After finishing the MA, I found a huge void - I had spent 2 years working on developing a project and spent so much time on research, reading, taking images, writing the contextual document, preparing the installation and working towards the final result that once it was finished I didn't quite know what to do next. The first few weeks afterwards were just spent recovering mentally and then frantically catching up on work that needed doing, then replacing this website and moving to a new server.

I knew I needed to find another project to work so since Christmas, in between various other things I have been working on putting together a panel of 20 images, along with a written working profile, as part of a submission for a Fellowship with the BIPP. I had put this plan on hold until I finished the Masters as I knew I would need time to give it proper attention. Choosing the images for the panel was quite tricky as at this level, it is so important to get the images and the sequencing right so I went through a few variations, over the course of several weeks, before I made the final decision. My BIPP mentor was very supportive and gave me some valuable feedback but the final choice of images had to be mine.

As I produce all of my own prints for sale, it was important to me that I do the same for my Fellowship panel, so that the assessors could view the work in context and see how it is produced, presented and displayed. Each print was produced on 100% cotton Hahnemuhle fine art paper, then hinge-mounted to Fine Art Trade Guild standards using acid-free conservation mount board, which I cut myself. My preference is for a slight over-mount giving a narrow border so that the characteristic texture of the paper is also visible. 

The working profile took a while to think about and write but I did my research, gathered all of the Supporting Evidence and wrote the content over the course of a few weeks, edited and edited again until finally it was ready. The final presentation, again so important, has to be considered in terms of the format and style but I love working on these kind of projects and knew that I wanted to produce it as a book that would be in keeping with the main thrux of my work which is, after all, fine art based. Having done a case study as part of the MA on self-publishing for photographers, I considered producing a photo-book through either Blurb or Lulu as well as producing my own, as I did with the Contextual Document for the MA but these did not somehow reflect what I wanted, for various reasons. After much searching I found what I wanted - a bound portfolio book by Hahnemuhle using the same Natural Art Duo paper I had used for the MA book, which allowed printing on both sides to a very high resolution. It proved quite tricky to print, needing a few test prints on cheap paper cut to size but eventually, everything fell into place and all the pages printed in the right sequence. I cannot believe how beautiful the end result looked - I had something I could be really proud of.

Finally everything was ready so it was packed up and sent off ready for the first stage assessment on 23rd March.

Now I just need to wait and see - and keep my fingers crossed.