Walking

Well since Cardiff I have hardly gone anywhere, certainly no where specifically for photographic purposes. A number of factors have caused this:

1. Winter. It is just not that great weather all the time. When it is sunny, it is beautiful but as I have said before, the light quality isn't the same as summer, people are not out as much, or wearing giant coats and many places are closed.

2. After such an early start and a long and intensive day in Cardiff, I realised after a variety of unpleasant reactions to that days exertions that I just didn't have the fitness for it. Frankly I think my stubbornness and unwillingness to stop and take a decent length break when I am tired was my downfall. It is a testament to my passion that I manage to completely ignore (in fact I would go as far as to say not even notice) that I am pushing myself to far. Well I figured that if I cannot change my mind set then I must bring myself to the point where I can better cope with it.


Most days in most weeks I do no exercise at all. This is not healthy but I've not found many ways to exercise which I am not either scared stiff (ice skating, swimming) or completely bored by (the gym). I am also someone that is naturally skinny and struggles to put weight on.


While I was at University I did Taekwon-do, that was fun and very intensive, a great cardio workout and there was a pride aspect to it. You would be mercilessly mocked if you missed a class without a very very good reason and you were aiming for that next elusive belt. Additionally you would see your class mates all around campus, there was no escape. Also while at University I started Archery, great for arm and back strength, posture and a nice gentle repetitive stroll to locate your arrows. Unfortunately I have never planned to be where I am for any length of time, so as I am in flux I cannot afford to take up either of these, subscription fees being pricey and for a full year. Which knowing my luck I'll get a job in London just as I subscribe.


However as you can guess I am an ardent explorer (at least certainly of the British Isles). I like the certainty of home but I also like to get off the beaten track, poke through woods and hedges and see what's over that next rise. So why not do a little something to improve my fitness levels and do a little exploration. So I started going for walks.

Now at the same time as this was filtering through my head I had been filling in applications for residencies. Now all of these had involved to a certain degree the idea of not only (or not at all) creating work subverting the postcard image. They had at least some relation to the local area of the residency and I was more interested, with the information I had, in thinking about producing a body of work to in fact reflect accurately the local area. The importance of local tourist sites (if they even had any) was not as important and I was becoming more interested in not playing the traditional tourist roles , rather seeing what really is there and reproducing that. After filling in two of these with similar ideas well, it just all kinda fell into place without me even realising at first.


By the time I had realised I had already gone on a few walks and started taking my camera out with me. I am now going on walks everyday (apart from Saturdays). Generally lasting between 30 mins to and hour and a half depending on where I decide to go and how much time is spent taking photos . I am often not in motion for the entire time since if I find an interesting shot I may just be playing with it for a while, trying to perfect focus or light qualities. As to where I walk I don't really follow a strict plan, there is some wonderful national trust woodland within a stones throw from my house and other than a walk up or down the main road it's the only direction to go. It certainly proves to be the more interesting. I also usually end up near or at the local pond, the round trip of the pond is a pleasant 30 min walk, it is beautiful and the pond itself is at my end of the woodland anyway so its kinda hard to avoid. It has ducks and I know in the spring the geese will return to make a violent racket and sit on the island in the middle.

From these trips I have been amassing quite a collection of photographs, some good, some mediocre and some down right fluky. Everyday I post a single photograph to Twitter that I think fits the walk or the atmosphere of where I went. I try to make it a photo that is at least interesting, if not the best photograph I have taken that day. The fact that sometimes the photos I come back with are a little mediocre or dull I am zen with. Sometimes the weather just isn't in my favour. The point of the walks were firstly a way to gain some exercise, secondly to explore and thirdly to create a personal and truthful perspective on the area.


How it will all turn out is yet to be seen as is what, if anything, I will do with it. Either way I am exploring those woods better than I ever did as a child and finding out all sorts of things I never knew.

I imagine I will blog more about this as I see fit. Every trip need not be written about and certainly the walks that have already occurred cannot be since I have only got round to this first draft over a month into it. Plus I don't want an in depth analysis of every walk, the photographs should go a long way towards that. But as important things pop into my head I will endeavour to write them down.

As you will notice my blogging now includes pictures. Just a note to say the photos here are a selection from the walk photos. You can see the whole lot at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/noblueskies/sets/72157622935946910/

Cardiff - 26th September 2009

I like travelling by rail and while cars and even buses have their own appeal there is still something to be said for a good train journey.

I guess I can understand why people want to read on trains, I have done so on many an occasion when I am on a route I frequently travel. But today when I am travelling into new and unknown pastures it seems needless to bring anything more for the journey than my Ipod. I wanted to use the opportunity to soak up where I was going and even now as I draft parts of this entry on the train, I am glancing up more at the passing scenery than I am writing. Soon enough I will put paper down and watch the landscape roll by.

All around me adults are sleeping (it is 8:30am on a Saturday morning and I have been up since 6!) or are reading newspapers. Most are also hidden in plain sight by a pair of headphones much like I am. Only the small child sitting in front of me is taking in the joy of a journey and a landscape never seen before and not seen for long. I find this kind of sad yet endemic of life today. People are so intent to get to where they are going that they forget to just enjoy the journey. I'm not saying I am not also prone to this but I guess this journey today brought that little snippet of thought to the surface.

