It’s been a whirlwind of exciting photography work since I last posted.
In May, I gained a commission off the back of my photobook ‘Crocus Valley’ (still open for pre-orders FYI!). For much of May and June, I spent my time in fields and meadows, on farms, with sheep, cattle, and goats, photographing a project about conservation grazing in my hometown, Croydon – as it’s never been seen before, probably!
'Rural Croydon' is currently being exhibited at Thornton Heath Library in south London as part of #ThisIsCroydon #LondonBoroughofCulture, closing at the end of this month.
This has been one of the best, most wholesome and joyful photography projects I’ve worked on to date, and possibly with the quickest turnaround too 😅 Now, I’m back into the eye of the work storm trying to get everything ready for Crocus Valley before it launches in less (!) than a month’s time.
See you again next time,
A x
Diary
Work Work
Crocus Valley
It’s only a short update for now:
Outdoor exhibition ☑️
Launch party ☑️
Book printing ☑️Everything’s almost ready to be seen, and hopefully there will be some articles in the wild about it soon!
Back in May, I was commissioned again by the loveliest people at Hyphen Online to photograph AbdulMaalik Tailor – founder of Muslim History Tours. I followed along on a walking tour around central London, discovering the incredibly visible Islamic history around places like Trafalgar Square.
Here are some of my most recent write-ups for Where The Leaves Fall
On spotting my first jay:
“Every season brings something new despite the literal lifetime I’ve spent here.”On this year’s summer solstice:
“I’m reminded that the definition of the word ‘solstice’ originates in the latin ‘solstitium’, translating to something along the lines of ‘sun stands still’.”
On food and memory:
“When I think about it, I can almost chart a timeline of my life through food. While I remember very little of my childhood, so many of the memories I do have are of food and eating.”
On being in the sea:
“I have to look through my calendar, and finally, I joyfully remember the dip I took in the bracing North Sea waters in Scotland’s Kingdom of Fife, a place I spent some time in to rest and recover after walking the brilliant West Highland Way… but that was almost two years ago now!”
Bookmarks
I’m obsessed with photographer Jennifer Latour's plant creations/creatures in her still life series Bound Species.
Possibly one of the most beautiful parts of the internet that I’ve encountered. Queering the Map is a community-generated map platform and digital archive, "an interface to collaboratively record the cartography of queer life... Through mapping LGBTQ2IA+ experience in its intersectional permutations, the project works to generate affinities across difference and beyond borders—revealing the ways in which we are intimately connected"
One of the very first photography projects I remember looking at all those years ago, I’m still completely taken in by US photographer Bryan Schutmaat's sensitive photography series Grays The Mountain Sends.
"But the proverbial elephant in my autobiographical room, of course, is that I’m now 80. This means, for instance, that I’ll find myself looking for a stump-seat halfway up a ridge I used to charge, and I’ll wonder what on earth the problem can be. Yes, I used to charge up here! There’s still an absurd interval before the light goes on: Sure, you did that when you were 50, even 70... which you aren’t anymore. I fight to repress that awareness, but there it is.": In Winter, Thoughts of Hiking in August – Sydney Lea writes for Oldster.
What good is a rock not looked at?
A bit about me
Hey! I’m Ameena – a writer and photographer based in London. I love to tell stories about adventure, the outdoors, and our relationship with the natural world.