Tommy 1101, Seaham Harbour

September 2014 was a blank month as far as blogging goes, which is something I needed to address quickly. Facebook activity was the main reason for time spent away from my blog page, so I've decided to step back from that in order to regain my commitment to blogger. With quite a few photo's already in the bag, it gives me enough ammunition to step up my efforts in October, beginning with today's blog entry that features the 'Tommy 1101' sculpture that is situated in Seaham Harbour, County Durham.

The imposing metal sculpture entitled 1101 - owing to the fact the armistice went into effect at 11am on November 11, 1918 - stands 9ft 5ins tall and is built out of special corteen steel, was installed to mark the centenary of the start of the Great War and was only expected to remain in place for three months. But after winning the hearts of hundreds of visitors to the town, it could now be exhibited permanently. Around £72,000 has been raised to keep the 1.2-tonne statue in the town, and fundraisers are only £12,000 from their target. The Journal included it in its list of 100 great things about the North East - alongside more established landmarks like Hadrian’s Wall and the Tyne Bridge - and regular crowds are flocking to Seaham to take in the artwork. In the process, Ray Lonsdale’s work has been catapulted into the public eye and his journey from metal worker to fully fledged artist has been completed. He said: “There was always a big risk with Tommy because there was no sale for it. It was just a case of me biting the bullet and having hope that someone somewhere would buy it. There was no guarantee that it would have sold and it could have ended up sitting around for sometime. “Finally great things happened and they are just about there with the money now.”

The artwork, which was installed in May has attracted hundreds of visitors to Seaham, many of whom have donated cash to the Save Tommy campaign. A Facebook page called Mission 1101 has attracted more than 4,000 members with many pledging to support to Tommy, which is situated on Terrace Green. “I was surprised by the level of support 1101 got,” said Ray. “I’ve had a positive reaction to a lot of my work but not by as many people as this. The whole town has pulled together to put money in the buckets and raise cash to keep it here. That is a new experience.”
After leaving school Ray, 49, of South Hetton in County Durham, qualified as a maintenance fitter and began working at Coles Cranes in Sunderland, which closed in 1996. Following the factory’s closure Ray set up his own steel fabrication business, where he produced bins, seats and railings for local authorities and private clients. He always had an interest in art and at school he was always encouraged to go onto to art college. But it wasn’t until 2007 that Ray decided to start his career in art and changed the name of his business to Two Red Rubber Things. The father-of-two said: “In 2002 I got back into art and drawing on an evening and I decided to try and combine my work and interest. That’s when I produced my first piece. I got into a competition at the Biscuit Factory and I won the competition. “That gave me the confidence to try and do a bit more and over the next five years I completed more and more art work. There was a gradual change-over from steel to artistic steel work. “Someone told me that I would never stand a chance making it in the art industry unless I had a degree in art. I started college but I soon realised it wasn’t for me. “I decided to do things off my own back and that’s how I started and finally things were well received. “I didn’t feel I had time to do an art degree. It would take seven years and I felt I would be wasting opportunities. “I just wanted to push myself. I’m big on having a go and I never wanted to get to a point in my life where I would think ‘I wish I would have tried that’. “I kept the steel work going alongside the art work and it wasn’t until 2007 when I changed the name of the business and decided to take a chance with the art.”


Ray now has 30 life size statues under his belt and another six large scale pieces. These include The Big Dance at Gretna Green - a 14ft depiction of a couple’s hands - which was put in place in time for Valentine’s Day, a soldier on a bench at North Bay, Scarborough and the Filey Fisherman, in Filey.
Ray, who lives with wife Bev, said: “I like to create work that people can take something from it. Public art should be for the public. I don’t agree that it is an artist’s job to educate the public about art but if they like it then it’s been a success. “I like people to look at it and appreciate it and appreciate the work that’s gone into it. I also like them to look deeper into it and find the story behind it. Previously I would make seats, bins and railings. I had to get used to people buying my work for the way it looked rather than for its functional purpose. “It felt strange at first. I realised that people were having a positive reaction to my work and that’s something I got used to, which was nice.”
Ray is keeping quite tight-lipped about his next project but he admits he’s been approached by local authorities. He said: “I have completed a lot of drawings since 1101 and I’ve been approached by a couple of authorities with ideas but nothing has been finalised yet.” Leaving his full-time profession to concentrate on his dream to make it as an artist was a risk but Ray has not looked back since, citing his family’s support for helping make the leap. He said: “Bev has been fully supportive. She had a lot of faith in me when I didn’t. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be any of this at all.”

