riverside trees

My Walk this Week 136 – London Embankment

My walk this week is along the London Embankment from Tate Britain to Tate Modern. The route is a melting pot of people from everywhere and a multitude of sounds ranging from the lapping of the River Thames following the passage of river boats, to music and talking and footsteps and skateboards and birds and more and more.

disappearing steps

But the soundscape was not cacophonous, the streets and walk-ways were (mostly) not overcrowded. While I was amazed at the place, the people, the buildings, the river activity, I was not overwhelmed or oppressed by them. Continue reading

York University

My Walk this Week 125 – Colour in Construction

I was looking for woodland on my walk this week – and I found it, to a degree, behind the colour in construction of the Science and Technology Block of York University.

York University

It was open woodland straggling along the back of the university which I picked up again on my return across open fields. The colours used in the modern buildings reflected those of older walls surrounding the adjacent York House BIRT facility. I enjoyed the colour in both as well as the textures and patterns in the old, and the cleanliness and hard edges of the new.Continue reading

Scarborough Express

The Scarborough Express Steam Train

While walking around York railway station on my walk this week I saw an increasing number of photographers hanging around – then, to my surprise, the Scarborough Express steam train arrived – which explained everything.

York Station

I had been focusing on some of the architectural details and perspectives of the station, enjoying the rib cage of arches andContinue reading

Old Copperopolis

Copperopolis 2b – Holes in the Walls

Moving from the abandoned windows of old Copperopolis to holes in the walls of this historical aspect of Swansea, I found it difficult to understand the confusing perspective of some of the multi-layered gaps in the facades of the buildings.

Holes in the Wall

I have photographed this building before but only from the other side of the River Tawe and it was good to get a closer look at its abandoned state. Those holes in the wall appear decorativeContinue reading

hidden buildings

The Nature of Copperopolis – Part 1b

Exploring one of Swansea’s old industrial areas on my walk this week, I am focused on how nature continues to take over Copperopolis. The old Hafod-Morfa Copperworks has plants growing out of its walls now – it closed down in 1980 and nature seems to be doing a fairly efficient job of reclamation as 1980 doesn’t seem all that long ago to me (I must be getting old!).

footpath to history

But the wall plants weren’t the only things of interest as the shapes, patterns and textures of the old walls were also caught my eye. From theContinue reading

ruins 1

My Walk this Week – Old Copperopolis Part 1a and an Argument For Nature

My walk this week is the first stage of my visual exploration of local nature and an old and world renown aspect of Swansea’s history – Copperopolis. Click the link if you would like to know more about that history. In the past I have only photographed elements of this industrial history and the nature overtaking it from across the River Tawe and it was good to take the opportunity to look a bit closer at how nature takes over all that we leave behind.

through the trees

It is good to see how little impact we have on the the natural world, at least in the longer term of our lifespans – even multiple generations of our lives are only a snippet of time in the life of the planet or universe. It is also excitingContinue reading

twisting footbridge

My Walk this Week – A Day in Northampton

My walk this week is from a day trip we had to Northampton a few weeks ago. We were there for the opening of an exhibition in which my daughter (Hannah Duncan Creations) had be invited to take part – Enamel Today by the British Society of Enamellers. The exhibition is at 78 Derngate, the only Charles Rennie Mackintosh house in England.

Beckets Park

Apart from the obvious interest I have in my daughter’s work I also had an interest in the Northampton architecture, and not just the Rennie mackintosh house.Continue reading