The only thing that would make it better would be for the train to have a steam engine.


As to Cardiff itself, well the weather took a while to improve. After starting out beautiful and sunny the clouds rolled in while in the Swindon area and stayed until midday in Cardiff. I was somewhat upset to see the bright morning skies disappear under cloud and the wide flat fields and gently rolling hills of western England become that little bit murky. It was defiantly autumnal weather. I had been 'promised' excellent sunshine and I was keen to steal a last bright and sunny day before winter set in. While the morning was less than perfect It did improve markedly. In fact as soon as the sun came out it became very hot, almost unseasonable.


Cardiff struck me as very quiet for a Saturday, I soon found out that that was due to two things. The cheese festival in the Castle and the newly opened 'largest John Lewis store in Wales' absorbing the majority of the population. Now while I had first hand experience of the packed John Lewis store (I went in there to look for a loose leaf tea strainer device and yes it really really was a mistake) seeing the quantity of people in the cheese festival was coincidental.


After walking around Cardiff and the bay all day I had got most of the photographs that I wanted including images of the Castle, Millennium Stadium and an unrelated to my practice yet amusing shot of the closed up entrance to 'Torchwood's Hub' by about 4pm. While wandering through the city centre in the last of the decent light I came across a church that I had tried to get a photograph of earlier. While trying again (with much better light this time) I spotted people on the tower top. I decide to investigate further and found for the small donation of a pound I could also go up for as long as I liked. It was a long climb on very steep winding stairs and included an angry buzzing insect of some kind (I assumed it was a wasp but was paying more attention to my steps that whatever it was I had just disturbed) but I got some excellent views of Cardiff, including into the grounds of the Castle and of the sheer numbers of people milling around for cheese.


These days out are all about the exploration, the journey. Granted there are rules and ways in which the day can be made preferential but most of these you cannot control nor should you worry about trying to do so. The final product, the goal, is the collection of postcards and photographs from the day, but to get there you must enjoy the journey, let your day unfurl as it wants to, embrace the oddities, unusual occurrences and strange urgings you get to investigate places that may or may not end up being interesting and give you that one photo you want to make into a work of art.

Relish the meandering path.

Brill - 21st September 2009

Never Trust the weather forecast.

I mean it, never never trust the weather forecast!

Late last summer, while returning from Sheffield my father mentioned the existence of a windmill at Brill. I had no idea where Brill was, except that it must have been near the M40 and Chilterns as that was where we were passing. At the time I didn't really react but inwardly I was intrigued. I've not seen many windmills and certainly one so near to me would be worth the visit. I think the last time I'd come across a windmill was on a 10 year plus old family holiday in the Norfolk Broads. Personally I wasn't aware of any windmills near to me by a long stretch but then again I live in a valley which is generally not conducive to a frequent and decent breeze.

I was aware that for the distance I would be going and the things I would be photographing that I needed the day to be glorious sunshine. So I decided to keep an eye on the Met office forecast and only go when it was meant to be sunny, not sunny intervals mind you, full sunshine. From previous experience I knew that sunny intervals might not be often or even definite sunshine and I knew that I couldn't in this case tell the difference by just looking out of my window. Unfortunately the days passed and all the forecast sunny days turned to overcast as they approached or I was unavoidably busy.

Suddenly a few days before I ended up going I saw that the mid range forecast was saying that Thursday was going to be amazing glorious sunshine. This seemed to be good news but it was too many days away to know for sure. I had been cheated by the positive weather forecast before. But only a day or so later the forecast changed to have that very day good sunshine (for at least the morning) and that was enough for me. I wasn't busy and although I could have waited till Thursday I decided that I might as well go that day than wait for a day that may or may not just be as good.


Photographing the windmill was not exactly as I imagined. The landscape was amazing, high up on a hill in Buckinghamshire, but in the immediate vicinity was the most hummocky undulated ground I've ever seen. I understood why some think Brill was apparently Tolkien's inspiration for the village of Bree in Lord of the Rings. It looks like Hobbits would have a wonderful time there. Unfortunately the weather forecast that I so pinned my hopes on was not entirely accurate. It was sunny but it had that autumnal haze that obscures the sun and loses the intense shadows and highlights that are so desired. The fact of the matter is that the forecast just cannot be that specific.

Usually I wouldn't care, Summer is usually easy to predict, bright sunshine will be bright strong sunshine and you can deal with the occasional fleeting cloud. But the autumn and spring months are more changeable. The sun is weaker and less likely to burn off high cloud, you have to know each season intimately and even then I am not sure you can really tell. So while the little sunshine I got from up there was a little on the weak and watery side the nature of the colours I use will undoubtedly make the whole image more intense. The view was still amazing, it is very nice to get to high places once and a while and I can always go back when Summer is in full bloom.

Sheffield 19th August 2009 – The importance of sunlight

While the trip to Sheffield was for a purpose other than sightseeing. I did manage to make a little time for my favourite activity. Since this trip was date specific rather than weather I have the opportunity to talk about difficulties related to poor weather and poor lighting.

First of all Sheffield is a very pretty city with an excellent travel system. Trams, Trains and more buses than you could shake a stick at. A few of those buses were free and the trams were in my opinion well priced, £3 for an adult day ticket anywhere on the tram network. Plus for an industrial city it has obviously had a lot of money spent on it to make an attractive and unified city centre and a green city. The council obviously had an obsession with fountains, there are at least half a dozen in the Peace Gardens alone plus goodness knows how many more dotted around the city.

