Red Centre

Wherever you go in London you can almost guarantee that a crane – indicating a building site – will form part of the view. Change and development are part of the capital’s everyday life.

Southbank is no exception. Walking along from the National Theatre to Tate Modern recently I took a slight detour to check out a new development and was faced by the concrete skeleton of a new development. The site was silent and empty except for one man, in red.

I waited patiently, hoping he would move to a more compositionally ‘correct ‘ position in the frame, but after five minutes or so it was clear he wasn’t going to be moving on any time soon. He stayed Dead Centre, and so I thought  – man in red is the picture, de-saturate everything else (not that there was much colour in the first place).  And the title was easy – Red Centre.

Remember to click the image for a higher quality enlargement.

The view from Almagelleralp

It’s mid June and so far we’ve had a mere handful of warm sunny days. In less than a week’s time it will be the longest day and then the evenings will draw in on the long descent into gloom and……Christmas. What a grim thought.

So, I’ve banished miserable thoughts of a wet summer spent in the UK and my mind is focused on our two-week holiday in Switzerland where, please God, we will have some typical old-fashioned Alpine summer weather.  This year we are giving Zermatt a miss and hopping over the mountain range into the neighbouring valley – Saastal. One of a number of beautiful valleys that snake south from the main Rhone valley. At the roadhead at the end of  Saastal, a four hour walk will take you to the Monte Moro pass into Italy.

The main resort in Saastal is Saas Fee village that sits on a high shelf (a classic hanging valley) above the main valley floor backed by the fabulous Mischabel mountains. If you drop back down to the valley floor and walk up the opposite side from the village of Saas Almagell you will come to Almagelleralp from where today’s image was taken.

The Mischabel Range: from left – Taschhorn, Dom, Lenzspitze, Nadelhorn

This is the view back across towards Saas Fee (hidden) and the Mischabel mountains. Click the image to see an enlargement. The highest point in this range is the Dom, 4545M (14911ft) – Switzerland’s highest mountain.  (Click here to go to the first in a three-part post written about the Dom and my ascent of it). This is a majestic view but I often think that photography in the mountains can never convey size – you have to be there to appreciate the true grandeur of scenes like these. But hopefully in a few weeks I will be sitting outside this mountain restaurant enjoying a beer and maybe lunch, bathed in warm sunshine and taking in this view.  Not a bad way to spend a day!

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Fact and Fiction

Sometimes the search for a title defeats me, and this is one such day. I tried a title based around the word ‘Surreal’, or one that hinted at a jigsaw gone wrong but nothing sounded right. Maybe the brain is still asleep. But this is an image of a superbly crafted sculpture that distorts reality in a remarkable way. Depending on where you stand that clash of reality and a distorted interpretation of it plays games with your mind’s eye.

Your first glance at this image will possibly initially puzzle you. It’s an image that really looks, and works, better when enlarged. So click the image and enjoy it for a few seconds. Take it all in.

This is Solo II by Naomi Press in Cavendish Square, London. I first published an image of it just over a year ago. Click here to see that earlier Post. I thought that its time span in Cavendish Square was limited so I was surprised but pleased to see it still there last month.

Made of polished stainless steel this is an object that delights at every footfall. The world around you is presented in a warped, disjointed, Picasso-like fashion. Snatches of this and that, at odd angles, seemingly unrelated.

If you are near to London then do see this sculpture – it will not disappoint.

For a pdf press release about this sculpture click here, or here for Naomi Press’s website

Chalk Furrows

Another quick post today.

An unlikely looking field for cultivation, but the farmer had ploughed this chalky field and so presumably intended to plant a crop.

This is another digitized print – the image would have been taken in Dorset or Devon – the sea is there somewhere in the grainy background, and the small tree buffeted by years of wind tells us that we are in an exposed place at the mercy of the prevailing wind.

This image is from a series of images from my old Print Archive that dates from the mid 1970s to mid ‘80s approximately. To see more from this series go to Categories in the Rt sidebar and click on Print Archive, or quicker still click here.

The Copse

A quick post today. Today’s image is the third in a series of images from my old Print Archive. To find out more about this series go to Categories in the Rt sidebar and click on Print Archive, or quicker still click here.

I have no idea where or when exactly this was taken but it would be somewhere in Devon and around 40 years ago give or take two years.

I recall I liked the rather sinister clutch of trees that I saw up a rocky track. It required development in keeping with that feeling – so I used the most contrasty grade of paper and this was the result.

The Art of Children

Today I have something particularly for all those of you with small children, or those who remember when they were small; not forgetting those of more mature years who recall when their children (even grand children) were small. A time when they started to draw and paint and you smiled, and you laughed and maybe you cried at the exuberance of their work. Especially when you were informed that the person in the picture was ‘You’!

Click on any image to see a higher quality enlargement.

The old site of The Middlesex Hospital in Fitzrvovia, Central London has been a desolate site for several years since the old hospital was demolished. Finally development is under way – Fitzroy Place will take its place. Click on the link to learn more.

The periphery of any building site in London is secured by high hoardings. These in the past were ugly and roughly painted. Not nowadays – they are shiny, glossy structures on which information about the developers, their plans along with images of architectural mock-ups are displayed.

The developers of Fitzroy Place have taken this process one stage further by inviting the children of All Souls Primary School to contribute drawings and paintings of their neighbourhood and the images in this Post today are a small, a very small, selection from a vast canvas on display of what they drew.

It is wonderfully imaginative work – admire their work, and applaud the developers for involving their neighbourhood, who are potentially the next generation of inhabitants of this area of London.

Next time you are in London, do not miss this.  I have deliberately included the boards that reference this initiative and include names of all the contributors.

Lunch Break Texting

The King’s Cross Area of London has been undergoing a huge renovation programme for several years. I visited the area recently and was amazed at the changes. Part of the University of the Arts has moved into a block of buildings just north of the Grand Union Canal.

Students spill out during the lunch hour which is when I spotted this young lady, one among many, sitting on the steps down to the canal, enjoying the warm sunshine.