Cromer is having its sea wall protected by what is known as rock revetment. This is basically lots of very big boulders (pink granite?) placed at the base of the existing wall. The work is being carried out to the west of the pier along the Promenade. I took some photos looking down on the rock piles. I noticed in one of the three half circular promontories which act as viewing areas, a large block of concrete. It is waist high and about two metres wide. I don’t know its purpose but was drawn to the irregular markings on its surface. It presented a strange and compelling pattern, probably due to weathering and frost (?). I have placed that at the top of the picture above the two bands of rock placements. The propeller was (is) an outdoor exhibit at the Windermere Jetty Museum – my homage to William Turner’s red daub which became a buoy in his Royal Academy picture. The fixed tables were outside the Beach Terrace Cafe on the seafront in Yarmouth.
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. As usual, I can’t leave well alone and have to apply a filter, to the original image, which I think (my prerogative) enhances the picture.
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, you can see the curves at the bottom. 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. I think the purpose of the picture is the fluidity.. 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! I love this picture because I feel it is a good example of my soul ambition to create what I see and wish to express. I also love this because I spent a wonderful time with my sister and brother-in-law. X
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 had photographed on my light box. I naturally turned the ball upside down (law of optical physics) (?) and sized the duplicates appropriately. I do wonder if the viewer would/could appreciate how much time it took to eventually achieve the result they see. Note to self. Shut up whinging.zzz
Untitled No.65
This is a collage of three different buildings along the River Wensum in Norwich. At the bottom are some railings of a zigzag path for wheelchairs which goes down to the Norwich Combined Court Centre. This is accessed from Whitefriars near the bridge. Next is Dragonfly House on Gilers Way. I liked the shadows cast by the slatted roof above the entrance. At the top is the newly built Halls of Residence on Duke St. by the bridge. I turned the image a quarter clockwise to enhance the composition. I should have titled this ‘A Tale Of Three Bridges’, since Dragonfly House overlooks a curved pedestrian walkway.
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 a sympathetic background. I invented a couple of extra riveted cover panels to enhance the composition. I tilted the tail fin to create some dynamism. The title was a flippant afterthought. Do you think my description is a bit pretentious? After reading what I have written….hmmm I think so. Nice picture though. I was happy with it, otherwise I wouldn’t be displaying it. Nice.
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 them. 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 photograph I took, on my visit to the beautiful 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.