The Capitol Shopping Centre have very kindly let us set up a temporary studio in one of their empty ground floor retail units and so last week our photographer, Lann Niziblian, roped me into sitting for some test shots in preparation for the production of the Project Cardiff portfolio.

The pictures above are just a couple of examples of the test images that Lann produced and I can asure all of the Project Cardiff participants that they are in safe hands with our man Lann.

A number of the participants have already been down to the Project Cardiff studio and the portfolio ios starting to take shape. Keep your eyes peeled for more news and images as the portfolio develops.

‘Ray’ by Lann Niziblian

Fifty portraits – plus one

Shooting fifty portraits (plus one) is no small undertaking. Shooting fifty designers, illustrators, painters, musicians, photographers, curators and educators in a month is, perhaps, insane.

However, when an idea scares the hell out of you it’s a good sign that you should most likely forge ahead with it. And that, dear reader is how Project Cardiff came about.

How does a photographer approach such a shoot? How does a photographer make portraits of a disparate group of individuals so that as a final exhibition there is a common theme?

In making portraits of all these incredible people I am conscious of the need to produce a body of work that delivers a coherent message of creativity. The most interesting piece of this jigsaw that is portrait photography is the gap: the gap between the photographer and sitter where the viewer fits in. How does a portrait make the viewer react? This is where the real power of a portrait is revealed.

I want to introduce an element of movement to the portraits. I see these people as a dynamic group, a positive force that creates and destroys and creates again, that keeps moving and morphing and making networks, collaborations, tangents and fractals of thought and action. A glimpse of movement, a suggestion of animation, of spirit – these are qualities I want to capture and present to the viewer.

Without wanting to sound clichéd , today’s creatives are at the cutting edge of ‘creation’; they are more advanced in thought and action by dint of their position in space and time than any other beings. What does this mean in the context of a project like this? It means that to do them justice in making a portrait of them, it must be also innovative and fresh and vibrant.

I will be shooting digitally but want to produce an analogue ‘look’ and ‘feel’ in the final pieces. Importantly too, the portraits we make will not be framed behind glass: I want there to be as much of a connection between the audience and the sitter as possible.

The face of each subject is very important, more so than the rest of the body for me, in the context. These are thinkers and doers and copious ideas flow from them. Yes, they produce work with their hands and bodies. But, were it not for the spark behind the eyes, the firing synapses, the ‘eureka’ moment that they surely experience on a regular basis they would not be at the top of their chosen field. They would not be pushing the boundaries in a vibrant, dynamic space such as this, our young city. They would not be the movers and shakers, recent or long-standing that are making such valid contributions to the cultural & creative landscape of Cardiff. It is through the eyes and facial expressions that we garner much split-second, ‘instinctive’ information and so it is here that we will concentrate the viewers’ attention.

image via The National Assembly for Wales on Flickr

We are delighted to be able to announce that ProjectCardiff will be launched with a two week exhibition at The National Assembly for Wales’ Senedd building in Cardiff Bay.

The exhibition will run from the 13 October until the 2 November 2012. The Senedd is usually open to the public from 9.30am to 4.30pm on weekdays and from 10.30am at the weekends.

There will be an official launch event which will take place on the evening of the 15 October 2012 to which all the ProjectCardiff participants will be invited. If you would like an invitation to this event please contact us.

• ProjectCardiff is open to all those who reside and/or work in Cardiff
• The 50 individuals to be invited to sit for a photograph as a part of ProjectCardiff will be selected from a combination of nominations received via our website those that have been brought to our attention through conversations with members of the creative community.
• Team ProjectCardiff will liaise with an external mediator to confirm the list of selected individuals and ensure that the reasons for selection are integrous and have been carefully considered
• One nominator will be selected at random to sit for a portrait by the ProjectCardiff photographer
• The selectors decision will be final
• Nominators details or reasons for nominating will not be made public without consent
• Selected individuals will be invited to participate in ProjectCardiff early in August 2012
• There should be no undue monetary cost to anyone invited to participate in ProjectCardiff
• The ProjectCardiff portfolio will be exhibited online at www.projectcardiff.com
• The ProjectCardiff portfolio will be launched with an exhibition at The Senedd from the 12 October to the 2 November 2012
• The intellectual property rights and copyright of images created for the ProjectCardiff portfolio will be retained by the artist/photographer