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.