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We Are Cardiff Productions, Whats on

A Roath state of mind exhibition launch party

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Big shout out to everyone who came down to our Roath state of mind exhibition launch on Friday. It was really good to see you all there, and thanks to Waterloo Teahouse for putting on such a wonderful spread for our party! It was also nice to meet some new friends and see some new faces – including a couple of Penylan councillors and local MP, Jenny Willott.

Thanks to all your generosity in purchasing raffle tickets, we made a massive £273! Thank you all so much. That will cover the printing costs for the exhibition and go in the pot towards our documentary film that we are making about Cardiff. For more information on that, visit the We Are Cardiff: Portrait of a City blog.

Photos of the launch event were taken by Ffion Matthews:

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We also need to give a big thanks to everyone who donated raffle prizes or just helped out in anyway… in no particular order:

Don’t forget the exhibition is there until 2 July – Waterloo Gardens Teahouse is one of the nicest independent tea shops in Cardiff, so we definitely recommend setting aside a few hours to go enjoy some of their delicious teas and have a nose at our exhibition!

‘We Are Cardiff: a Roath state of mind’ exhibition
Waterloo Gardens Teahouse
Exhibition 29 May – 2 July 2012
www.waterlootea.com

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The People

Behind the camera: Simon Ayre

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You may have noticed that the We Are Cardiff website features some rather wonderful photography. We’ve decided to run a series of posts introducing you to our photographers, who volunteer their time to keep this website looking as amazing as possible. Please meet the lovely Simon Ayre!

One reason why Cardiff is an ace place to live

One of the things that makes Cardiff so good is one of the many reasons why people often leave: it’s such a small place. This means that you’re no more than a 15 minute walk (if you bump into friends along the way which you probably will) from one end of the town centre to the other. As a town centre it caters for all sorts of people, at daytime or night. Outside of the town centre there are so many things going on it’s just a case of finding what’s right for you. Or you can be a hermit.

Favourite place to eat out in Cardiff

Anywhere that isn’t my house, pretty much. Probably Wagamama, maybe.
“Ooh but it’s a chain.”
“Oooh but I don’t care.”

I don’t eat out that often and when I do it’s usually in the Rummer Tavern before a gig (despite their peas). I love their food but have no idea why.

Favourite shop in Cardiff

Well, I rarely shop. I never have any money, so pretty much the only shop I really go into is Spillers, if they’re REALLY lucky.

Favourite Cardiff venue

Clwb Ifor Bach. We’ve got some great venues in Cardiff with the likes of the Globe and Buffalo, but the gigs and nights out I’ve had at clwb are consistently great.

5. Best Cardiff memory (can be a gig or show or exhibition or anything you like)

Too many to mention. Actually, my friend Gareth drunkenly getting the members of Broken Social Scene to draw pictures of him in his passport instead of getting autographs will go with me to my grave.

Book/s you’re reading at the moment

Press Gang: 3. Checkmate

Yes, a book based on the kids ITV series. Following a conversation on Twitter (with someone I’ve only met for about 10 minutes) about the books/ series around 6 months ago, I got a message last week asking for my address. I had no idea what it was for but gave her my address as I occasionally like to live my life REALLY on the edge, and it came in the post yesterday with a really lovely note. Also, given that it’s essentially a book for kids, I’m kind of at roughly the right mental level.

Film/s you’ve recently seen and likes

I probably haven’t been to the cinema since Scott Pilgrim. I recently bought Submarine for some inspiration for an engagement shoot for friends and really liked it. I generally like Shane Meadows’ stuff, a bit of horror and some older classics… Singin’ in the Rain is the best film ever. North By Northwest, Blow Up, Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Bonnie and Clyde… er…… . My film degree is absolutely wasted on me though to be honest. No concentration for films – I always feel like I should be doing something.

