Football is Back (Again, Again)!

For the third time here in England, non-league football is finally back for both spectators and players (after lockdown 3.0)! Well, at 'grassroots' level at least. So that's step 7 and below in men's and tier 7 and below in women's (the men's and women's football pyramids work slightly differently- though I won't bore you with the details here).

Since Thursday 15th April, I have attended six games at various locations across the country, the furthest being 133 miles away. For a game in the Central Warwickshire Over 35's Football League. On a Sunday morning. At Droitwich Spa Leisure Centre. As you do. Disclaimer: this was actually en route to visit my parents and we didn't make the trip solely for this match (though we have been guilty of doing similar things in the past)!

Me at Droitwich 

Despite spectating being limited to the lower levels, we (usually my partner Ben and I, though sometimes just me) have visited a variety of locations and are finding the 'limitations' of where we can watch football in no way limiting at all. At this level, there are plenty of grounds with football furniture (stands etc- not that a lack of stand has ever put me off) and never short of a fantastic backdrop. We are lucky to live in the north of England, where we are in easy reach of the Lake District and the Peak District and everything in between, providing beautiful scenery for watching the beautiful game.

Scenic: Burton Thistle FC

It has been really enjoyable being back thus far, especially for the photography side of things- I don't really take photographs of much else besides football and architecture these days (read more about why here), so this was a welcome return not only for fulfilling my football fix, but also satisfying another of my creative outlets. Keep an eye on my Twitter and/ or Flickr for more- I don't tend to blog about all the games I go to, just a select few.

Below: Furness Vale. View full set of photographs here.

Below: Middleton & Overton Sports FC. View full set of photographs here.

Writing

Here's another character rotoscope piece, this time of a man writing on an iPad with a stylus. I used some 16mm film I scratched several years ago (2013) for the background, but never did anything with it at the time. I've used it in various short pieces such as this, since. I like how the background colours and shapes work with this clip. The whole thing just looks really aesthetic for some reason (or at least I think it does)!

Lancashire Photography Festival

Lancashire Photography Festival kicked off yesterday (April 2nd) in Preston. It is a fantastic outdoor (free) photography exhibition, with photographs pasted on walls at various locations around the city. You can download the map and see the line up HERE.

It is up until 23rd May- I highly recommend visiting. Here's a few images from my visit yesterday evening, though will be going at least once more as I didn't get time to see everything!

Festival organiser Garry Cook (@gazcook)

Book

Here's a super short clip of a woman turning a page in a book! I really like the colour scheme in this one, along with the super textured background. I created the BG by sponging a few colours of paint on a number of paper frames (as in animation frames/ cells, not actual frames where pictures are hung inside!) and then scanning them in.

I mainly read non fiction these days as I usually find them a lot more interesting than fiction. Plus I get my narrative/ 'made up'/ escapism fix from all the films I watch, so maybe that's why I don't really enjoy reading fiction? Who knows...