12/12: Shops and shoppers

Note: These photos were taken in December 2019 as part of my Project 12 photography project. However, it is only a year later that I am posting them to this blog.

It's Christmas time! A time of joy and of gift-giving. And it happens on the month of December. You find lots of people rushing to the shopping malls to buy gifts for their loved ones.

Shops are competing for customers with beautiful decorations and enticing discounts. Even the mall in our city is festooned with lavish displays of lights and bright decors to inspire their shoppers while busy buying presents.

I took these photos on New Year's Eve, where shoppers went to the city mall to snatch up discounted items post-Christmas day. I didn't have the chance to take photographs at the height of Christmas shopping.

For my monthly photo project I chose the subject shops and shoppers for the month of December.

All photos were taken with an Android smartphone (https://amzn.to/38MZmhi)

11/12: Fallen leaves

Note: These photos were taken in November 2019 as part of my Project 12 photography project. However, it is only now that I am posting them to this blog.

Alas, some good things never last!

In this case, after weeks of wowing us with their amazing display of colours, the beautiful autumn foliage in our neighbourhood have started falling down leaving the trees to become like skeletons.

However, the stunning kaleidoscopic display of the autumn leaves continue to entertain us even in its fallen state for weeks before it becomes dull brown and wither away.

So, for my monthly photo project I chose the subject fallen leaves for the month of November as a logical follow through to October's colours of autumn theme.

All photos were taken with an Android smartphone (https://amzn.to/38MZmhi)

10/12: Colours of Autumn

Autumn leaf color is a phenomenon that affects the normal green leaves of many deciduous trees and shrubs by which they take on, during a few weeks in the autumn season, various shades of red, yellow, purple, black, blue, orange, magenta, and brown. (Source: Wikipedia)

Autumn is one of my favourite season of the year together with spring. In this season, nature provides us with a stunning display of leaves of different colours like red, orange and yellow. They are best observed in leafy country parks and other protected areas like nature reserves and national parks where there are huge swathes of woodland areas.

So, for the month of October I chose the subject 'Colours of autumn' for my monthly photography project. I planned to go to Ferry Meadows and nearby parts of Nene Park in order to get beautiful shots of trees with different coloured foliage. But the weather did not cooperate and my weekends were not free this month so I opted to get my photos in my neighbourhood instead.

The change in the leaves' colours are late this year, at least in the usual places that I go to in our neighbourhood. The best time to observe the coloured leaves is usually in November so I guess it was too early for this theme. However, I still managed to get images that capture the colours of autumn in our neighbourhood.

All photos were taken with an Android smartphone (https://amzn.to/31RLgqV) and a micro four thirds camera (https://amzn.to/2WicYMa) attached with a standard kit lens (https://amzn.to/2MPZMen).

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Crucifixion by Frank Roper

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Places to Be by Antony Gormley

World-famous sculptor and Turner Prize winner Sir Antony Gormley's first ever public sculpture commission Places to Be returned home to Peterborough in 2018, this time located within the skyline of the city centre, specifically at the rooftops of Queensgate Shopping Centre, Leeds Building Society, and Norwich & Peterborough Building Society.

Quoting from a Vivacity leaflet on the return of Places to Be, Sir Antony Gormley said:

Places to Be was my first public commission. It is wonderful that it is being re-sited on a striking modern horizontal parapet, a Victorian corner tower, and the 18th century roof line around the Market Square in the centre of Peterborough. I am very proud of this work and am delighted that with Vivacity's help it will again be part of the collective life of the town.

Places to Be was acquired by Peterborough Development Corporation in 1984 and then cared for by Peterborough Sculpture Trust. In 2015, Vivacity took it under its care and worked with Gormley to restore the piece in preparation for its re-siting last year.

St John the Baptist Church

9/12: Heritage architecture

Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, whose statues look down from the three high gables of the famous West Front. Although it was founded in the Anglo-Saxon period, its architecture is mainly Norman, following a rebuilding in the 12th century. With Durham and Ely cathedrals, it is one of the most important 12th-century buildings in England to have remained largely intact, despite extensions and restoration. (Source: Wikipedia)

For the month of September I chose the subject Heritage Architecture for my monthly photography project. A young city with thousands of years of history, Peterborough has lots of historical buildings in and around the city centre. The most famous of them all is Peterborough Cathedral, which celebrated its 900 years of existence just a year ago.