This proves to be useful when finding good postcard sights, fountains are an excellent draw to people especially in the summer. In fact after locating the Tourist Information Centre (a criminally small and poorly marked shop for the size of the city and the tourism potential in both the city and surrounding areas) and purchasing a selection of postcards I found that I had already taken one of the depicted shots of the Peace Garden fountain.

Unfortunately the sun refused to come out until I was just about to leave. I did get a few nice shots when the sun made an appearance but they obviously looked rushed and left no time for the random and unexpectedly brilliant shots that always come. While the shots I got while it was dull helped prepare me to get the same shots in the sunlight it was never the same and lost a lot of its spontaneity. As a result I have a few images that would make excellent postcards if not for the fact that the light quality is flat and dull. The sunlight is vital to the image, bright light and shadow and the intensity of colour are needed for interesting and vibrant location shots. Images that would encourage others to visit.


While I can fake the light quality with paint it is extremely hard and I would prefer not to do that. Especially as it makes matching the right new sky to the work very hard. Light makes an enormous difference and a sky that suited the dull colours may not at all suit bright ones. In addition some colours, especially buildings, change in unexpected ways and the way the shadows are cast can be almost impossible to add to an image. All you have is a 2 dimensional representation of a complex 3 dimensional scene, you can guarantee at least some of the shadows will look out of place. While I like out of place I do need a certain amount of reality to be retained in my images.

Cowes - 7th August 2009

The Illusion of Sun and the Difficulties of Sea

Had an awesome day out at Cowes. It was an unplanned day mostly, at least with regards to photography. Its primary purpose was to have fun on a day out with family and to take a look around Cowes during Cowes week (if you don't know what that is look it up, although it is simply a sailing competition with additional tourist and festival type airs). We were there on the Friday in particular to watch the Red Arrows and the famous fireworks in the evening.

I'm always a fan of going to the seaside. As someone who's grown up in a suburban valley, being able to see the horizon is a novel experience let alone that much water. My father was at one point in his life in the merchant navy, sometimes I wonder if it's in the blood. With regards to my work however I find myself thinking about the issues around taking photographs on a seaside setting.

The sea is always in movement (yes I know, stating the obvious) and much of its interest lies in that. Trying to get a photograph of it on a particular wave pattern is impossible unless you catch it by accident. Even then you still lose a lot of it's allure, like many things it just doesn't look as good stationary as in motion. On a minor note you also have the challenge of getting the horizon level something hard to do using the view screen rather than the viewfinder (additionally more so if you are A. impatient and trigger happy and/or B. with a limited time period in which to get the shot). I rarely worry too much these days about a perfectly level horizon however, it can always be fixed later in Photoshop ;)

Another interesting problem to note is that of sunshine and shade. On most occasions a bright sunny day with a few occasional clouds is not a problem. If the sun become obscured I will just wait for it to come back out. By the seaside, scudding clouds are the good weather norm. However waiting for the sun to come back out doesn't work when you have a huge swathe of open beach for some where, that beach will be partly in shade. The only solution? Take lots of photographs, hopefully one will have the shade in a place where it doesn't ruin the overall composition of the shot.

We were pretty lucky that day, having no idea what usually goes on and when at Cowes Week we stumbled on the boats coming into the finish line right by the coastline. I managed to get quite a few close up shots. The boats were spectacular en masse with the multitude of brightly coloured spinnaker sails. We also found a brilliant spot to get shocked by the fireworks and the unexpected appearance of the Red Arrows from behind us. I tried to take a few photographs of the Arrows, a futile endeavour I know but does anyone with a camera to hand not try and try again. I did manage a good video and a single photograph....and plenty of empty sky and smoke trails of course.

Kew Gardens - 29th May 2009

My trip to Kew was unexpected to say the least. It had been somewhere I had recently been thinking about going and with summer well advanced I knew it likely to be busy and colourful. However it is also somewhere that takes quite some time to get to and I had always thought that there was little else around that attracted me to the area. Really it was just on my mental list of places to investigate online before committing to going.

What ended up happening was outside interference from my mother after my mild rant on the Friday morning about costs of visiting Paris for the day and all the other places I was thinking about going to. Next thing I know I am putting my camera battery on charge for a brief period and getting ready to go out. I was hardly prepared, the camera didn't gain enough charge for a photographic adventure with no worries about running out of power halfway through the day and I had no idea what to expect.

Soon enough we are on a train to Richmond and then onto Kew. Now as I have said before I don't usually like going on these kind of outings with other people, If you are going to come with me it has to work one of two ways. Either the trip is primarily one of fun (for whatever reason) and my photography is secondary to that or you realise that I am going to be doing all sorts of strange and unexplained things, I'm probably not going to be all that accepting of stopping to rest a lot (I just don't, I'm completely impatient and always looking for that next shot) and I will more than likely keep going until I, the sun or my camera is completely exhausted.

