By the end of my walk this week on Aberavon Beach the light had brightened to the point of dazzlement. We didn’t have a blue sky but the sunlight was bleaching in its brightness and the heat was clearly making a dip in the sea an attractive option for many.
Having walked the length of the beach, we turned around and walked back along the promenade where I found myself noticing some of the lines and anglesContinue reading
I liked the bright red and yellow flags on Aberavon Beach when taking this week’s walk there. They denote an area where it is safe to swim but I don’t think the child in this picture, walking determinedly up the beach, had been swimming.
This wasn’t the only young one on the beach – there were plenty of other children running around of course, but also starfish on the move. The patterns made in the sand by the starfish weren’t the only ones eitherContinue reading
The rusty old engines I found as I turned a corner at the end of my walk this week around the old industrial buildings of Copperopolis in Swansea, brought a big smile to my face. The colours, textures and patterns of the old wheels and screws, cables and rails are wonderful.
The boat trips up the River Tawe pass by this old historic area of Swansea but I had a much better view of abandoned machinery than those on the Copper Jack. If you look back atContinue reading
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.
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
The last part of my walk this week is looking at the River Nene as it flows past Beckets Park in Northampton. Swans, Canada Geese and Mallards were the order of the day.
Reflections were also an expected theme of the day – not only in the river and marina water, but also looking back at the trip at the end of the day. The time spentContinue reading
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.
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
My walk this week has looked at art, craft, design and now, having come back outside on a beautiful Spring day in Leeds city centre, I am looking at shadows. Standing on the steps of the Leeds Art Gallery and looking down on Victoria Square the subject matter of my photography (iPhonography) was obvious. The patterns of light and shade created by such a bright day stood out in strong contrast against both the warm coloured paving stones and the strong blue of the sky.
The shot I took of the pattern of tree branches on the pavement confused me at first. I thought it was out of focus, until I saw on closer inspection that while the tree trunk shape close to the ground and cracks between the paving slabs were in focus,Continue reading
We didn’t have a lot of time to stay in Leeds on my walk this week but I still managed to take in some of the current sculpture exhibition at the Leeds Art Gallery. One of my favourites was this piece by Barbara Hepworth from 1953.
Barbara Hepworth – Hieroglyph
The title of the work, “Hieroglyph”, prompts towards an interpretation of the piece I suppose but not knowing the title at the time of initially viewing it, I didn’t think of it as being a hieroglyph. However, its language spoke to me in terms of surface texture and pattern, form and I guess, humanity and nature. The shapes of the hollowed out areas seem figure-like and looking through them to the other side had an essence of intimacy about it. I wanted to touch and caress its cool warmth! If such a contradiction in terms can be accepted, it is the only term I can find to express my perception of the piece while expecting the stone surface to be cool to the touch.
The Richard Long installation left me cool, if not cold. The impact of the work may come again from the contradiction (or should I say juxtaposition?) of the arrangement of the natural material and the space it is in, but for me it felt somewhat contrived.
The work that had the greatest impact on me, though I cannot say it was a particularly positive one, was the alabaster figure holding a bird to her shoulder by Woman and Bird by John Skeaping. The material had a strange effect on me and looking back at the VR shot I took of the room (see below), I think it may have been the sense that I was able to see inside the body at the same time as seeing its surface – I found it a bit disturbing. Again with this piece there was an element of contradiction – the apparent textures of the stone revealed through its changes in colour, pattern and internal structure was in contrast to its worked smoothness and again there was the warmth of colour but the knowledge that if touched it the sensation would be of cold or coolness.
As with my previous post, if you click the VR image below on an iPhone or Android phone with the Google Cardboard Camera app installed, you will be able to view the full 360º of the space in virtual reality. On the linked image on your phone select the “Save to app” button and then fit your phone to the Google Cardboard device.