Peterborough Cathedral is where we bring our first time visitors as it is synonymous with Peterborough. Although an Anglican Church, it has hosted a few One Mass activities of the local Roman Catholic Church in the past. I must have been to Peterborough Cathedral dozens of times now.

All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (https://amzn.to/2K8BUl6) attached with a telephoto zoom lens (https://amzn.to/2YvqiMJ).

Gaia, an artwork by Luke Jerram visited Peterborough

Gaia is a seven metre diameter sphere, featuring 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the earth’s surface. The artwork provides the opportunity to see our planet on this scale, floating in three-dimensions. 

The artwork is 1.8 million times smaller than the real earth with each centimetre of the internally lit sculpture describing 18km of the earth’s surface. By standing 211m away from the artwork, viewers will be able to see the Earth as it appears from the moon. 

The 3D installation will rotate once every four minutes, which is 360 times faster than our real planet. During evening opening times, the specially made surround sound composition by BAFTA award winning composer Dan Jones will also be played. 

The imagery for the artwork has been compiled from Visible Earth series, NASA. Gaia has been created in partnership with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Bluedot and the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres. For more information about the artwork, please visit http://my-earth.org/ (Source: Peterborough Cathedral)

After successfully hosting The Museum of the Moon in October last year, Peterborough Cathedral has again played host to another of Luke Jerram's visually stunning touring artwork. Earth/Gaia was in the Cathedral from 19 August until 15 September and I only had the chance of visiting it on the week before it closed.

Gaia occupied the same space as that of The Museum of the Moon. The difference between the two is that Gaia actually moves while that of the Moon was stationary. And both are best viewed at night time but again my circumstances only allows me to view both during the daytime. But Gaia is still stunning nonetheless, just like that of the Moon.

The Emett Clock

The Emett Clock, otherwise known as The Aqua Horological Tintinnabulator, is a 'water-powered' clock. Designed and created by kinetic sculptor Rowland Emett, the installation of the clock at intu Victoria Centre in Nottingham was completed in 1973. Since then, The Emett Clock has become a much loved local landmark and a popular meeting place among shoppers.

After our morning visit to 'Pure Land' meditation centre and Japanese garden, our group decided to have lunch at an 'all you can eat' buffet restaurant in Nottingham, an hour's drive away from the garden. Unfortunately, the manager got scared of my son's multiple food allergies and politely asked us to leave.

So, our family headed off to our all time favourite fastfood restaurant famous for lovin' it. We finished earlier than the rest of the group who stayed in the buffet restaurant so we had time to waste. We went inside intu Victoria Centre, which was just beside 'maccy d' for some window shopping.

'Pure Land' Japanese Garden: Gallery

Travel | Gallery

If you have not read the story of our visit to 'Pure Land' Japanese Garden please go here or click Travel link above.

All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (https://amzn.to/2K8BUl6) attached with a telephoto zoom lens (https://amzn.to/2YvqiMJ).

'Pure Land' Japanese Garden

Travel | Gallery

Our summer holiday celebration in 2019 was extended for another week. And this time to a place that will remind you of Japan more than the United Kingdom - a Japanese garden!

I thought the day-out in Skegness Beach the week before was our last hurrah for the summer of 2019. But, a text message from a friend to my wife inviting us to go to this Japanese garden extended the celebration. Curious as we have not been to a Japanese garden before, we accepted the invite.

'Pure Land' Japanese garden and meditation centre is located in the Nottinghamshire village of North Clifton, near Newark. It is less than an hour-and-a-half drive from Peterborough.

This award-winning Japanese garden is created and ran by Buddha Maitreya, who is Japanese, and whose main aim in creating the garden was 'to provide a peaceful, beautiful area which guests and visitors to the centre could enjoy.' While we enjoyed the beautiful garden I do not think our group had a peaceful time while there. We were a 17-strong contingent from Peterborough, half of which are teenagers!

More wood sculptures in Ferry Meadows

Photowalk | Pyramid | Wood sculptures

I took these photos of wood sculptures during a photowalk/running on the last day of August. My wife did all of the running and I just hold the water bottle for her while I did a photowalk at a leisurely pace. We covered a large expanse of the country park on this day's walk, and some paths we only took for the first time. We must have walked 12+ kilometres, the farthest I've done so far that I have sore and aching arthritic feet for at least a couple of days.