So bearing this in mind I was a little cautious about going to Kew with a parental unit, especially one with arthritic knees and one that doesn't share my passion for what I do. She quite likes plants however so that was a bonus, as was the credit card (I hadn't realised how expensive Kew was to get into) It was also handy that Kew has some well defined and obvious places to get good photos and it's not so big so as to get around in a few hours. So I set myself to work on principle one and take it as a fun day out. Although my mother is quite used to some of the more unusual antics required in getting particular shots as my father is also a photographer and he is probably worse than I. My dad will often stop immediately if he sees a potential photo, although his can be almost anything from macro shots of insects to wide angle landscape shots. I tend to see mine a little before I get to them and a shoot fast unlike my father who may see a shot but have to wait until everything is right. As I have explained before I generally don't have that luxury or in fact want. The last time I was waiting for a shot I was trying to get sunlight on the Houses of Parliament (sunlight being probably the only thing I will wait for) and standing there on Westminster bridge with a camera just means you end up experiencing the cameras of every tourist that walks past. I think in the 10 minutes I was there I was asked 5 times. And yes of course I took them all, even one that stole a moment of sunshine that should have been mine!

But back to Kew, it was a very nice day but I realised quickly that my camera just didn't have enough charge to last me all day so I had to be quite restrictive in what I took. No more photographs from inside the plant houses or close ups of waterfowl as they would never be paintings. A shame since I'm not just about postcard style shots and it did steal that sense of photographic abandon that I relish. The place overall had a pretty calm air about it. You wouldn't have thought you were anywhere near London certainly but it was much as I expected. Doesn't mean I didn't have a good time, it was excellent ,but the most exciting part?

Just chucking myself on a train and going, no planning, little or no expectations, reckless adventure!

Spitalfields Part 1 (24/05/09) - On that shot you get a second chance at

I headed away from Brick Lane back towards Liverpool Street Station and on the way managed to get another photograph of an ice cream van. This makes three I managed to get a decent shot of, the first becoming a painting in early 2009, the second a few weeks previously while in Portsmouth. From Liverpool Street I caught the bus back to London Bridge and took a little time to grab shots of both Southwark Cathedral and HMS Belfast/Tower bridge that I had seen multiple times that weekend already and not managed to before. It seemed like fate was driving me to get these photographs and I'm not one to ignore that.

After hopping on the Jubilee Line as far as Canary Wharf I wandered around trying to find the correct bus stop for the rail replacement bus to London City Airport (as I said travel was broken). By then my feet were really starting to hurt. While In Canary Wharf I got a few photos which was nice as the last time I was there the sun was rapidly going down. So very shiny all that steel and glass, there was also an interesting public sculpture that I could have sworn was a deep blue but all the photographs I took make it look like it was black.

The bus ride to London City Airport was quite enjoyable. Nothing really beats the underground for getting around London fast but the buses help connect the city together. Plus you get to see some interesting views if like me you prefer landscape to people watching. In particular I got quite a stunning view of The Dome from the Blackwall area.

I got off a stop early to see the Thames Barrier and was mightily impressed by the surrounding gardens. I had seen on the map that there were gardens on the north side of the barrier but really expected it to just be a large heathland or open park like space. In fact areas were very heavily manicured and others left to be more natural with many trees and a Cafe. A slightly surreal situation as I felt I was very far from any kind of residential area. In fact I was quite wrong, there is quite an impressive residential community in an area I would expect to be almost entirely industrial.

The Barrier itself was far more impressive than I expected from images I'd already seen. Surprisingly for such a mechanical monster it was quite relaxing, I imagine this was due to the beautiful day doing wonders for almost any object and my proximity to the river which as I have stated before seems to induce a profound sense of calm.

I then proceeded to walk to London City Airport and attempted to walk around the perimeter trying to find a good and unobstructed view. Walking to the terminal proved that there was no good unobstructed view from that side nor was there any sign of an official viewing platform. Not wanting to attract too much attention to myself and being quite aware of current security concerns I decided to go see if I could get a couple of quick shots from the bridge and call it a day. In fact what I found was that the bridge was inaccessible for pedestrians but there was a separate underpass with a great view of the runway and directly underneath the incoming flight path. I was scared half to death by a black private jet plane that stayed about 30mins then departed as quickly as it came.

I hung around for a while getting a few photos of the terminal and planes but realised I was really too far away for my little compact camera to get anything close up. I also had the definite feeling that I might be doing something potentially a little naughty and had had that feeling since I walked into the general vicinity of the airport. In the end I crossed over to the other side of the docks and spent more time watching, photographing and filming the planes as they came in. Of course from where I was I wasn't going to get any people in my shots so it was more a curiosity thing than any real expectation of artwork coming from it.

I will finish up this excessive post with a quick note on the confusing return journey. As I said before, transportation links in this area were a little broken due to weekend engineering works. On the way home I ended up taking the DLR one stop then a Rail Replacement Bus to another DLR station and almost remained on the bus going back the way I came. Frankly the guys running the bus must have stopped caring and while they were friendly enough they were more concerned in having a laugh while moving the herds of people around to mention we had got to our final destination. After working out where I had ended up I realised the bus had dropped us at a non functioning DLR but within walking distance of Canary Wharf. Happily walking to Canary Wharf gave me a second shot at that view I had seen earlier on the bus of the Dome.

Definitely a day of second chance photographs.

Spitalfields Part 1 (24/05/09) - On doing this alone

Finally I have got round to editing this. I was hoping for a concise entry but I quickly realised that 1. I have a lot to say even if I manage some semblance of being concise and 2. this was an oddity of a trip that actually requires an entry about each area I visited that day.
So I continue...