It wasn't until the back end of September that I finally made the effort to visit Tommy. I had seen many photographs of him on Facebook and he certainly was flavour of the month for a while, which was half the reason I held back. Didn't wanna jump on the bandwagon and head over there simply because every man and his dog were doing it. I arrived at the site around 30 minutes before sunrise, hoping for some decent colour in the sky, and I wasn't disappointed, Another photographer stood alongside and we chatted for a short while before stopping to grab our shots. We chatted some more then the sun rose on the horizon, so the talk stopped once again while we pulled in some more shots. He was already set up when I arrived so he had the prime spot, which was exactly where I wanted to be, He obviously knew what angle to shoot from, and even though I was practically shooting on his shoulder, that extra foot or so to my left was quickly mine when he decided he'd had enough and retreated to his car. It was from this position that I had a perfect silhouette of Tommy, with the sun rising to his left (shown here).

As the sun rose further, losing it's orange hue as it slowly ascended, I decided to take a few close up shots of the sculpture. This photogenic piece of artwork will be the subject of more photography very soon. One visit is never enough. AC

                                        

Luss, Loch Lomond

After a nice week away on the Isle Of Wight, it was nice to make the most of my second week off work by paying a visit to Scotland. The main reason for our drive across the Anglo-Scottish border was to visit family in Livingston, not too far from Edinburgh, in a westerly direction. From Livingston we made the 64 miles trip to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, stopping off at Luss. The weather was fine, which is quite a rarity in Scotland, even in Summer. Our visit to Luss was a fairly short one and merely an exercise to get out and stretch our legs around the shores of Loch Lomond, taking in some fine views in the process. There were many tourists, like ourselves, and the coaches came and went every few minutes - Luss was obviously a popular place to tick off the list, judging by the sheer volume of people that were entering this small town. Apart from photographing the landscape around Loch Lomond, mainly from the pier, plus a quick walk around the nearby streets, I saw little else. That wasn't a disappointment though, as what I did see was more than enough and a taster of what else lay ahead. It was from Luss that we made a further journey North, up the West Coast towards Glencoe, adding another 60 miles on the clock. An hour and twenty minutes later, after being stuck in traffic on a very narrow road, we arrived at a very sunny Glencoe. Just what we wanted. Stay tuned for that and more, soon...
Cheers, AC

Planet Farnes, Northumberland

Our annual pilgrimage to the Farne Islands took place in mid-July, 2014. Once again it was an all day affair, courtesy of Billy Shiels boat trips, out of the harbour at Seahouses, Northumberland. Boarding the boat at 9.45am meant an early departure from Gods Country, at 7.20am, to be precise. We hit Seahouses just before 9 o' clock and headed straight to the local bakers shop, where we had breakfast, in the shape of a bacon and egg stottie. Just what the doctor ordered. Then it was a simple case of paying for our pre-booked tickets at the kiosk, although there's nowt simple about parting with £48 in the blink of an eye. That's the entry ticket for one plus one, and seeing that this whole affair comes around once a year, what the hell, let's get over to the Farnes and take it all in. And what a hive of activity it was, as expected, thousands of breeding birds in full flow, it was noisy and it was certainly smelly, and that was just my arse after scranning the bacon butty!!!!

And so we set off, heading towards the Farne Islands on a boat packed with people from all over the world. Again, it was camera equipment overload and there was a nation of it, worth thousands upon thousands of pound notes (or Euro, whatever the case may be). We were packed on board the Glad Tidings vessel like sardines in a tin, which came as no surprise really, it's like that every year we attend. Our tour of the islands was accompanied by the very informative captain, who's knowledge of the area and the breeding seabirds is well established. Then we hit the business end of the trip, our first landing, on Staple Island. From the boat we were led up the steep steps where the National Trust Rangers were waiting, taking payment from those who weren't holding a valid membership card. £6.80 for me and £3.75 for Chris! Ouch, and we had to do it all again on our second landing, at Inner Farne. Good job I was holding a pocket full of shekels!

