PhotoOomph by Joshua Cunningham

I was planning on writing the next bit my self, but the wording from the Forma Festival website seems one that I wont be able to match. So in there words this years festival is:

"This year's programme is curated around the theme of street photography. It consists of exhibitions, portfolio reviews, workshops, commissions, screenings, mass participation, talks, photo collectives, publications, a summer school, conference and much more, all focusing on showing new work premiering in the UK, alongside the best established practitioners in the world." - http://www.formatfestival.com/

This year I am not only there to view, I am currenty working with Quad Derby and the Format Festival team on a voluntary basis.
However this weekend due to a good friend of mine I was able to get on the VIP list for the launch night which ment for me no work and a good few free beers.

Format Festival was kicked off with talks from Juliet from Quad who without her there would be no Format, the Dean fro Derby University, an Arts director from the council (dont hold me to that one) and then a talk from both Formar 2011 patrons Joel Meyerowitz and Brian Griffin. Instant photos were taken of both of them for the "Photographers Project" (Flickr link here) However I only asked Joel Meyerowits to sign his as I had already added Brain Griffin to the collection during NPS2 (National Photography Symposium).


Well after 2 years since the last one, Format is back and better than ever.
"Established in 2004 in Derby UK, FORMAT is one of the UK's leading international contemporary festivals of photography and related media." - http://www.formatfestival.com/


Late on the launch night I met a great group working as a collective and exhibiting in the old insurance building (opposit corner from Revolution Derby) you may know it as the "Haze shop". Anyway after talking for a while I thought it would be a great chance to add some more images to the "Photographers Project" (Flickr link here)
They all agreed and were happy for me to photograph them so here they are.







Between the 6 of them they run two organizations: Wideeyed - http://wideeyed.org/ and AS A Collective - asacollective.com
Alterntivley follow them on Tumblr at http://mapping-flaneur.tumblr.com/

Over the weekend there were lots more events that I couldn't attend unfortunately, but everything seems to be going well. On the Saturday I was able to attend the comedy and awards night which showcased a selection of the work from all of the Magnum workshop attendees- more info here http://www.formatfestival.com/events/events/magnum-workshop-derby.
Followed by a photo comedy by Al Pitcher (Twitter: @thealpithcer) dubious by the title photo comedy I wasnt expecting to enjoy it to much, however it was one of the funniest evenings I have had in a long time. Coming on after such a somber set images from the workshop, which whilst fantastic had at times a feeling soberness and dispair (not always but sometimes).
To come on and have the whole audience laughing from start to finish was awesome.

You can see him here at his show in Mumbai



(I would like to just say thank you to Louise here getting me in with one of her guest tickets)

Now on to Sunday, and my first shift as volunteer at Format 2011. Just before my shift getting off of the bus and heading to Quad I happend to bump in to Bruce Gilden (who I had infact been looking out for since Thursday to no avail) Then on the last day of his stay, well infact his last 10 minutes in Derby he was there and so was I...The decisive moment?
So yes I finally managed to add Bruce Gilden to my Photographers Project collection. I did miss out on geting Stelle-Perkins but you cant win them all.

The rest of the day was spent talking to people about the festival and asking them to fill in surveys (If you go and you havent done one please do fill one in, and add my name to the sheet at the bottom if you do) and invigilating the Derby Detective Agency Exhibit - Graeme Vaughan (more information here: http://www.formatfestival.com/artists/graeme-vaughan). I did take some photos on my Ipod touch of the setup which I will try and post soon. I used the Hipstomatic app as I belive it added the right feel to the set up. Another plus side to the day was that I did get a chance also to sit in on the Joel Meyerowitz talk well the first half at least and what I saw was fascinating.

Format is open for the next month and events are going on the whole time, any body with any intrest in photography I recommend a trip no matter where your from, I have so far met people from as far away as Australia. So dont let distance be an excuse see you there?


Wow that was a ramble for me...

I would just like to add a massive thank you to

Paul, Jen, Adam, Louise, Julliet and the many many more people that I havent met or have forgeten that make Format happen