Here it is, my 200th photo of the week

Here it is, my 200th photo of the week

I sent out my very first photo of the week back in the summer of 2015. At the time I could never have imagined all the interesting avenues down which my work would take me.

This week I give you a beautiful stained glass window from Southover Grange that is nearly 450 years old. A few years ago I recorded the renovation of this magnificent Elizabethan manor in the centre of Lewes for its owners, East Sussex County Council. My photographs of the restoration can be found here.

My original digital photograph shows the subtle colours of the ancient stained glass. You can see it here. I find it interesting the way in which printing this image as a cyanotype changes how we read it. In monochrome, the patterns of light have a feeling of solidity and an almost watery sense of depth.

I will be showing this print, along with a selection of other architectural and landscape cyanotypes, next Friday and Saturday at the annual Artists and Makers Christmas Fair in Lewes Town Hall.

Along with original prints, I will be selling my books (sea shore, Lewes Bonfire Portraits and 11 Sun Street, Lewes) and greeting cards of my cyanotypes of both landscapes and local architecture. Please come and say hello if you are in the area.

If you cannot make it to the fair, you can always order prints from me directly and buy any of my books from my website. It is not too late to order for Christmas. All my hand-printed cyanotypes are available to buy. I have many more than are on my website so get in touch if you would like to know more. Information about purchasing my prints and all of my photography books can be found here.

Remember, remember, it’s the 5th of November

Remember, remember, it’s the 5th of November

So, here we are at the 5th of November again. After last year, when the famous Lewes Bonfire celebrations were cancelled because of covid, this time it is all systems go. I am writing this on the night before and we have been hearing bangers and fireworks all evening long.

For those of you who do not live in Lewes, the town is woken at 6am on the morning of the 5th by the firing of a cannon up by the castle. From there on in, the excitement builds, culminating in the evening Grand Procession through the centre of town.

This is followed by six separate bonfires and extravagant firework displays hosted by each of the town’s bonfire societies. The revelries last long into the night.

I am not even going to try to summarise all that happens in this small town on the 5th of November. Instead of words, I give you a cyanotype: a bonfire in flames topped by an eery burning effigy.

I have a book of 45 of my book of hand-printed cyanotype Bonfire Portraits which is available to buy. You can find out more about it here.

I am still hard at work binding more copies of my latest book sea shore. It is a collection of 29 of my landscape cyanotypes and two poems written by Sara London. If you are interested in buying a copy, you can order directly from my website.

All my hand-printed cyanotypes are available to buy. Information about purchasing my prints and all of my photography books can be found here.

In search of the cyanotype zing

In search of the cyanotype zing

In preparation for my Artwave show I have been playing around with my archive of architecture projects, experimenting with which images work as cyanotypes. As always with this medium, it is not a clear translation from one type of photograph to another. It isn’t even as straight forward as making a picture monochromatic. I have spent the past year and a half pondering the secret ingredient that makes some images fall flat as cyanotypes, and makes others zing and I still can’t always put my finger on it.

This photograph is from my project documenting the construction of the Depot Cinema in Lewes – a project that I loved. You might be surprised to know that this was taken a mere two months before the Depot opened to the public. In this shot, I think it is the drama of the light, the sharp angles, and the silhouetted figure right in the middle, that translate well into the high contrast of a cyanotype.

A large print of this photograph is on display at my Artwave show. I will be showing again this year with artist Kelly Hall. You can find us at venue 91, St Anne’s House, 111 High Street, Lewes, BN7 1XY (across the street from Shelley’s). We will be open the 18, 19, 25 and 26 September, 11am-5pm.

My new book sea shore will be available to buy at my exhibit as well. It is a collection of 29 of my landscape cyanotypes and two poems written by Sara London. I am currently in the process of hand binding this limited first edition. If you are interested in buying a copy, you can pre-order directly from my website.

All my hand-printed cyanotypes are available to buy. Information about purchasing my prints and all of my photography books can be found here.

Please contact me if you have a workplace, an event, a celebration, a portrait or a building project you would like to have photographed.

Extending the hand of friendship

Extending the hand of friendship

We have finally had truly cold weather in Lewes and a light dusting of snow that has changed the contours of the hills and highlighted the furrows of the ploughed fields. The first day it snowed, it began while I was out walking, and the higher I got on the Downs the more there was of it. I came onto an exposed sweep of land and there, in the middle of it, was a bouquet of roses scattered on the ground. The pale yellow of the blooms and their green leaves were a startling sight, surrounded as they were by a monochromatic landscape of white snow, grey sky and dark shrubs.

I learned afterwards that yellow roses are a symbol of friendship, though there was no indication of why they had been left in this isolated spot.

A friend suggested that perhaps they had been placed here as a caring message, reaching out to whoever came across them.

I like that idea. Friendship in its many forms is something we all need during this time of isolation and social distance.

You can find more of my landscape photographs here.

Playing in the snow

Playing in the snow

I hope you are all staying well and sane during these difficult times. To lighten the mood, I thought I would share with you a band promo shot from a few years back – well, eight to be exact. This was not how I had expected the shoot with Small Shipwrecks to go, but snow was falling and we couldn’t resist the temptation to be in it.

Outside was just gorgeous, made more special by the fact that it is so rare for us to get snow in Lewes. I am a New England gal and I do miss the cold white winters of my youth. Once we had set up outside, everyone relaxed into the novelty and joy of playing music in falling snow, and I got my shot. You can find more of my portraiture here.

The year of no Bonfire

The year of no Bonfire

The last time there were no Bonfire celebrations in Lewes, it was 1960 and the town had just been severely flooded. It is not surprising that this year the event has been cancelled because of Covid-19. Even so, a week away from the 5th of November, it is hard to imagine there being no riotous, anarchic revelry.

Over the past months I have been working on a collection of Bonfire portraits, laboriously hand-printing them as cyanotypes. When I learned there would be no festivities on the 5th, I set up a pop-up exhibit of the photographs in a lovely old shopfront along the procession route. I thought of it as a tribute to the celebration that couldn’t be celebrated.

I have also published a collection of these portraits as a book. This week’s photo is the last image in the book – the goodbye shot of Smugglers marching down the hill wielding torches and flaming barrels.

An online version of the book can be found here. If you are interested in buying a copy, contact me here.

Please also head over to The Grain Store Blog. I had the pleasure of being interviewed about this project for a lovely blog post written by Katherine Murphy.

Please get in touch if you have a workplace, an event, a celebration, a portrait or a building project you would like to have photographed.

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