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Over a number of years, it's been my pleasure to work alongside the team at Meals on Wheels Cumbria to highlight what they offer for the community. From helping them with their website to capturing photographs and film, it's always great to celebrate and promote the work that they do. If you are looking for a hot meal and a little extra contact during the week for yourself or a family member, do get in touch with them at mealsonwheelscumbria.org. Whilst I can't provide smell-o-vision (the food looked and smelt amazing!!) you can hear from the team, volunteers and customers themselves on the film we made at the end of 2023:
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Earlier this year I was involved in directing a film for Kaleidoscope art network and tonight it goes live at the online Devoted 2021 event! The film, which is based around a spoken poem, focuses on social justice and was made to partner with the event's keynote speaker Natalie Williams who is Chief Executive of the poverty and social action organisation Jubilee+. It basically saw we filming across the North West and collaborating with lots of artists - it was a great joy to be involved with this project!
Credits:
Creative Directors = Ali Mac and Jez Chalmers Production and Direction = Rachael de la Mare Music = Andy Lowe Narration = Clara Mukuria and Blessan K Babu Spoken Word Contributors = Clara Mukuria, Rose Cooper, Emma Elliott, Lydia Ritter, Jez Chalmers Dance = Sharon Cameron Pastel Artist = Shadi Rhm Potter = Matt Cameron It goes without saying that 2020 has been an unusual year. It’s also been a time of change here as, after 15 years, I’ve gone full-time as a photographer and creative. For many years, I’ve had the pleasure of working for a few days each as a graphic designer for Ullswater Community College and have counted celebrating the students of that school as one of the joys of my life. As 2020 began, it felt right to transition my role out and give my time fully to my business after eleven years at UCC. From this summer we’ve had a name change, from de la Mare Photography to de la Mare Creative, and whilst this isn’t necessarily the easiest year to do it in, I’m excited for the changes and opportunities ahead!
Over the next few months there will be updates on our website and social media pages - we have exciting new collaborations happening, some seasonal shoots and a new photographic venture coming too. So follow us and come along for the ride! You can find us on facebook: www.facebook.com/delamarecreative and on Instagram @delamarecreative
Just before Christmas we had the pleasure of spending a wintery day with these lovely people down in the South Lakes at St. Thomas' Church in Kendal. The day was crisp and the atmosphere was joyful with lots of smiles and laughter! Congratulations to the lovely Mr and Mrs Theobald!
It's been an age since I last posted a blog - as usual, it's a sign of being particularly busy. Between one thing and another de la Mare Photography has been particularly rammed this season! One of the things that I've been so pleased to be involved with is UCC's Prize Day. On the actual day it's a lot of fun recording all the performances and prize winners (this year with the amazing Joey Essex - a perfect guest for making the students feel special) but I'm also privileged to get involved with making films for the event like the one below. UCC is such a fabulous school and it was great to be able to celebrate the school year. To quote Miranda's Mum... such fun!
I had the great pleasure of going to the opening night of the Telling in Full exhibition, part of the Lancaster Words Festival, and seeing some of my work exhibited (along with a fantastic live music installation by Sound Book Project). A massive well done to the curators Jessica Elleray : Artist and Ellie Moore. I'll post the links to the films in the next couple of days but if you are in Lancaster today, it's the final day of the exhibition - see the event here: Telling in Full exhibition or you can view the digital catalogue here.
Cloud Atlas
The first film that forms part of the triptych was made for an Adobe Competition. Loosely fitting around the idea of memory that runs through the three works, this is my exploration of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - Author - I would thoroughly recommend this beautiful, beguiling book. Thanks to Josiah de la Mare for his musical expertise.
where the lost things go.
This is the second film exhibited - where the lost things go. This piece is in response to the idea of Norfolk - a place where all the lost things end up - in Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I found the idea of such a place intoxicating and, again, would thoroughly recommend the book. Thanks to Lucy Vidamour for taking part in the film and Anya and Jamie for assisting. The hauntingly beautiful music is an instrumental version of 'For a View' by wonderful The Bookshop Band.
Mnemosyne and her twin sister Forgetting
The third and final film that completes the triptych of short films exhibited. As the exhibition was based on the theme of ekphrasis or 'telling in full' which is the idea of translating works of literature into another art form. This film was inspired by some of the themes from The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng which are encapsulated in the statues of Mnemosyne (or Memory) and her twin sister Forgetting. I discovered this beautifully poetic book when The Bookshop Band performed their song 'An Old House Retains it's Hoard of Memories, which is based on this book. I'm very grateful to have an instrumental version of the song as the backing to this film. Thank you to all who took part in this film.
A little later but here we go! The mini-film for Amy and Yann's Wedding Day. Congratulations once again. I can't wait for the French day!
The locations were Wetheral Parish Church and the Heather Glen Country House. The music for the film is 'Life is Good' by Derek Clegg (freemusicarchive.org).
Such a sun-kissed, joyful, atmospheric and beautifully crafted wedding was Tom and Hannah's! Tom and Hannah's personality and love brimmed out of every aspect of their day - congratulations Mr and Mrs Wright!
And their Wedding Film...
As mentioned in my last blog, here's the little bit of footage from last night:
As promised in previous post - here is Rebecca and Steven's wedding film!
