Exhibition plug - IngridNation

A quick plug today...

... for my lovely lady, Inny, who now has an exhibition running in Bethnal Green, London, until the end of April. The location is the rather funky Prick Your Finger yarn and haberdashery shop, and the show features work from a number of Inny's more recent projects.

Between us, we've spent our day setting things up and drinking much tea, during which time I documented proceedings from start to finish - everything from discussions first-thing in the morning to the Private View in the evening.

The resulting pictures will be used both as a record of the event and for publicity material in all manner of online sites and publications within the knitting & textiles world.

You can check out more of Inny's work over at IngridNation - so please give her a visit and be sure to give some feedback!

TFM&A 2010

Earlier this week, I travelled up to London for a show called Technology For Marketing & Advertising. In all honesty, it was not exactly what I expected - but please do not take this as a reflection of the show itself.

I think the problem (if you can call it that) was centred around the fact that a lot of the exhibitors were aiming their services very much at big business - or certainly those bigger than mine. For example, one web content company I was talking to said their prices started at - wait for it - £50,000. Clearly not what I have in mind. Ok, so I often undertake assignments for organisations within this ball-park and bigger, but that figure does not really match my budget right at this moment!

That said, there were some excellent speakers at the event, and I would particularly like to share a resource passed on by Dave Chaffey, the "bestselling author, consultant and speaker who enjoys sharing tips, tools and techniques on SEO, PPC, Social Media, Email Marketing, Site Design & Analytics." (this quote courtesy of his Twitter bio).

What follows is actually the web page featuring Dave's presentation slides, which cover a range of topics that might be of interest to you when considering your online marketing strategy. Simply click on the illustration above, or THIS LINK to go straight to the page.

For quick reference, here are the main points discussed:

Q1. How engaged are our email subscribers? Suggestions for measuring and goal-setting for engagement.

Q2. How can we increase relevance? Recommendations on email engagement strategy.

Q3. What will make our campaign more engaging? 5 ingredients of an engaging campaign.

Q4. How can we make our email templates more effective? Practical tips for an engaging template.

Q5. How can we integrate email and social media? Examples of email and social media integration.


I hope you find this as useful as I have, and it would be great to hear your thoughts via the comments section below.

Vobes-Babbidge Pinhole Camera Project: First tests

Well, the Vobes-Babbidge Pinhole Camera Project is moving on at a nice pace now, with our latest tests showing definite improvements over the last.

In the first of our audio commentaries below, you'll hear us constructing our MK#1 camera, taking it outside for exposures using only available light (the sun) and developing the very first paper negatives. It was interesting to see what appeared out of the darkness of our improvised darkroom...

Pin Hole podcast - 003

With the MK#2 camera in hand, there was a definite increase in sharpness, contrast and density in our results. In a somewhat more controlled environment, we stayed indoors and set up a still life arrangement; this was lit by a constant light source (one 1000-watt halogen photo lamp).

By no means perfect (watch out for the schoolboy error!), our work is still very much about understanding the process and slowly refining our technique... as explained in our final thoughts about how to move things along in the very near future. Enjoy!

Pin Hole podcast - 004

Oh, and if you missed our first two instalments, you can catch up with them here.

Introducing: The Vobes-Babbidge Pinhole Camera Project

With the end of another year just hours away, it's time to think ahead to what the next twelve months might hold in store. That in itself will be the topic of a forthcoming post, but for now I'd like to talk briefly about a very exciting project which I will be involved in throughout the whole of 2010...

Many of you will by now be aware of my friend and collaborator Richard Vobes - most likely as a result of following either him or myself on Twitter, or via various audio chats we have recorded this year for vobes.com (some of which have also subsequently appeared in posts here on the GBP Blog).

Well, now we have taken things one step further, embarking on an idea which Richard came up with a number of months back. Its working title is The Vobes-Babbidge Pinhole Camera Project - and we are very excited about it!

In a nutshell, we are going to be stripping back the photographic process, removing the hi-tech, super-material, computer-reliant aspect so prevalent these days, instead concentrating on producing a set of images as the final outcome of a simplified yet very involved process.

Why so involved? Well, rather than simply purchasing a pinhole camera and photographic film, we will instead be working from scratch - completely from the ground up. As such, the starting point will be to construct our camera- most likely from traditional materials such as wood, varnish, brass, leather etc. And then there's the small matter of the physical medium onto which our images will be physically recorded (clue: we want to make our own).

The final images will for part of an installation/exhibition around this time next year.

For the benefit of both ourselves and those who would like to follow our progress, Mr. V and I will be recording all of our steps along the way - via audio, video, stills and note books. We've already documented our first tentative steps via audio; you can listen to these below in order to get a better idea of just what we have in mind.

Pin Hole podcast - 001

Pin Hole podcast - 002

To keep up to date, either check by here to see new pinhole-related posts, or bookmark the Pinhole Camera Project page over on vobes.com.

A positive exhibition

Well, I'm glad to say that things are finally getting back to some normality, following the past couple of months... which means the GBP Blog is fully functioning once again. Thank you to all those who offered their support in recent weeks; it meant a great deal.

Right then, by way of a quick catch-up, a small reminder of my joint exhibition which runs until 1st November...

Some months ago, my good friend Jane Doel, author of a little book of inpiration entitled 'Positive Steps Forward,' approached me with an idea for a collaboration - to illustrate some of the pages of her book. From this starting point, progress generated further ideas, until the day we said "Let's put on an exhibition!"

And so, with everything in place, our first collaborative show - intitled 'Positive Posters' - has been revealed to the public.

The location is the Pumfrett Room and Coach House Cafe at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, just off the A3 near Petersfield, Hampshire. Jane is Life Coach in residence at QECP which, together with Butser Hill and West Beach on Hayling Island, has been the source of inspiration for the words of her book and the photographs I have taken to illustrate them....

So, if you are in the area and have half an hour free, why not pop in and take a look?

Entrance is free, car park is £1 all day. And if you have any questions or feedback, you can get in touch with me here.

If you can't make it along, fear not. At some point in the near future, I will be writing a post specifically about the exhibition. I shot some time-lapse footage at various stages of preparation and at the Private View launch evening, and we will also be recording some audio, too.