The building is the back extension of St.Giles House Hotel, which has its grand ornate entrance on St.Giles Street. The modern block runs alongside Fishers Lane at the back. I was drawn to the metallic looking architecture, shining in the morning sunshine. I have turned the photo forty five degrees anti-clockwise, copied the railings twice and added them into the top right hand corner, below the original. I added the blue sky and filled the windows with the blue reflection also. The table and stools were on the patio of the Rushcutters Arms, on the Yarmouth Road. The outside area overlooks the River Yare where boats can moor alongside. I put my glass on the table and photographed the furniture. It looked quite sculptural. It was then a case of finding some sort of complimentary background on which to pin the elongated table and stools. The title is tenuous.
Raindrops 2
Whenever I walk along a street, I might notice something as I pass, I stop, walk back and photograph it. Here are two examples of that idiosyncrasy. At the top is the remnants of a front door step which is now blocked off. The brick work remains. The building is now flats converted from a pub on Heigham St. know as The Pineapple P.H. The bottom segment is a glass grille for a basement below. This is at the entrance (again!) of the Olives bar/restaurant at the junction of Elm Hill and Wensum St. I put the two together without much thought. Then I experimented with some opposing circles against the predominant squares. Copying the immediate background and distorting the result, highlighting the tops, I created raindrops! I know…they should be upside down in physical reality, but I preferred them as they are. Notice they’re not pear shaped.
Collision Course
The sitter (literally) in this picture shall remain anonymous at his insistence. I was in his flat having a drink, quite rudely reached for my camera. He instinctively raised his hands (and can) to obscure his face. I thought it resulted in a very interesting and well lit portrait. I said I MIGHT use it – so I have. Walking back to my flat along Heigham St., I was intrigued by the road junction with Orchard St. There was that black tyre mark, as if someone had braked into the turn, which accentuated the curve of the road and pavement. I put the cutout portrait against this image,…and it worked! I cut off the right hand armrest to expose more of the background. I also tilted the portrait to complete the composition. I finally applied a filter to give the picture some drama. I have included this image in the Graphic category simply because of the painted 20mph road sign and the other road markings.
String Theory
The ‘cliff’ you see is in fact Mosi-Oa-Tanya ( Thundering Smoke), also known as Victoria Falls. We visited the site during the dry season (late September) hence the lack of water, we even walked along the cliff edge. I have put some sail powered water pumps on the skyline. These were in Southern Australia, somewhere along Flinders Highway (B100) on the way to Elliston. There was a concentration of them in a field; I have montaged three different photos. In the trench below is a braid of rope (duplicated) which was expertly coiled by a guy named Graham who I met recently. He explained this chain Sinnet is a way to store a length of rope which can be unraveled at a stroke. What does this picture have to do with String Theory?….it doesn’t, but then again it might be everything…..
Striking 2
I’m not in the habit of taking photos in public toilets. . believe me. . , but I was struck by the diagonal sunlight on the wall tiles and the orange flooring. The orange cubicle door gave the composition added finesse. There was no one around, so I took a couple of shots. There are situations that catch my eye (or the corner of it) and this space was a good example. The redundant pair of armchairs were plonked on a lawn outside some flats on Lothian St. The angle of the sun gave them some presence. I took a few photographs from different angles. The trestle table pub benches were stacked up outside a restaurant on St. Benedict’s, which had gone bust. They were so sculptural in the sunshine, so I had to take a few photos of them. I have turned them forty five degrees clockwise, in line with the light direction. The chairs and tables aren’t comparatively sized. I applied a couple of filters to accentuate the pattern of the material on the armchairs, the wood grain and the tiles.
Configuration 3
Walking along the Promenade from Cromer Pier there is a set of steps with the whitewashed flint rampart, that takes you up to New St. and the No.1 Fish Restaurant. I stood at the bottom and liked the CONFIGURATION that was presented. It was an overcast day so the view looked monochrome and flat. The signpost and railings seemed to accentuate the composition. I was going to put railway signals ascending the stairs, that I photographed in the York Railway Museum. I extended the sky to place some there. Then I remembered the horse and rider that I didn’t include in the picture entitled ‘Out Of The Stalls’. Forget the signals! The horse looked better! It is relatively larger than it should be. The ‘sky’ is my duvet. I applied a couple of filters to give the image. . . serenity?
Out Of The Stalls 2
The view is from the A9 road, looking towards the Cairngorms National Park. This was part of the road trip when we lost the radio signal because we were on the roof of Britain (?). There was low cloud and mist, (I darkened the sky) with the sun struggling to show. I photographed the industrial mobile staircases because together they looked surreal. They ( collective noun?) were in a storage compound belonging to D. Utting & Son Engineering, who manufacture car spraying booths on Exeter St. here in Norwich. I introduced the horse and rider as a compositional connect, which works quite well. I photographed them at the Royal Norfolk Show. They were milling about with others in a paddock, waiting to perform in a show jumping/dressage competition. The staircase took a long time to isolate from the original photo, and the picture came about (as usual) by noodling around with disparate elements and connections. Out Of The Stalls – geddit?
On Platform 3.2
The platform is at Dar-Es-Salaam railway station in Tanzania. I was with three friends, embarking on a three day railway trip to Serenje in Zambia. We were going to visit Dr. Livingstones memorial site, and eventually go to Victoria Falls (Mosi-Oa-Tunya) in Zimbabwe. The ‘train’ at platform 3 is part of a replica of George Stephensons ‘Rocket’ steam locomotive (1829). This is an exhibit at the York Railway Museum. It was built in 1935 and is credited to Robert Stephenson & Co. It has its cylinder cut away to reveal the workings of the piston. I made use of the platform support column to give the appearance of credibility. Also on the platform is the coupling and vacuum brake hose from the front of another train exhibited at the museum. The picture was, as usual, developed from vague introductions of different elements. I applied a filter to enhance the picture.
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 improvised lobster/crab pots; 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. They are of course not relatively sized. 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……