Band/s you’re into atm

If I was asked this three years ago I could have reeled off countless names. Things have changed a lot for me since then and I’ve found myself so out of touch with music as a result. I always wondered at what point my parents stopped listening to new music and I think I’ve reached that point in the last couple of years, due to various circumstances. Having said that, the newer releases (as in bought in the last few months, not released last Monday) I’ve been enjoying recently include Howling Bells (The Loudest Engine), The Horrors (Skying) The Sons of Noel and Adrian (knots) , Evan Dando (The Hotel Sessions) and Neil Young (Live Cow Palace 1986) … that’s pretty much it I think.

Any projects you’re working on at the mo you want to big up…?

Got a music based photography one underway which will probably go live on a website in a couple of months, once momentum picks up with it, but I’m not saying any more as I want it to be associated with me and not some other copycat!

What camera do you use? Any favoured lenses for portrait photoshoots like the We Are Cardiff shoots?

Canon EOS 5D mk2 and a Canon EOS 7D. I don’t necessarily have a favourite lens for the shoots as all the portraits are different, so what is suitable for one story isn’t suitable for another. Generally I probably use a 50mm or 24-70 most, but If I get the chance I’ll get my 100mm out because it’s lovely.

Your favourite We Are Cardiff photoshoot

They’ve all been really good to do for one reason or another and it’s nice getting to find so much out about people while doing a shoot. The shoot with Zoe Howerska earlier this year was great for that reason, with the added bonus of an amazing dog!

Thanks Simon! Simon Ayre online: flickr / twitter

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The Arts, The People

Behind the camera: Amy Davies

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You may have noticed that the We Are Cardiff website features some rather wonderful photography. We’ve decided to run a series of posts introducing you to our photographers, who volunteer their time to keep this website looking as amazing as possible. So please meet a lady who makes this all possible – the lovely Amy Davies!

amy_davies_web

Give us one reason why Cardiff is an ace place to live

Cardiff is an ace place to live because it’s small enough to get around most places super quick, but also big enough to have loads of different things to do. I love the beauty of the place, and that includes things that people don’t seem to notice, like the architecture, the roofs of buildings and so on. I’ve lived here for seven years now and still see things I’ve never noticed before on a weekly basis.

Favourite place to eat out in Cardiff

Ummm… I don’t know if I have a favourite place to eat, I’m not a massive foodie, but I do like to pick up fun things from Wally’s Deli of course. I’ve been impressed by the performance of the Potted Pig and I’m really thrilled for them… although it does mean I can’t get a table even though I live next door (literally!).

Favourite shop in Cardiff

My favourite shop changes from day to day, I’m a big fan of The Pen and Paper though as I love craft and the owner there has helped me with various things – including finding some sticks and sawing them up for me during a mad project to create props for a photobooth party I was having… so props to him!

Best Cardiff memory

I’ve got so many Cardiff memories, it’s hard to pick one. I had such a blast doing my postgraduate degree here though and I’ve made friends for life through that course. I also met my boyfriend here and now even though I work over in England I can’t bring myself to leave this wonderful city… too many memories to go into really!

Favourite books

I’m ashamed to say that I’m always so busy reading magazines and blogs etc (partly for work and also for pleasure) that my book reading has gone downhill in recent years. I’ve got a lot of craft books on the go though, my favourite one is probably the Everything Alice: Wonderland Book of Makes.

Favourite recent films

I’m probably more of a TV person (love my American dramas… hello Mad Men season 5!), but I am unashamed to admit that I’m really looking forward to watching Titanic 3D… I saw that three times at the cinema when I was 11, it’ll be great to see it on the big screen again, haha!

Band/s that you’re into

I firmly believe I was probably born in the wrong decade as I spend very little time listening to modern music and a lot of time listening to a variety of bands from the 60s-80s. The Beatles are a really cliche answer, but I do love them. I’m also very much into Northern Soul and Motown … impossible to pick a favourite!

Any personal projects that you want to big up?

