Inspired by Joel Meyerowitz, A Peniscola Picture that Sings to Me

  This picture gets me very excited, and I know that that will take some explaining…

Two reasons; actually, three. One, I’ve loved the work of Joel Meyerowitz for a long long time, and often when I’ve worked on a project I find that his work is echoed there, and sometimes I find I’ve inadvertently worked on a theme which he’s covered before. Occasionally I find that he has a new book out using a theme I’ve worked on before, like his new book looking at wilderness in NYC. Admittedly that’s a little more appealing to the book buying public than my brief series on wilderness in Bournemouth & Poole…

In this shot I was thinking of a book of his I have called The Arch, in which he looks at the same architectural subject from lots of different locations. I wanted to include the large hotel sign in the distance in at least one shot for this project, and though I only have this one shot, the stillness of the streetscape and the pattern of the picture it feels to me to be reminiscent of his work.

Two: We drove to this town, a popular resort on the coast between Tarragona and Valencia, and couldn’t get parked, but we spotted this car. It was blisteringly hot and the atmosphere in our car was fractious, so I decided that it was one of those images I would keep in my minds eye and that it would never make it as far as the camera. We drove back to our apartment and decided to head in again early the next morning. I took a stroll, and there it was again, on the same street but a different space. I almost whooped out loud.

Three: The resort in question is called Peniscola. Hilarious!

If I can persuade Vicki, I’m going to print this one up big to hang on the wall. She tends to prefer the ‘pretty’ ones, but to me this is absolutely beautiful. Stillness, Spanish heat and photos seen together and apart, the composition in each just sings to me.

Peniscola (ha ha!) is here. It’s an absolutely stunning place, and I hope to go back next year for the jazz festival. (I took the photo where the letter B is on the map, but I wanted to show you the coastline as it’s really somewhere special.)

love | landscape

Wilderness at the Heart of the Mediterranean Coast

 

I realise I haven’t blogged for two months, and my poor reader must be wondering what’s going on… my only excuse is that I’ve been busy. I’m still helping establish a Free School in Swanage, I’ve been fixing up my house, and I’ve been away to the Valencia region of Spain to unwind and warm up.

Vicki, the boys and me had a great time enjoying the warm Mediterranean sea, the blistering heat and the fascinating local area – it’s lovely to see our sons (aged 6 and 8) each with a camera, photographing the backstreets of Spanish towns while we search for hearts and other graffiti. They’re getting quite an eye.

The apartment we rented was in Alcossebre, a very Spanish resort about 100k north of Valencia. Just along the coast is the Sierra de Irta National Park with 20km of almost unspoilt coastline and a number of abandoned buildings. I don’t know what this little building was, but it had the feel of a chapel. It was covered in spray paint and smelt of poo, but was really rather special. This heart was truly magnificent.

Sunny spotted this heart around the side – he took some shots of me alongside it looking fat and old, so I’m not sure we’ll use them, but maybe I’ll photoshop myself a new face, body and some hair and they’ll do for publicity.

It was here on the map. If you’re in the area, it’s worth a visit.

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Ferreting in the Virtual Fridge

Trawling back through old shots again, I’m finding hundreds that I’ve never put together – some dating back four or five years! My folders of photos are the digital equivalent of rolls of film in the fridge. To get to them I need to reach past some cans of lager and a really old cheese… oh, and a really old animated gif too. Used to love those.

This was from Barcelona in 2008. That’s a tree root on a cliff in the park near the big gallery with the fancy lighty-uppy fountains. That’s not its official name. It was magical at night though. I’m hoping to be in Spain again later in the summer…

It was roughly here, or hereabouts.

 

 

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Ben-Day Dots and the Free School

 

I felt like making one of the pictures from Paris last October, so here it is: Jodie Quinn 2009. I do like photographing photographs of people and I do like the big Ben-Day Dots you get in large scale prints like this one. It was taken up the Eiffel Tower, so no map required.

I’m in a funny position at the moment, and not just because I've hurt my back. I’ve been opposed to Conservative politics since the first time I thought for myself about it, yet the Coalition Government  is pushing forward with the plan to allow groups of parents, teachers etc to establish schools where the local authority doesn’t recognise the need for one. As our Conservative local authority has completely failed Swanage in its bid to make our town completely family unfriendly this is now our opportunity to create a school of our own.

This afternoon I found myself discussing this on national radio for half an hour (1hr 6mins in - this link will self destruct in 7 days) and I’ve also been on local radio this week to talk about it.

