‘A view that exists, but that we cannot see’ inspires Preston’s young photographers to explore the once popular, though now often neglected panorama photography artform.' A Dovetail Original Project including training, mentoring, project management, and PR
Uncovering the role of the panorama in their own family albums and in the Preston Guild photography collection, as well as investigating rare objects from the national collection at the National Media Museum, a group of budding young photography and history enthusiasts, are fast becoming ‘Proud Preston’s’ panorama pioneers.
Through the project, the group is learning about the history of panoramic photography and the skill of taking and creating their own panoramas: long, wide angle views, very popular in the past as a format for school photographs and other large groups of people. As well as developing the project itself, we have inbuilt a significant training element - the results of which are on display in a magnificent exhibition at The Museum of Lancashire.
Me and My Panorama was created by Dovetail specifically to offer an opportunity for young people with an interest in photography to consider and reflect on the differences between how they use photography today, such as Facebook, Twitter and so on, and how it has been used in the past as a permanent record and historical document capturing events, such as the Preston Guild, as well as everyday lives and landscapes. Working with professional photographer, artist and panorama obsessive, Jan Chlebik, they are also learning skills and techniques to take their own panoramas of people and places, that mean something to them, with thought provoking and somewhat beautiful results.
The Me and My Panorama young team is now putting together ideas for a major exhibition of their work, and journey through the project, to be launched at the contemporary art gallery spaces at the Museum of Lancashire in Summer 2012 where it will be on display for Guild time in September 2012. As an organisation, we aim to encourage and develop talent and aspiration – so the next role for participants is to curate, produce and manage their exhibition, enabling them to develop their own skills, ultimately encouraging them to create and develop their own creative projects in the future.
At Dovetail, collaboration underpins everything we do - we understand the importance of working with individuals and organisations to allow ideas and creativity to flourish. This project could not have happened without a fantastic partnership between Dovetail and Bluestreak Arts, Preston’s leading young people’s creative organisation. For Me and My Panorama, we were also particularly keen for the young participants to work with Preston creatives to develop their ideas and to support them to be able to express their learning and experience – to this end, we are delighted to be working in partnership with The Watermark, Preston’s creative industries hub, Wash Design who worked with the team to create the name and logo for their project, Preston FM, Harris Museum and Art Gallery and the National Media Museum, Bradford, as well as the Preston Guild team, and photographers Jason Locke and Nigel Hillier, who are helping us to document this project.
The project is part of the Preston Guild, England’s oldest festival which occurs every 20 years and will run for 10 days from 31 August 2012.
We are grateful to Heritage Lottery Fund for supporting Me and My Panorama.
Images:
Jason Lock
Nigel Hillier, courtesy Heritage Lottery Fund
