Reinvention a term to embrace in strange times / October 10, 2020 by Tracey Gibbs

So finally a new blog post! during the last six months on this ride with my fellows in the creative industries, I have swung by my blog and website thinking yep must update that, redo this. All with no result as reading the headline of my last one just felt like mockery, an emerging practitioner stopped in my tracks along with many of my cohort both last year and this year’s graduates struggling to figure out how to survive.

Truth is I didn’t learn a new language, become the fittest in my life, or indeed learn how to bake sourdough bread. I crashed as becoming a member of the excluded group opened up old wounds and anxiety became my everyday companion leaving me incapable of creative thinking or creation. Luckily for me, I have a very generous amazing therapist who continued to see me virtually and not letting me pay, she raised the red flag. I was not in a good place, lets just say that.

Walking became my thing, heading out every morning at around 7 am and just walking, no destination no plan. I began to discover parts of my local Salford that in 20 odd years of living here I had no idea were there, the secret meadow and my thinking oak brought peace and solace, this and some of the most incredible zooms given and hosted by amazing people began to have a healing effect on my mind and creativity and to being brave.

I began to apply for arising opportunities and was lucky to be accepted on one that was and is ultimately the trigger to opening Tracey up to her creativity once more and a path now on for reinvention, the term action learning was new to me and my fellow members of our superset meeting every two weeks until November, we are both exploring and learning who to facilitate our own though the rather brilliant The Hub co-organized by another amazing crisis group The Creative Industries Federation. It is true talking does help and can lead to action, I became braver and applied for a Creative England initiative ‘Ideate Manchester’ with StoryFutures Academy and was accepted onto a two-day intensive Bootcamp in new emerging digital technologies VR/MR/AR WOW! a head and heart-opening two weeks with my oculus headset discovering some of the most beautiful and creative works.

With this and my renewed interest in all things visual I made a little movie in my thinking tree a little share of my passion for Shinrin Yoko the Japanese method of relieving stress by tree bathing, just sit observe and open all your senses to space and sounds that these majestic alive places give us.

And now? working on a project and my first ever Arts Council application, a tad daunting but the people I am meeting and discussing the possibilities of HOYO (more next time ) is making every creative muscle in my body tingle. So why right this today? it is World Mental Health Day and it is ok to not be ok and also not, if you struggle at any time there are people and places out there. Pick up the phone, as this continues the fatigue is real and the mind is an organ like all our others and at times needs to be looked after.

A big shout out to the team of the MIF who stepped in instantly with initially daily drop in’s for artists and freelancers, giving space to just talk, check-in and now a new community of attendees and collaborations have sprung forth. Now weekly you can find details and massive amounts of resources on their website.

So more from Tracey version 4 soon, be gentle, be safe.

Here are some links to some of the best resources for us creative theatre folk and my little film

https://thehubuk.com/

https://www.creativeindustriesfederation.com

https://mindapples.org/

https://www.gm-artisthub.co.uk/

https://mif.co.uk/mif-drop-in-artists-freelance-creatives/

discovering a new technique for photo montage for projection / August 21, 2019 by Tracey Gibbs

In my second year studying at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts we had a day working with amongst other things, artist Gavin Mitchell who’s work I found completely brilliant and so interesting. He blends the old and the new with a delicate humour and wryness which turns a multitude of found images into a new fabulous creation. OK you can see I liked it lol so much so I now am the lucky owner of one of his works a present for graduating from the Mr Gibbs.

Find his work here

https://gavinmitchell.net/

So back to the workshop and looking at projection and content creation, we had been asked to bring some imagery to play with , well with a career and study of photography going back a wee while ! I have in fact a huge plan chest filled with remnants of my early days from college through to the last commercial film shoot I did back in the 90’s! So I grabbed some that I thought looked interesting with a thought that some of my cohort may not have access to stuff as living in halls.

He also arrived with a wealth of stuff from old movie’s on film, trailers for films and a massive collection of old slides sourced from car-boots and many a bric a brac find both here in the UK and on his travels. Looking at overlaying them to create images with stories or indeed oddities .

At first I was tentative, as any photographer will tell you the thought of chopping up transparencies is well? just not done ! fact. The first three were combining some footage and stills from Gavin with some images I took for a property developer of the Manchester Tobacco Factory both before and after. Shot on a magic film called polarpan where you actually processed it yourself? I know ! the resulting images were a strong contrasting black and white . Exceptionally fragile and at times not a guaranteed outcome, we were edgy in the 90’s lol

still available to buy (must dig my processor out ) from one of my favourite places full of interesting photographic and video finds

https://www.profilmdirect.co.uk/polaroid-35mm-auto-process--slide-mounter-slide-mounts-polapan-and-polachrome-1521-p.asp

The shots gave me some great graphic windows with which to play with, placing behind them almost giants of humans going about their business.

Series Windows

I was loving this with the possibilities for projection work for bands or theatre work opening up my mind and making me braver, with a gentle nudge from Gavin I did it !

Using some outtakes from one of my earliest test shoots whilst working as a full time assistant at Avalon in Manchester and clips from processing of some really interesting branches in oil from a collaboration with a young artist who’s name along with the model has long been forgotten (research underway) I began to snip the larger medium format images and recreate as 35mm slides!

Girl in the Wood series

So new from old,I am now in the process of multiple layering of images to create new content for projection . Then scanning them in on my Flextight Precision II another part of my transition from analogue to digital as a photographer , yes you could do it in photoshop but how much more fun is it to be hands on and make something.

10 Days in Cairo / December 9, 2015 by Tracey Gibbs

I am a very fortunate photographer who gets to visit one of the worlds most vibrant if sometimes a little crazy cities Cairo. I have been traveling back and forth since 1997 so know her pretty well.

For the last few years I have been the official photographer for dancer Randa Kamel, covering her courses and festivals. These are intense weeks taking 100's of live action shots of dancers from all over the world and for Randa herself. With little sleep and a tad achy arms at the end, but immense fun.

My last trip in October led to 10 days of photography from dancers to my own personal work , also a very special trip for myself and a special group of wormen , but that is another blog .

Based in Zamalek the island in the middle of the Nile , proved a great location for all . With our hotel the Mayfair enchanting me to rediscover my love of spaces and details . Architecture is one of my passions and this deco building was just great to investigate through the lens.

With most days been based on the gorgeous 5 star boat the Nile Maxim, it was a great time . They were also kind enough to let me use the complex as a location for one of my dance portfolio sessions. As a thank you I did some interiors of the new Khulkhal Restaurant and of the fab Maxim .

Alongside this I had the chance to begin to build my commercial portfolio of work for clients in Egypt. I had met the CEO of Simonds Bakery a well known Cairo chain, in the summer and mentioned my commercial work . Alongside the bakery they had also recently opened a rather fabulous Sushi restaurant and needed some images to show the food on offer.

A day out of my 10 was spent taking images of the bakery process which was great with temptation all around ! Accompanied by general manager Don Ross , we travelled to the Arigato Sushi . I like to use daylight for a lot of my food and product photography , so with camera and reflector I set up a little set near a window . A great afternoon of capturing dish after dish of stunning food and the beginning of my Cairo portfolio .