Ian Puleston-Davies

Ian Puleston-Davies by Sam Barker

Camera: Kershaw 110, medium format film

This is a shot I took in December last year which I only just got developed. There is more sentiment here than I first realised when I sat down and started thinking about what I could say about this photo, so here it goes...

When my Grandma's attic was being cleared out in autumn last year, they stumbled across a Kershaw 110 folding camera. This basic but well made medium format camera was introduced back in 1954. This particular one belonged to my Grandfather, who I never actually met.

Nobody had any idea if the camera was in working condition, naturally I just threw a film in and took it on the road with me. 

One particularly busy part of late last year, I had to go from my photography exhibition opening night in Kortrijk, Belgium, all the way through to Manchester back in the UK the following morning for a couple of days work on the last stop of the Britain's Got Talent tour. Being the last stop of a long tour of course meant all us crew going out for a few to many drinks to celebrate afterwards.

Following these mad few days/weeks, being in MCR for the first time in a while and refusing to give into a hangover, I got in touch with my friend Ian Puleston-Davies who works on Coronation Street as the role of Owen Armstrong to see if he was in the city, he kindly invited me down to Granada Studios for lunch with him.

During lunch I must have pulled the Kershaw camera out of my pocket to show Ian at some point and as he knows my family well, I told the story behind it.

After we had caught up and eaten the appropriate hangover curing foods, to my surprise he gave me a private tour of THE Coronation Street we all know to well. 

Genuinely I cant remember who suggested the idea to shoot this photo, not only was I thinking about it but let's be honest... Ian loves the camera.

Two things that I especially love about this, firstly the film grain. Second, if you look closely on the bus stop sign behind Ian, you can read "Coronation Street".

 Not many photos from this film came out, luckily this is one of them.

-SB

Along The Way. The hanging of.

Video created by Chris Driver.

A time lapse edit of the hanging of my Along The Way exhibition in Ipswich Town Hall at Snobs Coffee/Gallery 1.

Along The Way is open now. Hope to see you all on Friday for a drink at the opening party.

with love- SB x

Along The Way preview - part 2

part 2

A short preview of some of my favourite pieces from the exhibition.

Video created by Nick Williamson.

Along The Way is officially open from today until March 30th.

Opening event this Friday 15th.

Along The Way - coming to Ipswich

After the success of my "Along The Way" exhibition at the Cindy Frey Art Gallery over in Belgium, it gives me great pleasure to announce that I will be bringing it to my home town, Ipswich. 

It will be open from March 12th until March 30th in the Town Hall gallery, aka, Snobs Coffee.

For the opening event on Friday 15th March, I've booked some musical gems. 

Bessie Tuner, Oliver Croome and Ideals. 

This will sadly be one of the last or maybe even THE last time anyone will get to see Ideals live, I'm honoured to have them come and play at this.

Free entry, and champagne on me (while it lasts, first come first served)

Snobs coffee will be open with a bar stocked with your favorite local beers and wines.

All the people below aided me in making this happen. Huge thanks to them all. 

Snobs Coffee

Love One

Atrium Studios

More info and a competition to follow soon.

With Love

-SB x

Sam Barker Photography - Facebook

Cindy Frey

I went back to Belgium for a very short but very sweet visit at the beginning of this week, during my 36 hours there I managed to do a shoot with Cindy Frey, here are the shots. This was possibly one of the easiest and most enjoyable shoots I've done recently.
For those of you who don't know, Cindy is not only a fantastic model, she is a wonderful photographer with a still very vibrant and strong career doing it. Over the past couple of years she has also managed to find the time to become a fucking good tattooist and open her own tattoo shop and art gallery! She has tattooed me twice now and I guarantee there will be a third.

Cindy Frey is currently hosting my photography exhibition "Along The Way", at her art gallery in Kortrijk, Belgium. It will be open until new year, so please stop by if you can.

Cindy Frey Art Gallery -Facebook

Cindy Frey -Facebook

Sam Barker Photography -Facebook

This may well be my last post before Christmas, so I wish you all the best and have a very merry one!
With love -SB x

Along The Way update

Along The Way opens on December 1st at the Cindy Frey Art Gallery, and it gives me great pleasure to announce that Oliver Croome will be coming to perform live. He is a wonderful performer with a unique style. I can't wait to share him with you all in Kortrijk, Belgium.

You can check out Olivers music at the link below...

http://soundcloud.com/olivercroome

-SB

x

Jack Burrows

Here's a cheeky shot I took of my mate Jack, one of the nicest, down to earth people you could hope to meet. He went traveling around the world for a year with his girlfriend, when he left he was as clean shaven as the next man, he made it back in September having not shaved once, best souvenir or what?!!

Florence

Florence, a beautiful & quaint old Italian town. Despite the sunshine, the one day I spent here was 0 'C! I didnt let this stop me exploring the place though, just meant there was some extra coffee stops which in Italy were a very welcome thing! Best coffee of the whole trip by a long way. Florence felt like how I pictured Italy to be, and I once again fell in Love with another place.

When In Rome...

As if this post was going to get any other title. After a long trip from a snowy Salzburg, arriving in sunny Rome felt amazing. I didn't get to spend to much time in this beautiful city, but I was there long enough to fall in love with it a little. I will be back Rome.

Bavarian Mountains

Meanwhile in the Bavarian Mountains, just a few hours from Salzburg...

