Southwell

Yesterday I visited The Workhouse at Southwell, a place which has long been on my "To go" list, but I was spurred into action by the OCA blog about Maggy Milner's work "A Delicate Balance".

After a lengthy drive, I eventually arrived and was amazed by the size of the workhouse. It is a very large building and seems out of proportion for the needs of the rural community I had driven through. I later went into Southwell itself to find a small town, so perhaps my first impressions were misled by the direction I had travelled from.

I watched an introductory film about the Workhouse' history and the principles behind it. Then I went into the buildings themselves and was surprised by the quality of the building itself, although the amenities for the people living there were spartan.

In the men's exercise yard I came across the first piece of Maggy's work, "Hard Labour".

The various sizes of hands represented the ages of all the occupants of the workhouse and the very physical hard work they had to perform.  The piece looked even more dramatic when seen from inside the building on the upper floors. It was quite chilling. The position of each hand seemed to suggest a silent plea for the toil to stop.

The ground floor of the workhouse was spotlessly clean, dry and sparsely furnished, but then I went into the cellars which were less inviting. It was cold, dark and damp in there, with decay on the walls and doors. There I found the second piece of Maggy's work, "Perishable Goods."

The fruit inside the jars, again displayed in regimented rows as were the hands, were in various stages of deterioration. The seven sets of jars, displayed in different parts of the cellars, represented the 7 categories of pauper admitted to the workhouse and segregated  in every part of the institution. Families were separated on arrival and were never allowed to communicate with each other. This must have been dreadful for the people, mothers torn from their children, brothers and sisters kept apart, husbands parted from their wives.

There was a sense of despair in the cellars and Maggy's work reflected this.

Upstairs again, a light, bright room -The Committee Room - held the third part of Maggy's work, "Classified" again emphasizing the cruel segregation of the paupers.

I chose this specific pile of labelled t-shirts as I suppose I would have been grouped as "Old Woman" although I am do not really feel old and I am not infirm !

The modernity of the t-shirts and slogan made me think about how we categorise people today - little has changed.

"More" is the title of the fourth piece, again displayed in neat rows on the floor. Begging bowls are always used as a symbol of poverty, distressing at any time in history, but having a sense of failure in our modern society as we still see them now.

The bowls were in the men's dormitory - other rooms displayed the simple beds, very close together and filling the rooms.

"Diminishing Returns" were pieces displayed in the dormitory for the "Old and Infirm" - the only "Deserving Poor". Here the acrylic shapes suggest the human form, with metal bars as support and restraint. Displayed against the windows, these pieces were lit from behind. When I realised that my reflection showed in my photograph, it made it feel very personal.

Finally, in the Master's Room, I found the sixth piece, "Deflation".

Although this room was not in quite the decorative state of the ground floor rooms, it would have been one of the grandest rooms during the life of the building as a workhouse. From here, the Master could see all the exterior aspects of the building and access all the interior. The paupers were always in his control.

The clear balloons, trapped in clear cylinders and slowly deflating and falling, suggest the total lack of privacy in the lives of the paupers, constantly in the control of the Master.

 I  enjoyed seeing the "Delicate Balance" project and for once felt that I understood the concepts behind it. I do not usually enjoy modern art installations, but this felt to be highly symbolic in its message and specifically in its location.


Having seen the workhouse itself, I came away feeling  dismay at the inhumanity man shows to his fellow man, sometimes in the guise of aid or charity. 


I went into Southwell to visit the Minster. A wedding party posing for photographs, the bells ringing and the warmth of the  summer day combined to restore my spirits. Inside the Minster, the architecture and especially the stone carvings were glorious. I faced the long drive home in a contemplative mood.

Rectangles

Rectangles

This photograph was taken at Mr Straw's House, a National Trust property which is an Edwardian house, redecorated in 1921 and unchanged since that date. The view of the kitchen shows several rectangular shapes, although some are slightly distorted by perspective. All the items in the kitchen seemed to be solid, rectangular objects - the sink, the cupboards, the chimneybreast,
the fireplace, hearth  and  ovens. Movement is suggested by the angles of the brush and shovel. Photography was difficult in the house as the rooms were small and very dark - flash was not allowed.


Exercise: Rhythms and Patterns.


On the seafront at Heysham, there were several examples of rhythm in the 3-storey terraced houses. I tried several different angles and focal lengths before choosing this one for the exercise.

The  house at the right hand side of the frame breaks the rhythm by being painted white over the natural stone and black paint on the stone window surrounds, door and drainpipes. The terrace then continued in stone, but the balance of the rhythm was broken by this house. This part of the terrace suggests its own rhythm, stone repeated and then white - perhaps a sharp, shorter note to end the rhythm before the repeat begins.

Exercise : Real and implied triangles

Real Triangles


On a recent visit to Blackwell (10th July) I took several photographs of the  house exterior and the beautiful views in and from the garden. It was a bright, sunny day and the photographs were taken around midday.

There are several triangles in this view of Lake Windermere , taken from the terrace at Blackwell. The stone wall at the bottom of the frame edges the mown field;  the left frame and lake form the other two sides. 
In addition, my intention was to show the lake as a triangle, bounded by the far side of the lake and the slope of the mown field.
Beyond the lake, the shoreline and hill form a third triangle.

