Walking around Valletta, I came upon a small demolition/building site. Enclosing it was a temporary fencing panel, on which hung an old blanket, serving as a make-shift debris screen. It was ripped in places and looked worse for wear. I thought it looked like an art installation, so I photographed it and didn’t think anymore about it. Fast forward a couple of years and seeing the photo again, I thought it could be used as an element in a collage. As usual, I tried a few things/situations and eventually came across the electricity pylon. Stretching and adjusting the blanket behind the the girders the picture suddenly took on the appearance of The Angel Of The North, by Anthony Gormley. A bit tenuous, but striking all the same. The landscape/background went through a lot of experimentation. As you can see, the result was quite fitting. It is the outside of the Roller Coaster on South Beach Parade, Yarmouth. What you see are the panels which enclose the framework superstructure of the undulating track, being prepared for a new coat of paint. I had the title in mind half way through the creative process.
A Language From The Past
Reading an article about the NATO phonetic alphabet which was introduced in 1956, I could only remember some of the designated call signs. I researched and found the complete list; some I had forgotten. I thought I’d create a montage with the words, and to make them interesting: different colours and typefaces. I arranged them onto a background which was/is the interior of a disused and run down shoe factory, why?..well it just looked fitting. I thought of introducing a giant telecommunications tower to give some narrative to the picture. That only made the image look like an overloaded and confusing mess. I eventually discarded the mast and put another photo collage on top (less opaque) which I thought gave the impression of a distant past.
Locomotive No.1
I visited the York Railway Museum and was very impressed with the space and exhibits displayed. I took lots of photos as you might expect, like this one of two that I took of the replica Locomotive No.1. Originally built in 1825 by George Stephenson for the Stockton And Darlington Railway, its considered to be the first commercial steam engine (travelling at 8 – 10 mph!). I cut away the background to reveal the complex rods and valves etc. I had recently photographed some fitted bed sheets drying on the washing line, which I thought looked interesting. I therefore hit on the idea of putting a montage of them , behind to create a dramatic and sympathetic backdrop….Steam clouds ..geddit? The funnel is out of shot , on the right hand side of the picture. I applied a filter to the engine to give a gritty look, and a filter to the sheets to soften and slightly blur them
Run Down Walk Up
As I was photographing the Acepella singing group, Fine City Chorus, I noticed the fire escape/stairs in a recess of a building opposite. I was at the Royal Norfolk Show 2025. The people on the stairs were judges (and a photographer), and they were going up to the first floor viewing room which overlooked the Grand Ring/Main Arena. I managed two photos, in which time the people were in different stages of ascent. I collaged the two images. I put the man and woman on the bottom step (they were in a different place), and merged them with the second photograph, which had the four at the top,…are you keeping up so far? The woman at the bottom is the same person proceeding through the door, top left. I wanted to change the brick wall behind them, so I cut that all away…a long job, and replaced it with the peeling paint (not to scale!) which features in another picture in Surreal – Pealing Paint. I applied a filter to soften the image. The title makes sense in the end!
Untitled No.72
The setting is a room in a run down and disused shoe factory in St. Marys Works. I liked the dishevelled look and the peeling paint. The floor was in a different room. I married the two together. I had previously photographed the crowd of holidaymakers in the pier at Cromer. I placed them in the room to look bizarre and out of place. I introduced the ‘bandstand’ performance platform to balance the picture. This was originally in the middle of a field at the Norfolk Show, and the performers are an Acepella group called the Fine City Chorus. Composed of gentlemen of a certain age, including my brother! Lastly, the old rusting steam engine was the defining item in the picture. I photographed this on the quayside at Murray Bridge in South Australia – I think its still there. I was looking for some seagulls to add, which I did, but then rejected, but I came across the rope, which fitted just perfectly! Truly surreal.
Peeling Paint
I visited a sculpture exhibition at an old disused shoe factory on Oak St. / St. Marys Plain (Norwich). The exhibits were interesting (forgive me, I can’t remember the two artists) and yet, the space was equally so. The walls, doors and floors were just shells of a large industrial complex. I liked the peeling paint, the rotting window frames etc. I took quite a lot of photographs. Upstairs there was a glass roof skylight, running the whole length of the room. This was obviously for the benefit of the workforce. If you turn the picture forty-five degrees clockwise, you can gain a better understanding of the construct, with the red girder supports. I cut away the glass and put a photo of a wall full of peeling paint behind the frame (not to size); you will notice the paint running along the bottom too.
Junction Box
The electrical junction box is in the disused shoe factory on St. Marys Plain, Norwich. It is in a part of the building being used as an exhibition space. I liked it because it looked like an art installation. I have obviously cut away the wall it was attached to. Behind is an elevated track for a fairground ride at the Rainbow Amusement Park in Hunstanton. The ride is called the Sea Dragon Rollercoaster. In the background is the painted wooden slatted wall , of a beach retail shed (?). There have been posters which were ripped off, revealing the red original paint behind the green layer (make sense?). Yet again the picture emerged bit by bit, with the junction box as the principal element.
Strung Up Jumbled Down Nonsense
This picture is the result of the beginnings of three different projects that, through experimentation, amalgamated into the one you see. First came the external staircase/fire exit, which is attached to the Medical Centre at the UEA. The second set of photos were the rope and cleats, which were connecting some plastic barrels, stacked on the quayside at Yarmouth. I can only think they were improvised lobster or crab pots; I could be wrong! I isolated the rope from the barrels. The last item to be introduced was the Baroque front of the St. Giles House Hotel, on St. Giles St. Norwich. I have stretched the image to give the picture some ‘breathing space’. I eventually came to finished result after a lot of enlarging, extending and moving the pieces around. This took a long time and was exhausting, hence the tired and petulant title!
Broadcasting The Faith
This is a view of St.Peters church on the Holt Rd, near Corpusty. It is set on a ridge and has a panoramic scan down to the River Bure valley and beyond, northwards. I was attracted to the ploughed field in front, especially the way the sun was catching the furrows. I took quite a few photos from different angles, but settled for this one. I extended the canvas above the horizon, and inserted a different photograph of those clouds in a blue sky. The ‘seeds’ are of of different bushes and plants in my Mums garden. I cropped the images in a circular aspect and gave them depth and shadow. Of course they are repeated and sized appropriately. When one walks and casts seeds in a field for planting, one is broadcasting.
Fin
I bought a box of six eggs, which to my surprise were all double-yokers, (omen?). Not long after the next box were all white ones, (portent?). You might not think that’s extraordinary, but it’s not very common, we always get brown eggs, (Americans apparently get more white ones). Anyway… I got enthused and set up a white board across the kitchen sink and photographed them in a shallow white bowl. The light from the window in front crated a well lit scenario. I took a few different shots. Meanwhile I had the film ending credit bouncing around in my brain (?) and just added it to the picture. The resulting tenuous narrative sort of made sense. I just had to choose a typeface which suited. After a lot of experimenting I chose Gill Sans. I applied a filter to soften.