Contents
Judy Knights - ‘Wick Flower Fields 2020’ James Boardman - Woodend - ‘Black & White Images’ Nigel Reader - ‘Humans in Florence’ Maddy Pennock - ‘Same Walk, Different Camera and/or Lens’ Eric Williams - ‘Cuban Pride and Passion’ Bob Oakley - ‘Skip This One If You Want’ Angie Hill - ‘Ancient Fragments’ Peter Young - ‘Conversations’ Clive Haynes - ‘Old Friends’ Tessa Mills - ‘Light in Dark Places (ongoing exploration)’ Charles Ashton - ‘A Week in North Wales’ Stewart Bourne - ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ Jayne Bennetto - ‘Beach on the Isle of Rum’ Kaz Diller - ‘Buddha’ Richard Sarginson - ‘The Press of the Shutter May Just be the Start.......’
Judy Knights
Wick Flower Fields 2020
In these times of social distancing I wondered how visits would be organised apart from having to book a 2 hour time slot on line! The field was a new one – obviously set and arranged with ‘the new normal’ in mind – plenty of space between the different flowers and wide paths. The website had warned that the delphiniums would be shorter than in previous years - they certainly were – barely coming up to one’s knees! The flowers were still colourful but definitely not as photogenic! A new innovation were sunflowers - a great attraction to all visitors, both human and insect! The cornflowers were as lovely as ever. It was good to see so many people enjoying the sunny afternoon mostly photographing friends and family amongst the flowers – for me these made the most interesting images!
01_Judy Knights
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James Boardman-Woodend
Black & White Images
I have been trawling through my hard drives with the idea of reprocessing some old files in order to possibly produce a Blurb Photography Book with the rather uninventive title of ' Black & white Images’. Here is a small selection from the 300 or so I have processed so far.
James B-Woodend 01 Calatrava Bridge
James B-Woodend 02 Lone Cloud in Valencia
James B-Woodend 03 Opera House
James B-Woodend 04 Pyramid
James B-Woodend 05 - Looking Out
James B-Woodend 06 In the Light
James B-Woodend 07 Living under a Motorway
James B-Woodend 08 Moscow Underground
James B-Woodend 09 Shresbury Prison
James B-Woodend 10 Modernity
James B-Woodend 11 Proud to be Russian
Nigel Reader
Humans in Florence
These images are from a visit to Tuscany some years ago. The initial prompt came from an exhibition of Anthony Gormley statues in Florence. No mean achievement for a British sculptor noted for his distinctly modern conceptual style in perhaps the city for Renaissance art. The only link between the images is people. How people react to their surroundings and art around them is a perennial theme for me.
Nigel Reader_01_David
Nigel Reader_02_Contemplating The Duomo
Nigel Reader_03_The Interloper
Nigel Reader_04_Selfie
Nigel Reader_05_Selfie Queens
Nigel Reader_06_Hopeful
Nigel Reader_07_Crossing The Piazza
Nigel Reader_08_Noted
Nigel Reader_09_No Entry To David
Nigel Reader_10_No Hiding Place
Nigel Reader_11_No Through Cross
Maddy Pennock
Same Walk, Different Camera and/or Lens
Being confined to the home under the lockdown has limited and challenged my creative photography. At the beginning I could walk along the river bank, but this has stopped because there is now a fairly big herd of cows grazing next door! So now I walk along a track through the fields near my property. I call this walk ‘Over the Hills and Faraway’. With limited alternative places to photograph, I decided to do a series called ’Same Walk, Different Camera and/or Lens’ and I therefore hoped that I would capture different images. I have done a few sessions with different cameras and different lenses so far. This group of photographs were taken with my Canon 5D Mk IV and my 100 - 400mm lens and were taken before I went into complete lockdown in preparation for my recent eye operation.
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Eric Williams
Cuban Pride & Passion
Cubans are proud people who have endured much hardship over the decades but they, especially Cuban males, have developed a way of managing these with a passion for the arts, particularly music, and vintage American automobiles. This set of images highlights the Pride and the Passion of Cuban life and focuses on the daily lives of Cuban men who, it could be said, are financially poor but emotionally rich.
1_Big Red Buick
2_Another Sunday Morning
3_One Horse Power
4_Salsa on the Steps
5_The Bad Boys
6_Music Everywhere
7_Blow that Horn!
8_Studiousness
9_Rolling Cigars
10_Chicken George
11_Jose the Farmer
Bob Oakley
Skip This One If You Want
My daughter had work done on her house, hired a skip to take away what the builders left and a general clearout in the house is now underway. The inspiration for this set was the skip itself and what has so far gone into it. “Davy Jones’ Locker” emerged quite by chance when editing a picture of some polythene sheeting in the skip. I saw what looked like a sailor with a naval cap, never in the original image, and continued to edit to make it look as if it was an undersea picture based on the legend. No additional components were introduced. I can’t replicate the workflow but I know that blend modes played a large part.
