Tag Archives: marina

rigging and masts

My Walk this Week 151 – The Music of Storm Hannah

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My walk this week was short, cold and through the remnants of Storm Hannah – it was part of a sound and weave workshop I was running over the weekend. The first stage of the workshop was to go round Swansea Marina and listen to the sounds which featured what is known as the Marina Orchestra.

dark water

The leading orchestral instruments are the masts and rigging followed by the percussion of clanks and bangs, thumps and gloops of other maritime artefacts and of course the choppy water of the marina itself.

It was wild and cold and although we found a relatively sheltered spot to listen to the “symphony”, when we ventured down to the seafront, Continue reading→

bullrush

Nature on the Banks of an Inland Marina

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I was slightly surprised on my walk this week in Northampton to find a marina – Northampton is land locked and not far off the centre of England. However, this inland marina was not for sailing and motor boats, it was for canal boats and there were plenty of them.

River Nene lock gate

The photo above shows one of the locks on the River Nene. I thought the sepia treatment of the image added some character to what was otherwise a fairly ordinary feature. What I really enjoyed about these water ways wasContinue reading→

Swansea Marina

Swansea Bay – Reviewing the Walk

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This weeks final post for my walk this week along Swansea Bay and back through the marina includes a selection of images from along the walk with all its space and textures and patterns and now of course, the sounds as well.

Swansea Maritime Quarter

The soundscape below contains just as many intricate patterns and textures as the visuals – from sea and blustering breeze to urban construction, the activities of marina visitors and the plinking of rigging against masts.

Continue reading→

marina water patterns

Floating in the Marina

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Returning through Swansea Marina on my walk this week didn’t mean I was floating on the water but did allowed me to enjoy the many complex and fluid patterns to be found there.

marina floats

The masts and rigging, the architecture – both old and new – and of course the water patterns and reflections of the surrounding structures, whether maritime or land based. Continue reading→

No Fishing

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This sign and its distorted reflection may say “No Fishing”, but the next photo below shows that there are fishing boats just round the corner from this entry point to the inner marina at Swansea.

no fishing

The other vessels in Swansea’s Maritime Quarter range from small to large sailing and motor boats of all types. The modern catamaran and the older style of sailing vessel below suggest something of this range – and all of the owners rely on the security the marina offers to keep them safe. However, I was a little taken aback when I saw the razor wire!

Lapping Water

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Old and New

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It’s quite common these days to transform the local docks into a fancy marina or other such housing and / or business development. In the case of Swansea people were not being moved out to make way for the new build and the docks are in diminished use in comparison to Swansea’s industrial heyday.

The SA1 area, as it is known, is situated across the river from the marina but the two developments are linked by the well designed millennium footbridge and a more functional footbridge at the lock from the marina to the river mouth.

old redbrick SA1 building

The old redbrick building above used to be one of the dock buildings of course and it along with the few other older dockside buildings in the area, sit well beside the wide range of modern architecture.

I have taken photographs of this architecture in the past but the images below function more as a contribution to my walk this week than a means of showing the architectural design of the area. If you do a search on the blog for SA1, you will be able to see some of those other images.

Swansea Millennium Footbridge

If viewing this in an email, please click the post title to see other photos in this post, thank you.

Solitary Viewpoint and Reviewing the Week 58

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The watery, windy weather has returned but it has not stopped this solitary runner on the promenade steps of Swansea Bay. Perhaps she has paused to take in the view, what there is of it!

Click the first thumbnail image below to view my walk this week in sequence – sorry there is no soundscape this week.

person on seafront

Recognition

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The word “recognition” has two senses to it and they are both relevant to this post and my walk through Swansea Marina. Firstly,  I recognise, in particular the old pump house on the left, the Seamen’s Chapel (Mission Gallery – see below) on the right and, most significantly to me, the building in which my wife and I had a studio which looked out over the marina as it changed from disused docks to the flourishing Maritime Quarter.

My wife, Ceramic Artist Julie Brunskill, will be Maker in Focus at the Mission Gallery from Tuesday 23rd February – 2nd April. Don’t miss it!

Recognition can also mean an acknowledgement of remembrance and in the photos below you will see black flags flying from some of the boats. Their ragged appearance has a haunting effect in amongst all the masts and rigging. My assumption is that they were there in recognition of David Bowie’s death a week earlier. That was just over a month ago now – R.I.P. David Bowie, I have enjoyed your music throughout my life.

Swansea Marina