Tag Archives: photography

Spider in red

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macro

This shot didn’t make the cut first time around but it has been growing on me so I thought I would share it. The spider was completely hidden under sumach leaves so the light is poor but I like it anyway.

Over on The Shed Gallery’s Blog today, my post is about photographing flying bugs. If you have been reading Focused Moments since the beginning, you will already know the piece as it is almost the same as one I posted here in April. If not, why not pop over – I share all my secrets, such as they are 😉

Artist of the Week at The Shed

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This will be a slightly different week on Focused Moments as I am honoured to be Artist of the Week at The Shed Gallery.  I first came across this gallery when I stumbled upon their summer exhibtion at The Malthouse in Lyme Regis.  Entitled Albion, the exhibition featured art celebrating this island nation of ours.  It was a topical exhibition for 2012, a year when we have celebrated being British more than any other.

Dorset

The Cobb at Lyme Regis

Although largely an on-line community, The Shed differs from other internet photographic and art communities in that it has a permanent real gallery space in Barcelona plus seasonal exhibitions in its second home, Lyme. Furthermore, next February, Albion will be coming to London, to the Cock ‘n’ Bull gallery at Shoreditch.  I hope they will include something of mine!

Barcelona

Inside La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

The Shed is only in its second year, and relatively expensive compared with other sites, but I like it that it is still small; one feels more part of a real community than one does on the impersonal mega-sites.  Direct contact between individual artists and the Shed Team is as frequent as the artist requires and hopefully there will be an opportunity to meet many of the other artists at the London exhibition.

Barcelona

Detail from Gaudi’s beautiful church, La Sagrada Familia

As Artist of the Week, I am writing some posts for the Shed’s Blog.  The first one is an introduction to me and my photography and the images will be familiar to anyone who has been following along here for a while.  But I would be hugely chuffed if you had time to pop over and say ‘hi’.

Dorset

Summer evening, Lyme Regis

Dunstanburgh Castle

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Northumberland

Today I thought I’d share some images taken at Dunstanburgh Castle on Northumberland’s beautiful Heritage Coast. The castle is the largest in Northumberland. In 1313, Earl Thomas of Lancaster, cousin of Edward II of England began construction and John of Gaunt added to it later in the century.

Northumberland

During the Wars of the Roses, the castle was badly damaged and it slowly fell into decay. The castle is now owned by the National Trust and in the care of English Heritage. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunstanburgh_Castle

Dunstanburgh Castle

This beautiful and evocative ruin can hardly fail to inspire, perched on a rocky outcrop above the coast and the plain below.  Some great painters have immortalised it, including Turner and, one of my favourite contemporary artists, Michael Morgan.

Northumberland

Lilburn Tower, the most intact of the castle buildings, seems to demand a moody black and white treatment. Can you imagine a knight riding along that path, perhaps to rescue a princess from the tower?  I kept thinking instead of Macbeth, riding to meet the three weird sisters, perhaps because Roman Polanski’s film, Macbeth was shot in the area.

Northumberland

Dunstanburgh Castle is reached via a footpath from Craster, a sleepy fishing village to the South.  Or via the beautiful sands of Embleton Bay to the North.

Northumberland

I chased down a rainbow there on our visit, only just managing one hasty exposure before the colours faded, from which I made this, rather more painterly than usual, image with a little help from Topaz Simplify:

Northumberland

For all that I enjoyed the, admittedly rather over the top, colours of the last two images, it remains, for me, the black and white images that suit this location more.  If you get the chance to visit this atmospheric ruin, I thoroughly recommend it.

Lilburn Tower

Stepping off the path

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stepping off a path

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

If there is a path it is someone else’s path and you are not on the adventure.

– Joseph Campbell 

 

Road to no-where

The Watcher

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silhouette

Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
– John Keats, ‘On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer’

Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
I must be gone and live, or stay and die.
– William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Still Autumn, just…

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Painshill Park, Surrey

Today the leaves have begun to fall in earnest.  Flurries billow under the wheels of passing vehicles and the windscreens of parked cars are patterned with a tapestry of gold and orange.   Although the season is nearly over,  I thought I might share some more Autumn shots, taken during my recent visit to Painshill Park in Cobham, Surrey.

Painshill Park

The Mausoleum

Painshill Park

The Gothic Temple

Painshill Park

Autumn foliage

Painshill Parkm

Harvestman

Painshill Park

Coot on golden pond

Painshill Park

Painshill Lake

For an earlier post where I talk about some of the history of Painshill and share some more images, see here.

Autumn unending

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funghi  This year Autumn seems to be extra colourful and extra long.  I have been gazing all week at the extraordinary hues of the sycamores and beech trees in my neighbourhood.  Some photos will follow in another post. But I thought I couldn’t let Autumn pass without at least one shot of another characteristic part of the season, funghi.

macro spider on webAnd then of course there has to be a minibeast.  This shot of a spiderling will never be a competition image – the background is too busy.  But I could hardly resist sharing the little critter’s autumnal livery.

flight

Finally, here’s a truly terrible shot but I include it because it is my first ever recognisable photo of a bat in flight!  Karen Anderson, of Modern Memory Keeping, and I went for a morning stroll in Painshill Park the other day and to our astonishment spotted this bat flitting about between the trees.  Of course, I had my macro lens on, but I gave it a go anyway.  What the little thing thought it was doing out and about at nearly noon is anyone’s guess.  I suspect stocking up on some last minute protein before hibernation.

More endless Autumn next time.

 

 

Air Forces Memorial

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poppies

No matter what you think about the politics of conflict, today is a day to remember those who have died in war.  I want to share some images of one of my local war memorials, the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede.

Runnymede

Perched high on a hill above the water meadows of Runnymede, the memorial is a peaceful building of cool stone, echo and shadow.  

Runnymede

Inside are commemorated over 20,000 airmen lost during World War Two but for whom there is no known grave. The names of those killed seem to run on as endlessly as the memorial’s labyrinthine corridors.

Runnymede

Flags in the roof remind us that the war dead came from all nationalities.

Runnymede

So many young men were lost, literally.  With no body found, often the name carved on the wall is all that family have to mark their loved one.  Countless small tokens left in nooks around the walls show that even all these years later, individuals are still remembered and mourned.

Runnymede

The Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede is a beautiful place, yes, but also a sobering one.  It was somewhere I was pleased to take my teenage son whose idea of conflict is influenced by computer games and adventure movies.  As we walked the corridors and porticoes, he became quiet and thoughtful.  As did we all.