’t take any photos of me!”

So now I have to be more sneaky with my observation, I wait until he’s absorbed in an activity be it his homework, playing with friends or just amusing himself, and then stealthily I point and shoot….

“I…

I feel like I’m missing chunks of his childhood because I simply can’t remember what we were doing when or some of the faces he used to pull, or every little thing he said to amuse me.

I was so absorbed in just coping. Absorbed in trying to bring this “thing” into the world to love him and educate him, to feed and bathe him, and as he got older organise nursery and school and play dates,  all the time rushing around finding babysitters so I could go out and get to work on time.

I was so busy trying to balance his life and my life and still be me and with being a single mom that I forgot to remember and savour every moment. And of course not having a blog or decent camera back then to document it all as it happened meant so much more got lost in the mire that was my brain around that time.

And now he’s getting bigger and I’m begining to realise that soon my now not so little boy wont be be even this little anymore and I’m worried about what else I might forget. I still rush around trying to balance everything out, but now I have help and now I also realise how important it is to stop and remember. You only get one chance at this, so I try to remember and I try take as many photos as possible.

Be it ones he’s posed for, or ones like these when were waiting in the car and he doesn’t even know the camera is about…

…spy…

…until that is I’m spotted and he pulls THAT face and rolls his eyes in THAT way and gives me another ” MOM, STOP TAKING PHOTOS OF ME!” for me to remember!

…busted”

]]> http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2009/03/19/as-hes-getting-bigger/feed/ 0 http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2009/03/05/5-fact-about-me/ http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2009/03/05/5-fact-about-me/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:49:19 +0000 Steph http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/?p=515

I like mood lighting, particularly fairy lights and I have 2 sets permanently in my living room. This isn’t a picture of either one!