Two Halves of One Whole

If you are a regular visitor to my blog you may have twigged that it has become in essence my public sketchbook. I've been experimenting with visual ideas and then immediately sharing this work in progress. Sometimes things work, sometimes not so well. It certainly accelerates my development pace and single pictures can eventually evolve into larger projects.

Feedback and thoughts from the people who see my tests help to take my thoughts in new directions and hone why I'm doing what I'm doing. This happened with pH6 my hydrangea project and seems to be happening with my colour sampling work. I realised today after talking about it with a friend that this new work allows me to bring together two aspects of my practice. On the one hand I'm able to observe the world and freeze it in the tradition of documentary photography, yet on the other hand I'm able to continue to work on the image after it's been taken, extending it in the fine art convention.

I really like the coming together of my instinctive response to the visual world around me with a slower more cognitive processing of what stands before me. It has taken me a while to get here but this is the place I've been trying to find for my photography work for some years. Thoughts and comments grateful received.

I walked into the city today, winding through the suburbs, skirting around the rough edge of town on canal towpaths and river walkways, watching the energy build up, the buildings grow and nature becoming less and less visible. Symmetry and geometry replaced looser more organic shapes and lines hopefully reflected in my pictures from the centre of Manchester.

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A Lovely Pair of Pins

I knew the expression 'pins' referring to legs but had to Google what the Cockney rhyming slang comes from. It looks like 'pins & pegs', but there are some great alternatives like 'bacon & eggs' and 'dolly pegs'. I think I might start trying to incorporate more Cockney into my everyday speak, I do have London roots but they are more South (Saff) London than East London, where I think it originates. Anyway this is all to illustrate a new picture that sits quite neatly with an older picture. So brogues, legs and a sea view from my two main muses. This might be turning into a set... Oh by the way the top view is Morecambe Bay and the lower image is from The Wirral looking across towards Wales. The North West of England is a beautiful place, with some stylish residents.

Liverpool Periphery

L1 City Centre L2 City Centre L3 City Centre, Everton, Vauxhall L4 Anfield, Kirkdale, Walton L5 Anfield, Everton, Kirkdale, Vauxhall L6 Anfield, City Centre, Everton, Fairfield, Kensington, Tuebrook L7 City Centre, Edge Hill, Fairfield, Kensington L8 City Centre, Dingle Toxteth L9 Aintree, Fazakerley, Orrell Park, Walton L10 Aintree Village, Fazakerley L11 Croxteth, Clubmoor, Gillmoss, Norris Green

Hold Your Hair In Deep Devotion

At last after a week of being indoors, I walked into the light! I went solo and had a photography day in Liverpool, just what the doctor ordered, as they say. I'm a bit out of words at the moment and was going to include a Philip Larkin poem, but I've been thinking that Alex Turner is my modern day poet hero and this is my favourite track on AM, tucked away at the end. He's in his twenties and yet the words suggest a time before he was born, filling my head with images and memories. I've included a link to the track if you want to listen to The Arctic Monkey doing their thing whilst taking in my pictures... UPDATE Well since writing the above it has been pointed out to me that the song is actually based on a poem by John Cooper Clarke, which makes sense of the time frame (being written in the early Eighties) and the fact that I responded to the lyrics like a poem. Apparently Alex Turner first heard it read by his English teacher whilst at school. So mayb

Marc Provins

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