These chalk cliffs are viewed from the (famous) coastguard cottages at Cuckmere Haven in Seaford, looking towards Beachy Head (eventually). I somehow hit upon the idea of putting giant electric fans on the cliff top. So, one can suggest this picture is contrived. Anyway it took a very long time to process and achieve. I photographed the two types of fans in different positions in my Mum’s back garden, replicating the same time and direction of the sun in the landscape photo. The first attempt proved problematic because the background was of mixed interference and was therefore difficult to cut through every tiny aperture of the safety grille. So I hung a yellow blanket on the washing line for the second attempt, which gave me a better view of where to cut. As a result it took a very LONG TIME. Then I struggled to make the fans look convincing placed in the landscape with credible shadows. The sky at the time was clear, so I introduced the dramatic storm clouds from Port Macquarie NSW, where else? I’m still not happy, but I have left it as you see it. One day I might re-edit, if I have any enthusiasm……..
Ride Around 2
Here are two photographs taken within five minutes of each other. In the foreground is what’s known as a Flume. This is an exterior structure attached to the side of the newly built Marina Centre in Yarmouth. It is a swimming pool and fitness facility. The Flume is a tunnel/tube that people can slide through, out of the building and back again. I have cut away the brick wall that was in the photo. Behind that is the Ferris Wheel, known as the Great Yarmouth Observation Wheel. I was walking towards the sun, so both items were lit from the same direction. I simply placed one original photo on top of the other. I applied a filter to give the picture a bold look. I put this in the Abstract category because I couldn’t think where else it would be applicable.
Waiting For The Big Wave
I was standing up on East Cliff in Cromer, looking down on the beach by the pier. There was a surfboard class taking place, with the instructor (from the Glide Surf School) presumably demonstrating basic moves. I liked the formation they presented on the sand, with the leaches (ankle straps attached to the boards) trailing behind them. I of course isolated them from the beach. Looking for something/somewhere to put them against I eventually came up with the ‘wave’. This is the block of flats I photographed in Worthing (see ‘Hanging Curves’) which I thought was extraordinary. The photo has of course been turned 45 degrees anticlockwise, (can you see that?)… I extended the canvas size (a modus operandi I sometimes use) to accommodate the photo of Beachy Head, I took when walking along the footpath near Burling Gap. It is a view looking west.
Structured 2
I visited Portsmouth for the first time with my sister Anne and brother-in-law Chris who is a Pompey Boy. We walked along the city wall on the east side of the harbour at a place called Hotwalls. Going up a stairwell we got to the roof of the Round Tower. The viewing platform has seating that looks over the mouth of the harbour. This photo is of those steps and railings that struck me as visually arresting; the shadows cast and opposing lines of composition. At the top with the handrail, I cut away the original background with a view to putting something else on the skyline. I came across a photograph I had of a warehouse being built. The skeleton of the girders and safety rails fitted perfectly. This was here in Norwich at the Cathedral Retail Park on Barn Rd. I applied a filter to give the picture a gritty look. Why? .. I just liked the look!
View With A Room
The room is a small summerhouse, raised on stilts that overlooks an ornate garden at Hunworth Hall. The French doors and windows open up to a long rectangular lily pond, surrounded by a beautifully laid out topiary garden. But being perverse, I replaced the sumptuous view with a moving walkway at Heathrow airport. I saw this between terminals 2 and 3, and it was empty!… a golden opportunity to photograph it. I removed the emergency stop button that was on a ‘stalk’ in the middle of the two lanes near to the camera. I introduced the clear glass globes (employed by fortune tellers) that I photographed on my light box. I naturally turned the ball upside down (law of optical physics) and sized the duplicates appropriately.
Aluminium Beautiful
I noticed the two principal items on the same page ( amongst other images), on my computer screen, so I combined them. Obviously the tail fin of the English Electric Lightning fighter jet isn’t bigger than the grain silo. After isolating both images from their inherent backgrounds, I looked for something to combine them. I came the close-up of a fuselage body of an aeroplane from the same Aviation Museum as the Lighting. This provided an excellent background. I invented a couple of extra riveted cover panels to satisfy the composition. I tilted the tail fin to create some dynamism. The title was a flippant afterthought.
At The End Of The Day
Sat in the pub one day, I noticed a couple who were sitting adjacent to me. They were remarkable and looked dramatic, because of the light cast on them from the large window behind. I asked if I could photograph them because they looked so Caravaggio-esque. ( I subsequently found out it was Mr. Paul Howard and his wife). After isolating them in the computer I experimented with background/situations. I came across a photo I had of my nephew Tom (giving me the finger!) standing on some rocks at a beach near Margaret River. He was silhouetted against the evening sky. I ‘moved’ him across to the left a bit, to give the composition some balance. I replaced the sky with a view from the Isle Of Skye. These three elements seemed to segue very easily and I was very happy with the result.
Untitled No.64
The main object in this picture is the back hoe boom/dipper arm of a JCB digger. I photographed it at the Royal Norfolk Show ‘24. I just liked the configuration. There was a handrail/guard in the bottom left of the photograph (cut off by the photo frame). I decided to extend the canvas further to the left, and copied the tubular section and create three more rails, as you can see. Encapsulated in the structure is a metal (probably low grade silver) cast figurine of an Apsara which I bought in Phnom Penh market. This is representation of a dancing Buddhist ‘angel’. As a background I introduced a translucent canopy roof at Bawdeswell Garden Centre. I have inverted the image which gave the picture more ‘dynamism’. Lastly I created a silhouette of the Apsara, to appear as a shadow over the roof.
Empty Dreams
This photo was taken in the bedroom of a house I rented on Heigham Street. The bed was in a lighthouse in Kingston, Western Australia. It was being displayed in the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse on Marine Parade. Now a museum, it was decommissioned and brought offshore to stand on the beach road. l liked the nightgown spread on the patchwork quilt. I have of course, stretched the bed flat against the wall. I can’t remember where the angel came from. Written on the rails of the door (the cross panels)is the short poem; You can like me, But not love me, Because my, Dreams are empty. That was about a woman I knew whose granddaughter said how her dreams were empty. The woman and I were just friends, it never went any further……The words might not be too discernible because the picture is only a thumbnail representation. This is an old picture (2013) that I have slightly edited.
Wine O’Clock
The building is the back extension of St.Giles House Hotel, which has its grand ornate entrance on St.Giles Street. The modern block runs alongside Fishers Lane at the back. I was drawn to the metallic looking structure, shining in the morning sunshine. I have turned the photo forty five degrees anti-clockwise, copied the railings twice and added them into the top right hand corner, below the original. I added the blue sky and filled the windows with the blue reflection also. The table and stools were on the patio of the Rushcutters Arms, on the Yarmouth Road. The outside area overlooks the River Yare where boats can moor alongside. I put my glass on the table and photographed the furniture. It looked quite sculptural. It was then a case of finding some sort of complimentary background on which to pin the elongated table and stools. The title is tenuous.