I’m always working on the Cardiff Arcades Project … I’ve had my ups and downs with that, but I’m still keen to keep it going. I want to have a solo exhibition and a book … but of course it all takes time (and money), which I’m short of at the moment… one day, one day …

What camera do you use? Any favoured lenses for portrait photoshoots like the We Are Cardiff shoots?

I’m very lucky that because of my job I use all kinds of different cameras on a weekly basis. I own a Canon 60D and an Olympus PEN E-P3 though. With my 60D I have a 50mm f/1.4, 60mm f/2.8 macro, 10-20 Sigma and 30mm f/1.4 Sigma lens. However, recently I’ve been shooting with a Nikon D800, Nikon D4 and Canon 5D Mark III (which a couple of my WAC shoots were done with). Like I say… I’m very lucky!

Most memorable We Are Cardiff photoshoot?

One of my favourite shoots was with Sarah, who I photographed on the roof of St David’s Car Park. It was one of my favourites because I’d never been up there before. Other than that, I also enjoyed Rachel Kinchin’s shoot (not published yet) because she’s just so damn pretty! 🙂

Thanks Amy! More on Amy Davies here: web / Arcades Project / twitter

 

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Whats on

You are invited to: ‘We Are Cardiff: a Roath state of mind’ exhibition, 29 May – 2 July, Waterloo Teahouse

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Friends, Cardiffians – it is our pleasure to invite you to our first localised exhibition, which is taking place in the heartland of Roath.

The boundaries of Roath spread further and run deeper than the thin lines on the map that separate it from surrounding Penylan, Cathays, Adamsdown, or even Splott. Roath is more than a place – it’s a state of mind, and we invite you to celebrate that with our first localised exhibition, featuring stories and photography of local residents who have been featured in the We Are Cardiff project.

You are invited to the launch party, on 1 June 2012. Come have a peek at the exhibition, and learn more about the film that we’re currently making about our fair city of Cardiff.

‘We Are Cardiff: a Roath state of mind’ exhibition
Waterloo Gardens Teahouse
Launch party: Friday 1 June 2012, from 6.15pm-8pm
Exhibition 29 May – 2 July 2012

www.wearecardiff.co.uk
www.waterlootea.com

RAFFLE PRIZES – UPDATE

A four-ball round of golf at St Pierre Golf Club in Chepstow (donated by Acorn Recruitment and Training

A speedboat trip for two around Cardiff Bay (donated by CAVRA)

A meal for two from the set menu at Ffresh (donated by Ffresh)

A luxury haircut (donated by the Constantinou salon)

A pair of trapeze taster session tickets (donated by NoFitState circus)

A meal for two in the Gallery Restaurant at the Grosvenor G Cardiff (donated by the Grosvenor G Casino)

A Fairtrade chocolate hamper (donated by Fairtrade Wales)

A print of Roath Park artwork (donated by Gayle Rogers)

A hand crocheted blanket (donated by Andrew Williams)

A framed print (donated by Jo Whitby)

A screenprinted t shirt (donated by Droneboy Laundry)

A bottle of champagne (donated by EstatesDirect Cardiff)

A screenprinted Shewolf t-shirt (donated by Spike Dennis)

A limited edition We Are Cardiff t-shirt

We’d like to say a very large thank you to ALL the sponsors who have donated prizes for this draw – you’re helping us out with a worthwhile project and we really appreciate your support.

So … more info on our lovely sponsors…

FFRESH. With stunning views of Cardiff Bay, a stylish and contemporary feel, and a wonderful seasonal menu showcasing the best of Welsh produce, ffresh Bar and Restaurant is catered to enhance your culinary dining experience.Excellent quality food and service is led by Executive Chef Kurt Fleming, along with consultancy expertise from Shaun Hill, Executive Chef at The Walnut Tree Inn at Abergavenny. The ffresh team have a great deal of experience to help you choose a menu that suits tastes and budget. All our menus have wonderful vegetarian options, and our Chefs are more than happy to cater for any special dietary requirements…
ffresh Restaurant is open Tuesday-Saturday 12 noon- 2.30pm; 5-9.30pm and Sundays 12 noon – 4pm. Please note that on Mondays, ffresh Restaurant is only open for pre-show dining. Whether you are visiting Cardiff bay for an afternoon, seeing a production at the Centre, or looking for a special evening dining experience book your table at the restaurant on 029 2063 6465 or ffresh@wmc.org.uk.

