The Photographer Writes – Chris TREGENZA

Pic(s) Of The Week – 2023-05-25

Despite doing a ton of portrait shots this week, the only image I’m able to share are a couple of snaps of my cats.
Pic(s) of the Week 2023-05-18

Very much a people centric week of photography with a chance for dinner with friends & family. Restaurant lighting isn’t usually the best for taking pictures but where we were sitting was really great and got a couple of nice shots like the one above. This week I also had a chance to do some…
Pic(s) of the Week 2023-05-11

This Saturday saw the coronation of the latest parasite to sit on the throne. As I would rather nail my manhood to a table than watch it I went in the Market Square to photograph what Nottingham was up to as this supposedly historical moment took place. In general, people were going about their ordinary…
Pic(s) Of The Week 2023-05-04

This week saw another fascist demonstration and counter-demonstration, this time in Skegness. This time around, our counter-protest was of a musical nature, with a group of singers from Louth singing tunes of resistance and hope as the racists walked by (featured image). The fascists were the usual mixture of thugs and morons led by some…
Pic(s) of the Week 2023-04-27

A busy week with two counter-protests against the far-right in Lincoln and Long Eaton so I’ve decided to feature a busker I spotted while out on my lunch. The sun was incredibly bright casting deep, dark shadows just where the busker sat. On Saturday I was in Lincoln for the counter-protest and then in Long…
Pic(s) of the Week 2023-04-20

This week has been a people and portraiture, which is an area of photography I love. The shot above wasn’t a formal shot, I just snapped it as one of staff at the Village Launch Day was just standing around. Everything about the shot is pleasing – the light, the physique of the subject, the…
Sajidah Ahmad

I had the pleasure of doing a portrait session with Saj who is standing for the council in this year’s elections. We had never met before but she had seen my work and reached out about a doing a session together. Saj wanted a range of shots she could use professionally on leaflets or for…
Village Gym Launch Day 2023-04-16

The Village Gym in Chilwell were having a launch day for the latest release of the Les Mills series of class (Body Pump, Body Balance etc). To mark the event they were running special classes in a large function room complete with disco lights, DJs and smoke machines. This created extremely challenging conditions for photography…
Pic(s) of the Week 2023-04-06

It’s that time of year where the weather is extremely changeable, flipping from torrential downpour to glorious sunlight often in minutes. It is also the Easter break from college so things have slowed down a bit as I catch up with other projects and some of the written work for the degree. That has meant…
Skate Nottingham 02/04/2023

To mark the opening of the new skater space near the Nottingham College Hub, Skate Nottingham held an open competition. About 50 – 75 skaters turned up, many travelling from outside the city, to compete for a £500 prize in a tricks competition. It was chaotic, with a 30 minute period where everyone just went…
Stapleford Pro-Choice Demonstration 2023-03-25

Every lent, a weird religious group protests outside a NHS centre in Stapleford because it offers abortion services. They do it for 12 hours a day, every day for 40 days even when the centre is closed. Also, every year, pro-choice campaigners also protest by standing in front of the religious nutters. However they only…
Pic(s) Of The Week 2023-03-23

For the last two or three weeks I’ve haven’t at my best photography-wise. I wasn’t taking bad photos but I wasn’t getting anything which excited me. This partly comes down to the nature of what I’ve been photographing has been largely dictated by my journalistic work it’s need for a more documentary approach. However this…
Kegworth Anti-Migrant Protest 2023-03-18

On Saturday the usual band of racists descend on the Kegworth Yew Lodge hotel to vent their ignorance at the migrants inside. It was absolutely pissing it down for the hour I was there and credit to the racists, they didn’t slack off. Normally the far-right are lightweights and disappear to the pub at the…
Student Sit-In

Radical students occupied the Vice-Chancellor’s office in the Trent Building of Nottingham University. They had planned to be there for several days but the University immediately served them with an eviction notice. A rather heavy-handed response and part of an increasing tendancy for universities to stifle dissent.
Mini-Model Shoot

While helping a student with some of their work, I had a chance to do a quick photoshoot in a proper studio space with lights. We only had a few minutes and I’m not used to having to make decisions about lights so it wasn’t ideal but I still learnt a lot. Especially as my…
Pic(s) Of The Week 2023-03-16

Pretty slim pickings this week as I hadn’t any events to cover other than a few picket lines and other commitments have kept me away from going out just hunting for photos. It’s also been either raining or overcast all week so there’s not been much light to work with. What I have been doing…
Pic(s) Of The Week 2023-03-09

After a couple of very busy weeks with protests, this week has been a lot slower. Which is great because it allows me a chance to catch up with other work but my choice of photos is rather thin this week. The featured image is of Brian in the snow. We’ve had 24 hours of…
DIY Poets 2023-03-08

We spent an evening listening to all women poetry event for International Women’s Day 2023. The nature of photographing this sort of event is that there are a limited number of possible shots and you are very dependent on the expressiveness of the performers.
Iran Nottingham 2023-03-05

Women! Life! Freedom! is a the rallying cry of the resistance movement in Iran and it also echoes around the streets of Nottingham city centre. A small but highly active and vocal campaign group in Nottingham is supporting the Iranian resistance. In the run-up to International Women’s Day the group held a march and protest…
Pic(s) Of The Week 2023-03-02

Its a demanding week with fascists and being attacked as well as marches for Ukraine and the NEU. Consequently my focus hasn’t been on the joy of photography but its function so rather than focus on the unpleasantness I’ve encountered this Pic(s) of the Week is all positive. Maybe not my best photos but the…