Numbers of breeding birds were thriving, such as Puffin, Guillemot, Shag, Cormorant, Razorbill, Terns & Gulls. We saw a nesting Fulmar too, quite a rare sight on the Farnes. Our landing on Inner Farne had the customary welcome - the attack of the Arctic Terns, dozens of them! Well prepared for this as usual, with the baseball cap to take the sting out of those sharp pecking bills. If you stood still for more than a few seconds the Terns would have no hesitation in standing on your head, which was respite from their usual behaviour on the stretch of path leading to the Visitor Centre. And it was this area where activity was frantic, between the Centre and the toilets, where me n' Chris were dive bombed on countless occasions.

From here we headed off and over to the lighthouse, where dozens of Shags were nesting on the cliff face. I pulled in some decent shots here, including Puffins in flight. This was the last part of our visit as it was almost 3pm by this time. The day has flown by (no pun intended). I've added a few of my favourite shots of the day, all shot on a Canon 5D3, with 100-400mm L and a 24-105mm for close up shots. Hope you like them .Until the next time, catch ya later...
AC

Light Painting (War Of The Worlds)

Hello again.
Two blog entries in one day - what's that all about?
Well, I said I would write more regularly than usual, which at best is three or four times a month, so here I am again with my latest ramblings. Today's offering comes in the shape of another experiment as a novice in light painting. My recent Astro Photography got off to a good start when I pulled in some impressive shots of the Milky Way, as well as Star Trails. I appear to have picked that up fairly quickly and I expect to carry on in a similar vein during future midnight outings into the dark. But now, it's onwards and upwards into the world of light painting, another area of photography that until recently was as alien as Astro (no pun intended). With many years of experience in photography, this has springboarded me half way up the ladder in areas of photography that is new to me, as general knowledge of exposure settings and all round familiarity of the camera gives you that head overall start. You're already up and running, so it's then a case of acquainting yourself with the surroundings, lighting conditions and one or other minor factors that give you the main ingredients to throw into the mix. Trial and error plays a part too, as even the most accomplished photographer (not me, by the way) rarely gets it bang on first time. Nothing wrong with that, as we learn from our mistakes as we go along.

Anyway, enough of that. Here's my take on light painting with a simple torch. I tried it once at Hadrian's Wall, which again was quite challenging as it was completely new territory for me, but it came up trumps at Sycamore Gap. This time the location was a lot closer to home, at South Shields. The Groyne Lighthouse would be the location for this experiment, overlooking the mouth of the River Tyne, with the Groyne Lighthouse as the focal point. My first shot (above) has a slight Apocalyptic feel to it, reminiscent of a scene from 'War Of The Worlds', with the pod on legs and a dramatic sky as a backdrop. Well, maybe not quite in that mould, but that was what sprung to mind when I reviewed the processed images. So, without further ado...

Back soon, AC

My First Bash At The Milky Way

The Milky Way. What exactly is it, I hear you say. Well, good question, as I never knew the answer myself until very recently. Chocolate bar isn't the answer, by the way. Copied and pasted from the ever trusty Wikipedia -

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. Its name “milky” is derived from its appearance as a dim glowing band arching across the night sky in which the naked eye cannot distinguish individual stars. The term “Milky Way” is a translation of the Latin via lactea, from the Greek (galaxías kýklos, "milky circle"). From the Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within the Galaxy. Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610. Up until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that all of the stars in the universe were contained inside of the Milky Way. Observations definitively showed that the Milky Way is just one of many billions of galaxies.