FAIRTRADE WALES. Did you know Wales is a fair trade country and Cardiff was the world’s first Fairtrade capital city? Fair trade is about creating opportunities for producers in the developing world to receive a fair price for their goods and to work their way out of poverty. Put simply, it is an opportunity for them to improve their lives and the lives of their families, and is as simple as the choices you make on your weekly shop.

ESTATES DIRECT – the 0% Commission Agent. At EstatesDirect we charge a fair fixed fee to sell or let your property.  To see how much you could save and find out more please visit our website. EstatesDirect Cardiff is owned and run by Paul and Helen Walters. We pride ourselves on offering excellent customer service throughout your property sale or let, from the initial FREE valuation, through to viewings and finally the sale or let of your property. We are local to Cardiff, and will offer expert advice on marketing your property to its greatest potential and to as many targeted buyers and tenants as possible.

JO WHITBY. Jo Whitby is an all-round creative type who likes to cram her days with as much arty/music/culture stuff as possible. I Know Jojo is where she freelances as an illustrator and artist doing all sorts of works from depicting classic Welsh myths to crowd surfing a Smart Car. You can also find Jo making music as Laurence Made Me Cry and sporadically updating a music and culture blog called Cat On The Wall.

SPIKE DENNIS. Spike is  a maker, an imaginator, a unicorn farmer & a Romanticist with a burning desire to understand that which lies beyond the stars but you can call him an artist for want of a better word. He has lived in Cardiff for five years and recently launched ProjectCardiff with co-conspirator Lann Niziblian. Spike will be exhibiting some collaborative work inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairy tales at St Donats Art Centre in the Vale of Glamorgan throughout June this year (full details available shortly)
More info at: www.spikeworld.co.uk / www.unicorn-porn.com

ANDREW WILLIAMS. Andy is a knitwear designer that has been knitting since 2004 and crocheting since 2009. He has free patterns available on his blog and Ravelry page, and some of his patterns are available to buy from Calon Yarns on Cowbridge Road East. Making blankets is an obsession he has. Blankets of all shapes, sizes and colours. “I’ve loved blankets since I was little. They make me feel safe and warm. A handmade blanket is even better, because not only are you getting a lovely handmade thing, you’re getting someone’s time – that’s a really precious thing to give. The blanket I’m making for We Are Cardiff is a giant granny square, which I will embellish with some appliquéd bits and bobs. It’s super colourful, hope someone colourful wins it!” See also: Ravelry

NOFITSTATE CIRCUS. No Fit State was founded in 1986 by five friends. During a politically charged time, in a recession, and as a creative reaction to the world around them, the circus was born. Twenty-five years later NoFit State still believes that the total outweighs the sum of the parts. The company lives together, works together, eats together, laughs and cries together – travelling in trucks, trailers and caravans and loving and breathing as one community. This is what creates the spirit that is NoFit State and gives the work its heart and soul. Contemporary circus combines live music, dance, stage design, text, and film with traditional circus skills. It is rooted in the travelling community who turn up, pitch a tent, drum up an audience, and then leave with only flattened grass and a memory to show they were ever there. The circus are the strangers who live amongst us – and if we run away to join them we are throwing off our inhibitions, our conventions, the rules of settled society. We are taking to the road knowing that there is no destination – only a journey.
Today, NoFit State is the UK’s leading large-scale contemporary circus company, producing professional touring productions and a wide variety of community, training, and education projects for people of all ages.

