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We have a great offer for you with our professionally designed greeting cards, any 6 for only £10! Check them out HERE
On Sat 24th & Sun 25th Feb, I exhibited some of my work at the Love Unites exhibition during LGBT History Month.
Reading Today newspaper wrote all about it, read here
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On Sat 2nd Dec I attended, photographed and filmed the amazing GLOW lantern parade in Reading for Beautiful Creatures Theatre
Watch the 2-minute film on YouTube:
All photos are (C) Leslee Barron and not to be used without permission
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12 images of Reading At Night. All available, individually or multiples. Framed prints, acrylic prints, canvas, metal for outside, or digitally. Contact form below.
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A study of herbs. This quartet of fresh garden herbs would be ideal in any kitchen/diner. Square/ landscape or portrait, mounted and framed, on canvas, or made into cushions for you.
Example of my ice photography on canvas, cushions or framed prints
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I’ve had some beautiful greeting cards made with my tulips & ice photograph, they look great. They’re 148 x 148mm square. Six for £10 (Inc P&P in UK). Contact me below if you’d like to buy some. Check out my ‘cards’ page.
Check out my photography page for news of my framed tulip prints
I’m working on an exciting new series of photographs. Here is my first shot which I am over the moon with. It’s a vase of tulips photographed through a sheet of ice! How this happened was complete serendipity. In February 2023 is was a very cold (freezing) day but bathed in bright sunlight. I needed to go into the garden for some reason and just happened to notice a layer of ice had formed on top of the water in an open barrel. Managing to ease it free I picked it up and started looking through it. I was totally mesmerised by how clear it was but also full of texture. Safely placing it down I rushed indoors to fetch my camera and a vase of tulips. I held the ice in between the camera and the vase, using it like a filter, and this was the very first photograph I took. It blew me away. I’ve since mastered the art of making clear, but textured ice, which I continue to use in my photography.
During lockdown 2020, I’d visit my local park for a walk a few times a week, then have a takeaway coffee from Tutu’s cafe. I always passed this bench which is framed by trees. I became a bit intrigued by it. How it just waits patiently for people to use it.
A keen amateur photographer, I started taking pictures of it, just for myself. I then decided to commit to a full year, to show the seasons and make a little film. After a while, I decided to invite people to be in it. I was overjoyed when Alan Dicker (aka Bric á Brac) permitted me to use their song; Under the Hallow Tree, which is simply divine, do have a listen.
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Want to own a piece of Reading’s iconic history?
Gas tower triptych (3 x 2ft x 1ft) which I’m selling for £120. If you would like to own a gas tower triptych, contact me via Facebook (I was shortlisted photographer of the year 2021 by Historic England with this photograph.
This is the triptych which is on the wall of The Jolly Anglers pub in Reading
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Have you listened to the What’s on Reading podcast yet? It’s me on it! 
https://whatsonreading.com/podcast & here are some short links for each of the particular podcast platforms:
Spotify – https://wordg.tiny.us/WR922Sp
Apple podcasts – https://wordg.tiny.us/WR922Ap
Google podcasts – https://wordg.tiny.us/WR922Gg
Soundcloud – https://wordg.tiny.us/WR922Sc
You have no excuse not to listen!
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Alina Saves The Moon is a gorgeous story I had the honour of illustrating. It’s about a little girl who wakes one morning to discover the moon is stuck in the old abandoned gas tower, she must save it! With the help of her big sister they set about their mission, will they rescue the moon? Will she get her sister to school on time?
Let’s not forget these fine landmarks of our historic past.
Buy your copy for just £5 from here (1/3 goes to Reading Refugee Support Centre)
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I’ve written a short piece about the demolition of Reading’s last gas tower, click on the image to read it.
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One of the community art exhibitions I co-curated was called A Walk Along The Kennet. It was during May 2022 at The Fisherman’s Cottage in Reading.
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Raised £184 selling my art, rounded it up to £200 (£250 with gift aid) for Ukraine, donated via DEC.org.uk
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I was lucky enough to witness and film this amazing starling murmuration
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“An amateur Reading photographer who took up the hobby during lockdown was shortlisted for Historic Photographer of the Year 2021 with a photo of the town’s iconic gas tower.” Reading Chronicle.
So proud to be shortlisted ‘Photographer of the Year 2021’ by Historic England
Click here to visit the Historic England website
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The Farewell to the Gas Tower Art Exhibition I co-curated with Mary Chambers in November 2021 was a great success. One visitor said, “This made me realise how connected I am to the tower and the community.” BBC Radio 3’s Fiona Talkington said, “What an immensely moving exhibition. A true ‘farewell’ to our tower, memories going back so many years. Thank you for the immense hard work.”
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Continuing online exhibition
When I collaborated with writer Mary Chambers to create Alina Saves The Moon storybook, we decided to curate a physical exhibition themed around the gas tower, so many local people were expressing how fond they were of it and how much they will miss it when it goes. The gas tower is now dismantled and the land is to be developed to make way for flats. The exhibition was planned for the spring of 2020 but lockdown happened and we had to postpone it. We then decided to create a website dedicated to the gas tower which would include a gallery called Farewell to the Gas Tower, until a time when we could have the physical one. We are pleased to announce that the exhibition happened in November and it was a great success. See the above poster.
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Previous Exhibitions
2020 Summer – While this was my first exhibition and I must confess, done in a hurry, I was thrilled to be asked to create an online exhibition hosted by Reading Fringe Festival. What brought this exhibition to life was the beautiful audio description by Roz Chalmers, which you can see and hear below
2021 September – The Last Gasometer and Reading’s Changing Skyline
Thrilled to be invited to show one piece of artwork at an exhibition totally themed around Reading’s last gas tower See it featured here on ITV’s Meridian News
Contact & Social Media links
I’m always interested in connecting with people. Even more so if you are interested in a collaboration or a commission. Also interested in your feedback, even if you are pointing out typos!
Leslee Barron 