I had seen one or two outstanding photographs of it on social media, which awakened a side to my photography that I never existed until that moment. Intrigue got the better of me, so I done some digging via the internet and decided I wanted to have a go at photographing the Milky Way. I hadn't even seen it before, let alone photograph it, but I knew that if I ever did catch sight of it with the naked eye, then there was every chance I could record it as a photograph. A perfect chance presented itself ten days ago, during a family holiday on the Isle Of Wight. A perfect Summer day ended with a clear sky, which is an ideal backdrop for Astro Photography, as cloud cover can ruin any attempt at photography. The Moon had set too, which was another major factor, as any light source (Pollution) can also detract from the shot. With everything on my side it was now a case of hunting for the Milky Way, which began with a midnight car journey along the Western edge of the island. There wasn't another car on the road, which wasn't a big surprise, as I drove further into the darkness. I decided to pull over and step out of the car, hoping to get my first sighting of the Milky Way. I switched the car headlamps off and it this point I was surrounded by pitch darkness. I looked across to my right, over the sea and across the horizon...and there it was, stretching high and arching across the sky and into the distance over the Chale landscape. It was a kind of Eureka moment, seeing the glowing band for the very first time, and it this point I realised it was 'Game On'.

I was back into the car in a flash and driving once again. It didn't take long to arrive at Blackgang Chine, an adventure park built into the hillside, overlooking the sea. I was here just a few hours earlier, mingling with hundreds of other families as the park went into full swing. In stark contrast the place was now desolate. I was stood at the entrance to the now closed park, where the statue of a giant towered over me. What a picture that would make, I thought to myself, with the giant in the foreground and the Milky Way as a backdrop. Adventure Land, it certainly was. I switched the car engine off, plus the headlamps, again rendering the area in pitch darkness, apart from the window light from the foyer, which offered at least some illumination. Out came the big torch, leading the way and proving a godsend in poor light. Paranoia kicked in once or twice as trees rustled, owls screeched and even a fox walked by at one point. Being alone in a strange place, in the early hours, in pitch darkness isn't for the faint hearted. But when you're presented with a sight like I was, you just kick into gear and get on with the task in hand. And that was the story for the next half hour, as I ran off a few frames, using my torch to help me focus the 17-40mm lens, which at first failed to lock on to anything due to poor light.

I was crapping myself to be honest. I was sure someone was lurking in the trees behind me. It's a wonder I never knocked me neck out judging by the amount of times I quickly turned my head to see what was making the noises behind me. The mind boggles as to what it was. Best not go there, eh. And not before long I packed my gear up and headed to the relative safety of my car, locking the doors as soon as I was sat on my arse. Job done. Great experience, despite the fear factor, which in hindsight, was all part of the fun. It was certainly a sight to behold though, and one I'd like to see again in the not too distant future. I do believe an addiction to Astro Photography has kicked in!
Looking forward to the next chapter already...

Back soon, Ash

Floral Dance - Summer 2014

Welcome back to my blog page once again. The juggling act between here, ashleycorr.com and Facebook continues. Blogging occasionally takes a back seat when priorities remain elsewhere, but that isn't to say it will die a slow death in the near future, far from it. My Facebook activity tends be nothing more than a photo upload with an accompanying line or two, which is a world away from the more in-depth write-up that generally appears here, and I don't want to lose sight of that, so blogging will continue and be an active part of my website indefinitely. Which brings me nicely on to todays offering. I've photographed some nice landscape scenes over the last month or so, all very local and with plenty of colour to show, so here is a selection of them, beginning with a rural poppy scene at Foxcover Lane, near Hastings Hill, Sunderland. I noticed some nice broken cloud as I was passing, on the A19, and decided a quick stop off wouldn't do any harm, especially as my camera bag was in the boot of the car.

The next shot (shown here) was taken in the wildlife garden at Souter Lighthouse, a National Trust property that lies on the North-East coast between Whitburn and Marsden. The garden is saturated with a variety of plants and flowers, such as Sunflower, Poppies, Daisies, Firethorn, Foxglove and Lavender. A designated path runs round the entire garden, offering many different angles to shoot from, which is ideal and avoids a free for all when the trampling visitors land. The lighthouse, with its red and white hoops, is an ideal backdrop when photographing the garden, and if you're tall enough you might just fit some North Sea into the frame too. I had the place to myself during my short 30 minute stay, which was also ideal - no waiting around for people to move out of shot. The garden is very well maintained, it has to be said. Across the way, in the vegetable garden, a one armed gardener was getting a right old sweat on, digging away during big temperatures. He seemed to be in his element, with his little radio for company, grafting away and looking far more dedicated than I ever could. Gardening isn't something I'm keen on!