My trips to London have mostly been for two fold reasons, taking photographs and seeing my friends who made the move. As I see so little of my mates now compared to while at University I usually do little intentional photography for my art as all my time is spent having fun. On the Saturday evening we had as a group descended on the Spitalfields area to celebrate a birthday with boozing and 50's style bowling. While there I was told about Sundays in the same area, cool markets Brick Lane and the such. Since I already knew I would be having a rare Sunday to myself it sounded like an excellent plan.

A quick note: I am not entirely against combining the two reasons to come to London. It is just the way I inevitably work is not usually group friendly. I tend to walk a lot, I rarely stop moving and when I do it is for the purpose of some image I have half seen. Sometimes capturing said image might require me to go off the beaten track, do strange and potentially embarrassing things (like lie down on the pavement) wander where you might not expect to go and generally follow some impulse or other. There have been many occasions that the shot I want requires me to kneel down halfway across a road. And none of these behaviours suit a group activity.

I realised that the Spitalfields area would not take all day and although I could do as I usually would and just go to an adjoining area (Shoreditch, Hoxton etc) I actually had another idea in mind from a planned trip that had yet to happen. I had wanted to go to Heathrow to see if I could get photographs of tourists and planes in much the same spirit of Malcolm Moreley's cruise ships. As you can see from this and the previous post it has been on my mind. Prior research told me that Heathrow might be troublesome without some pre arranged clearance to prove I wasn't an evil terrorist type (my lack of two mobile phones might have stood in my favour however). I decided instead to take a DLR ride to the Thames Barrier and London City Airport. Places I had never ever been near before which in London is a rarity for me. Unfortunately it being a Sunday meant that transport and especially the DLR was quite erratic.

So I started out at Liverpool Street Station after having taken the bus from London Bridge. It is quite a nice journey in fact crossing the river over London Bridge where you can see HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge in one direction. A view I had seen the Friday night previously and have plans to revisit. You also get nice views of Southwark cathedral and for me some unusual overground views of the area around Monument, which I have done previously but it was quite some time ago.

Outside Liverpool Street I took a moment to try to find a nice angle to photograph the Station for a future project I have in mind. I then wandered towards the areas we had been the previous evening, having no particular goal in mind but to investigate. I ended up wandering through Petticoat Lane market which was a riot of colour and people. Slightly claustrophobic and although it was enjoyable it was also pretty hard to get photos in. The fact of it is that in any close quarters environment you will really struggle to get a well composed image that doesn't have someones head in the way. This is an example when many people are detrimental to my process. Luckily I did find an excellent vantage point halfway up a set of stairs into a council estate at the junction of three roads literally covered in market stalls.

I continued to roam along the market until I came out at one end to the main road. Checked the map as I still hadn't found the particular area we had been in the evening before and headed towards the indoor market. It was interesting but alas it was also indoors (no sky!) so after a couple of photos I moved on. Eventually I located the place we had been the night before saw the infamous vegan restaurant in a red Routemaster, got some interesting shots of that area and looked around a few more indoor markets working my way up to and along Brick Lane. Although not directly related to my artistic concerns I have to say that that area probably has the greatest variety of food stalls I have ever seen. Seriously, pick a country and I'm sure you could find a cuisine from it or its nearest neighbours.

Brick Lane continued the Sunday market theme. Stalls lined the road from Hanbury Street to Bethnal Green Road and produced another interesting photographic situation. Most people who know me will know my fascination with VW camper vans, well as I walked up Brick Lane I came across a very pretty and very shiny chrome Citron van acting as a mobile coffee stand. While not a VW it was very nice looking and with the sunlight reflecting off it, all the colourful people (I love how summer gets people in colours other than black, grey and blue) and the strong blue sky behind it I felt it would be worth a shot. Alas a common problem appeared, that of too many fast moving people.

In this shot I wanted people at the van and no or very few people around it. I didn't want people in front of me obscuring the van. As I may have said before this means I need to get my shot quickly however this doesn't always pan out. In this situation it was a relatively open space in the market, good for the image but also a place where people either walked faster or would pause for breath. In any case I spent quite sometime there trying for a shot and leaving unsure that I managed to get a decent one. As it turns out I think I got a couple of doozies.

Portsmouth 9th May 2009

NB (9th August 2009) Impressive fail with the blogging recently. Not because I haven't been writing but in fact because the idea of trying to condense and rewrite my verbose ramblings has left me cold.

It's been quite some time since I went to Portsmouth. Initially I wasn't going to blog as it wasn't an intended trip. However I realised after reviewing the photos that I had been on occasion in that special frame of mind that is perpetual when on an premeditated trip. Seems it has become quite natural to drop in and out of this frame of mind when seeing potential for photos, so much so that apparently I don't notice I have done so.

So a quick bit of background. I went to Portsmouth with my parents to see my sister and celebrate my fathers birthday. After a little time there we went down to the waterfront to go to a pub they all like and have a bit of a walk. Now the last time I was in Portsmouth was a year previously or there about for my sisters graduation ceremony. While they were in the ceremony (which I wasn't able to attend due to space restrictions) I had the opportunity to explore Portsmouth and I walked a bloody long way around most of central Portsmouth However there was one bit of beach I wasn't able to access, although I did walk along the sea wall above it. This time the beach was open to all and we took a walk along the beach and up along the sea wall.

