I was walking through the Victoria Shopping Arcade on King St. in Yarmouth. I noticed the dress making mannequin, although it looked more decorative than practicable. I asked the shop owner if I could photograph it. I cut away the background in the computer, as you can see and duplicated and sized it. The one problem was a big price tag (£20) attached to the right shoulder. (Note to self; take it off next time!). I had to copy the left shoulder from another shot, reverse it and then juggle it on, the best I could. Can you tell?..DON’T say anything! The mannequins are standing on a geological feature in South East Tasmania. It is a tessellated ‘pavement’ at Eaglehawk Neck. No shadows and no reflections, hence the title.
Detecting Shadows
Whilst visiting Gorleston beach I came across a guy who was metal detecting with a scanner and spade. I told him that any pound coins he might find were mine. He laughed and said he had only found a couple of bottle tops. I took a few photos of him. Three weeks later, walking along Lowestoft Marine Parade, I was attracted by the curves of the handrail, of a promontory seating area, so I photographed a few angles without any thought of what I would do with them. Wondering how I could utilise the metal detectorist, I hit upon the idea converting his image into a translucent silhouette. I experimented with a few situations to put him in, and finally as you can see, selected the beach front scene with the shadows. I have adjusted the opacity to make him look more of a credible shadow.
Red And Yellow
These are members of a military band who were stationary, and playing at the Royal Norfolk Show. I was drawn to the bright red tunics and the brass instruments. This is a close-up shot I took, amongst many others I photographed of the group. I cropped the photo a bit more and made what I think is a striking image. I have erased the background and their black trousers (notice the red trouser stripe still there) and filled the spaces with the flat red surface. It’s the same device that I have used with my self portrait on the home page. I applied a filter to give the picture a painterly effect.
Kool Sax
I noticed a redundant noticeboard on Yarmouth Way, in Yarmouth. It had been stripped of all the flyers and posters. What was left, were the marks of the sellotape which with the sticky residue had attracted the dirt and grime. The saxophonist was busking on London St. in Norwich. I experimented by placing him in front of the abstract image, and hit upon the idea of swirling the air emanating from his instrument. This gave the illusion of the music being played. It took a LOT of attempts to achieve the satisfactory result – eventually! Of course the noticeboard is disproportionately larger than the musician.
Flatpak Construct
Walking along the path by the beach, I noticed the strip of land being developed between the path and the car park (No.11) on the North Drive in Yarmouth. They were obviously laying down paving stones to rest and establish beach huts. The sections were surrounded by a metal fence. I was drawn to the gate lying on the ground, ready to be attached to the gap in the corner. I included a section of fencing that I had photographed further along. I introduced the glass office buildings (in Melbourne) to contrast with the colour and lines in the foreground. The fence was limited in the original photo frame, so I extended the lines and then cut the sections diagonally to accentuate the composition. Finally, I saturated the colours to give the picture more punch.
Fergie
Leaving the pub one day, I noticed Fergie sat in the corner on his own. It struck me how the scenario reminded me of a painting by Edouard Manet, titled ‘L’Absinthe’ (1875-6). A bit tenuous,.. but hey! There he was, with his pint in front of him, deserving a photo. The resulting picture is different from the original photograph. The wall behind him was a pale yellow, with a poster in the shot. I have taken away the padded bench he was sat on. I then tilted him into the corner of the frame (notice his pint of lager). I then pulled the round table, like plastercine, into the bottom left hand corner, to balance the composition. The black oblong also balanced his shirt and hat. I saturated the yellow background which ‘makes’ the picture. Fergie is a local character, a lovely bloke who is a builder and decorator. He drives round in a beaten up old VW Beetle convertible.
Simons Rubbish Car
Hamish had just left the front passenger seat to get some groceries, whilst Kaye and I were sat in the back. The lighting and the curves of the interior with the ripped up door panelling, looked quite striking from where I was sitting. How to fill the window space? Back home in front of the computer, I saw a photo I had taken of a shopfront with a sort of small ‘front garden’. It is the fenced enclosure of an estate agent’s called ‘Minors & Brady’ on Unthank Rd, so I incorporated that image to expand the narrative. I filled the side view mirror with a photo of a kerb with double yellow lines, to be synonymous with the interior curves. I liked the contrast between the fluid shapes in the car, and the straight lines outside. Simon won’t mind me saying his car is rubbish,… because it is.. f++k him! Ha ha….
G-Force
Walking along Hunstanton Beach on one of the first sunny days of the year, the crowds were out enjoying themselves. There is a funfair section between the seafront and Seagate Rd. I took a load of photographs, especially the Helter Skelter and the Orbiter. I had a perverse idea of placing the Orbiter on top of the Helter Skelter. Then came the wooden planking of Cromer Pier, which was just drying out from the rain. Playing around, I turned the photo sideways and realised what a dramatic effect it had on the composition. The title came at the end.
Fantastic Two
This is another interior shot of the indoor marketplace that I used in the picture titled ‘Fantastic Too Two’. The workman in the cherrypicker was helping to dismantle some steel tubular stanchions in Lowestoft. It was the structural frame of a commercial building that was being demolished. The crossed tubular supports looked quite stark. I have included another two photos of them to create a crisscrossed pattern, suspended in the surreal and very ethereal setting. I applied a Paint Daubs filter to soften the picture and give it a dreamlike quality.
Fantastic Too Two
The canoes were moored together on the River Wensum, at a landing site by Elm Hill in Norwich. I was looking down on them from the river walkway above. These are two separate photographs I took. They are a ‘Pub & Paddle’ enterprise, which gives the public the opportunity to go up and down the river to visit waterside pubs. The dramatic building interior is a newly built indoor market, which is replacing the old jumble of stalls that have been on the Market Place in Yarmouth for years. The sun streaming through the horizontally slatted windows, and casting light on the wooden panelling was fantastic. I distorted the image to give movement and applied a Poster Edge filter to accentuate the grain in the wood.