We Are Cardiff Productions, Whats on

We Are Cardiff invites you to Roath Rocks – 4 May, The Gower Pub Roath

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Wouldn’t you know it. Our wonderful friend Wayne Courtney is throwing us a fundraiser to try and raise some cash for the We Are Cardiff: Portrait of A City film that we’re making! The party is taking place at the Gower Pub in Roath as part of the Roath Rocks Weekend. It’s on Friday 4th May – there’s a raffle with some amazing prizes – and YOU are all invited!

Friday 4 May
The Gower Pub, Roath
6pm til late

Line up for the night:
– Hullaballo
– The Fflip Fflops
– Calum Ross & The Scarlets.
Also making special appearances that night will be Hobo Bogweed and comic duo The Chicago Boys.

RAFFLE PRIZES!

We also have a pretty amazing raffle as part of our fundraising … check out the list of prizes below!

A bottle of champagne (courtesy of EstatesDirect Cardiff)
A 60 minute treatment + spa voucher (value £50) (courtesy of City Marshall Massage Therapy)
A rare first issue of Blown magazine (courtesy of Blown)
Five free zumba classes (courtesy of Sarah Sen)
Two amazing plush toy robots from Milkwood gallery (courtesy of Milkwood Gallery)
Photography session and stills (courtesy of Pontcanna Photo)
2 tickets to any Indigo Live event (shows listed below, courtesy of Indigo Live)

So get yourselves down to the Gower Pub in Roath on Friday 4 May, and have yourselves a fun evening – win some prizes – and help us raise money to make our film!

The Gower Pub, 29 Gwennyth Street, Roath (click here for the map)

Join the Facebook event for the night here

A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS DONATED A PRIZE!

INDIGO LIVE
Indigo Live are passionate music fans first, and promoters second. As Indigo Live is not a commercial venture, but a labour of love, it enables us to have a diverse booking policy so that we are not limited by genre, venue, or demographic. Cardiff has a very vibrant and diverse music scene which is seeing a resurgence in local Welsh talent. Where possible we always seek to add local supports to touring artists/bands in order to generate exposure or introduce the band/s to a new audience. There will always be a place for live music in Cardiff, and Indigo Live in its small way is looking forward to playing a part in promoting the city, its culture and music.
Prize:
Indigo Live is offering 2 free tickets to one show of their choice from the following:
An Audience with Howard Marks | The Gate, Cardiff | 12 May | 16+ show
Keep it Cash w/Rusty Shackle | The Globe, Cardiff | 12 May | 14+ show
Said The Whale | Buffalo Bar, Cardiff | 20 May | 18+ show
Mark Morriss/Chris Helme | Clwb Ifor Bach | 24 May | 14+ Show
The Christians | The Globe, Cardiff | 25 May | 14+ show
Fossil Collective w/Paper Aeroplanes | Clwb Ifor Bach | 6 June | 14+ show

ESTATES DIRECT – the 0% Commission Agent
At EstatesDirect we charge a fair fixed fee to sell or let your property.  To see how much you could save and find out more please visit our website.
EstatesDirect Cardiff is owned and run by Paul and Helen Walters. We pride ourselves on offering excellent customer service throughout your property sale or let, from the initial FREE valuation, through to viewings and finally the sale or let of your property. We are local to Cardiff, and will offer expert advice on marketing your property to its greatest potential and to as many targeted buyers and tenants as possible.

BLOWN MAGAZINE
blown magazine is cultural intelligence from Wales, wrapped in a super glossy format full of pictures to make your jaw drop and writing from established heavyweights and emerging new talent: Art, performance, literature, music, fashion and photography. It’s distributed to Tooting, Toronto and Tokyo; Newport to New York and Sydney and Swansea. Produced with passion and sheer derring-so from the blown  Bunker (aka Chapter). Issue two has sold out but we have a few rare copies of issue one and issue three is on its way. Find us on facebook and on our (soon to be redeveloped) web site www.blownmag.com.

