Norwich medieval churches: the exhibition

The exhibition based on last year's photography competition on the theme of Norwich's medieval churches is well and truly up and running - it's in The Forum in Norwich till the first weekend in March. I was lucky enough to have one of my entries shortlisted for the exhibition - though it failed to win the category prize - and along with Teresa I went along to Monday's exhibition launch evening. Some of the picures will apparently be included in a book on Norwich's churches due to be published in April. I'm including a few shots here that I took on the camera phone.

Lens culture

I've recently returned to following some of the photographic blogs, including the excellent Lens Culture.
http://www.lensculture.com/webloglc/index.html
In particular I noticed the entry about the Paris Photo 2009 exhibition that took place last month, including the piece on art market anarchy:

'A surprise act of art market anarchy took place just outside the entrance to the exclusive gala VIP opening night at Paris Photo 2009 last week. While the crowd of well-dressed international art collectors began to enter the giant hall at the Louvre, dozens of pranksters quickly dumped thousands and thousands of anonymous vintage photos into a giant heap, and tossed handfuls of photographs in the air. "Free, free, free!"A surprise act of art market anarchy took place just outside the entrance to the exclusive gala VIP opening night at Paris Photo 2009 last week. While the crowd of well-dressed international art collectors began to enter the giant hall at the Louvre, dozens of pranksters quickly dumped thousands and thousands of anonymous vintage photos into a giant heap, and tossed handfuls of photographs in the air. "Free, free, free!" Even in this art-loving socialist capital, this act caused a momentary cognitive disconnect....'

I'd really like to have been able to gather up a random selection of photographs in this way and try to make something of them with a montage. And maybe the Paris photo 2010 should be pencilled into my diary for next winter.

Norwich medieval churches (part 1)

Norwich has A wealth of medieval churches in its hidtoric core. I've just recently finished my submission for a photographic competition run by Norwich Heritage and Regeneration Trust. This explores themes relating to the past and present churches and their place in today's society. Hence there were eight themes: history and tradition, people and community, inspiration and learning, restoration and conservation, worship and contemplation, art and architecture, enjoyment and fun and innovation and change.

Aftere much wandering around in and out of churches I finally came up with my chosen submission of eight pictures. I really enjoyed looking round churches I hadn't seen much of before, and have come to appreciate them not just in terms of the quality of their interiors, and the range of photographic subjects they offer, but as havens of peace and tranquility in the busy commercial centre of the historic city.

I did get more than I bargained for in one church where I ended up being invited to stay and document an importand church service and presentation of an honary award - quite a big responsibility.

Here are four photographs from my entry, one for each of the first four categories:
History and tradition: St Peter Mancroft, Haymarket, Norwich - a lovely large church in the middle of the city and opposite the Forum, it could easily have provided images for a whole range of entries...as it was, it provided three. Searching for an unusual viewpoint in this much-photographed church, I liked the very low angle and the lighting here, with the eye being led throught to the display of flowers below the organ.

People and community:St James, Whitefriars, Norwich, the Norwich PuppetrTheatre - in the foyer of this wonderful buildong in front of a photographic display tracing the history of the theatre in this converted church. Again, I took a lot of photographs in the auditorium and in the foyer, and hasdn't really considered any taken in this part of the foyer to be serious contenders at first, but in the end I rather liked the quirkiness of this, combined with the link to the people theme in the photograps on the wall.

Inspiration and learning: St Michael Coslany, Oak Street, Norwich, the Inspire Discovery Centre, teaching children about science with a range of interactive and boldly coloured exhibits. A good many interesting images available here, but my preferred option was always going to be one featuring the child and her binoculars. Just a question of which one to choose.

Restoration and conservation: extrenal repairs in progress at St Stephen, Rampart Horse St, Norwich, after a large crack was discovered and the whole structure of the building put in doubt! I struggled a bit to find enough subject matter for this one, which I hadn't expected.

I will include the other four pictures in my next post.

