When The World Went Mad
This was the time when the Covid lockdown was implemented. I used to go for long walks, and here was the Norwich Northern Bypass. What would be a VERY busy dual carriageway was empty. Parked on the edges of Norwich airport were those and many more planes, grounded for the duration. I have introduced a couple of objects to create more confusion. The silver object is a cutlery receptacle to be found on the kitchen sink drainer. Stuck into it is a chrome spiral toast rack. I was experimenting with a ‘sculptural’ display with no plan for its use when I photographed it, just perverse boredom. The wheel (duplicated in the background) is part of a cider press presented as a decorative curio outside the Adam and Eve pub in Norwich. I created the shadows and added the sun ‘sparks’ on the sculpture. I think the world did go mad during that time. Evidence suggests it hasn’t recovered since. It’s got worse!
Untitled No.62.2
At a Bed & Breakfast in York, I opened the wardrobe/cupboard to find these coat hangers secured to the rail on their own in a very empty space. I thought they looked very surreal, so I took a couple of photos. Behind them in the picture, are some empty plastic water containers, stacked on the South Quay in Yarmouth. I think they are used as markers for lobster pots as they are strung out onto the sea floor by the fishing boat. I thought they were worth a photograph. As usual I put the two together by experimenting with different ideas. The horizon at the top came as an afterthought to complete the composition. It’s a photo from Scotland, somewhere in the North West, from the road trip I did. Why did I put this in the landscape category? Well….it had to go somewhere……
Ring Road 2
The snow covered view is of the A47 Southern Bypass during Covid lockdown (Feb.2012). This was during one of my walks, and is a photograph from a bridge spanning the unusually empty dual carriageway. The bridge/road is unmarked on the map but runs from Whitlingham Country Park to the Kirby Road. The Quay rings were at Yarmouth. They are embedded in the chest high parapet wall on the South Quay opposite the Great Yarmouth Borough Council building. I was looking for something or somewhere to locate the rings and eventually came across the road shot – perfect! You cannot see from this thumbnail image, but I changed the destinations on the motorway sign to read; Somewhere, Nowhere and Anywhere. I applied a filter to accentuate the wintry look.
Imperious
On the way back from a road trip to Scotland, I visited the National Railway Museum in York. It has a fascinating collection of locomotives in a very grand and fitting venue. The background in this picture is one of many landscapes I photographed in the north west of Scotland. In the foreground are two close-ups of the exhibits in the great hall, which was an engine repairshop. The coupling and connecting rods in the immediate foreground are from the steam train called the Evening Star. Beyond that is the winding engine from the Stanhope & Tyne Railway. It was used to haul wagons carrying limestone up the Weatherhill Incline to the blast furnaces at Consett. It stands in front of a huge glass window at one end of the museum. I cut away the window panes and some of the handrails. I thought the two objects fitted well together and are of course, not relatively sized. The title came at the end which I thought suited the demeanour of the image.
Lighting Up Time
Having a drink in the Plough P.H. on St. Benedicts, l noticed someone step out with a chair from a delapidated shop front opposite. It turns out to be The Arboretum, a pub cum antique/curio establishment run by Gregory Clark. He stood on the chair to light a candle in the old fashioned lamp above the front door. I immediately rushed across the street with my camera and asked for a photograph. The one thing he didn’t realise was, he would be on a grass verge on the Isle Of Skye. This is a view from the A851 on the way to Teangue, overlooking what is stated on the map as the Inner Seas Off The West Coast Of Scotland. I did this picture in one day (the landscape was photographed the week before) and quite pleased with the result. Thank you Gregory.
12.03.24. Cromer
This is a view looking from the white metal staircase, that runs down from Peddars Way and Norfolk Coastal Path, to the Promenade walkway. It was raining and deserted. I liked the configuration of the railings, and their reflection in the wet tarmac. The woman and her dog were walking on the beach, so I’ve moved her to the path. I put her deliberately where the picture leads to that focal point. I used a filter (Liquify) to create that wavy look, as if using one’s fingertip to drag the surface as if it was viscous. I experimented quite a few times to come to that satisfactory conclusion. I also used a filter to give the image a gritty grim weather look. Whether this picture is ‘Urban’….I don’t know.
Blast Ramp 2
This started with those upturned wooden pallets that were on the South Quay in Yarmouth. I was drawn to their colour and the light direction. They were like a sculptural installation. What to do with them? I then came across a photo I had of Cromer beach. A minor stream had been running down to the sea, and had worn the pattern in the sand. Then came the tail of an English Electric Lightning from the Air Museum in Norwich. I applied the jet blast flames and put the sun reflection on the fuselage and the tail. I realised the title at the end.
Hunstanton 7.3.24
This is a bleak and foggy March day in Hunstanton, looking out from South Promenade onto the groynes that stretch out from the beach. On the other side of the pavement is the Rainbow Amusement Park on Seagate Rd. What you can see is the upended track of a fairground ride. It is the monorail for the Sea Dragon Rollercoaster. I have perversely turned it upside down because it looked more dramatic, and would have got lost against the groynes. This way, it enhances the flow of the composition and creates a more realistic perspective. I lit up the lightbulbs strung along the ride, and introduced another ‘tripod’ hazard structure in the left hand corner.
Untitled No.61
This picture started with a shot of the Roller Coaster structure from the beach in Yarmouth. This is one of many I took. It belongs to Pleasure-Beach Co. who have an amusement park on South Beach Parade. The exterior cladding was obviously being prepared for refurbishment and repainting. I then introduced the Elevating Platform Ladder of a fire engine, that was being tested by the Norwich Fire Department, over the River Wensum. I ‘ejected’ the fireman who was in the basket because….well, because I could. I was looking for something to ‘marry up’ with the image, and after a long search came across the storage tanks – (liquid gas?). They were being dismantled on Malthouse Lane in Gorleston (Yarmouth); I had used another photo in a picture titled ‘Going Up, Coming Down’. Finally I duplicated the ladder twice and arranged them to balance the composition.