CITY MARSHALL
City Marshall is located in the heart of Queen St and has been voted by Wahanda as the Best Therapeutic Massage practice in Wales. It offers 18 therapies and every session is individually tailor made. Enjoy free use of their luxury spa and gym facilities with every treatment. City Marshall is located on the First Floor of Vitality Health Club
8-16 Park Place, Opposite The Parc Hotel and next to Henry’s Bar – Cardiff City Centre CF10 3DN. Call or Text: 07502 104 339. City Marshall website  Find City Marshall on Face Book
and  see a detailed street map here

Sarah Sen – Zumba!

Sarah’s Zumba classes have been running for over two years, and are a great deal of fun whilst also gaining fitness benefits. Zumba is a Latin inspired dance fitness regime and takes flavours from all kinds of music internationally. It is exercise in disguise which is why many people have joined the classes whom may never have done fitness previously. And more importantly, they keep coming back for more. Classes in Cardiff are Monday and Thursday 7.45-8.45pm and Tuesday 7-8pm in Roath Park Primary. For more information, call Sarah on 07545 326650 or email her.

 

The People

Behind the camera: Ffion Matthews

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You may have noticed that the We Are Cardiff website features some rather wonderful photography. We’ve decided to run a series of posts introducing you to our photographers, who volunteer their time to keep this website looking as amazing as possible. For our first post, please meet the lovely Ffion Matthews!

Give us one reason why Cardiff is an ace place to live

There are so many reasons Cardiff is great, but the one thing everyone always tells me, and I completely agree, is that it is such a friendly city!

Favourite place to eat out in Cardiff

Oh gosh! There’s so many to choose from Mezza Luna on City Road to Bayside Brasserie. But one food that I just can’t resist is Mexican, and thanks to Las Iguanas (Centre and Bay) I can feed my addiction at any point! But Cardiff has so many great places to eat, I hope to go to Patagonia (Canton) soon as I hear such fantastic things about it.

Favourite shop in Cardiff

I don’t often go shopping, but when I do, I head straight to our historic arcades, losing myself in all it offers, and can’t resist visiting and playing dress-up in A Vintage Affair. Upstairs there is a whole playground of hats, shoes and other amazing vintage clothes, I could spend all day there!

Favourite Cardiff venue

I have a couple of favourite venues for different reasons. Gwdihw is great for an intimate (and sometimes crazy) gig, which also offers board games, comedy nights and great beer. Ten Feet Tall offer a mean cocktail. And Undertone right next to it for a long night of dancing – great things come in small packages!

Best Cardiff memory

I think one of my fondest memories is before I moved to Cardiff. For my 16th birthday, my brother bought us tickets to see Incubus at the then called CIA, he lived in Splott at the time so I stayed for the weekend and loved ever minute of it!

Book/s you’re reading at the moment

At the moment I am swamped in research for a piece I’m writing, all regarding the phases of postmodernism, feminism and female artists. I think you’d all rather me not bombard you with my readings 😉 Go Girl Power!

Film/s you’ve recently seen

I’m usually a bit of a film buff, but I haven’t watched many recently (now with all my feminism books taking over), and certainly not many good ones. I have Sin Nombre lined up though, which I have high hoped for!

Some of my fav/recommended films:
The Orphanage
This Is England
Let the right one in
City Of God
Mulholland Drive
Pan’s Labyrinth
Spirited Away

Band/s you’re into atm

After going to a gig at 10 Feet Tall to see Golden Fable, a friend of mine who performs as Elephant and Soldier was supporting them. Having never seen him perform before, I was absolutely blown away by his voice. So if you are into acousticy, gruffly voice that you can lose yourself in, check him out.

What’s your one Cardiff secret you’ll let us into?

