Amelia Lonsdale of The Pupil Sphere

The current director of Pupil Sphere, Amelia Lonsdale presented a talk to students today about what the platform has to offer photographers that are early in their careers. Giving an overview on her own practice as well that is usually presented through exhibitions. Amelia, who has been the director of Pupil Sphere since 2020 informed the students that it works as a photography platform to inspire, connect and support students and graduates in photography.

Running from a small team, of an editor, two writers, two researchers and Amelia herself, Pupil Sphere acts as a network for photographers. The work of the platform can be divided in three core sections. Firstly, it gives a chance to offer support to any apprising photographer through mentoring, crit sessions, offering feedback to students to improve their work. Secondly, Pupil Sphere acts as an online shop, selling the photobooks of the students and recent graduates that have reached out to Pupil Sphere, using the funds gained from book sales to be reinvested back into the site as the team behind the platform work part time on a voluntarily basis. Thirdly, it acts as an educating and sharing hub. Publishing articles and interviews with aspiring photographers to increase their publicity and to inspire others. All these functions come together as a way of helping student photographers throughout their career path.

For her own professional practice, Amelia describes herself as a ‘social landscape photographer’. The subject of her work is usually of her hometown of Doncaster and utilising photography to understand why she is drawn to certain places. This idea can be seen in her work, Hinterland (2017) which presents a collection of images that aims to demonstrate a subjective view of a world existing within the photograph themselves. Her latest project, funded by the Doncaster Birdsong fund, Amelia began to work with archival imagery of her mother’s’ photographs between 1979 and 1983. With over 400 photographs that her mother, Yvonne Taylor and her partner at the time had taken during their time as ‘New Romantics’, the photographs show a collection of the music culture and fashions of this era. A project that has since been exhibited at the Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool in 2020.

The Pupil Sphere is currently running an open call for all students graduating in 2021 to submit their final year projects. More can be read here or on their website.

The Pupil Sphere