This picture was originally created in 2018. The T.V. ariels came from another collage I was doing at the time called Antennae Roosting. That project was a monumental endeavour that took a very long time to assemble and compose, – ( I’ll show you it sometime). The clouds are real. I was out walking and got caught in a sleet storm(?) and photographed the clouds as they passed by. I don’t know why I placed the coloured, silhouetted ariels in the picture, but it struck me as a strong and interesting concept. I have lately revisited the image and edited it to my satisfaction, because the original looked so muddled and there were too many items. Why Graphic Art? Well it was the only category I could think to attribute it to.
Deluded
Very late one night, I put two photos together for no apparent reason; it looked very dramatic. The background is the south wing of Terminal 3 at Heathrow. As you can see, I have ‘swirled’ the image. The athletes in the foreground were participating in a Triathlon event in 2006. They were at Whitlingham Great Broad , looking at the swimming course set out on the water. I liked the way they were shielding their eyes, one guy is ‘cricking’ his neck! I put the picture through a couple of filters (as usual…zzz) to accentuate the vision. Why Deluded? …I don’t know, it was very late at night/early morning…..
Jon 2
This is Jon Page, who I have known for years, although I haven’t seen him for quite a while. Here he is mooring up his little boat at the Griffin Lane Marina at Thorpe St. Andrew. I took this photograph in 2007. As you can see it is a very basic motorboat, and we had great times. We used to go onto the River Yare for trips, usually to the riverside pubs or for a picnic. I was looking for something to marry this photo with (minus the background) and eventually settled for the extraordinary terrace ‘garden’. I saw this on Riverside Road in Gorleston and took the picture without thinking anymore about it. I think it presents an unusual image. I applied a couple of filters (hence the number 2) to distinguish the overall effect.
Offshore Winds
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.
Untitled No.66
Here is a view looking up the spiral stairwell towards the circular skylight. This is at the front entrance of Apsley House (No.1 London), off Piccadilly, which was the home of the Duke of Wellington. I put the wicker baskets into the picture to see what it would look like. They came from an outdoor display of Constance and Thyme florists on Gordon Street in Cromer. Somehow it seemed to work. Through luck and intuition I included the two carved angels. These trumpeters were on either side of the organ pipes in a church (Sheringham?) and seemed appropriate. I of course sized them into the baskets facing different ways and put the lower angel in front of the handle of the lower basket. I like the way the picture has ‘movement’ through a few imagined lines of symmetry between rectangles and curves.
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.
Hanging Curves
Walking east along Beach Parade at Worthing I noticed an extraordinary block of flats that had undulating terraces that looked like waves. This building is next door to the Splashpoint Leisure Centre; I think the flats are part of the Bayside Apartments. If you turn the picture 45 degrees anti-clockwise you can see what I photographed. Taking the blue sky away I replaced the space with the vaulted roof of Westminster Abbey. This is the Gothic Nave, the tallest in England. The collage really started with the coat hangers. I found them on a mobile frame in the cloakroom/toilet facilities in Apsley House neat Park Lane. A beautiful mansion with lots of priceless works of art….and I photograph some coat hangers! It took a long time to isolate them from the white wall behind them. I tilted them on purpose. I also turned the picture to black and white because there wasn’t that much colour in the subjects originally. Abstract? …I couldn’t determine what category this image fitted.
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.