I’m still searching for my secret spot. Having lived her for about three and a half years now, I’m actually still finding my feet to an extent. Every new place I go feels like a hidden gem, I always ask myself “How did I not know of this place before?” and then often it becomes a favourite; like Gwdihw, Undertone, the arcades, the beautiful surrounding villages and towns. I adore the fact that I can go from the busy city centre, to a fantastic quiet country walk around Garth Woods, stopping off at Gwaelod Y Garth Inn for a cheeky pit stop. So I think there is more to Cardiff than I know, I’m still learning, and loving this place more and more as I go along.

Any projects you’re working on at the mo you want to big up…?

At the moment most of my time and focus is being put into my degree, which leaves little time to manage my own work. But I will be displaying my latest project at an Exhibition at the Riverfront, Newport from the 23-25th of May.

What camera do you use? Any favoured lenses for portrait photoshoots like the We Are Cardiff shoots?

At the moment I have a Canon 450D which I mainly use, but looking to upgrade it soon. I also have a beautiful Mamiya RB67, and Nikon FG-20 that I don’t use as often for the simple reason of that in this digital world it takes precious time to develop/print/scan nowadays. Although I do still love using them, but more for personal projects than anything else.

Most memorable We Are Cardiff photoshoot

I have enjoyed every single shoot I have done for We Are Cardiff; it is always so interesting to meet such a variety of different people. But I think my most memorable has to be photographing the lovely burlesque dancer, Cherrie Pips at 10 Feet Tall. Never had I shot a burlesque dancer before, and she was such a pleasure to be around, and made even more interesting with my lighting equipment failing and having to think on my feet. Luckily for me she was fantastic about the whole thing and I don’t think we stopped laughing the whole way through!

Thanks Ffion! More about Ffion here: website / blog / twitter

 

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BAG YOURSELF SOME WE ARE CARDIFF SWAG! Visit our online shop

We Are Cardiff on Facebook / Twitter @wearecardiff / We Are Cardiff: Portrait of a City documentary

We Are Cardiff Productions

WATCH: We Are Cardiff – mini promo!

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The awesome folks at Dangerous Doug Films have put together another little promo for our film! Aren’t they clever? They came to my house and did a mini interview with me about being the ‘mum’ of the project. There’s also some lovely music too from local artists Pagan Wanderer Lu and Ryland Evans.

Enjoy!

Also we make mention of the fact that we are still fundraising for the film – so if you could spare some pennies to help us make it, we’d be TRULY AND FOREVERLY GRATEFUL! You can invest anything from £3 upwards – and of course you’ll get a reward for your money, from posters to few entry to our launch party! So head over to our Indiegogo fundraising page and donate!

Whats on

Did you miss us in the Guardian last week?

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Fear not! You can read the article online here
Patrick Barkham – Local bloggers: voices from the global village (Guardian G2, Tuesday 20 March)

Also, did we mention we’re making a film of We Are Cardiff? We’re crowdfunding it, so we need YOU to donate some pennies! Visit our Indiegogo campaign where you can invest in the film in exchange for great rewards like getting your name in the credits, posters and free t-shirts
We Are Cardiff documentary film fundraising page

Also, why not join our We Are Cardiff page on Facebook

or follow @WeAreCardiff on Twitter

And of course we’re still looking for residents of Cardiff to feature on this blog! So if you’re interested, ping us an email at wearecardiff@gmail.com

helia
x

Whats on

we are cardiff – in the guardian!

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image

we couldn’t be happier today – our lovely little project is featured in the guardian! and well done to photographer simon ayre, whose lovely picture of zoe howerska adorns the cover of g2.

what are you waiting for? go buy a copy! now!!

The City

Help us make We Are Cardiff: the documentary!

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Very very exciting news… we have decided to move our project on to the next level, and make We Are Cardiff: Portrait of a City!

It’s a documentary about our fair city. Basically think about how great our website is – and then imagine how amazing it would be on screen!

We’re trying to raise the sum of $4500 – please help us by donating anything you can afford to our IndieGogo campaign!

Here’s some background to the film, and to the whole project.

