Quiet, Still, Minimal. Images whilst travelling...

Back in April 2014 we travelled by train from Montreal to New York. 
I did write a very brief post about this experience at the time but what I want to revisit here is a series of particular photographs in the order they were taken, similar to a very short storyboard of images that need to seen together.

Considering the length of the journey It's a snap shot of a short moment in time.
The reason I've pulled these images out is that there's something quite magical about the quality of light that occurred as the day was beginning to draw in.

These muted blue grey tones mixed with the hazy light impacted with a filmic atmosphere.

Despite the fact this was two years ago I still recall the mood that filled the air. 
As we slowly crawled past the industrial aggregate site with masses of materials piled up sitting against the stark concrete structures and the highly engineered bridge dotted into the vast landscape. 

This part of the journey instantly pulled my attention away from my book or internal thinking and immediately resonated quiet still and minimal. 
Something I'm often striving to capture in my work. 

Sombourne Chalk Quarry: Hampshire

Last weekend I visited Sombourne chalk quarry in Hampshire to choose the chalk I need for my next exhibition. After several conversations with Mark Yorke who owns and runs the quarry single handily.

 Ben and I drove down with plastic boxes in the boot and began selecting the chalk from the various different shapes and sizes from large boulders to dust.

Throughout the quarry, the chalk is divided into different sizes according to it's use. 

The dust to 20 is used for agriculture to line the flooring for cow sheds. 

Chalk is also used within the building trade for construction work such as building or lining river banks.

The larger blocks some weighing up to a tonne are often used for larger projects or art works. It's interesting to find out how this material is utilised but also the handling processes involved in the quarry itself. It's removed from the landscape in metre levels according to the natural seam lines.  

The quarry is normally only in working order during the summer months as it's an impossible task to work with such a dusty material during the wet winter. In many ways it's fairly similar to the way clay pits function.

Where industry is very much dependant upon the weather conditions and seasonal cycles.

Image taken by Ben Winkley 2015

Whilst I was there we filled two boxes of dust to 20 and a further two boxes of the larger chunks which can be seen in the forth image here. 

When we arrived brilliant sunshine was beaming down into the quarry. 
This was a new experience! 

I had never been into such a space that was saturated by the colour white before. 
With the addition of sunshine it becomes blinding but also quite invigorating. 
You realise how powerful it is and the spiritual connections white carries with it. 

It's something I've been interested in for a while now and White ultimately plays a huge part in this current piece of work but it's so rare that you find yourself immersed within a natural landscape surrounded by one solid colour. 

Flint is embedded within the chalk and has to be removed by hand this type of flint is quite rare with the white skin and dark black interior and is only found within this locality. When you visit Winchester flint has been used in many of the older buildings some of the interior walls within the theatre have been lined with it.

I brought one piece away with me which I intend to include in the final process display in October.

Please follow the link to take a look at the quarry as there are very few chalk quarries left in the country anymore and it's quite a special place and a big thank you to Mark for all his help.

http://www.hampshirechalk.co.uk

A Day in Kent

Last weekend we decided to leave London for the day and head towards the Thames Estuary to discover the Medway. 

There are several circular walks you can do in and around this area. As the point of this mini expedition was to see the sea we made our way to All Hallows by Sea.

An open desolate landscape with a similarity to Dungeness, a power station looming in the background and a carpet of long grasses with a scattering of yellow daisies popping out. 

We began the 4.5 miles walk having to steer clear of two herds of cows along the way.

Here are a few images in memory of our fresh breezy day on the Estuary.

Garden tour of Syon Park

On Wednesday afternoon I was very lucky to be able to go on a garden tour of Syon Park. One of Capability Brown's landscape gardens and with the 300th year birth of Brown next year in 2016 this garden will most likely be on the receiving end of more attention.

The garden has two lakes the first one we encountered snakes through the landscape. There are two garden spaces essentially one is open to the public the other is private we were fortunate to be able walk both of them. 

Here we began to see the typical open expansive landscape Brown is celebrated for.

A parkland vista where every angle was carefully considered and constructed to create a line of vision. Of course not all of the original intended views still exist today. Trees have grown other buildings have been built and some pathways may have changed slightly in two and a half centuries. However, it still remains a wonderful legacy and example of Brown's work. 

 A fallen Oak tree has been left marks the different feel in the the second part of the garden. The great element of this portion of the gardens that it remains less manicured, the grasses are longer there is a distinct feel of the english meadow and openness. 

The second lake where the cow's are grazing across the lake side.

Here are two images of the HaHa the original brick construction dividing the land at two different levels. The HaHa historically came about the keep the grazing cattle from coming too far in land.

For next years celebrations more information can be found at  www.capabilitybrown.org outlining events across the country to mark the birth  of Lancelot Brown.

Images from the train

I seem to spend most of my time travelling particularly by train. It's a long standing joke to my friends and family whenever I make or receive a call I'm either on the train about to get on the train or waiting for a train.

So I thought I would post some photographs from some of my various journeys across the countryside.

Last week during the cold frosty mornings I was in my element. The light quality was really interesting capturing snippets of the landscape, whilst moving captures a more abstract image and the colour palette here quite subdued.

I often enjoy simply switching off and watching the landscape change throughout the journey 
mornings are fantastic as there is always an element of anticipation lingering in the air as everything is new and about to unfold. 

These were taken several days later after the frosty spell still very cold but there is a little more colour despite being in the depth of December.

part three