It’s a frightening prospect - the work that may be involved, not the school – and we don’t yet know what the legislation will involve us in, but if the people who are supposed to educate our children are so utterly hopeless that we have to do it ourselves, then I think that this is a strong enough community to do it. My personal dream is of a Co-operative Trust, set up to be run by the community for the community…

If you want to find out more, have a look at the Education Swanage website at www.educationswanage.co.uk where we once tried hard to educate the LA Education Officers and where now we are beginning to present information about the Free School model.

 

love | landscape

I’d Like My Change Now, Please…

I’ve spent the last two days listening pretty much solidly to speculation and discussion about the outcome of the General Election. I’m enjoying the uncertainty in a way – but at the same time I’m getting heartily sick of pundits and politicians, on both wings, making assumptions about why I voted the way I voted. I was particularly annoyed about various Conservatives telling me that ‘people didn’t vote for electoral reform’ – personally, I did. And apart from that, the Tories didn’t win and they have no idea what people were thinking when they voted.

I voted against the Conservatives partly because my local Labour MP was a good man and partly because I wanted a hung parliament (the only realistic way to tell politicians that we don’t like the way things are). And also out of a genuine worry that our new MP, Richard Drax, can’t possibly understand the needs of the average person – he has huge shoes to fill if he’s going to be even half the MP that Jim Knight was. Whatever they said, our local Lib Dems didn’t stand a chance of  winning in South Dorset, but if Nick Clegg can somehow wangle genuine electoral reform out of one side or the other, I’ll be happy.

The argument that PR is bad because it would let parties such as the BNP through the doors of parliament is a denial of democracy. In my own view, it’s better to let them air their views so that the nation can see how abhorrent they are – that’s why their vote fell so badly this time around. People would vote quite differently under PR, though, and new parties would undoubtedly form and win seats here and there – there would probably be a Marxist MP for every BNP member elected, maybe a Monster Raving Loony too.

Personally, I hope that Clegg forms an alliance with Labour (ideally under a new leader, otherwise the Tory Press will burst a blood vessel) because Labour have already embraced, if a little late, the idea of electoral reform. The Tories are hell-bent on getting themselves another elected dictatorship like they had in the 80’s so will never allow the people to genuinely have their say. PR would be another nail in the coffin of the vested interests that have distorted the political leaning of the UK for so long – the left of centre parties have always won more than 50% of the vote, yet for much of the last century we’ve had right of centre political control.

So: To the politicians: all of you promised ‘change’ and none of you won, so now give the people real change - a fair voting system. Then I’ll probably vote Green. Hooray for Caroline Lucas, by the way!

[Photo taken in a shelter on a pier in Falmouth – on the left is a long list of names and a little heart. It seemed mean to leave any names out.]

love | landscape

One of the world’s great sheds

I know it’s very ‘bloke’, but I love sheds.

This is possibly too solid to be properly described as a shed, but it isn’t a workshop or a house, so I’ve designated it ‘shed’ and have certainly got Shed Envy for whoever owns it. It also has a heart on the door. But imagine having a shed with a chimney…

I have two sheds. Strictly speaking, they’re not just mine, and Vick may indeed say that one of them is hers, but I tidy them and fix bits when they break, so I’ve designated these sheds ‘mine’.

One of my sheds is a retired beach hut and lives at our allotment. It leans forwards where the wind at Studland, where it once stood, pushed it from behind. It’s turquoise and full of tools, though I tidied it this weekend and put some reclaimed cladding on the wall as part of my ongoing attempt to make it Pleasant To Sit In.

My other shed is, rather excitingly, underground. Our house is on a hill, and beneath our back yard is a stone shed with a door at the level of the road that runs up the hill behind. It’s dank, dark and cave-like and full of bikes and junk, but one day it will be beautiful.

The shed in this photograph is at Chapman’s Pool. It’s a ridiculously lovely place, but don’t tell anyone as it’s also tucked away from the crowds. And there are even nicer sheds right by the water’s edge, but they don’t have chimneys, so this is probably my favourite.

love | landscape

Three Steps to Devon

I hadn’t been to Dartmouth before the Easter weekend and it really is lovely.  I’m sure millions of people know that already, but there’s no harm in a truth being repeated. We enjoyed relaxing away from housework and the work-work, the gentle English ambience of the town and the cottage we stayed in and the boys enjoyed the castle, the pirates, the beaches nearby and the ice creams. And a very nice lady in a very nice gallery called Baxters has taken my Alphabet Coast work too, so it was a doubly good trip.

In a bizarrely small-world way I also bumped into our next-door neighbour from here in Swanage. We were both browsing the condiments aisle in Marks & Spencer… and were both amazed that a tiny seaside town has a Marks & Spencer!

