Category Archives: art

Music, Trees and Architecture

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Walking around the outside of Hereford Cathedral you can find some fascinating views of the architecture. Sir Edward Elgar appears to be enjoying the view but the inscription on the periphery of the base to this statue reads:

“This is what I hear, the trees are singing my music or am I singing theirs?” “Sir Edward Elgar, resident of Hereford 1904 – 1911”

In both shots of this statue I like the other activities taking place in the frame – the woman attending to her child in the pushchair and in the second shot, the men in conversation in the background. These activities seem to fit very well with the pose given to Elgar with his bike, pondering, perhaps, a composition inspired by his cycles around Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Sir Edward Elgar

Sir Edward Elgar

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Hereford Cathedral
Cathedral architecture
wooden fence
Sir Edward Elgar
Sir Edward Elgar

Cathedral in Bronze

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Reaching the end (or the entrance) of Church Street on my walk this week around Hereford city centre, I took another of many looks at the cathedral. In front of the building is a paved area with a brick mosaic design set into it. While this is interesting, I was much more intrigued by the unusual bronze model of Hereford set on a plinth near the cathedral gates.

Taking a closer look at some of the architectural details of the cathedral could take a long time (which I didn’t have) as the building is so intricate in its embellishments.I wasn’t just taken with the designs created by the stone masons, but also with the patterns and textures of the stones themselves. Presumably these have been produced when cutting the blocks for building.

I’ll be able to take another look at the interior of the cathedral next week, not for the purpose of posting on this blog but for my younger daughter’s graduation from Hereford College of Art – well done Hannah – you can see her work at hannahduncancreations.com.

Hereford in Bronze

Hereford in Bronze

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Church Street
Hereford Cathedral
Hereford in Bronze
Cathedral architectural detail
Cathedral architectural detail
Cathedral stone texture

Seeing it as it is – details of the bigger picture

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Nearing the end of my short street walk this week I was considering how useful a camera can be in helping to pick out aspects of an environment. Without peripheral vision plus the ability to select a point of focus it is possible to present reality as abstract. I have not taken todays photos that far and the subjects of all these images are identifiable, but seeing it as it is does not necessarily mean there is an understandable context.

If you have seen my previous posts this week you will know that the context is a city centre street along which I have been walking, looking and listening to my surroundings. But taking the images of today’s post on their own, there is a great deal of contextual information they do not give. This means the photos almost force you to consider their more abstract elements and forget about the street or town they may be in – peeling paint, the pattern of broken glass, marks on a road surface and lines in a wall.

street markings

The penultimate photo below is in a specify location in a specific town / city. It can only be one particular place but at the same time it could be anywhere. I like the vertical columns in the background set behind the horizontal pattern of parked cars but wanted to bring some more attention to them give the image a little more individuality. So with a monochrome conversion, a little digital manipulation and a tighter crop . . .

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derelict building
glass and lace pattern
street markings
groove
car park
monochrome manipulated

My Walk this Week – Bay Campus

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My walk this week took me round Swansea University’s new Bay Campus on the seafront along the eastern approach to Swansea. It was a sunny(ish) Saturday morning and the place was fairly quiet. As I strolled through the large open spaces between the buildings I thought “this is very nice and new in the sunshine, but they’re not going to like it much when the bad weather blows in!”

The Great Hall, Swansea University Bay CampusI started my photography of the walk on the seaward side of the campus and found, down on the beach looking out across Continue reading→

Familiar Patterns – Lines in the Sand

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The sand of Colwyn Bay beach was full of linear patterns familiar to anyone living near the sea. As the sun dipped lower and lower on my walk this week, the patterns became more pronounced and however often I may have seen these kinds of sand patterns, they are not something of which I could ever grow tired.
sand patterns

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Poles and Perspective

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The fencing, and scaffolding poles holding it up, create what I am sure would be a beautiful mathematical formula, if you are that way inclined. The poles themselves may not be the most beautiful objects on their own, but seen together in perspective and with the gentle twist from where they have collapsed creates, for me, a distinct beauty of line, pattern and the mathematical dynamics of nature . . . to say nothing of the colours and reflections!

Colwyn Bay fencing

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Working Patterns

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Pattern is all around us but sometimes it is more noticeable than others. Earlier on my walk this week I focused on the textures around me. However, it was the patterns that were in my sights for these shots.

You may think that I have an unnatural interest in barbed wire – and you may be right! If you would like to see where this interest comes from, please visit the fibre page on my other website – alastair-duncan.com (There is something weird going on with the home page menu on this site which I will sort out asap).

More images from this walk can be seen on Instagram and/or the StillWalks Facebook page and Twitter.

Swansea Canal-30

Canal People

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There are many people that use Swansea Canal – perhaps not on the canal itself, but alongside it on the towpath. Walkers, joggers and cyclists – adults and children alike enjoy many aspects of the canal. And then of course there are the birds, ducks, dogs and cats and no doubt a million insects too.

The Swansea Canal Society clearly do an excellent job of taking care of the canal as well as restoring it where possible.

At this point on my walk this week, I was passing Coed Gwilym Park. The canal has left the industrial area of Clydach with The Mond Nickel Works and is heading up the valley towards Pontardawe. The houses and gardens have changed, Spring is starting to show  and the canal society is advertising itself and looking for new members.

Swansea Canal art work

Canal Sounds

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