....and Chesterton Windmill

Chesterton Windmill is an imposing structure on a hillside close to the Fosse Way and to the east of Warwick. Information and some photographs here:
http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/Web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/155D9C8F3E61BDB6802571020049F89D
When we were arriving we just caught the end of a wedding photoshoot - a photographer taking shots of people posing with one of the wedding cars with the windmill in the background. There was also someone taking picures from a point in the adjacent field. Other than that, we had the place to ourselves.

Photography exhibitions in Norwich

It's been encouraging to find there have been two photography exhibitions on recently in Norwich. First of all the Flickr Norwich UK group organised an exhibition of members' work in a vacant shop unit in a prominent part of Norwich's Castle Mall shopping centre last month - which is still running - and secondly in the Forum there was a one week exhibition of the winning and shortlisted entries in the 'Norwich 12' competition. This was designed to find creative and original views of twelve heritage buildings in the city centre; the winning shots of each building will feature in a series of postcards. I'm always happy to see amateur photographers being encouraged to produce and display their work, and if it generates additional interest in the many fine buildings in the city, all well and good.

I was pleased that my own entry (top picture on the display board) for photographs of Norwich City Hall - a fine listed building designed in the Scandinavian style - made the short list and hence was on display. The launch evening for the exhibition was a great chance to talk with some of the other exhibitors about their photographs and to bounce some ideas around. I hope there will be another Norwich 12 competition this summer!

Suomenlinna

The Suomenlinna sea fortress just off the coast from Helsinki is a place full of atmosphere. The impressive fortifications became a UNESCO world heritage site in the early 1990s. It's just a 15 minute ferry ride from the market place (first picture) and I think it's a must see. The municipal ferries run every 20 minutes, so you could just go for the trip, an experience in itself, but I recommend staying for at least an hour, preferably two. The older ferries (second picture) have really atmospheric passenger compartments - old wooden seats, yellow walls, red columns - the newer ones, much less so. Sit in there for some people watching, or go out on the small car deck in the middle and look at the small islands and the approaching island of Suomenlinna.

The island itself is really four islands. Turn right on leaving the ferry and across the bridge for the two smaller connected islands of Pikku Mustasaari Lansi-Mustasaari, much less frequented than Iso Mustasaari, where you disembark. Alternatively, continue straight across on the main path and in five minutes to the surprisingly modern and well-resourced Visitor Centre just before the bridge to Susaari and with the docks to the right. Wherever you go there are imposing barracks, military installations, old wooden houses -and even a submarine.

It's probably at its most atmospheric for the photographer in the winter, when the serious snows arrive, or if you're lucky and catch sight of any of the garrisoned troops. There are shops and more besides - several hundred people live on the islands. There is a web site - http://www.suomenlinna.fi/ Suomenlinna won the Best Place in Helsinki vote organised by the City Planning Department in 2008!

I went in October and it was easy to leave the signposted tourist routes behind and discover for myself what Suomenlinna had to offer. I'd love to go back again when the snow's on the ground.

Try to see it my way

This is a blog about my photographic journey: about how taking pictures helps me understand the world and understand myself. It's a learning process. It will allow me to write about places I have seen and how and where I have chosen to take photographs. This process is still in its infancy and will evolve in unpredictable ways.

A little about equipment. I own a Canon EOS 400D for the serious stuff; a Canon Ixus 40 for the more casual side and a Sony Ericsson K800i mobile for the unplanned and candid shots. Having said that, there are certainly times when I'm inclined to take pictures of more or less anything and everything with whatever comes to hand. I have had photographs exhibited at the Norwich Arts Centre's 'Little Things' exhibition in the summer of 2008 - but definitely no other claims to fame. A few of my earlier photographs - from my pre-digital SLR days - can be found on the photography web site stripescreative.co.uk , which was a starting point for grouping and didplaying some of my early favourite images.

I will be posting about places I have been and my impressions - a personal and photographic journey - beginning shortly with Estonia and Finland, where I went in October 2008.