While on the beach I got some photographs of things I rarely have the opportunity to see including large ferries coming in to port and a gunship of some description. Remembering the ocean liner paintings of Malcolm Morley I found this all very inspirational. The other aspect to this trip was the addition of a ready source of people which I could utilise. Granted I would rather get people in natural poses but I did have the ability to use the already natural antics of my family and use them to my own advantage with the common cry of “stay there please”. I say common cry because often enough I need not say it, for my father has already done so. Usually I actively dissuade my friends and family from joining me as I know how frustrating it can be for both parties. But hey I'll take what I can get, it's just a matter of priorities something I may touch on in future blogs.

I also got a good photo of a ice cream van.

An Unforeseen Update

So as I said previously I had a bit of an urge but no real plans to go out again. Well you know how it is, the plans just sort of happen and of course they happen last minute. So this is just a quick post to say there will be two more entries soon (having yet to write them of course).
24th May 2009 - Spitalfields and the area of the Thames Barrier and London City Airport. (Two very distinct and different areas. See what I mean about last minute plans)
29th May 2009 - Kew Gardens. (This one wasn't even planned, I just ended up on a train about half an hour after I mentioned that it might be a place I visit in the Summer with no time to prepare maps or places to see or even charge my camera fully)

Hopefully I will have them written up soon. Especially as I made no notes and my thoughts for the day are fading quickly. In fact the only reason I haven't as yet is becuase I have been painting while it is daylight (and doing less interesting but more important tasks) and trying to sleep at night.

22nd May 2009

I've not been out with my camera much recently. The weather having settled into a warmer pattern and the leaves out on the trees I have lost the feeling and need to grab whatever sunny day I can. They have been and will continue to be generally sunny and so the urgency has fled as the pollen has risen. I also have been busy painting and doing other less interesting but just as vital things. I have a deadline coming up and although the paintings for it are close to complete I also have half finished paintings and a backlog of images that could make wonderful paintings. But I am getting that itch again to go somewhere.

It was a violent itch today. I was doing one of the many journeys I am very familiar with. Happily this one had one unusual change in it, instead of a local stopping service on the train I ended up on the slam door, high speed service. Not only that, it was a high speed service with many prebooked seats and lazy asses that liked taking up two seats with bags and feet and small children (I am kidding about the small children)and while this would normally annoy me I was only standing up for 30 mins or so and I got an excellent view by the open window of a door.

For a while I thought about trying my luck at taking photos through the window but instead decided to just enjoy the view. Unlike the last time I had undertaken this journey on a sunny day (see previous post) It was most definitely summer but had a closeness about the atmosphere rather than a flatness and openness. Maybe it was the abundance of green and the leaves on the trees compared to last time, maybe it was just the more natural seasonal weather, I'm not really sure.

What I continue to notice is that on a speeding train (and boy this one was going fast, I am not at all used to it being someone who lives in a small village and uses local stopping services all the time) many things that are usually decidedly unattractive can look really beautiful. I can only assume that this is due to them passing by so fast as not for you to be able to define any detail nor have the option to go investigate further. A good example is the rails of the other train lines. Look at them up close and you have a lump of iron, often rusty and very samey. Sometimes it has a certain charm, when you juxtapose the black iron and pure white snow or when plants and flowers grow around the rail but this is purely a contrast thing, another beautiful and/or unusual object does all the work. However if you are looking for beauty in the rail itself try watching them while you are zipping past. They become almost organic snaking along past you (yes I realise that is an optical illusion, not the point), they also if it is sunny become a duo-tone of reddish mat and shining silver brilliance.

Maybe I just like industrial things.

This journey wasn't about getting to place to take photos but in fact a journey of happy necessity to visit friends for the weekend. But as they tend to do, any journey can evoke me to thought.

19th March 2009

Strange how spring and sunshine makes places look and feel different. Got the impression today on the train that these spaces I saw from the window were great arid bright and very flat. Something I seem to have missed through the winter months. I know this journey, it is one I have taken many a time. It has before seem so close and enclosed, homely and at times a little stifling.

Is this because spring seems to have so suddenly and so strongly arrived or is it some psychological after effect of going on location twice in a week and falling into that associated mindset. Will, after this period of almost summer weather makes way for more usual spring weather, it remain?

No postcards here nor any photos, I know this feeling is not one that can be captured through photography, certainly not from a train. Maybe I should have tried however.

Virginia Water Lake - 18 March 2009

So it has been a couple of days since my trip to Virginia Water and already the details are fading. This saddens me somewhat and I feel that revisiting the images may help however the room I am in is cold and I just want to write this as fast as possible.

I had very few preconceived ideas about Virginia Water, last time I had visited I had been tiny and although I remembered a great expanse of water and the existence of a totem pole nothing else is there bar a sense of excitement. I knew from research on Wikipedia that my idea of what the totem pole looks like was misremembered and I certainly was not aware that there were such extensive gardens as part of the park. Something I found out while printing out a map of the area and soon proved to complicate my idea of a nice simple stroll around the lake.

I severely doubt as a family with two small children we walked the entire 4ish mile lake walk and certainly not the slightly more extensive ramble I embarked upon amongst the gardens on the north side of the lake.

