After photographing the Fromelles WW1 cemetery for a job last June, I had an all too brief visit to the Somme Valley region. This was quite rushed, and I was keen to revisit the area to spend more time at significant sites. The opportunity arose a couple of weeks ago, after a trip to Monet’s garden at Giverny. There’s not a great deal I can add to the history, but here is a gallery of some of the photographs I took. A fairly small memorial commemorates the fighting that took place here at Mouquet Farm, where in all, around 7000 […]
Category Archives: photography
After the success of the flower photography course Jason Ingram and I ran last May with the Royal Photographic Society, the follow up was held last weekend. This time it was for two days, with detailed assessments and plenty of time for practical experience in the beautiful gardens at Mill Dene, in the Cotswolds. Again we had a full house with 10 students who all appeared to enjoy themselves, despite the fact that at 6am the expected beautiful morning light was, in fact, rain! Plan B came into play and a daylight studio session was held instead. Our next planned course will […]
On Friday I visited the Tate Modern to see the Miró exhibition. As I left Mansion House Station en-route to the gallery, I noticed that the small lane by the exit was called Garlick Hill. This reminded me of one of my earliest shoots, carried out in 1982. I had been asked to take some shots of a church, St James Garlickhythe, which is situated at the foot of the lane. It is still one of the oddest jobs I have undertaken. I had to take shots of the church interior, and whilst being taken round the building, my escort […]
Last week the printer and photographer, Jack Lowe, added a new posting to his blog about Calotype printing. He has been experimenting with digital negatives suitable for old print processes, and has collaborated with photographer Richard Freestone in producing two prints using the Calotype process. This struck a chord with me. During the late 1990’s, I spent a long time in my darkroom working with similar techniques. My particular interests were gum bichromate and Kallitype printing. These are contact printing processes, which require negatives the same size as the final print. The sensitized paper with the negative on top is […]
A few examples from this shoot. The Crossbones Graveyard is in Bankside, near Borough Market and London Bridge. It was originally an unconsecrated burial ground for ‘single women’, a euphemism for prostitutes, who worked in the “Liberty of the Clink“. This was an area controlled by the Bishop of Winchester, and the graveyard was used until the mid-nineteenth century when it was closed down after being declared full. Excavated during the Jubilee Line extension works in the 1990’s, it was estimated that up to 15,000 people were buried there. The women who worked in this area were referred to as ‘Winchester Geese‘.
Just after Christmas I received an email asking me to donate a signed print for a silent auction. I often get email requests, and an awful lot appear to me as scams. But this one had something genuine about it and, after a few enquiries, it turned out to be students raising money for the photography degree show at The Arts University College at Bournemouth. So I sent them a print. This week I received an email saying it had sold for £350, contributing to the £4000 raised, which is nice to know! Their show is called “Paradalia” and will run […]
Some more test shots from London:
A couple of weeks ago I saw a programme on TV about the reintroduction of certain animals into the wild in various parts of Europe and North America. Wolves and bears seemed to be the favourite cuddly beasts. So it was to my great surprise that whilst wondering around Bermondsey last week I stumbled upon a tiger! He seemed quite happy sitting in the tree, and appeared to be enjoying the sunshine. Not sure why he was there – doubt he knew either, so if anyone can explain, I’d be pleased to know!
A selection of images from Bermondsey.