Disused petrol pumps

Quite by chance I discovered an interest in photographing disused petrol punps and petrol stations last year on holiday in Normandy. We'd driven through a small village a few kilometres short of our campsite for the first night, the light was fading, but I just had to stop and take some pictures. Some time since I found some really rusty petrol pumps and garage buildings in Snowdonia, and I've just taken photographs of two really decrepit pumps I on a roadside in rural Suffolk. I've also taken pictures of a pump at River Green in Thorpe St Andrew, Norfolk, as much for the incongruous riverside setting as anything.

Again by chance while perusing some back issues online of the journal London Independent Photography I came across an article (Summer 2006, issue no. 4) about the photographer John H Rhodes, who has produced a series of images of disused pumps in the Scottish Highlands and elsewhere.

I think it must be something about their association with the motor vehicle and the freedom of movement it's inspired over the years that kind of makes them an iconic subject. That and the rust, dereliction and decay which I have often sought out in photographic subjects, for reasons I haven't fully thought through.

Llandudno reappraised

We visited Llandudno a few weeks back as part of our week in North Wales. I've been there a couple of times as a child with my grandparents and only once since, on a golfing holiday in my early twenties, so it was fun to see the town again. It was more genteel than I remembered, with

a very impressive sea front and esplanade. There's a very long pier and no doubt much besides.

We had a trip on the tramway that runs from the centre of town to the top of the Great Orme - that was a lot of fun, especially the first part where the tracks run quite steeply uphill through the built-up parts, before it passes the halfway station and crosses the open moorland above. There are superb views looking back across the bay. The top is commercialised and was busy when we were there, so i would recommend going up on the tram and walking back. I tried to capture the mood of the place with some pictures, though maybe they make it look a bit gloomier than it felt at the time!

Abersoch and the Llyn

The Llyn peninsular in North Wales is a place of contrasts: the popular beaches and seaside towns like Pwllheli and Abersoch, and the unexplored interior with its minor roads and solitude. On holiday a few weeks ago we took the campervan to Aberdaron, a little place virtually at the end of the peninsular. Surprisingly, the village paper shop opened promptly at 9.00 on a Sunday morning and I had no trouble buying a copy of our usual Observer. Later I walked a section of the coastal path right at the end of the peninsular. But the previous day we had paused a while in Abersoch, finding it much busier than expected (though no doubt the extremely hot late June weather was a factor). It's a bustling little place, with a pretty harbour, golf course, sand dunes and beach huts perched high above the beach, so naturally I took the opportunity to take some pictures and do some people watching. Apart from the beach huts, I really liked a collection of fishing paraphernalia outside the RNLI station and an old metalic ice cream advertising sign on the side wall of a shop in the centre.

Snowdon summit

Earlier this month I was in North Wales for a week or so with the campervan, and among other things took the opportunity of a trip to the top of Snowdon. On the train - but it was a really hot day and I wasn't sure whether I could cope too well with walking down, or even up. The little narrow gauge train from Llanberis was £23 return as we didn't organise ourselves in time to get the half price tickets on the first train of the day, but money well spent if you didn't fancy a three hour walk up and about the same going down.

Naturally I took quite a few photographs but the mountain was so crowded it was hard to get anything really interesting. Time at the summit was limited because if you didn't take the return train (after a 30 minute stay) you had to take your chances of finding a seat on a later one.

The new visitor centre at the train terminus just below the summit is really well designed to blend in with the landscape and is a worthy addition. There's a blog covering its construction here, and this features some pretty goood pictures as well. See http://blog.snowdonia-active.com

Images of rural Norfolk

The Norfolk Rural Community Council recently held a photography competition with the aim of finding images that summed up the strengths and challenges faced by rural communities. I was pleasantly surprised to win second prize with a shot of the Community Playbus (the picture is in my previous post). The Omnibus project, based in North Walsham, uses the bus to deliver information technology and play facilities to outlying rural areas. We came upon the bus purely by chance while travelling along a country lane somewhere in North Norfolk looking for other subjects entirely - and realised it would make an interesting statement for the 'services, access: are you being served' theme (one of six possibilities). Its appearance in the very rural setting and the fact that it represents a project clearly delivering service to rural areas obviously appealed.The one below was taken on my mobile phone at the Council's AGM and shows part of an exhibition stand with a range of selected other entries - the winners were announced as the last item at the meeting.

Pictures to order

I've just sent in my entry for a photography competition organised by Norfolk's Rural Community Council - there were several themes and the idea was to submit photographs that would illustrate some of the aspects of rural life....more geared to problems than to advantages, I think. Anyway, it proved harder than I had thought to find some suitable images for the various categories. In my mind's eye I knew what I wanted. In practice things didn't really go to plan. The countryside often looked far to picturesque: what I sought was the gritty reality of run-down shops and isolated people. I was looking for country shops to photograph but there weren't that many, and there weren't usually shoppers around. As a last ditch effort I decided to go up to the north Norfolk coast last Sunday to look at a group of houses near the cliff edge between Sheringham and Weybourne, that I thought would suit the isolation theme....and was rewarded with a dramatic overcast sky and a few good shots to choose from! The one I chose can be seen here.....


Here are some of the images I entered and a description of the category they relate to
Healthy environment, healthy community: (Winterton on Sea, Norfolk)

Services, access - are you being served? (Community Playbus, a project supporting families and groups by offering I.T. ande play facilities in rural locations, taken in north Norfolk)

Rural isolation - idyllic or isolated? (between Sheringham and Weybourne, Norfolk coast) ; the houses are at the end of a rough track from Weybourne village.

Birmingham rediscovered

I've recently had the opportunity to revisit Birmingham city centre several times, in particular for their German Christmas market, and can't fail to be impressed by some of the modern architecture and the way some buildings are lit. I discovered a tribute to Tony Hancock on Corporation Street, some interesting lighting outside the Bull Ring, and of course the iconic Selfridge's building is now an instantly recognisable landmark. There's a brooding statue by Antony Gormley at the western end of New Street. My favourite area is probably the Gas street basin area, with the Ikon Gallery, shops, reastaurants and canalside walks. Another thing is that the centre is remarkably compact and really you can walk from one side to the other in a few minutes.