CALLING ALL LOFTUS AND NEARBY PHOTOGRAPHERS -

an opportunity with TEES ZINE WORKS

We are raising money through our gofundme to produce a photography zine of Loftus. What is a zine? A zine is a self published ‘booklet’ that typically and historically is hand made and/or scanned. However, there have always been many ways to produce a zine. Our Loftus photography zine will be fully digitally printed, featuring a selection of gorgeous images of Loftus.

This project is about bringing local budding photographers together to combine different visions of our town. We want to overcome barriers to entry for local photographers and have everyone's vision seen.

We will undertake four workshops with our local photographers, who will work with a published photographer to capture the vision of Loftus we want to preserve!

Our photographers will have the opportunity to see their work in print, to get zines for family and friends, and the local community who kindly support us will also receive a copy of this limited edition zine.

*all donors supplying their full name will receive a thank-you in the final printed zine.

Yes, within reason everybody can have an opportunity to take part. Booking will be essential due to room space for the project, but if you’re a budding photographer, consider yourself cordially invited! We want to pull down those barriers between published and non-published; we welcome you no matter your pre-existing skill set! Oh, by the way, you don’t need a big fancy camera to take part, our workshops will include how to use a smartphone successfully for projects. Our facilitator Wade even has a large archive of material he has captured on Polaroid, 8mm, 35mm - Go wild, bring whatever you’ve got to explore with!

Workshops for photographers begin April the 25th for four consecutive weeks.

The finished product will be released in June.

1. We will invite all local aspiring photographers, or even professional photographers to join us for four sessions, held over four weeks starting the end of April and running consecutively.

2. The first session will be a photography outing in Loftus with Wade, exploring techniques and swapping ideas. You will also be set homework to take as many photographs in your own time in the week that follows. All you need to join in is a smartphone!

3. Our next session will be an INTRODUCTION TO ZINES with Miki & Wade

4. Our third session will be spent looking through the vast amount of images the group have brought together and collated. Our group of photographers will be involved in ALL decisions for the finished zine, including selections.

5. Our forth session will see the group start laying the template for the zine and our vision will start to become reality.

6. A few weeks after we will hold a celebration evening to unveil the finished product.

We are Tees Zine Works!

We travel throughout Redcar & East Cleveland, and the wider Teesside capturing the imaginations of all our artists, both young and senior! We don’t believe in barriers you see, we welcome people from EVERY walk of life to share their vision, and facilitate them in doing so!

Have you heard of us? We run a yearly celebration of zine culture in Middlesborough in which we invite artists from all over to share and sell their work!

Miki Rogers and Wade Zane recently worked with Navigator North to create a zine celebrating the history and memories of Middlesbrough’s Bridge Street West. Miki facilitated zine workshops allowing visitors to share their creative stories, while Wade facilitated two photography sessions in the area to help clients capture photos for the zine!

Last year we were commissioned to create a zine celebrating LGBTQ+ young people in our area, the 10 week project resulted in an exhibition at Kirkleatham museum - the young people were so proud, as we were!

Miki & Wade have been facilitating a weekly drop in, in Redcar, helping young aspiring artists create zines.

We are just about to open a weekly arts club in Saltburn for young people!

Tees Zine Works means business - when we say we want to help inspiring artists publish their creativity, we see it as serious business!

We are running this gofundme as a community effort to see this project HAPPEN!

Tees Zine Works is a ‘not for profit’ organisation and all funds raised will be directly incorporated into the aim, the finished zine.

Funds raised will be spent as follows:

Paying facilitators at artist rates for their skills and time.

Hire of our meeting space (We would like to use Loftus Library)

Supplying basic refreshments for our photographers

AND of course, doing a LARGE print run of our finished product!

Why having a zine of photography for Loftus is important?

Zines capture space and time, they are often preserved for future generations. Ask any Zinester, they’ll have boxes full zines at home from different decades.

We will ensure that a certain amount of zines are added to the collections of local museums, historic archives and libraries.

Our photography facilitator Wade knows this area well, he has his own zines preserved in libraries throughout the world - From here at home, Sweden to America, and everywhere in between!

Zines capture movements, moments and can act as great tools for historic preservation!

Any contribution will be greatly appreciated

Those who donate £10.00 or more will have a reserved zine which will be kept at a convenient pick up point in Loftus for you to collect on completion of the project.

If any businesses locally would like to support us, we can include your logo in the zine for a donation of 100.00 (£) or more. Please send your logo and a confirmation of your donation to [email redacted]

Find out more about Tees Zine Works HERE

Considerations:

The project is open for all ages to join in with a special focus on people aged 40+ who may have experienced barriers to having their photography published.

We will announce booking to take part in the project in early April, please like our Facebook and Instagram Pages @teeszineworks for updates.

For full transparency on donations:

The project is fully costed. In the event of rates changing, any money left over will be donated to our Saltburn Youth project which caters for young people all across Redcar and East Cleveland.

We have costed for a limited print run of 250- 300 zines. Those who donate £10 or more will always be prioritised to receive a copy. Left over copies will be donated to Loftus Library to distribute how they see fit.

We can't wait to work with the residents of Loftus this coming April.