Wolfgang

Quite possibly one of the nicest towns I have had the pleasure of visiting. This very quaint, beautiful mountain town has a rich history and is home to some of the friendliest people I have met.
Salzburg is more commonly famous for parts of "The Sound Of Music" being filmed here, but it is much more inspiringly the home town of the legendary 18th Century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Here are a variety of some of my images from the town, firstly a photo of the Salzach river, on one of the bridges newly weds will put a lock on to the fence and throw the key into the river to represent their eternal love for one another, some street musicians, and some interesting building right by the cliff face which the town is within.

More to come soon.

Schanze

Some shots from a happening little suburb in Hamburg called Schanze.

St. Valentines

Happy Valentines day to all those who are in Cupids chokehold, I slightly envy you. Never the less, here is a photo I shot messing around with a slow shutter speed and a red light, just for you.

Mo Money Mo Problems

Movember, the month formerly known as November has not only become a good excuse for gents across the world to sport a mighty tash for a month, but a great way of raising money for the prostate cancer charity.

My brother set up an online donations page and has managed to raise £120. You can still donate by visiting the page, here is the link... http://www.justgiving.com/thomas-barker0?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socspon&utm_content=thomas-barker0&utm_campaign=post-sponsor-facebook

Here are some photographs I took last night of some very well done Movember classics.
Which one is your favorite?

Tom Barker

Mick Barker

Oli Bailey

Tim Farrow

Luke Holmes

James Eves

Adam Brett

Fairweather Vintage

I recently hooked up with Kelly Fairweather who has just opened her very own ladies shop, "Fairweather Vintage", to shoot some photographs of her and the shop, and talk to her about this new venture...

SB- Firstly congratulations, the shop looks fantastic and you have some great pieces in here. How has your first week open been for you?

KF- I am so pleased with the first week. I have had customers of all ages and walks of life. Many people seem genuinely excited to have a vintage shop in Ipswich.

I already have a nice fanbase on Facebook and Twitter. The support seems to be growing day by day. A very positive start.

SB- What first made you decide to open your own vintage clothing shop in Ipswich?

KF-My interest in sewing began at the age of 10 with a Singer sewing machine set in a wooden table that previously belonged to my grandmother (I used to be obsessed with customising jeans and making skirts from trousers). I sewed casually throughout my school years and then went on to do a Textiles A-level at Colchester Sixth Form. From there I studied at London College of Fashion for a year before moving back to Ipswich, as the mainstream fashion industry did not appeal to me. It was during my time back in Ipswich that I fully applied myself to the art of sewing and dressmaking and learned my trade inside out while working in a clothes alteration shop.
I also worked in retail alongside school and college and collecting vintage clothes was a hobby of mine for years. Learning to sew meant that all of my loves could be culminated into my dream shop and Fairweather Vintage was born.

SB- Did you find opening the shop a very difficult task?

KF- It was difficult, but also enjoyable, a great challenge and well worth it.

The biggest obstacle was time… we basically didn’t have much, and put everything together in a couple of months. Lack of time was semi-overcome by lack of sleep!

I can liken the whole situation to a girls dream wedding - they think about every detail in their head for many years and when it comes to planning for the big day, they know exactly what they want. I had a very clear vision of my ‘big day’ and just went for it with lots of help from my talented graphic designer boyfriend, James (love and thanks to James for super support and brilliant branding skills x).

SB- Tell us what makes Fairweather Vintage unique and different to other ladies shops?

KF- Our main unique selling point is, without a doubt, the added in-house tailoring service. I can customise or tailor a garment to a customers personal specifications – a salute to the shops of days gone by, where a tailor was always on hand.
Fairweather Vintage is packed full of interesting and beautiful things to make you smile. Each item is handpicked and of great vintage quality. The shop is small and friendly, holding traditional values with a modern twist.

SB- What are you plans for the future of Fairweather Vintage?

KF- My hope is that people will love Fairweather Vintage as much as I do and continue to come back again and again to see what new gems we have in-store.

The website is currently under construction so that will be the next thing to look out for.

I also hope that Fairweather Vintage, along with other independent local business can continue to grow and succeed in Ipswich.

Mark Kendrick

Mark is one of my favorite people to be around, rad skater, filmer, photographer, party animal, pretty like minded. I havn't seen Kendrick for about a year since he visited me over in Sydney, way to long! Fortunately he is currently down in Ipswich for a few days visiting everyone, we managed to hook up and shoot this photo of him doing a nollie fs smith on a surprisingly lesser skated spot here.
Hopefully we'll get to shoot some more before he heads back up to Manchester.

Double D's and Horseys

If you thought this post was going to have anything to do with boobies and ponys, you will probably be Disappointed.
Here are some photos I shot of Dave Davies & Scott "Horsey" Walker at a treacherous spot, hand made transition to a wall. Damn hard to skate, & just to make things a little more dicey the transition was chipping away with every roll over it.
This has already been removed by the council but I'm glad we got this session in before.
Dave Davies with a bs disaster, we were joking saying "imagine rolling in forward from that" and after a few go's at it he somehow pulled one in. Amazing to say the least.
Also Horsey with a text book blunt pull in & Dave again with a bs crail. Good sesh lads!

All In A Days Work

A couple of weeks ago I went out with my friend James and a bunch of different outfits from Attitude Inc to shoot a few photographs of him modelling some of their new fall 2011 collection.
We spent the day driving and shooting around the beautiful Suffolk country side, these are what we came back with...
















Big thanks to James Eves for modelling & also to Emily Cotton for being my assistant for the day.