A Visit to Middlesbrough – Anish Kapoor

Posted on 05/04/201305/04/2013 by Alastair

Temenos by Anish Kapoor was erected in Middlesbrough about three years ago and I have been meaning to go take a look at it since then. As with Claes Oldenburg’s Bottle of Notes in yesterday’s post, there have been many photographs taken of this work of art – but these are mine!

It is an impressive structure which has the effect, as it should, of highlighting the sculptural appearance of many of the industrial structures around it (more of those tomorrow). In the background is Middlesbrough’s Transporter Bridge.

Temenos by Anish Kapoor

Temenos and Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge

A Visit to Middlesbrough – Claes Oldenburg and Haroon Mirza

Posted on 04/04/201304/04/2013 by Alastair

The Bottle of Notes sculpture by Claes Oldenburg is in the centre of Middlesbrough by MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art). There have been plenty of photos taken of it before now, but these are mine!

We had a short visit to Middlesbrough at Easter and managed, amongst other things, to see this, the MIMA exhibitions, the Anish Kapoor sculpture at Riverside Park (see tomorrow’s post) and had a walk round Great Ayton.

One of the exhibitions we saw at MIMA was Untitled Song by Haroon Mirza. I can’t show photos other than this wall in the gallery, but I did record part of the audio in the exhibition. Here is 30 seconds of it.

Haroon Mirza

You may not find the sound particularly easy to listen to – it’s not exactly popular music – but there was more to it than this sample and it worked well with the space and the sculptures by James Clarkson, some of which had been modified by Mirza.

Maritime Quarter, Swansea – Different Scales

Posted on 02/04/201302/04/2013 by Alastair

I have managed, in the last photo of this series, to bring the scale of the Meridian Tower down to that of the Helwick Lightship sitting in Swansea’s marina.

The sounds of the marina can be a fascinating orchestra of rigging when the wind is up. On this day there was just the lapping of water under the floating booms, passing voices and high heeled shoes. They would not have been there if the marina wind orchestra had been playing!

Swansea Marina sound sample

You can listen to this on SoundCloud below (if you’re on the blog) or click here.

Meridian Tower

Rigging in the Marina

Helwick Lightship and Meridian Tower

Different Scales

Architecture of Swansea Bay

Posted on 01/04/201301/04/2013 by Alastair

The Maritime Quarter in Swansea has been in development for many years. We used to have a studio there and watched much of the current architecture being constructed.

The view from the 27th floor of the Meridian Tower is almost as good as that from Brynmill or Kilvey Hill – except, of course, when it is in mist! Whether this building is included in a StillWalk of the area remains to be seen.

Moving up from the beach

Swansea Bay Sculpture

Meridian Tower, Swansea

Activity in Swansea Bay

Posted on 31/03/201331/03/2013 by Alastair

One of the nice things about Swansea Bay – There doesn’t appear to be a lot of human activity in these photos but the beach stretches round from the harbour wall at the eastern end right round to Mumbles at the other end. The result of this is that, even when there are a lot of people down there, it doesn’t feel crowded because there is so much space.

The first three images here seemed to me to suit being in black and white, though the following two are not far off it either! In fact Swansea Bay can be quite a colourful place when the sun is out as you can begin to see in yesterday’s post.

Mumbles Lighthouse

The Irish Ferry

Looking Back

Posted on 29/03/201329/03/2013 by Alastair

The reflections in these puddles and the subject matter of the Cathays Cemetery made me think that while putting the blog posts together for this week, I have mostly been looking back, if only to Saturday – so now to look forward!

Despite the cold on Saturday, I really liked this cemetery and I hope that you can see from the previous images through the week, that it has many different aspects to it. I must visit again in the late Spring or Summer to enjoy it in better conditions.

Cathays Cemetery

On a different note – sometimes, as on this occasion, I compile a few posts all at the same time and scheduled them to go out through the week. It was been a pleasure to do so this time to the music of Carla Bley (have fun on her website :-)). Anyone else enjoy her music?

The Audience and the Districts

Posted on 28/03/201328/03/2013 by Alastair

These graves look like they have an excellent view of the event – whatever that may be! They make me think of a concert in the park where everyone brings a picnic and enjoys the event from deck chairs. In Britain they would have brought umbrellas as well 🙂

Cathays Cemetery in Cardiff has many aspects to it.

The Audience

Some hide away

Some prefer to be more private and hide away amongst the greenery.

This cemetery has it all, even a “downtown” area with sky scrapers!

Downtown at the cemetery

Tomb of the Bishop – Cathays Cemetery, Cardiff

Posted on 27/03/201327/03/2013 by Alastair

Bishop John Cuthbert Hedley was quite a guy if you judge by the stature of his tomb in Cathays Cemetery. I wonder if he would get such a piece of architecture these days? (see Monday’s post, “When was the last time . . . “)

The Tomb of the Bishop John Cuthbert Hedley

The Tomb of the Bishop

Tag Archives: photography