Away for a day or two

 

I'm traveling visiting family and I haven't had chance to schedule ahead, so I will leave you with some observations from the Yare estuary and wish you a good end of week. 

Lorena Carrington

Lorena Carrington collages photographic imagery to create her haunting, fantastical illustrations often for fairy tales. 

 

Tamy Kay

 

Tamy Kay spins nature in her photographic prints making kaleidoscopic patterns inspired by her experience of epilepsy, enjoy the last gasp of autumn leaves.

Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley

Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley (1865 –1931) is renowned for his photographs of snowflakes and alerting people to their unique designs. He also took exquisite photographs of many ice formations in close-up, these beautiful images are his "frost studies".

“Always, right from the beginning it was the snowflakes that fascinated me most,” he said. “The farm folks up in this country dread the winter, but I was supremely happy.”             Wison Snowfake Bentley 

He started trying to capture their beauty in drawings through a microscope, then after many experiments he manages to photograph his first snowflake on January 15, 1885. He went on to establish that no two snowflakes were the same, this captured people's imaginations and his work was widely published in magazines.

"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind." Wilson Bentley 1925

However, when Wilson went to publish his first book on snow, he got caught in a blizzard and caught pneumonia of which he died two weeks later.

Lee Godie II

The story of Lee Godie (1908–1994) is a puzzle probably never to be completely solved so far as I can research she was born Jamot Emily Godee in Mudtown, Illinois, as one of a family of 11 children. She married George Hathaway and had three children, however tragedy struck, two of her children died and her marriage failed. From then on (approximately 1968) she lived a transient life on the streets of Chicago. Where she survive as an artist selling her paintings.

In the 1960's she discovered a photo booth at the Greyhound Bus Stop in Chicago, here she would take self-portrait glam shots and add colour to the 5x4 gelatin silver black and white prints. By using lipstick and instant ice tea she was able to create her own unique style, and then hand colour and adjust the photo booth images.

Roots. Dr Jerry Glover and Jim Richardson

Dr Jerry Glover has been researching root dynamics and soil organic carbon and exploring the possibilities and ramifications of changing our agricultural production from annuals to perennials. 

These incredible images are of (top to bottom) Missouri Goldenrod, Compass Plant and Wheatgrass were taken by Jim Richardson to document Dr Jerry Glovers findings. The composite photographs, eight to fourteen per plant were stitched together in vertical panoramas to try to capture the incredible 14 foot structures.

Macbeth at Dunfermline Abbey

It has been a very busy month and last week was an especially busy week.
I have been helping with a site specific interpretation of Macbeth at Dunfermline Abby for Tina West and her Acting and Performance students from Fife College, creating whirling dervish skirts and photographing the event. I have photographed these students performances many times this year and have loved watching them and their performances evolve.
The production included my daughter who took time out from school to participate and it was great to watch her flourish with her role.
This was was an incredibly moving contemporary production of Macbeth with physical theatre, dance and intense audio which dealt with issues of personal and military conflict, pertinent to our age, set within the fantastic grounds of Dunfermline abbey.
The project was funded by Carnegie Dunfermline Trust and was offered as a free event to schools and the Dunfermline community and supported by Historic Environment Scotland. 

Sea mouse

No whales were to be seen cavorting in the white horses of the Forth today. However I did find my first sea mouse and I am in awe of this incredible creature.

Daisy Zuo

These illustrations by Daisy Zuo are inspired by the portraits of people wearing vegetation 'Eyes as big as plates by Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth. I loved and was greatly inspired by these portraits and it is great to see them being taken into different media by Daisy.

Fog

Lately when ever I am on a train, I love taking photographs.

The train takes me where I can't normally go, it is an endlessly changing, fluttering landscape, a challenge to capture through dirty windows, rain splattered windows and the fleeting obstructions of trees, posts and signage. Travelling back on Sunday there was fog through Yorkshire and Northumberland, the light was stunningly beautiful. 

Fog is quite magical it distorts sound and vision, shape shifts quietens the landscape and yet amplifies noise.