Our Story

Two years ago, a group of friends got annoyed with all the negative stuff they kept reading about Cardiff in the national newspapers (like it’s the capital of drunk and debauched Britannia, etc etc).

So they created a website called We Are Cardiff, designed to give a more authentic account of the lives of ordinary people who live in our ordinary little city.

We’ve always said we wanted to give a balanced version of the kind of city we live, in rather than the one dimension (drunks/chavs/benefit scroungers/hen parties) you get from most national media.

But if you look at the We Are Cardiff website, you’ll see we’ve still not really achieved that. We have a collection of lovely stories from lovely people, but there are parts of the city that we don’t have any stories from, and countless minorities and community groups who deserve to be featured.

We haven’t had any funding and have been running the project in our spare time, just because we felt like it should be done. But because of the limited time and resource, we haven’t managed to be as comprehensive in our city coverage as we wanted.

So what better way to get the balance right than in a film? “We Are Cardiff: Portrait of A City”?

We feel passionately that we live in a great city that has a lot to offer, and has some really amazing people living in it. We want to document that – as a snapshot of a place in time.We aren’t film makers. (not at all). We have our strengths – mine is writing, Adam’s is designing, and Simon’s is all things web. We’ll be planning the film, interviewing our people, and doing any graphic design and web building ourselves (as those are things that we can do).

BUT we need to rope in the talents of film types to help us film the interviews and sequences for the film, and edit the whole thing together so it looks good and is a joy to watch. Hiring equipment and doing post-production work all cost money, and we have no skills to do that stuff.

So we’re looking for a little cash to help us get this thing shot, edited together, looking lovely, and ready to view! DONATE TO OUR CAMPAIGN HERE

Once the film has been created, it will be put online on a website where it can be streamed live and watched by anyone, anywhere, anytime, though we’re also planning to have a screening and launch party in Cardiff before the film goes online. We want to have the film completed by the end of 2012.

If You Are Cardiff – if you live here, or love the place, or are just interested in helping some struggling artists try and put something that might be quite lovely together about this wonderful capital of Wales – then we need your help!

In return, we can offer a variety of exciting bits and pieces in reward for your support. And our gratitude. Our eternal gratitude.

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can’t afford to spare any cash (we understand, times are hard) – please support us by posting links to our IndieGoGo campaign on Facebook or Twitter or anywhere else online (and please tell people in the real world too!).

Also please join our Facebook group for the campaign.

Also if you can donate any time or skills to the project (anything technical OR perhaps you could suggest potential people for us to feature) we really need that too!

The City

We Are Cardiff – Big Little City interactive wall responses

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Between April 14 – July 22 2011, We Are Cardiff took part in the BigLittleCity project at The Cardiff Story – the new museum dedicated to the capital of Wales. As well as displaying stories and photographs from the project, we had an interactive story wall, where visitors to the exhibition were invited to write their Cardiff story on cards and put them up for others to read.

Click on the image below to visit the Issuu website and read the booklet. There are some wonderful stories on its scribbled pages!

Whats on

Vote for We Are Cardiff in the 2011 Wales Blog Awards!

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You heard us. You’ve enjoyed reading the stories on the site. If you’d be so kind, we’d very much like you to vote for us in the People’s Choice bit of the Wales Blog Awards 2011. You’ve got until October 21st to do it. If you REALLY want us to win, why not vote, clear the cookies from your browser, then vote again?? Ok, it’s not really in the spirit of the thing, I suppose….!

Anyway. We’ve made it through to the final for best community blog, and we also want to congratulate the other two blogs that made it through to the final of that category:

http://photonicanglesey.blogspot.com/ – by The Photon

http://rhuthun.blogspot.com – by Non Liquet

(they make for very interesting reading – I especially enjoyed the lively comments on the Ruthun blog)

So, make sure you vote for us. But don’t worry if we don’t win, we’re not sore losers. We’ll be carrying on much as normal. So stay tuned!