It was a beautiful day, just over a month ago with lots of gorgeous crockery, classic music and happy people. I love how people's personalities shine through their weddings and this was a lovely one with lots of attention to detail. The venues included Lady Gillford House (a first for me) and one of my favourite Carlisle venues, the Tithe Barn - a place that manages to morph each time I see it! Friends and family can see the gallery in the client area of the website with the password that was at the reception (contact Rebecca and Steven for details) but a taster few are posted here. I'll post their Wedding film later on in the day. Congratulations to Rebecca and Steven once again! As promised! Chris and Larissa's Wedding Film (you can catch their wedding photos here), such a lovely day. It seemed a fitting time to post a photo and the mini-film I did a month or two ago for MJ Cabinet Makers as I'm off down to Windermere in a little bit to work with them again. They are based near Bassenthwaite and make the most beautiful things out of wood! It's like the woods melted into the furniture shapes! Absolutely stunning! Check their website out here: mjcabinetmakers.co.uk   You can have a look at their mini-film below -off to Windermere! There are moments nearer the end of this mini-film when its clear that I either need to go to the gym and lift weights or remember to take correct stabilising equipment out with me! As muscular arms wouldn't really suit my 5'1" frame, I think it'll have to be the equipment in future, especially for when the wind picks up. I thought I'd share this anyway as the day was just beautiful! Having been out shooting a Duke of Edinburgh group for UCC's Success Magazine (see http://bit.ly/1wwLChY for a couple of pics from the day, the magazine will be out next week) I took the opportunity to spend a little more time out that way with my Mum. We walked around Elterwater and made our customary stop at Chester by the River. I'd recommend the route to anyone - one of my favourites!! I feel I might need to take my camera again in the autumn and get another few shoots and a bit more footage. A less busy day at Chesters would mean less wobble on the decking too! Though Chesters always seems to be busy - not a surprise there! The Lake District, Elterwater and the Langdales in particular, are some of the most beautiful places to be in all of England!  There are days where the sun shines and the whole Lake District seems to do a little dance to show off how beautiful it is. I was lucky enough to be out on location shooting a Duke of Edinburgh group for a magazine article on Monday and so spent a good part of the day in the Lakes with my camera! I had time to take some film too so hopefully I'll be able to throw that together in the next few days too. In the mean time, here's a couple from the day (the magazine ones will come out next month). During April and May, I took part in an online film course run byAdobe Generation. Whilst I've been involved with film elements at Ullswater Community College, it is an area that I really wanted to get some training in, as well as have the opportunity to give time to filming creatively. Firstly, I can not recommend the course enough. The free course provided tutorials, industry guests, encouragement, peer assessment, forum discussion and a framework for progression, all hosted by great tutors. It was both fun and challenging from a creative and technical point of view. Adobe Generation are currently running a game design course and an app design course following that. I think they will be continuing the courses next year, so keep an eye on their website if you are interested. The final project for the course was to create the intro section (60 seconds or less) for a book that you love. Having gone through lots of my favourite books - Never Let Me Go, The Remains of the Day, Midwich Cuckoos, Count of Monte Cristo, Toilers of the Sea - and discarded them as either having been done too well or needing to live in Guernsey etc, I settled on Cloud Atlas. I have avoided all the trailers etc for the Wackowski's film as I was nervous of losing the version I had from the book, so it was an exciting prospect to film my own introduction. It was a pleasure to plan, film and edit this. A pleasure to bump into the 2nd Ashton Scout Group from Preston who so very very kindly let us film in the cave whilst they waited outside for a good half an hour. A pleasure to work with my brother who composed the music based on my mad scribbles and gesticulations of 'more sad', 'loopy and repetitive' or 'more scratchy'. A pleasure to spend the day with my brother and sister-in-law helping me (and eating food at the amazing Chesters by the River). And it was a lovely lovely thing to win the competition at the end of it all. So if you think a spot of filming would help people connect with what you do, or would like a filming aspect to your wedding photography, it would be my pleasure to work with you. My Cloud Atlas film: And a couple of shots from the day: Editing has begun at de la Mare Photography, after a lovely day yesterday at Marie and Steve's wedding. The weather held over the gardens at Tullie House for the ceremony and the walk to the Tithe Barn. Not only were the bride and groom wonderful, but the guests were a particularly smiley bunch! I'm looking forward to spending time sifting through all the shots and editing together their wedding film - a new feature! Highlights - the time given to mingling, the beautiful gardens at Tullie House and the gorgeous handmade candle glitter jars. A pre-wedding highlight was the dress shoot that took place in the Tullie House staircase. It was great fun being creative with the bride before the day! Congratulations to the lovely Mr and Mrs Neile!  Yesterday was quite a day! It was one of those days where the Rachael of de la Mare Photography and the Rachael of the UCC LRC meet at a common event. On the LRC front, it was the culmination of months of work from the three of us in the LRC to create a special film for the opening of the UCC Prize Day. Last year's film was 'school' themed featuring students from each of the years and clips from some classic school's from film and TV. This year we were hoping to showcase more of the students and push up the quality and style again. I think we really did manage to open the show with a good bit of fun, with the help from over a hundred students, staff voices and The Muppets! From a technical point of view, the amount of layering in Final Cut was a challenge but definitely worth it. UCC is such a unique school and hopefully the film reflected that character. I'm often so impressed at the willingness and confidence of the students and staff to take part and trust us, which is a credit to them and the school. From a photography point of view, the cards are now full of all the gymnastics, dance, drama and music performances as well as many, many students receiving recognition for their hard work from Rob Norbury, who starred in Hollyoaks. He really threw himself into the day and his smile for the photo with the three hundredth and something student was the same as with the first. I've never seen Penrith Leisure Centre look so full!
Now the one-to-one time with my laptop starts for some serious editing! Last week the Options process at UCC began and a film produced by the LRC, which I'm lucky enough to be a part of, was released online. We made the film back before the summer and its so good to see things finally out there! The students did such a good job!  |
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