Finally, another floral shot with an ancient backdrop that is Hylton Castle, a landmark that I have visited and photographed many times. Having said that, this is the first time I have seen the floral display that is seen here, and although the light was quite poor on arrival, I managed to get this nice shot during a one minute window when the sun decided to cut through the overcast sky behind me. In fact, the only decent colour in the sky was exactly where I wanted it, behind the castle itself and right in front of my lens. The little fella was sat a few feet away, transfixed on two tiny frogs he'd spotted on the path. That kept him quiet while I ran off a couple of frames, he he. So there ya go, some nice colour in the form of local landscapes. I'll be back soon with one or two recent Black &

White shots, so until then, I'll catch up with ya later. Cheers!
Ash

Falconry UK, Kirby Wiske

Here is a change of direction from the usual Landscape photography that I immerse myself in. It's back to Nature for the next two blog entries, as I focus on two recent trips in the field to photograph birds, both in the wild and captivity. Our annual trip to the Farne Islands off the Northumberland Coast was another opportunity to get up close to the thousands of nesting seabirds, but more of that later in the week, when I bring you shots breeding birds within the colonies, as well as birds in flight. Today I will concentrate on last weekends visit to a bird of prey centre in North Yorkshire, at a place called Kirby Wiske, not too far from Thirsk. As the Tour De France was taking place not too far away from our location I expected plenty of traffic during our journey South, but luckily for us that wasn't the case and even the bird of prey centre was less than busy, so things worked out quite well on that score. We've visited four similar places within the last 18 months or so and this one is definitely our favourite of the bunch. Unlike the others, Falconry UK has many birds on display outside of their usual enclosures, so photography opportunities are in abundance, with some of the smaller birds perched literally a five or six feet away from the perimeter fence. The largest of the birds, such as the Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle and Griffon Vulture are tethered at distance, although easily photographed with a 300-400mm telephoto lens.

We watched two flying displays during our visit, with two different teams of birds, including a Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, White-Headed Vulture, Northern Hawk Owl, Barn Owl and a Kestrel. Each bird flew between the perches in the arena, giving me an opportunity to photograph them in flight and the two Eagles spread their wings a little further by venturing out of the arena for short periods, before returning to their handlers. Each bird was different in its flying habits and behaviour and this was apparent when the Golden Eagle swooped very low in front of me and almost knocked me off my seat, on more than one occasion it has to be said. I'm sure everyone else found it amusing, but when your eye is fixed on the bird through the viewfinder and it heads straight towards the camera, you don't get much time to think of a manoeuvre before it's almost in your face. I relied heavily on the big bird making the first move, which it did, so I escaped a good kicking!

The running commentary by the handler was quite interesting, although I wasn't taking too much notice for the best part, due to concentrating my efforts on pulling in some decent shots. These birds are quite difficult to capture in flight, it has to be said. Capturing them is one thing, but accurately capturing them in sharp focus is another task entirely. As I'm still getting to grips with my Canon 100-400mm lens I expected to find it quite difficult to begin with and that was indeed the case, with a fair percentage of my shots just missing focus. One or two of my attempts efforts missed the birds completely. The more shots I took, the better I became, and this was evident in my keeper rate shooting up dramatically during the last display from the Golden Eagle. I was running on A1 SERVO AF with IS2 selected on the lens, for moving subjects. Then it was a spot of fine tuning in-camera when selecting the appropriate selection between CASE 1 and CASE 6, which is excellent for tracking moving subjects and auto focusing on subjects that immediately enter the frame. There's also options for subjects that move erratically, ignoring possible obstacles along the way. It's all good stuff and the Canon 5D3 will fight your corner all the way, as long as you 'Tell it what to do'.

As mentioned earlier, if you like what you see here, then stay tuned for my next blog entry that covers more birds in flight at Planet Farnes. Not to be missed. Until then, I'll get myself away to watch the football, with a sherbet or two. Adios!
AC