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

Station exterior wall

The Train Leaving the Station is . . .

My walk this week has been around the area next to Bristol Temple Meads and at the end of this architectural walk I entered the railway station, not just to view its structure and design but talso to listen to its sounds.

Bristol Templemeads

The start of my soundscape for this walk, like the photos posted at the start of the week, provide some evidence of people – footsteps and voices – but not nearly as much as you might expect for the number of people that were actually there. Perhaps the sounds of human voices and the actions of individuals were being absorbed or muffled by the three dimensional complexity of the city’s architecture and the activities taking place, such as building construction, trains, traffic, etc.

The sounds inside the station were, as you would expect, different. Aside from the echo and reverberation of the cavernous space, the density of people and subsequently their voices and conversations rose to another level. And then the trains arrived and the background ambience changed again – until the train left.

This walk did not involve much in the way of nature and for me there is no question about which is more pleasant and relaxing (a natural environment), but I still find the urban environment of huge interest and I am just as fascinated by the textures, patterns, shapes and colours to be seen and heard around me in the city as I am in a wood or on a mountain – less relaxed but still interested.

Bristol City Soundscape

[spacer height=”20px”]

architectural perspective

The Nuts, Bolts and Perspective of Architecture

On my walk this week around an area of the Bristol cityscape next to Temple Meads railway station, I was attracted by the patterns and perspectives, and the nuts and bolts of the architecture and construction along the riverside.

nuts and bolds perspective

A  passing walker said he liked the view up the river from under a nearby bridge so I made a point of heading that way. Underneath I found I liked the view of the bridge as much as from it, enjoying the rows and patterns in perspective of nuts and bolts and rivets as well as the dark heavy weight of the structure. The design and engineering of structures like this and all the architecture around me was remarkable. The arrangement of the buildings is also remarkable and looking at them from different angles creates a new jigsaw of shapes with every turn of the head.

 

Bristol

My Walk this Week – City Sunshine

My walk this week is around a small central area of city of Bristol next to Temple Meads railway station. I had been for an interview with the Theo Moorman Charitable Trust for an award of funding towards developing new work in my tapestry weaving – the application was successful I am pleased to say.

Bridge with a twist

It was a sunny day and my next appointment for the day was later in the day in Newport where I ended up with another short walk – see last week’s posts. So I took the opportunity to have a little explore of theContinue reading

zig zag

Zig Zag and Twisted – Perspective, Steps and An Urban Soundscape

On this, the third side of my triangular urban walk this week, my main focus (or perspective) is on steps. It was a long set of scaffolding steps that I originally wanted to photograph and which turned into a walk round the block that revealed some other angular and twisted (spiral) steps. I was amused by the “floating” gate below which advertises the entrance to The Forge.

spiral steps

As someone who enjoys many different aspects of metal I couldn’t resist the first perspective shot below of the structure and pattern of shop front shutters, but as I turned the next corner I was also taken by the colour, repeating pattern and perspective of the short terrace across the street. I found other perspectives Continue reading

Swansea urban scene

Urban Walk – Second Side of the Triangle

Looking at some of the patterns and features on my triangular urban walk this week, the second side of the triangle provided me with a number of everyday aspects of the city with, to me, points of visual interest. The angles and perspectives of architectural features, when looked at on their own and viewed without the context of the wider urban environment, become simply lines, shapes and patterns and can be seen as works of abstract art.

angled steps

Those lines and shapes are reflected in the design of murals on the walls of the Elysium artists’ studios but opposite this is an apparent anomaly – Continue reading