articles - Nigel Goldsmith photography & film

Deep Water – currently on show at the RWA in Bristol

My new short film, Deep Water which was partly funded thanks to a WEVAA bursary has had a busy few months having been selected for 3 exhibitions . This summer it was selected for the Black Swan Arts Open in Frome where it won the Digital Media prize. It was then selected for the 44AD Open in Bath and it can currently be seen at the RWA in Bristol until January ’25.

Deep Water is part of an ongoing series of art films and photographic essays exploring the scale and impact of the linear economic system on the planet. The project first started on a beach in Bangladesh in 1997.

Over the years, this project has involved photographing on board the world’s largest container ship, I have travelled to numerous ports, and visited the eventual graveyard for many of these ocean going giants in Chittagong in Bangladesh. The work produced has been show in galleries and film festivals in the UK, Italy, Czech Republic and Mexico.

Film still from Deep Water

View of gallery wall with video artwork displayed on screen in foreground

Black Swan Arts Open 24

Gallery space full of people looking at artwork on display

Private view, Black Swan Arts Open

Ship breakers, Chittagong in Bangladesh 1997 where the project first started.

Experimental darkroom workshop

Building on my standard intro to analogue photography and darkroom practice workshops, I also offer experimental analogue photography and darkroom workshops. Some of the topics I cover are completely camera-less such as photograms, multi-enlarger photograms, water-grams and chemigrams. Sessions can also include pinhole photography, extreme pinhole photography and cyanotype printing.

The experimental darkroom workshop is popular with schools, colleges, staff development activities and individuals. If you are interested in this workshop, please get in contact and I can call you back for a chat at a convenient time.

Photograms of ripples in water or ‘watergrams’

Photogram of objects using cyanotype process

Broken bones and brake lights – cyanotype

6 month pinhole photograph Cheney Court near Bath 10″x8″ £85

Photograms and luminograms washing

Tijuana Vertical Film Festival

My art film ‘Grumbling Hive’ draws on a poem written by Bernard Mandeville in 1714 called the ‘Fable of the Bees‘ is to be screened at the Tijuana Vertical Film Festival in Mexico at the end of August. The festival celebrates experimental and art cinema from around the world. All the films in the festival will have been created in the vertical format.

This film was also on show at the Vertical Film Festival in Rome earlier in the year.

The poem describes how a society can only thrive if rules are broken and the citizens all live selfishly and to excess. Mandeville’s philosophy is often referred to by economists and sociologists.

Thanks to WEVAA for their support in producing this work.

Film still from Grumbling Hive

Print sales

Ship breakers, Chittagong 12″x12″ £180

iPhone photography and videography training – 1:1 and small groups

I am now taking bookings for iPhone (or Android) photography and videography training.

In addition to learning how to master your phones technical features, the training can also look at improving the appearance of your pictures covering topics such as composition, viewpoint and framing for a range of different subject types.

Small group training is ideal for staff development, improving images for social media campaigns and as a creative activity for groups and clubs. One to one training can be for up-skilling individual team members or for personal interest or improving photographic skills before a major event.

Training can be delivered online or in person and is always tailored to meet the attendees interests and ability. Training can be delivered weekdays, evenings and some weekends. For more information, please contact mail@nigelgoldsmith.co.uk

Landscape picture taken with iPhone 14 Pro