Category: commercial

Dark Matters

Just launched, a website I created for the new exhibition at Whitworth Art Gallery, the University of Manchester’s art gallery.

The exhibition, curated by talented Helen Stalker, is based on the ‘shadow’ as an artistic device to cast reality into relief. Drawing parallels between modern technology and the primordial urge to create avatars of ourselves, with historical methods of trickery to inspire wonder and a sense of magic, the exhibition leads us through a variety of media.

Dark Matters is comprised of a major exhibition including new commissioned works from international artists, and a display gleaned from the Whitworth’s extensive collection of masterpieces from Van Gogh to Rembrandt. An interesting and varied series of talks film screenings and events is also programmed.

Go and see it if you can, now showing at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (September 24th 2011 to January 15th , 2012.) Visit the website at www.Darkmattersart.com

commercial design London photography Print

Season’s Greetings from Big Ben

Post author By Liza Lemsatef Cunningham
Post date 1 Dec ’10
2 Comments on Season’s Greetings from Big Ben

(yes I know Big Ben is actually the name of the bell, and not the clock tower) Anyway

A rainy night for a commission, I was glad the streets were wet and brought up such interesting reflections to play with, even though my assistant and I got soaked battling the wind with an umbrella and keeping the tripod steady on a traffic filled bridge…

I used exposure bracketing to ensure the illuminated clock face wasn’t blown out, and set long exposures to capture light trails from passing buses and the movement of people to add to the bustling feel. I then layered images of festive lights taken at home as the iconic lamp posts lining the bridge were actually out of action and being repaired, necessitating a generous dollop of festive artistic license.

The finished Christmas card designs were used for the UK Houses of Parliament, in their MP print on demand system to send to constituents.

commercial film Liverpool music photography portraits

Faust in my House

My apartment in Liverpool has an interesting claim to fame – as recording studio! The peculiar acoustics of the high ceilings and large windows of the old converted brick structure added a unique quality to the sound, as a specially commissioned new soundtrack was recorded in my living room.

Stan Ambrose is a lovely gentleman and accomplished musician, also known for playing harp in local bohemian cafés in Liverpool such as the Green Fish and Egg Café & Gallery. Quite the cinephile, he was delighted when approached to create a new interpretation of the 1926 silent classic ‘Faust’ from F.W. Murnau. The beautiful improvised soundtrack he created in response to the film was featured in Masters of Cinema’s DVD release as a special feature.

Watching him play reminded me that the concept of ‘Silent movies’ really is interesting, as the films in their day were always shown with evocative live music – and were anything but silent!

The photos I took of Stan during his performance were published in the booklet inside the DVD packaging.

Tags Masters of Cinema, Stan Ambrose