Cathedral in Bronze

Posted on 12/07/201611/07/2016 by Alastair

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

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

Church Street

Hereford Cathedral

Hereford in Bronze

Cathedral architectural detail

Cathedral stone texture

Seeing it as it is – details of the bigger picture

Posted on 09/07/201605/07/2016 by Alastair

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.

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 . . .

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

derelict building

glass and lace pattern

street markings

groove

car park

monochrome manipulated

My Walk this Week – Bay Campus

Posted on 02/05/201623/04/2016 by Alastair

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!”

I started my photography of the walk on the seaward side of the campus and found, down on the beach looking out across Continue reading→

Working Patterns

Posted on 18/03/201618/03/2016 by Alastair

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.

The Textures of Swansea Canal

Posted on 15/03/201615/03/2016 by Alastair

From liquid smooth through crusty and tatty to razor sharp, the range of textures I spotted on my walk along Swansea canal was wide, to say nothing of the colour and pattern, light and shade that created a natural art exhibition for me.

The water of the canal may have reflected the colour in the sky on this beautiful morning, but it certainly did not reflect the texture of the barbed wire fence round the Mond Nickel Works.

And there was pattern to be seen in the reflection of light from the water under one of the bridges and a very crusty texture on the pipe structures also crossing the canal.

Solitary Viewpoint and Reviewing the Week 58

Posted on 21/02/201621/02/2016 by Alastair

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.

Recognition

Posted on 18/02/201618/02/2016 by Alastair

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.

Goodnight Belfast and Reviewing the Week 54

Posted on 24/01/201624/01/2016 by Alastair

My city walk was taken through the day but this photo looks across the River Lagan in Belfast later that same evening. The horizontal line of lights in the dark are christmas lights running along the crane featured near the start of the walk.

This was a Winter city walk taken on Boxing day a few years ago. There is only frost on the riverside footpath at the walk and the bare branches of trees by the crane to prove the season. However, a couple of days later the river was frozen over and covered in snow, but we had left to return to mainland Britain by that time!