Archive for “Photographs”

I’m not knocking the Brits obsession with DIY, but Portugal was refreshing, things are ramshackle and the people seem more interested in relaxing than plastering.

They’ve been making hay round our way… and it smells delicious.

Did you see the BBC David Hockney documentary? He is growing on me. I saw his exhibition at the National Portrait gallery a while back and liked (not loved) his work, with the documentary you get more of a feel for the man and he is very genuine with some great insights. He has that naughty twinkle in his eye of someone who has really lived.

The programme follows his homecoming to Yorkshire from California, as he discovers an activity he’s never tried before – painting outdoors. And boy does he paint, literally hundreds of paintings sometimes repeating the same scene at different times in the year. There is a bit where he is painting in some Yorkshire field and a car pulls up, a man shouts ‘I’ve got a frontroom needs painting when you’re done here’. Eeeek! Hockney handles it like a pro and just gets on with the job at hand. I do admire his work ethic, he really focusses on the subject and blocks everything else out.

If you have an hour to kill, it is worth a watch. And here is a little uplifting quote from the man in the flat cap…

‘The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent’ – David Hockney

A while ago, I went to see the Bill Brandt (1904-1983) exhibition at the V&A. He is a photographer well known for his documentation of British cultural and social life and his more surrealist work that was influenced by Man Ray who he assisted whilst living in Paris.

Naturally there were dozens of beautiful images there, but the one that struck me the most was this one ‘Bayswater Houses lit by Moonlight’. During the war Brandt was commissioned to produce a major photographic inventory of the capital’s important buildings. The work was carried out during the black-out, without flash. I can’t remember how long the photograph was exposed for, but it was ages, hours maybe.

I love this comment by Elizabeth Bowen, one of Brandt’s favourite writers, ‘Full moon drenched the city and searched it; there was not a niche left to stand in. The effect was remorseless: London looked like the moon’s capital – shallow, cratered, extinct…And the moon did more: it exonerated and beautified’. Why don’t we speak like that any more?

When I lived in London I used to cycle to and from work, once there was a powercut all the way down Old Street and the Clerkenwell Road and it was very peaceful cycling in the darkness without any manmade light. I think that is what I find so attractive about this photograph, the stillness. In the words of the photographer himself ‘In 1939, at the beginning of the war, I was back in London photographing the blackout. The darkened town, lit only by moonlight, looked more beautiful than before or since’

I doubt that my comment a few weeks back about ‘not minding the rain’ has jinxed the weather, but if you’re listening up there I wouldn’t mind a bit of sun now please. The last time I was in Norfolk at the end of May, I used to run past this campsite every night, and I longed to camp and still do. It is a beautiful spot on the edge of a pine forest which backs onto the huge expanse of Holkham beach. It has that glorious southern France smell of hot pine trees and is just metres from the beach. Ooo lovely, I quite fancy a little run about in the forest and a dip in the sea… any chance?

I like the rain, but maybe not carrying shopping bags in the rain, more things like running, cycling, swimming. There is something refreshing about getting soaked to the skin, deliberately going through puddles and it not mattering. We’re lucky to have an outdoor pool in Hitchin and it was blissful swimming this morning, watching the steam rise while the rain drops plopped into the pool.

It reminded me of these photographs taken by our friend Christine Donnier Valentin. Not only is she a brilliant photographer but she is very funny too. I’ll add some more of her images when I get a minute.

Who needs expensive signage… came across this beautiful hand drawn sign at a Painter’s studio in Honfleur.

I saw this empty billboard the other night whilst waiting for a train, made me smile.

I can see the attraction Eric

What am I talking about, I pretty much love every time of year. I forgot that back in early March I’d taken these pictures. Plants go wild over the summer, during autumn the leaves fall off and then in early spring the ‘council chopper’ gives everything a very harsh haircut, a number one all over. It makes me laugh, it looks so unnatural.