This view of the house shows an inverted triangle by perspective. As the two main walls meet at rightangles, the roofline of the left wall appears to descend from top left to the centre of the frame, causing the gable end of the right hand wall to form the second side of the triangle, which is completed by the top of the frame. 


Implied triangles

Four plants in pots, with 2 baskets, form this triangular shape still life. There are plenty of flowers within the triangle for interest, but the placing of the plants on the trug gives width and height to the study.

Shape

Bryan Peterson (Learning to see Creatively) says that shape is the principal element of identification. Firstly, it is best defined when the subject is frontlit or backlit. Secondly, there should be a strong contrast between the shape and it's surroundings.


Triangles
I have been looking for triangles, both real and implied. Again I have found that, focusing on a new aspect of the course, I am noticing things I had not noticed before.  As with Curves, I realise that triangles have formed a part of my photographs which have pleased me, but not thought about WHY they have had that effect. 
The following three examples of my Granddaughter playing in the garden in response to my question "How many different triangle shapes can you make?"showed me how much more difficult it is to capture a posed choice, instead of just clicking away as she plays!

This shot fits with Peterson's  point about contrast. Maddie's red polo shirt contrasts strongly with the green background. As for his first point, these shots were taken on a very dull day, as can be seen from the lack of shadows.

 I was so busy concentrating on Maddie that I didn't notice that the garden shed is in the frame. It  would have been a much better shot if I had asked her to move a few paces to her left!
Unfortunately, it began to rain heavily as I realised this and so could not repeat the shot.

I think Maddie had as much fun as I did!

Exercise : Implied lines.

An eye line
In this photograph, the figure to the right of the frame is nearest the camera and pulls the viewer into the frame.  She has her back to the camera and is clearly looking down at the boat moored by the jetty. Although her eyes are not in the shot, the eye of the viewer is drawn down to the boat. The blue of her fleece top tones with the blue of the water and the distant hills.


Lines that point

Here, at the seafront at Heysham, the evening sun causes strong shadows from the railings to fall on the promenade. Although the vertical blue posts cause horizontal shadows, the dominant lines in the photograph are formed by the shadows of the horizontal railings. The railings themselves and the shadows form a sweep of lines which draw the eye to a central point on the horizon and the distant hills of The Lake District beyond.

Curves

Curves


I've taken many photographs showing curves- sea shores being a prime example, but never looked for curves as in the example in the Course folder - seeing circles in a photograph, where I would only have seen a tree and figures (P66 Exercise: Curves). I want to look now through my own photographs to see whether I have unwittingly used curves myself.
I've found lots of examples of curves taken whilst working for this course, but think they were all deliberate shots with the curves a known part of the image.


Most of my first assignment work was done at Cesar Manriques home in Lanzarote. This view of a spiral staircase taken from above was one of the photographs taken there. Taken in very bright light,the shining white floor provides a background to the stone walls and the highly polished wooden treads.

Whilst walking along the coastal pathway in Lanzarote, I saw several of this style of structure - strong dry stone lava walls in beautiful curves, with fairly ugly concrete struts joining the inner and outer walls at the top. I passed them several times without even thinking them worthy of photography. What made these so photogenic was seeing them at the right time of day when the sun was in the right position, creating dramatic sweeps of shadow on the walls and the ground beneath.

As a complete contrast to the previous 2 manufactured curves, the next image was taken in my garden on a bright day . I used an image of the wisteria in the Contrasts assignment and this was taken on the same day. One stem of the plant protrudes from the others and its blossom forms a graceful curve as it arches out and downwards. More fronds form curves in the background.

For my fourth curve, I'm returning to manufactured things.

There are many curves in this photograph: the wheel arch, the tyre, the handle, the air vent and the stripes. The curve of the air vent matches the curve of the door edge; the wheel, tyre and wheel arch curves match each other. The strong sunlight makes splashes of reflection and some shadows. Black and white make strong contrasts. The only straight lines are diagonal within the air vent and the edge of the frame.

Diagonal Lines

Diagonal Lines

I recently visited The Anderton Boat Lift and took photographs of the structure as it is full of lines in all directions. It was a dismal day, cold, damp and windy, but somehow that emphasises the architectural drama of the site. Although the major framework is of vertical and horizontal lines, the decorative inner diagonals in white form crosspieces  to reinforce the structure. In addition, some of the outer struts are leaning in as diagonals.

Working on my Horizontal/Vertical lines project during my recent visit to London, I guessed that Diagonals might well be the next exercise. I took this photograph just in case! It was  a very sunny afternoon and the whole building reflects the light. The diagonals are a major feature of "The Gherkin"  , both in the diamond patterns and the differently coloured diagonal bands.


Crossing The Thames on the new footbridge, I tried a shot which would be part of the Horizontal lines project, but could not get the correct angle. Consequently, the shot is used here as an example of diagonal lines, as the steelwork, although horizontal in fact, looks diagonal in the image.

The steel runs diagonally from bottom left to top right. The handrail is also just in the shot forming a diagonal in the bottom right hand corner.

This fourth image has several diagonals leading from bottom left to the top right hand corner, where a different diagonal meets  from the bottom right. The sunlight makes the white edge at the bottom of the photograph somewhat overexposed, but also creates a diagonal between light and shade across the image. The splash of red also directs the eye to the top right of the photograph. .