coast to coast

From the 5th to the 16th of August I walked 192 miles from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hoods Bay in North Yorkshire. The Coast to Coast was created by Alfred Wainwright and he saw the route as a suggestion and inspiration for others to find their own way from the Irish Sea to the North Sea.

do that

stained glass

Yesterday I visited York Minster, there was so much to see - architecture, stained glass, memorials, metalwork, needlework and more, and these are the last photographs I took. The reflections of stained glass upon the stone floor caught my eye but my camera was unable to capture what my eyes perceived  The blue glass reflected purple on the floor, but when I looked through my camera it was the same blue as in the window. Something was disrupting light and colour, my eye/brain perception and the camera lens. I'm currently reading a book called Colour: Travels Through the Paintbox by Victoria Finlay and unsurprisingly my colour awareness is heightened and this set the tone of my wonderings around the Minster. The book is fascinating and explains the skills involved in discovering and capturing colour throughout the ages, the trail, error, alchemy, science and trading that brought powders, dyes and pigments to and from our shores. 

new work

Army of Me, 2015
Large Format Photograph
Epping Forest

doreen

In the 1970's my Auntie Jessie lived in Clapton and it was a two bus trip to get there from Loughton. We changed buses at Bakers Arms and on the return journey our bus stop was opposite a shop called Doreen. I remember waiting for the 20 in a shoe shop doorway and gazing across at Doreen, it was special because it's my mum's name and we though that was the bees knees! Its getting on for 40 years since I made this journey and Doreen has remained a landmark over the decades and I've marvelled that it was still going strong. Its displays and shop front were dated and I wondered about the clientele, today I googled and discovered it was one of the first shops to cater for transvestites and is famous. 

Sadly, after 60 years the shop has recently closed, I saw cardboard boxes in the empty windows when I passed on the bus this week and went back today to photograph the shop front before it is dismantled. My mum will be 80 in a few months, we made these journeys when she was in her 40's, as I am now. I can't wait to tell her about the shop. So goodbye Doreen, you have been a constant since my childhood and I'm so sad to see you go.

kin

London Underground trains rattle and rumble along dark tunnels and its fun to look at the distorted reflections of passengers on the curved windows opposite. Sometimes, out of the corner of my eye I see someone knitting and have a mini jolt of excitement! Thrilling! What are they making? Only to discover, on furtive second glance, that they are untangling headphones. Mixed with a heart sink of disappointment is laughter at myself because this has happened on countless occasions. I'm tuned into the makers, the menders, the stitchers, subconsciously searching for kin, as we all are.

haddon hall

It must be close to 20 years since I first walked the wonderful circular route from Bakewell, through the grounds of Chatsworth, past Rowsley and Haddon Hall before returning to Bakewell. The walk is varied, with forests, modest climbs, verdant rolling landscape, stately homes, quaint stone houses, tea rooms and the memories of people I've walked with over the years. For these reasons it's a favourite of mine but in all those years I've never taken the path to Haddon Hall, well, last Saturday I did! Roaming the hall and gardens with my sister and struck by the feeling that this is a lived in house rather than an exhibit I wondered in what films the hall had featured. Back in London that same evening, holiday over, I tuned in to watch Jane Eyre and was stunned to see the hall and garden populated and full of life on the screen. How exciting to see the same pink blossom I'd photographed that morning! Below are snippets from my visit, things that caught my eye. I'm being a tease so no views of the building, you will have to go and see it for yourself.