But I was excited about this trip, more so than I expected to be. It had been planned for a few weeks and I was glad of the sunny day and its previously unforeseen proximity to Windsor (How did I not know it was part also of the Great Park. Or Royal Landscape as they put it, an appellation which after seeing it for the first time on Sunday made me snigger and which continues to do so every time I see it. I guess it's an accurate term for the area but it just seems a tad pretentious to me).

I had, as I have already said, undertaken some small research into the area, mainly Google Earth and Maps to fix a good route both for car and potentially for walking. I also ended up in Wikipedia as links to the wiki article and photographs of the Totem Pole were on Google Earth. I visited the Great Park site as well to check on the car park charges and print off a map with viewpoints marked.

So on a beautiful sunny day and after a very successful trip to Windsor I was looking forward to this one. Somehow the pressure to find images was lessened and although I would have been upset to come away with nothing I doubted this would be the case. My most pressing concern for the day was focussed around a desire to get an up close image of the Totem Pole. I had had it in my mind for some time to use a visually straightforward but strong icon like a close up of the Totem Pole on a small canvas like I had done previously with the ice-cream van and other unseen as yet paintings.

What I hadn’t expected was the utter sense of calm that pervaded that space. I feel like I should have expected it, as it was akin to the heightened feeling of tranquillity that I had previously discerned by the riverside in Windsor. The lake was beautiful and wide and blue. The trees were reflected in it in such a way that I could have just stared and photographed them (and most of them were still in winters brown without any sign of spring growth). The Totem Pole was skinnier than I remembered but I feel that that was due to it being a lot taller than I expected. It actually proved to be a right royal pain to photograph just for its exceptional size. I feel to adequately portray it in any medium it would have to be a very tall and thin portrait format. A format not so well suited to showing in most gallery spaces. But again at home the next day I was proved that more often than not the images off my camera look much better when seen on my computer at a sensible size.

The gardens to the north of the lake were wonderfully planted and even in such early spring weather remarkably warm. I imagine in high summer it would be a lush paradise. The 10 metre tall Cascade and bridge on the other side were also highlights. Unfortunately time and circumstances weren’t in my favour with the light fading to a hazy brilliance by the time I got to the 5 arched bridge and the sun in completely the wrong direction for the Cascade and Roman Ruins (which were also undergoing restoration work and so had many steel fences and portacabins in the way of a good photo).

I could wax lyrical about all the tiny details and I do seem to be finding myself doing this only to realise that there was a secondary point to this post. Having already posted a number of entries I also realise that for all my posturing on not being able to write I actually can find quite a lot to say about a particular place. So what else did this trip make me think about?

Taking photographs in a place like this is a lot about waiting and timing. If you want to take a photograph you must be unobtrusive and as quiet as if you were trying to take a photograph of the many animals in the area. If you are happy with just wide and wonderful landscape shots, being noisy is less of a problem but try to get people in it it becomes more tricksome.

In a city like London you will find that people don’t get out of your way, they are too busy to notice you or care about what you are doing. They are used to irritating tourists taking photos of random buildings and on the most part pay very little attention to you. There are downsides to this which I hope to go into when and if I ever write about that kind of experience. In a quiet countryside environment however people are more inclined to notice you.

They try to get out of photographs or on occasion stare into the camera in a way that for me frequently totally ruins the image I was trying to make. They have the space to walk around and or behind you, basically anywhere which avoids the camera's stare. This is irritating but understandable as most people don't want a stranger in their image of a place. In fact on some occasions there are so few of them around that making sure you have people in the photograph can be tricky in itself.

So for me who wants people in her photographs, I have the situation where you think you can see where a good photograph might be and are forced to either wait there until something comes along or almost stalk the unsuspecting people to get an image with them in from exactly the right place. If and when you manage either of these you then have to take as many photographs as you can, hoping you get a good one, until A the subjects move on or B the subject spots you. Frequently I end up with paintings of the backs of peoples heads, but this is OK with me because I am rubbish painting faces.

While by the lake I had many of these situations. Happily there is one thing about the lake in particular that works in my favour. People gravitate towards it and seem to prefer to set themselves so they are staring at it. It is after all the main focal point of the place. So all my photographs of the backs of peoples heads make sense in the context of them admiring the lake.

Windsor - 15th March 2009

It's a funny thing but more often than not I haven't investigated places in my local area, instead going to places like London. Now while London is, as I have said before, a very important urban centre especially with regards to my work. I kinda feel however like I might have been missing a trick in not doing these places close by. I think the reason for this is because they are close by, I feel like I know them or at least think that I do. What I have realised is that actually I really have no clue and on top of this there is a particular mind set I feel I have to go through or get into, if that makes any sense.

So what is so special about Windsor? Well to answer that I shall quote a friend on msn I talked to the morning after the trip. Unfortunately I cannot quote it verbatim as I shut the window (I have the setting to save the conversation switched off, saving space ftw).
“Can't say I know much about Windsor other than:

1. The Castle

2. Legoland
3. Legoland has a scale model of the castle at point 1”

Apparently point 3 was made up, and after Internet based searching I can neither prove nor disprove it (would anyone like to pay for me to visit Legoland to find out :P).

