I’m very, very, very excited to be announcing the new season of MiniClick Photography Talks down here in Brighton. This is the third season of talks and follows on from some excellent speakers over the last 8 months. I’ve been very proud to be able to present some extremely talented folks as part of all this and this season we’ve been able to maintain the level of quality (maybe even up the bar perhaps…)

Here’s who we got (all bio’s by the artist/s)…

Allan Grainger – 7pm. Thursday 5th May, 2011

Allan will be presenting his talk “A Journey from Analogue to Digital”.

‘The photographer’s imagination is no longer shackled by the technology. The Digital Age has brought about a new alchemy devoid of the potent chemistry of the Analogue Age.’

Allan Grainger considers the journey from analogue to digital in a commercial and art photography context. Drawing from his own experiences over 35 years in commercial and art photography he argues that although this shift is the most profound to occur in the history of photography it is only a means to an end.

Allan Grainger has worked as a commercial photographer on commissions for clients such as Play Station, SBB Swiss Railways, Barclays, Reebok, Heineken, and The British Tourist Board. Some of his non-commissioned work includes ‘Losing Connection’, ‘A Price Worth Paying’ and ‘I Am’, a book that took four years to produce and was published by Dewi Lewis Publishing with an unusual foreword by Ivor Cutler.

More of Allan’s work can be viewed on his website.

LGVL – 7pm. Thursday 2nd June, 2011

Lydia Garnett and Vic Lentaigne are two emerging female photographers who collaborate to form the platform LGVL. They met and studied at Brighton University, where they explored the themes of fashion, youth culture, transition, sexuality and identity.

They will talk about how they met, their journey since graduation and why they decided to collaborate. They will describe the ethos behind their first solo show, “Les Chronicles” that opens on May 19th at the Wayward Gallery. As well as talking about their own work, they will talk about the work of other photographers and artists that they admire.

You can see more of LGVL’s work on their website.

Kevin Meredith – 7pm. Thursday 7th July, 2011

I am not what most people would consider to be an average photographer. Armed with a selection of compact film cameras, I never leave home without one and I am always ready to capture anything that happens around me. I always have on going projects witch I am always adding weather it be my photographs of Brighton swimming club, montage portraits or Festival Wellies.

In October 2008 my first solo book Hot Shots was released in the UK, it sold out its UK and US print runs in under a year.  It is an instructional book for everyday people and is intended to help them sex up their photography, without being too bogged down in technical jargon. Since then I have written a 2nd book Photo Op (US title) / 52 Photographic Projects (UK title). This book goes more in depth in to 52 different photo graphic techniques. I have a passion for passing on my knowledge of photography and regularly teach photography courses. At the start of 2011 my 3rd book Toy Cameras was published, this book is lists 40 different toy cameras and lists the quirks.

I have also had work published in two Lomo photographic books, one called “Spirit” and the other, “Don’t Think Just Shoot.” My work has also featured in a range of publications including Photo Pro Magazine, DSLR user magazine, Olympus User Magazine, Russian Esquire, Sonntagszeitung, and the BBC news website. I was a regular contributor to JPG magazine from when it first launched in 2005. In 2006 I was on the panel of judges in New York for flickr.com’s “Blink of the Eye” photo competition and judged again in 2008 for pixish.com’s “The SXSW Gallery Show” competition. I work commercially as a photographer for a range of different clients which have included Phillips, The Times, The Commonwealth Games 2002, Dr Martens, Stomp, Dell and Imogen Heap.

I speak about my work regularly at camera clubs and universities and have even told my story at Goolge’s California HQ. So rather than bang on about my self for an hour I am going to talk abut my influences and the work of other photographers I really admire.

You can view more of Kev’s work on his website.

Human Endeavour – 7pm. Thursday 4th August, 2011

The ‘Human Endeavour’ collective is an evolving platform incorporating different photographers, with the commonality of interest of human intervention and activity in the 21st century. The aim of the collective is to curate and produce work for exhibition and publication, based around a central theme of the sociological effects of modern society upon the human condition.

‘Degeneration’ is an on-going project between four photographers Alex Currie, Richard Chivers, Simon Carruthers and Oliver Perrott, produced and curated from its inception as a whole body of work, it currently incorporates the metropolitan conurbations of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Salford, Sheffield, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Bristol and Portsmouth.

With Degeneration being a research led project, the objective is to take a look at the state of housing and regeneration in the 21^st century and the implications and complex nuances this may have on some of the poorest in society, reliant upon social housing. In particular the project looks at the demise of social housing, exploring ideas of displacement and a collapse of a sense of community or sense of place.

We have exhibited the work at the Brighton Photo Fringe 2010 and Format International Photography Festival 2011 as part of the Collectives Encounter exhibition, ‘The Flaneur’.

You can view more work by Human Endeavour on their website and blog.

That’s probably the most varied range of speakers we’ve presented so far, so come along and try something new. Drop me an email (jim@clickclickjim.com) if you’d like me to email you updates nearer the time of the talks and I hope to see you for all four of them! If you’d like to do a talk yourself, or know someone who might, please drop me a line as well.

Entrance is free, just turn up on the night at Add The Colour (Add the Colour, 64-65 North Road, Brighton, BN1 1YD). Each talk begins at 7pm but arrive early to get a seat. It’d be great to see as many people as possible down there! Add Colour might even have coffee and cake on the go so bring some change as those cakes are damn good…