Subject: Industrial

This is another picture that I have re-edited. Originally completed in 2016, there was something about it that I didn’t like. Since I have ‘tweeked it’, think it has become much stronger visually. I gave that title because of the two technologies, i.e. the steam train wheel and the copper pipes, with the electric sockets and charger wires;  it looked a mess! ( not mass). The background is a view looking down into a tub of margarine/butter, with the distinctive knife mark indentations. I thought the image had ‘movement ‘ and was interesting and bold.

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.

On the way back from a road trip to Scotland, I visited the National Railway Museum in York. It has a fascinating collection of locomotives in a very grand and fitting venue. The background in this picture is one of many landscapes I photographed in the north west of Scotland. In the foreground are two close-ups of the exhibits in the great hall, which was an engine repairshop. The coupling and connecting rods in the immediate foreground are from the steam train called the Evening Star. Beyond that is the winding engine from the Stanhope & Tyne Railway. It was used to haul wagons carrying limestone up the Weatherhill Incline to the blast furnaces at Consett. It stands in front of a huge glass window at one end of the museum. I cut away the window panes and some of the handrails. I thought the two objects fitted well together and are of course, not relatively sized. The title came at the end which I thought suited the demeanour of the image.

Visiting the Royal Norfolk Show, I came across this metal cage which looked quite interesting. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but took a few photos anyway. I now know it is a Cattle Crush, which secures the animal whilst it is being examined or treated. This model is the Tamar Squeeze, manufactured by L.M. Bateman at Cheddleton, Staffs. There were some side panels which I have cut away, and duplicated a couple of wheels, which I tacked on also. I put the ‘Lock’ and ‘Unlock’ labels on the frame too, hence the title. Looking for a background to set the frame against, was a long process. Eventually I selected a cropped shot of a jetty in Queensland somewhere. I applied a filter to give it a gritty effect, and darkened it a bit to give some contrast for the main image.

If you walk south, as far as possible on Yarmouth beach, you will see the two towers for the construction of wind turbines. Cordoned off and up on the embankment are the turbine bodies themselves, laid flat. What you see are the bases with the connecting rods protruding and protected with the green plastic sheaths.  I photographed them through the gap in the wire fence. The deck chairs were on the beach, discarded and being blown by the wind, as you see them.  I isolated them from the sand they were lying on. Not far away was a guy flying a kite….Snap!  I put them together and turned the deckchairs accordingly, and the title and theme was realised!

Walking along the quay at Blakeney, I noticed the cleats, spaced regularly along the edge of the dock, which had the ropes securing the boats in the water. I liked the different way the ties were secured around the metal posts. The heavy chain links were on the quay at Great Yarmouth. The picture was developed, as I introduced and arranged the subjects. I extended the ropes, because of course, their lengths are limited by the photo frame. I duplicated a couple of lines also.

This is a photograph of an aeroplane from the Aviation Museum at Norwich Airport. It is an Avro RJ85,and the striking thing about the four engined commercial aircraft was the empty engine housings. They had obviously removed the engines (for spares?), before donating the plane for exhibition. I eventually tilted the wing and had it flying through a corridor of oil storage units, on Main Cross Rd. in Yarmouth. To complete the composition, I have added the tail plane section of the same airplane.

There is a third river crossing bridge being constructed from Southtown Rd./Cromwell Rd. to the Fishwarf on the Yarmouth side of the river. These cranes were being used in the operation. I have of course, isolated them from the original sky in the photo. The stairwell is on the side of the Coastguard building, on the South Pier at the entrance to the harbour. If you look down from the Jetty Cliff in Cromer, to the Promenade in front of the pier, there is a compass motiv decorating the paving stones, with the curved steps (see ‘Tied-Up Sweep’), which is the backdrop. I created the ‘glass ball’ in the computer from scratch to complete the composition. The suspension bridge is now complete and operational, 2024.