Bob Oakley 01 Skip side
Bob Oakley 02 Skip Side # 2
Bob Oakley 03 Forgotten Magazines
Bob Oakley 04 More than a wee dram
Bob Oakley 05 Fabrics
Bob Oakley 06 Communication aids
Bob Oakley 07 Polythene wrapping
Bob Oakley 08 Ethan Mason # 1
Bob Oakley 09 Ethan Mason # 2
Bob Oakley 10 Davy Jones’ Locker
Bob Oakley 11 Excuses Excuses
Angie Hill
Ancient Fragments
As I walked around the ruins of the 11thC church, three words sprang to mind: redundant, neglected, fragmented. There was an air of decay and abandonment in the churchyard there. Ancient gravestones lay broken, one almost buried under the rough turf. A cross lay broken and was left lying where it fell. Some were stacked against a Yew tree. Although most had lost their inscriptions, one from the late 19thC remembered three children from one family who died in infancy. Memories slowly fade away; nature reclaims and transmutes it all.
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Peter Young Conversations
Despite the prevalence of mobile phones, there are still occasions when we talk to each other face-to-face. These conversations often have a significant emotional content, which is hard to emulate using emoticons.
Peter Young 01 Street Cleaners 200822
Peter Young 02 Browns Conversation 200822
Peter Young 03 Shambles Conversation 200724
Peter Young 04 Gheluvelt Park Conversation 200822
Peter Young 05 Parcours 200813 2
Peter Young 06 Street People 200807 2
Peter Young 07 High Street Couple 200807
Peter Young 08 Hastings Brassey Institute 200818 4
Peter Young 09 Hastings Pier Deckchairs 200818
Clive Haynes Old Friends
As a bloke, I don’t tend to throw items of clothing away. I keep wearing them until they become threadbare and full of holes, even then I‘m reluctant to part with items which have become familiar old friends. Looking around the house, in my workshop and the garden shed, I began to realise just how many pairs of gloves I’ve accumulated. Some are well-used and getting beyond their prime, some of the plastic ones are helpful as protection from chemicals whilst others are more presentable, offering warmth on cold days. However, a few are short-lived and intentionally ‘disposable’; even then, they hang around for a bit. Here are some of my ‘old friends’, each in their element! Many of them will be with me for a while yet!
Old Friends Š Clive Haynes-1
Old Friends Š Clive Haynes-2
Old Friends Š Clive Haynes-3
Old Friends Š Clive Haynes-4
Old Friends Š Clive Haynes-5
Old Friends Š Clive Haynes-6
Old Friends Š Clive Haynes-7
Old Friends Š Clive Haynes-8
Old Friends Š Clive Haynes-9
Old Friends Š Clive Haynes-10
Old Friends Š Clive Haynes-11
Tessa Mills
Light in Dark Spaces (ongoing exploration)
The Coronavirus Pandemic is definitely a dark space and any ray of light is much appreciated. I am using dark conditions to build light structures. This allows me to travel with flights of fancy ... to imagine a Universe where delicate light can become the strength of a society. I discover light rays holding together and through the camera forming a reality of depths and distances.
1. Tessa 84a Light Structure
2. Tessa 9a Light Structure
3. Tessa 29a Light Structure
4. Tessa 75a Light Structure
5. Tessa 95a Light Structure
6. Tessa 114a Light Structure
7. Tessa 127a Light Structure
8. Tessa 56b Light Structure
9. Tessa 11c Light Structure
10. Tessa 126c Light Structure
11. Tessa 17c Light Structure
Charles Ashton
A week in North Wales
These are my favourite 11 images from a recent week in Portmeiron, along with some days out. Portmeirion is a tourist village in Gwynedd, North Wales, overlooking the Dwyryd Estuary. Built in the style of an Italian village, it is well known for its idiosyncratic architecture. Small gardens, fountains and statues abound and hydreangeas flourish. It was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 and became famous as the backdrop for the series ’The Prisoner’. The reopening of tourist areas in Wales gave us the opportunity for a last-minute week at the hotel. Days out to Barmouth, Aberystwyth and South Stack in Anglesey provided glimpses of the beach and we experienced the High Street of Aberystwyth during the Covid era. We saw a Covid Safe Dragon among the generic chains of the High Street and noted the fondness for dogs and the stoicism of British beach-goers, always wedded to their mobile phones and remaining in their family ‘bubbles’. We enjoyed the beauty of the remote and timeless lighthouse at South Stack in Anglesey, facing the Irish Sea. A visit to the National Trust property Plas Newydd in glorious sunshine provided the opportunity to capture a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on Verbena. My set ends with a long exposure sunset over the Dwyryd Estuary.
