Rosie Leech - Studio and Process Photoshoot

I’d been looking for the opportunity to work with the brilliant Alex Sedgmond on a photoshoot in the magazine for some time, so when I started work on an article with illustrator and printmaker Rosie Leech for for issue 13, it made complete sense to hook up these two creatives and let them make some brilliant work together.

The best photoshoots are a collaboration between photographer and artist – and when I was sent Alex’s photos to use in my layout, I was blown away by the quality, the storytelling and above all the vibrancy of colour in his pictures. They were a joy to work with when laying out the article and I was a little sad that I couldn’t include more. Here is a wider selection for you to enjoy - take a stroll around Rosie’s studio and get to know her printmaking process.

Thanks again to Alex and Rosie for making my job easy and above all, most enjoyable!

All photos by Alex Sedgmond

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Click thumbnails for larger images

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Issue 13 featuring Rosie Leech

To read the full article and see more of Rosie’s work and process, why not get yourself a copy of issue 13 - available now from the links below:

Short Films & Photography

With his epic painterly aquatints of the far edges of the British Isles, Norman Ackroyd captures the ever-changing atmosphere of the landscapes he visits. But like all of us, his usual plans were disrupted by the pandemic – something that’s seen him reach for his sketchbooks to explore his earlier trips, remembering the ebb and flow of being out on the water and the salty wash of the sea. 

We visited Norman at his central London studio, along with Eames Fine Art gallery owner Rebecca Eames, and discussed his tools, techniques and travels.

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All photos by Alex Sedgmond  •  Read about Rosie’s process in Issue 13

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Click thumbnails for larger images

Black Women Of Print - Free PDF Download

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I recently caught up with founder of Black Women of Print, Tanekeya Word, to see how their collective and individual projects have been developing.

In these times of protest and pandemic, it feels as important as ever to share the original article featuring this fabulous group of artists, along with my catch up with Tanekeya, some links to videos, podcasts, behind the scenes images of the artists studios and more.

As the original article title states, we all need to ‘educate & empower’ - I hope that this article (which we featured originally in issue 6 of Pressing Matters) and the extra content help to do just that.

Brook & Williams, family print shop

In 1993 my Uncle David and Aunt Diane stopped to look through the window of the old Brook & Williams’s printing shop in High Street, Barry, South Wales. When they heard that the then owner was planning to sell the business, they had taken an interest, as it had been my great-grandfather’s print shop many years before, until he retired in 1946. Originally they just planned to capture the moment and take a photograph of the exterior before it changed to a different shop, but as they peered through the window they realised that it was full of the original print shop fittings - font cases, counters and printing presses. They knew they had to photograph the interior of the shop before it was all sold off and split up.

A gent called John Humphrys was still working there in 1993, having joined the business in 1943 as my great-grandfather’s (Charles Brook) apprentice. He remembered Charles chatting so much during the day that it then required them to work through night to finish the printing work. John Humphrys showed David and Diane many of the original fittings from 1890s: ledgers with pages surviving from Charles Brook’s time, the original stools and clock. He also said that some of the presses had been replaced in 1950’s as work using the old letterpress machines was dwindling.

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Although none of the collection survives today (bar a few blocks that David was given as gifts), we’re grateful that David and Diane took such beautiful photos to record this little bit of printing history. No one knew back when digital technology in printing started to take over that there would ever be such a resurgence in Letterpress and such a creative community using it to make great work.

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