The heart above I photographed twice, but the other set of photos are still on Sunny’s camera. He has a better zoom than me, but that’s OK, he’s eight, he needs a better zoom than his photographer dad. I’m pleased with this, though in my usual way I’ve managed to make a pretty stone wall in a lovely seaside town look like a dingy bit of a rundown inner city.

I do like this stickering though – there were three dayglo hearts on three signs nearby. Two stop signs and a one way – there’s probably something to be read into that about the nature of love, but I’ll leave that to somebody who has the time.

If you read my last post I mentioned that the heart on the stop sign in Totnes was also on Google Street View… well so are the ones in Dartmouth! Double spooky-dooky!

love | landscape

Stop:Love / Love:Stop

I took this in Totnes in 2007 and have only just put it together. I’m in a bit of a muddle, having a huge backlog of photographs of hearts and stuff nearby dating back several years. Trouble is, I mean to catch up and then I go somewhere and take a load more and then of course I want to put those together first… only I don’t get them finished before I go somewhere else again, and so on.

I like Totnes. It suits my hippy side. Vegan is normal, CND membership is a requirement. Eco-activism is second nature to everyone and it’s a Transition Town, so the move towards a better, more sustainable world is not just a dream, it’s official. On the other hand, I prefer to be a rarity, it makes me stand out more. So I’d rather live somewhere not quite so far down the path to knitted yoghurt - that suits my cynical side.

This weekend I’m off to Dartmouth, hoping to relax over the Easter break. Hopefully a bucket-load of hearts too to stop me catching up with the ones I took three years ago in Devon…

Totnes heart was here. In fact, look at the Google street view – it’s still there! How spooky is that…

love | landscape

The Good, The Bad and the Love Heart

This is sad. An old(er) couple in Swanage have been voluntarily restoring all the old stone signs around town, starting up at Durlston Country Park and working their way down towards the centre. They are doing it out of sheer generosity and are doing a lovely job too.

They clean each stone first, removing lichen, dirt and graffiti, then outline the letters, then fill them in. It’s a painstaking job, especially as a lot of the stones were laid low in the walls, some at ground level.

Sunshine Walk is on our route to school. It’s also lovingly known as Poo Alley, thanks to the few lovely dog owners who don’t seem to notice that their dog poops as well as eats. On a bright day, if the poo is thin on the ground, it’s a pleasant walk. The old(er) couple cleaned the signs down here a few weeks back, but the cold weather seems to have held up the painting. A couple of weeks ago, they found the time to outline the letters on this stone, the last to be completed. Unfortunately, it looks as though last week the old(er) chap painted in the ‘S’ and it got rained on. And at the weekend some kind soul sprayed a loveheart across the whole thing.

Now, obviously, I love finding lovehearts. But it does make me sad when the symbol of love is used to pointlessly vandalise something good.

The name Joe is sprayed nearby. So if you know somebody in Swanage called Joe who was hanging around Sunshine Walk with a can of green spray-paint on Saturday night, can you print a copy of this out for him, roll it up and shove it up his Poo Alley?

love | landscape

Happy Mother’s Day

This is dedicated to all mums, everywhere. You’re all amazing.

This post is short but sweet – just like my lovely mum!

[found on Swanage beach, October 2009]

love | landscape

One I Got & One That Got Away

I was in London at the weekend, staying close to Kew Gardens. There’s an Eco Village there, on the corner of Kew Bridge and some-road-or-other. Personally, if I wanted to live in an eco village I think I’d pick somewhere quieter and where the air doesn’t taste of diesel fumes, but it’s a squatters encampment and good use of what will some day become several million pounds worth of luxury apartments, so best of luck to the squatters. There’s a facebook page here and a YouTube video here. Great use of global new media to promote a true grass-roots movement.

I walked past the Eco Village a few times and as always I kept my eyes open for hearts, but amongst the various graffiti nearby there were none. AND THEN. Driving away on Sunday morning there were two brand new bits of graffiti – a huge ‘Long Live the Eco Village’ and a lovely heart on the gate…. and me sitting in the passenger seat of a car belching diesel, stuck in traffic, about to hit the M3 back to the fresh air and quiet of Dorset.

So can I ask you a favour? If you live near or in the Kew Eco Village, can you take a peek on the gate and see if the heart is still there? Maybe take a picture… and then when you want a new place to set up an eco-village, how about the old Grammar School site in Swanage?

What I do have to show you is this: a heart from the shore at Osmington Mills. And look at that sandstone! What I love about sandstone is the fact that you can see sand dunes from millions of years ago, touch them, rub them and free sand that’s been trapped for millennia. It’s like being God. In a very small way.

