I know it’s been while since I’ve posted here. I’ve had so much going on this summer including taking a holiday in the middle of the wedding season!  Another reason I’ve been out of touch is that I’ve been lucky to be a part of the volunteer management team at the first Photography Oxford Festival, an international festival of photography, taking place right here in Oxford.  It features the work of  prominent photographers from across the globe with over 20 different exhibitions across the city.  There is even a drive in cinema!  If you haven’t had a chance to visit the festival yet, you still have until Sunday the 5th of October to view the exhibitions, see a film or attend a lecture.  The full program can be found at the Photography Oxford Festival official site.

The festival’s director, Robin Laurance (below) says, “I am proud to be bringing world-class photography to Oxford. We will be exploring all the photographic genres through the work of some of the world’s leading photographers. Henry Fox Talbot, Britain’s pioneer of the photographic process, made some important early images in Oxford during the 19thcentury. It’s time to celebrate the city’s links with the beginnings of an art form that has become ever present in all our lives.”

I haven’t had a chance to visit all the exhibitions YET, but here are some highlights that I’ve seen so far.  Above, Susan Majuri ‘Red Dress’, left.  Blackwells Bookshop, right.  They are offering 10% off all photography books throughout the festival.

Below, the wonderful work of Maisie Maud Broadhead at Art Jericho.  “Broadhead’s Women 2014” are inspired by the paintings of Johannes Vermeer. They are intimate portraits of women, lost in quiet moments, and set within a domestic context. Broadhead stages her photographs with exquisite precision and attention to detail. At first glance, in this series, we read distinct echoes of Vermeer, and then she catches us off guard as we discover the accoutrements of modern living casually woven into her compositions.Below, the sublime photographs of Anisul Hoque, part of the Defying the Laws of Gravity: Photographers in Bangladesh, 1987-2014 Top left, I loved these self portraits by Arno Minkkinen.  He is exhibiting alongside Pentti Sammallahti and Veli Granö, above left  in an exhibition of contemporary Finnish photographers at St. Johns College.  Above right and below, Maisie Maud Broadhead.