Kidney Life Magazine

Got a nice surprise the other day when the quarterly issue of Kidney Life magazine came through the door and I saw that I was on the front cover along with some of my photographs! There is an article inside which I wrote, I'll scan that in later and post it up.

Gifts of Life postponed

Just a quick blog to say that unfortunately the Gifts of Life exhibition (which was due to go ahead in December) has been postponed for many reasons BUT it will go ahead in 2010 and be bigger and better than before so I'll update the blog as soon as I hear any news!

I am working on the book as I type though so will post details up on how to purchase a copy asap.

Save Jess-tival

Here's some photos from Save Jess-tival - Live Life Then Give Life's amazing organ donor awareness concert. It was held a couple of weeks ago in an fantastic basement venue in Shoreditch. It was a great success with loads of people turning up and everyone enjoying a brilliant night of music, comedy and entertainment.

Ed Byrne

Natalie Imbruglia

Ed Byrne

Susanna and Mike from The Yeah You's

The Yeah You's

The people behind the scenes...

Team Life Live Then Give Life

Natalie says hello to the very beautiful Jess

Sarah

Matt and Emily

Pops

Oli and Kati

Little update...

I've had a massively busy couple of weeks with lots of nice photography work happening. A couple of Saturdays ago I held a stand at Spittalfields Market as part of Photomonth, selling lots of prints. (see below)

I've also exhibited in the PhotoOpen exhibition in the Truman Brewery in London and attended the launch which was pretty awesome as there were so many cool photos being exhibited so I felt pretty honoured to be included.

A month or so back I did some work along with Dan Usiskin on the art work for the new Innocent Veg Pots. Two of those were released this week, one of them being a yummy mushroom rissotto, so next time you are in your local supermarket check out the photos in the inside of the cardboard sleeve on the pot.

I've also just been on a four day shoot in the lovely Chesterfield oop north. The local hospital are currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of one of their buildings and I was given the brief to take photos of people and things which have a 25th anniversary coming up this year too. I think I photographed 20 different things in the end so it was a lot of hard work though I had an amazing time. I took photos inside a neonatal unit, on top of a police station, at an old people's social club, within the market stall and even a newt amongst others! Am currently wading through the hundreds of photos I took, and will post some up in due course.

I'm still working on Give and Let Live and only have one more shoot left I think! Sad times, I've enjoyed it so much! Not long till the exhibition starts now...!

GOL shoot 17 - Ermine and Leroy

Almost exactly a year ago Ermine's Dad, Leroy, donated his kidney to her. It was wonderful to meet and photograph them both - and they were totally natural in front of the camera which made some lovely photos.

PhotoMonth

Last week saw the opening of PhotoMonth which is the East London photography festival - the biggest photography festival in the UK.

I am also absolutely thrilled to find out that one of my photos (see below) has been chosen to be printed exhibited in the Photo Open exhibition! Do come down and see the full exhibition.

Here are the details -

Old Truman Brewery

020 7770 6003

F Block, T4, 15 Hanbury Street, E1 6QR

Aldgate East tube

www.trumanbrewery.com

Open daily 11am-6pm

I am also holding a stall selling limited edition prints, framed and unframed at Spittalfield's Market on Saturday from 10am - 6pm. Please come on down - and if you mention that you've seen my blog I'll be happy to give you a 20% discount.

Spitalfields Traders Market

020 7377 1496

Brushfield Street, E1 6AA

Liverpool Street tube

www.spitalfields.co.uk

Tues-Sun 10am-6pm

If you don't manage to come to Spittalfields, I'm opening a shop on my website selling a selection of prints which I will announce when it's finished (still building it at the moment!)

Happy PhotoMonth!

GOL shoot 16 - Andy and Maff

Remember Andy who I visited on his house boat back in May? I met up with Andy (on another boat, keeping in with the theme!) last week along with his kidney donor, Maff.

Maff is such a lovely, genuine guy and he and Andy were great to photograph and happy to lark about in front of the camera as well as posing for some more serious shots. Here's the result...

GOL shoot 15 - Ashley and Nick

Ashley and Nick are brother and sister and at the beginning of the year Ashley donated her kidney to Nick. Nick suffers from polycystic kidney disease and so knew he was going to need a kidney transplant for a while. He's doing really well now and Ashley is absolutely fine too.

I met up with them both in Brighton on Friday night. I've always had a soft spot for Brighton - I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing it's something to do with being by the sea and the constant whiffs of fish and chips that float your way! So I was spolit for choice with places to photograph Ashley and Nick. It was late afternoon when we met and was a beautiful warm sunny day. The sun was setting and so I made the most of the evening light and photographed them walking along the beach with the sunset in the background and also did some close ups.

Afterwards we had a drink on the beach and chatted and then I wandered off to take some more photos, grab some fish and chips and get on the train home...

GOL shoot 14 - Sam and Simon

I met Sam and Simon at Sam's Mum's house which was only a short walk from my house....and only two minutes away from my old flat. So literally a trip down memory lane!

Sam donated her kidney to her husband Simon on the 7th July this year. It was an AOB incompatible transplant which means that Simon had to undergo a treatment called plasma exchange to remove any antibodies from his blood that might try and attack Sam's kidney which has a different blood type. It's literally amazing how much medicine has advanaced and how these kind of transplants can be successful nowadays.

Simon's transplant was a success and he looks and feels great. I had a really nice chat with them over a cuppa and they're both really lovely people.

Here's some photos from the day...

GOL shoot 14 - John and Liz

Over the past few months I've shot lots of different donor and recipient couples - husbands and wives, mother and son, father and son, boyfriend and girlfriend and friends. But up until now I hadn't photographed a brother and sister. So that's where the very lovely Liz and John came in!

Liz donated a kidney to her brother John 10 years ago now and John is doing brilliantly. I was invited over to Liz's house for a delicious lunch and very good chats. John is the Chair of the Six County's Kidney Patient's Association which represents hundreds of people who have been affected by kidney disease. It was lovely to meet them both.