And the Smugglers Inn at Osmington is one of the loveliest pubs I know, so that’s a plus. The rock this was on is precisely here.

love | landscape

happy valentines day

Every day of the year should afford the opportunity to tell somebody how much you love them, but that isn’t always the way it works. Today is important because it provides the opportunity to make a romantic and possibly foolish gesture, safe in the knowledge that if it goes horribly wrong all will be forgiven because that’s just what crazy, love-struck fools do on Valentine’s Day.

What’s odd is when you are snug and safe within a relationship and yet still you’re expected to make that additional gesture just because it’s The Most Romantic Day of the Year. I spend my life making pictures with hearts in them, to the point where Vicki should have lost interest in the universal symbol of romance. Last year we agreed a few days before not to get each other anything for Valentine’s Day. Come the morning, I found a card and a gift on my pillow when I brought in the coffee. I felt mean and unromantic and thoroughly caught out.  “And what did Swanage’s Most Romantic Man get his lovely wife for Valentine’s Day?” a friend asked a couple of days later. I explained. “You didn’t fall for that one?” he said in astonishment, amazed that I could be so foolish.

So if you think you may find yourself in a similar pickle in future years, I hereby give you permission to bookmark this site ready to rush to your PC, pick a heart from here to print out and make into a hasty card. It might help, it might not, but it’s just a suggestion and it’ll look as though you were planning a cool and artsy hand-made card for ages…

[the picture above was taken on a lovely autumn day in 2009 on Swanage Beach. The big red thing is on the end of a groyne down there. I didn’t Google ‘red thing on the end of a groyne’ just in case, but I assume that they mark the end of the groyne should the sea be particularly high and hiding the structure from boats coming into shore. A probable sounding factoid for you there.]

love | landscape

Deckchairs

There’s something about seeing deckchairs in pairs looking out to the sea. Often, especially in English seaside towns, I see old couples sitting in silence staring out towards the horizon and I always wonder what they were like when they were young, when they were first in love with each other, when romance was something new. They have spent so much time together and they have been so lucky to have that. I hope they know.

Empty pairs of deckchairs bring this to mind but they also carry the melancholy of loss.

That said, this was taken on a wet windy day in Bournemouth, 2006 – couples of all ages had more sense than to reward their romance with a cold, wet behind.

love | landscape

Rock On

I just have a minute or two, but had to put this together and post it – took it a while before Christmas and loved it even in the camera. Have a feeling the heart is a little soft-focus, but it was taken in the dark…

This is at Winspit, which is a very cool place. It was a quarry, a desolate planet in Destiny of the Daleks with no less than Tom Baker as Doctor Who, and now and then there’s an illegal rave there. It’s also something of a toilet, for ravers, climbers and Daleks I imagine. Watch where you step. Dalek poo is nasty.

What I like about it is that it needs no dressing up to be a sci-fi film set. Walk into the quarry-caves and stand in silence. It’s like being on the surface of the moon, only with the surface reflected on the ceiling. Actually, it’s nothing like the surface of the moon, clearly. It has stone pillars and graffiti. But it’s an alien place for sure.

It’s here – on the planet Skaro.

 

love | landscape

Persons Anxious To Write Their Names…

…will please do so on this stone only. Jodie Forbes, and all the many others who relieved their anxiety by writing their names on this stone, I salute you.

This stone has been relieving anxiety since 1887, and it’s fascinating to think of the countless names that have been written on it and worn away in all that time, and wonderful to think that Victorian England had a problem with graffiti that could only be solved by the use of two large slabs of stone set into the ground. Tilly Whim Caves nearby, locked to the public since 1976 and now home only to bats and Willy Tim the dragon (or so I tell my children), is also home to walls of graffiti, carved into the Purbeck stone near the entrances. I’ll get in there one day.

Ever since I started photographing graffiti I’ve wondered what it means to write your name in a public place? There’s a lovely answer at WikiAnswers to this question: “They think that writing their name all over will make other people know who they are. All it does is make other people see their name, of course, and not understand anything about them.”

Personally I think it’s about our anxiety with being so small and so temporary. We are tiny insignificant beings and here for such a short time, and we want to be noticed and then remembered. Some people seek this through fame and celebrity, maybe notoriety, some through creativity (and maybe fame through creativity). To some it gives them a sense of identity – think of taggers, whose mark is largely illegible to most of us, but which identifies them to their peers. And some resort to writing their name repeatedly all over the place. Jodie Forbes wrote her name on this same stone at least three times, in the same pen on presumably the same day.

May she be anxious no more.

The Great Globe at Durlston is here.

love | landscape