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I’m running a couple of courses which I hope will become regular monthly things.

The first is Matt and Pete’s Photo School (see poster)

Here we’re combining an academic approach to photography with the the practical peer learning of a Flickrmeet. As well as hobbyists we’re also looking to help those who can use photography better in their businesses or as a personal development course.

Through a combination of group teaching, personal goal setting, one-to-one mentoring and peer learning, Matt and Pete can help you become a better photographer, whether it’s for photos of your family or as a valuable business tool.

The first class in on Sunday Feb 6th at The Victoria from 12-5pm. The usual cost is £60 per head but we’re doing an introductory offer of £25 for February.

The second is Social Media Group Therapy (see PDF poster).

This is run with the Moseley Exchange and is aimed at the self-employed and small businesses who are having issues with their online activity. “Group therapy” isn’t just a joke. I think people’s problems, once unpicked, can be best be answered by those facing the same situations.

Social Media Group Therapy avoids the snake oil and magic beans of fly-by-night “experts” with a structured environment of peer learning led by someone who understands the pros and cons of the online world.

This course is on Tuesday March 6th at the Moseley Exchange from 6-8pm and costs £25 per person (£20 for Exchange members).

The project was commissioned by Multistory. Martin was in Sandwell in 2010, he did Walsall last year and this year and next he’ll be in Wolverhampton and Dudley.

He’s also been doing some filming, including this from Teddy Gray’s Sweet Factory:

Established in 1826, Teddy Gray’s has always been a family owned and run business. Five generations have worked and contributed towards the business of keeping the traditional, hand-made methods of sweet making alive.

Instagram is a social photo-sharing thing. I’ve been using searchinstagram.com to check out a few pics taken around Birmingham. Some of them are of the other Birmingham but it’s easy enough to spot the difference, by and large.

• Mario Acerboni Creative Wedding Award – West Midlands
• Mario Acerboni Creative Wedding Award – overall
• MPA Architectural Photographer of the Year
• MPA Commercial Photographer of the Year
• Overall Best UK Image

Cap duly doffed. Here’s the image that won him the last three awards:

Here’s photographer Jonathan Cherry on his recent trip to Rohini, India:

I was in India for only two weeks & the majority of that time was spent in the 30-year-old sub city of Delhi called Rohini. It was a fascinating place to stay & apart from feeling a little out of place Rohini offers a beautiful sense of community. I was drawn into photographing the people of Rohini because of their openness. One wet and humid afternoon I walked to the nearest park where I watched some local boys play cricket. Within 5 minutes of being sat on a bench I was surrounded by 20 boys wanting to know where I had come from and what my name was. It was an interesting scenario because after these two questions we sat in silence for many minutes simply looking at each other. Experiencing their intrigue from my point of view was something I decided to use within my photography. By pointing my Hasselblad at people I no longer became the focus but my subject was drawn into the spotlight. It was an interesting dynamic and I plan to explore it further.

There are more photographs from Jonathan’s visit to Rohini on his website.

Anyway, BLP is worth a subscribe/follow. They’ve been doing a good run of interviews with various photographers, have just released the results of the first round of their Portrait Project and they’ve also flagged up the Library of Birmingham Self-Portrait:

During the autumn of 2011, seven photographic sessions will take place in a range of locations – in the city centre and in community libraries across Birmingham, at which citizens will be invited to take self-portraits in a studio setting, using a shutter release and a plain backdrop. Participants will be given a copy of their photo to take away. The resulting images will be used in a digital installation in the new Library of Birmingham, with potential for a future publication project.

It has it’s own website at Self Portrait Birmingham but there’s no information there about this just yet, although BLP mention an event at Ward End Library on Saturday 1st October from 10.00am-4.00pm.

See also the Birmingham’s People project from a couple of years back.

Lewis Maxwell Bloor does photography, design, typography, digital manipulation and post production. He’s on Carbonmade and Tumblr (which is where I spotted a version of the pic above), has accounts on Flickr and Twitter and he’s available for freelance work.

I thought I recognised the name, but I was probably thinking of Simon and Tom Bloor who are from Birmingham too.

Due to new challenges over the last 2 years, Rhubarb-Rhubarb has found it necessary to enter a period of transition. The core ethos of the company will remain at the centre of what we do. We will continue to offer support to established photographers whilst also nurturing both regional and world wide talent.

Rhonda Wilson is taking a sabbatical. In her absence a temporary board has been set up to steer the company whilst the management of Rhubarb-Rhubarb has been put in the very capable and safe hands of Lorna-Mary Webb.

The focus of the company for the next twelve months will be with Rhubarb East which will be launching a new web site. This will not just provide our usual information but will develop, as a priority, an online photographic community that networks the photographic client base with image makers.

As this priority demands much of the team’s time in research and development and will use new technologies to offer photographers links with the wider world of image buyers, it is more financially viable to procure this than run this years Rhubarb – Rhubarb festival. We look forward to reigniting the festival in the future when it can run parallel to the online platform.

Rhonda Wilson extends her thanks and gratitude, firstly to her team and temporary board. She also sends out thanks to Arts Council England and of course to the many supporters and friends that have helped Rhubarb-Rhubarb over the course of its inspiring journey.

All the best to Rhonda, Lorna and the rest of the Rhubarb-Rhubarb team.

I’m not sure who’s behind this, but they’re doing it in conjunction with 6/8 Kafé, in fact it might well just be them – they’re pretty good at featuring photographers and such on their blog. These people are also threatening to run photography events around the West Mids too. If you’d like to be profiled then they say:

We’re looking for amateurs and pros to feature in the blog. The two requirements are:

• You are looking to further yourself as a photographer and use this avenue to promote yourself and others; both creatively and, hopefully, gain some financial return to develop your career.
• That you are being based in Birmingham.

If you are interested you can contact us by Asking Us on this page, onTwitter or Facebook

So get to it.

(Photo by Nick Lockey)

You can browse through all the photos that have been uploaded to Flickr.

Mr Underwood did things slightly differently, going in to do some sound recordings:

Firstly, a library is meant to be a place of silence, “Shhhhh, people are trying to read”, but what we perceive as silence is just our ability to block out some sounds and not others. I wanted to focus in on these sounds as well as discovering what other sounds I might find in parts of the building one wouldn’t normally gain access to. Secondly, with the proposed demolition of the existing library, I considered this to be an opportunity to record the dying breathes of the building