What I am groping for here is the point that Windsor is very much based around the castle. 90% of the postcards I have found depicting Windsor are of the castle, however this is understandable for just how a dominant and important structure it is. (It is important to note as fully half of the postcards in Windsor do not actually depict the castle but instead are images of the royal family)

Wikipedia says:

Windsor Castle, in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, is the largest inhabited castle in the world and, dating back to the time of William the Conqueror, is the oldest in continuous occupation

In fact I found the full wiki article very engaging and interesting and encourage you all to read it as I will be doing once I finish this first draft.

The castle was based of a motte and bailey type structure and has expanded over the years. Due to this and possibly a natural hill as well (It certainly seemed that way while in town but I couldn't find anything to quote and prove it so) the Castle overlooks the town of Windsor. In fact it is so dominant that I found it a hard task to not inadvertently photograph it. Add in that it is the favoured weekend retreat of Her Majesty and you have a tourist paradise.

However I don't think this dominance is a bad thing. It is a good looking building and around it has grown the town, so happily there are plenty of older buildings. Now I pride myself on being able to find interest and beauty in any place I visit but it is made much easier in places with a little history behind them. Maybe the buildings just have that little bit of individualism that sets them out from each other, maybe I just find them more aesthetically pleasing than masses of glass, steel and concrete. Possibly it is nothing more than while trying to act as a tourist to these places I get wrapped up in the atmosphere and advertising of these older places and my notions of holidays in Britain. Anyway I really struggle when faced with ,what I see as faceless, shopping malls and city centres and frequently find myself attracted to churches and occasionally pubs.

Actually I think that the major thing for me is that I want myself and by extension the people who look at my images to be able to say of yes that is London or wherever, without me having to put text on the image to that effect even though I generally will anyway. I realise that this is a little irrational and that I have many an examples of a postcard that is of some cottage in a tiny little village somewhere which would have made no sense to me if it wasn't for the text.

Anyway Windsor is in that regard a joy to photograph and of the almost 300 photographs I took I am sure that I will find many many potential paintings, drawings and images from them. And every one will stand a good chance of having the castle in them.

Seriously, go down to the river and turn around, there is the Castle.
Walk to Eton, the Castle peeks over the rooftops.
Wander the depths of the Great Park and there is the Castle on the horizon.

In fact I actually started my day in the Great Park and the further away I walked from town the more of the Castle I could see, mainly becuase I was going up a hill in the park. It reminded me of the time years and years ago (I think almost 20 but I can't be sure) when visiting Windsor with my father we parked in a nondescript multistory car park at what felt like miles from the castle. Even so we were able to see and photograph the castle with even my rubbishy compact camera which I found very exciting. Which proves that some things never really change. Unfortunately the photograph I took I seem to have since lost.

I did however find this unrelated and previously forgotten about photograph. It was taken about the same time as the Windsor ones on my first visit to Alton Towers.

I took it because (and I remember this very clearly unlike the rest of the trip) I liked the way the crazy dark sky looked so strange in contrast to the bright shiny sunlit Windmill.

Well wouldn't you know.

Thoughts on Blogging

You know there is a whole world of difference between thinking about writing something and actually sitting down to do it. I do not feel entirely comfortable writing (it is something I haven't really practised in the few years since finishing University) and I am aware that my turn of phrase can be fairly unique, maybe even over convoluted and needlessly verbose. I am also aware that I tend to ramble and that my use of punctuation less than perfect. Never the less I will endeavour and hope you all don't get too confused.

While walking around Windsor I started thinking about the nature of Blogs (and by extension Facebook and Twitter). From this came thoughts about writing as part of my practice. (Actually now as I write this I am not sure which came first. Each seems to feed the other). That the events and feelings I get when I visit a place to photograph would add interest to the images and paintings I finally create, a little insight into the creative process if you will. I also feel that this will extend, even if only slight, into times when I travel for other reasons as any kind of travel sparks this very individual and unique thought process in me.

However before I could get to deeper thoughts on my work or of Windsor this string of thought led, while wandering across a bridge of all places, to a discourse on my stance on these online diary entries. This is something I have thought about many a time but never felt the need to write about. And you know I'm not going to write about it now. I did write a long entry about how I see other peoples blogs but I fear that I am generalising and so these thoughts will remain unfinished. Maybe one day, but maybe that is a thought for a different kind of blog, one not devoted to my practice. I would say one that assails you all with my opinions but how would that differ from this one. ;)

As I said I plan to Blog about very specific events. I have always sucked at keeping any kind of diary or journal so I will write about times where I have gone to a place, travelled etc. (no, they are not the same thing) and not about everything else in my life. These are big events that I will be returning to many times over a period of days and weeks as I sift through and play with the imagery. Hopefully these events will work like an ongoing project diary. Don't expect it to be updated often. Weeks and or even months may pass in between events and then, in a gloriously sunny week like the previous few I might be going all over the country and bombard you with multiple entries. That being said if it takes me this long to write and refine the entries....

In fact I find it very hard to articulate these thoughts in writing. While in Windsor, when I was thinking about these things, I knew the shape and form of what I wanted to say and although it remains like an itch I cannot scratch while I write this and try to write the next entry about Windsor it just refuses to come out.

I worry now that all my thoughts about Windsor have become lost and fuzzy so I shall go now and battle with Windsor.