I usually take a healthy long walk from Wells-Next-The-Sea harbour to the Lifeboat station. There is a straight path on a raised embankment, which used to be a light railway track. The view looks out over the salt marshes and running alongside the East Fleet river.The estuary flows out to the North Sea via Big Gap, flanked by East Hills dunes. I admired the landscape and light that was presented. I perversely considered putting a giant bucket and spade in the picture. When I got to West Sands beach, low and behold, there was the bucket and spade (right colour!) with the extra yellow spade, which I photographed in-situ. I wanted something else in the composition. I remembered the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal memorial at Mundesley. The very tall vertically placed bomb is next to the lookout station (QAVS) overlooking the beach. I placed it in the background at an angle (right colour!) to complete the picture and confuse the viewer…. I applied a filter for effect.
Subject: Coastal
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A New Home
Sometimes the cliched “Hold it right there!,.. Don’t move, Just give me moment….”, occurs and so it was with Betty. She is in her new house, in the downstairs middle room. It is, as you can see a panelled dark green. Her and Rob were going to keep it like that. I had helped decorate the house. The right side of the composition is the back bedroom upstairs. I have twisted and distorted the rooms to give the picture a surreal effect and applied a filter to soften the image. “Okay Betty…you can relax now…”.
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Untitled No.76
There are three different photos here that I took on the same day whilst walking around Norwich. On the top is the roof of the Jobcentre on Pottergate by St. Lawrence Lane. The roof looked odd and quite striking in the sunlight; I can only think it is covered with Lead (or Zinc?) sheeting. The main part of the picture is an exterior wall behind the M&S Food Hall on Rampart Horse St. It can be viewed from Chapelfield Plain on Malthouse Rd. and Barwells Court. It is decorated with oblong monochrome tiles/cladding and looks very dramatic. I liked the streetlight and the shadow it casts on the wall. I cut away all the white tiles, to reveal the curved steps. These can be found in front of the Forum on Millennium Plain. I have applied a filter and accentuated the colours. I didn’t have a plan whilst taking the photographs, but realised the potential when I viewed the results in the computer.
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Gold Coast
There is an old church by the green in St. Gregorys Alley. It has become St. Gregorys Antiques and Collectables which is a fascinating place to visit. A noticed a collection of mirrors on display in the entrance/porch. These were magnificent French (18th/19th century) carved gilt wood (gold leaf) framed mirrors. I had to photograph them insitu, only being able to capture the top halves, because other objects were placed in front and bottom. Whilst cutting away the mercury glass and backgrounds, I knew where I would place them. I remembered the photos I took in eastern Tasmania of the rocky coastline ( I think it was Bicheno) with the strange red lichen. This part of the coast is known as the Bay Of Fires. It was a case of arranging, sizing and planting the frames into the crevices of the rocks. Of course, this isn’t the real Gold Coast….thats in Queensland.
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Superstructureshadow
Stood on the deck of the ferry to Tasmania, I took this photo of part of the superstructure. The ship is the Spirit Of Tasmania, on its way from Melbourne (Geelong) to Devonport. The air vents and shadows cast were worth a photograph. This part is known as the as the Boat Deck. Fast forward twelve years, I decided to use it in a collage. I had to distort the image a bit to create a uniform presentation. Another photo from Australia is a picture I took of the winding derrick at Kalgoorie. It is at the Museum Of The Goldfields. One of many photographs I took (also see ‘Out Of The Blue’ picture), I thought it would contrast with the background. I have bent the structure a bit and gave it the shadows to compliment the scene. A very strong image.
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Eight Sheets To The Wind
When I see something that I consider to be outstanding or photogenic, I will take a few photos and ask questions later…So it is with these fitted bed sheets that were drying on the washing line in the bright sunshine. The photographs I took remained in my photo library in the computer for six months. Returning to them, I looked for a landscape to put them in. I tried a few options and eventually settled for this picture of Cromer Pier. I liked the tyre tracks that had been created by the tractors pulling the fishing boats to the water. I arranged the sheets in size and position and tried to get them to follow the curve of the tracks. I distorted, turned and arranged the sheets to arrive at what I considered a flowing composition.
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Untitled No.67
This is the Nave of Westminster Abbey, with its fabulous vaulted ceiling. I had to be blasphemous and introduce a car vacuum cleaner from a petrol station. At least I cut away the ribbed hose pipe and nozzle from the rest of the free standing facility. I was experimenting with a picture to put with it. I liked the combination. The colours and curves seemed to blend. I tilted the pipe to fit into the scenario, and you might notice where the pipe disappears into the recessed hole into what was the working component of the self service unit, but becomes an extension of the ceiling.
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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.