01 Charles Ashton The Portmerion Hotel
02 Charles Ashton Portmerion
03 Charles Ashton Looking For Shelter
04 Charles Ashton Spaced Out
05 Charles Ashton Deck Chairs By the Day
06 Charles Ashton Cosseted
07 Charles Ashton One Man And his Dog
08 Charles Ashton The Beauty and the Covid Dragon
09 Charles Ashton Small Tortoishell
10 Charles Ashton South Stack
11 Charles Ashton Sunset
Stewart Bourne
The Garden of Earthly Delights
Whilst enjoying a socially distanced Covid-19 walk around Spetchley Gardens the other day I thought it might be a bit of fun to try and see it through the eyes of Hieronymus Bosch. The temporary sculpture display and a few natural features helped with this. I have also included a bit of Swiftian satire in the form of a BREXIT image and a lost Portrait, which I remember taking as a ‘grab shot’ but can’t remember where.
Stewart Bourne 01 the garden of earthly delights
Stewart Bourne 02 the garden of earthly delights
Stewart Bourne 03 the garden of earthly delighta
Stewart Bourne 04 the garden of earthly delights
Stewart Bourne 05 the garden of earthly delights
Stewart Bourne 06 The garden of earthly delights
Stewart Bourne 07 The garden of earthly delights
Stewart Bourne 08 Comrade Norman
Stewart Bourne 09 BREXIT
Jayne Bennetto
Beach on the Isle of Rum
My photos are taken on a beach situated on the North east side of the Isle of Rum, one of the small isles off the west coast of Scotland. The beach is called Bagh Rubha Mhoil Ruaidh. It means The Bay of the Red Shingle (or stone) Headland. This is a shelving beach comprised of red, pink and grey stones of Torridonian sandstone, the oldest sedimentary rock in the UK - formed 500 million years ago. Walking up the beach from the waters edge the stones are covered with lichen with a variety of colours and hues. The images show a selection of colours and patterns found on the stones, together with an image of the beach and water’s edge to show context.
1 Beach
2 Water’s Edge
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11 Back to the Water’s Edge
Kaz Diller Buddha
Buddha, after enlightenment, delivered his first sermon in the Deer Park, Sarnath, India. There are now numerous statues erected in his honour throughout Asia. These depict different aspects of the Buddha: the meditation Buddha with his hands on his lap, the earth touching Buddha with his right hand touching the ground, the protection Buddha with his right hand raised shielding, and the reclining or Nirvana Buddha depicting the moment of his escape from samsara, the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth.
01 Buddha Deer Park Sarnath Varanasi India
02 Tian Tan Buddha Hong Kong
03 Great Buddha Kamakura Japan
04 Great Buddha Aomori Japan
05 Buddha Statue Manuha Temple Bagan Myanmar
06 Gilded Buddha Statues Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Inle Lake Myanmar
07 Buddha Statue Botataung Pagoda Yangon Myanmar
08 Standing Buddha Ananda Temple Bagan Myanmar
09 Buddha Sulamani Pahto Temple Bagan Myanmar
10 Golden Buddha Statues U-Min Thonze Pagoda Sagaing Myanmar
11 Giant Reclining Buddha Yangon Myanmar
Richard Sarginson
The press of the shutter may be just the start .........
These images started as ’real photos’, taken around my house and garden. For example, a pile of Pyrex dish lids and an acer in a pot; then using MirrorLab, they became abstracts. It was an adventure, I never knew where I would end up, I just stored the versions I liked and these are a selection. Many of the original images spawned several alternatives, some of which are shown here. I made choices, some good, some bad and many in between. Here are what I think are the better ones. However, it’s very possible that your choices would have been completely different. This is a form of art and therefore subjective.
Richard Sarginson 01 And the Water Rose
Richard Sarginson 02 Acer Explosion
Richard Sarginson 03 Grass and Leaves
Richard Sarginson 04 The Weir
Richard Sarginson 05 The Arrow of Time is Curved
Richard Sarginson 06 A Flow of Waves
Richard Sarginson 07 The Glass Snitch
Richard Sarginson 08 Pyrex Dishes
Richard Sarginson 09 Pyrex Curtain
Richard Sarginson 10 Fairies Out On the Tile
Richard Sarginson 11 Is that a Smile
Worcestershire Camera Club Contemporary Photography Group ‘Viewpoint’ © September 2020