I did not plan out to photograph more wood sculptures in Ferry Meadows for this walk. I have already photographed the Sentinel a few weeks earlier. This time I started out with an owl inside a tree, familiar to us on every previous walks but I have not taken a picture before.

Pyramid by John Maine

Photowalk | Pyramid | Wood sculptures

Pyramid by John Maine

John Maine’s large work ‘Pyramid’, made from Portland stone and acquired in 1979, used to stand alone at Ferry Meadows Country Park (Source: Vivacity). At present, there are a few more public sculptures sharing the open space with the Pyramid at Ferry Meadows such as Thomson's Sentinel, Dawson's Bird in Flight and Jeni Cairns' metal sculpture. Also worth mentioning are the wood sculptures found scattered around the country park as well.

I took these photos of wood sculptures during a photowalk/running on the last day of August. My wife did all of the running and I just hold the water bottle for her while I did a photowalk at a leisurely pace. We covered a large expanse of the country park on this day's walk, and some paths we only took for the first time. We must have walked 12+ kilometres, the farthest I've done so far that I have sore and aching arthritic feet for at least a couple of days.

All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (https://amzn.to/2K8BUl6) attached with a telephoto zoom lens (https://amzn.to/2YvqiMJ).

Ferry Meadows photowalk to end summer

Photowalk | Pyramid | Wood sculptures

How do you spend your last day of summer? By doing a photowalk and/or running, of course!

So, on the last day of the late summer month of August I did a photowalk around Ferry Meadows while my wife did some running and walking. After a couple of hours walking, we have covered a large area of the country park (12+ kilometres) which was why I got very sore and painful feet for a couple of days afterwards.

We started our walk/running from Lakeside, where we also parked. I did not have any particular photography theme at the start except that I have to take photos of the Pyramid sculpture, which we will pass by during our walk. So I took photos of anything that will interest me that day.

8/12: On the beach

The beach - sun, sea, and golden sands - sums up many people's idea of a perfect holiday destination. (Tom Ang's book on photography)

Ang's words were definitely on the minds of the hundreds of people, including 15 of us from Peterborough, as they flocked to Skegness Beach on a hot and sunny Sunday, a day before the Summer Bank Holiday.

All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (https://amzn.to/2Ui1uY3) attached with a telephoto zoom lens (https://amzn.to/2ZsjEwf).

One sunny day in Skegness Beach

On the last Sunday of August, a day before the Summer Bank Holiday, we joined hundreds of other beach goers as we flocked to sandy Skegness Beach to enjoy the sun, sea and its golden sands. A fitting way to end this late summer month, which was at times cloudy, rainy and sunny all throughout.

A late invite to celebrate a friend's birthday at the beach have helped influenced our teenagers to go out of the house at least for a day. We started the day with Sunday mass followed by lunch at the nearby famous fast food restaurant famous for lovin' it. We declined our friend's lunch celebration at a Chinese restaurant because of our son's multiple food allergies.

Happy that our stomachs were now filled with lovin' food, we head off to Skegness Beach which is an hour-and-a-half-plus drive by car, ahead of the others. Arriving at the Tower Esplanade at around 3PM, the seaside town was already buzzing with people and parking was already spilling out onto the beach.

Creature by Anne Nicholson

Peterborough Sculpture Park | Festival Boat

Creature by Ann Nicholson

This abstract sculpture is carved from one large piece of Clipsham stone. The artist has used a mixture of hand carving and mechanical sawing to achieve this sculptural form. (Source: Vivacity)

I resumed my sculpture trail in Peterborough Sculpture Park one Sunday morning for a final run last month, this time covering the last six sculptures in the list. Located from the car park and onto the south side of Peterborough Rowing Course these six sculptures are grouped together - Mason's Helios XVI, Davies' Untitled, 1990, Angus' Under the Ocean, Under the Sea, Pope's Odd Oaks, Camp's Festival Boat and Nicholson's Creature. Again, I limited myself to an hour and it was fun doing a shoot and run photoshoot. Great exercise, too!

All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (https://amzn.to/2K8BUl6) attached with a telephoto zoom lens (https://amzn.to/2YvqiMJ).

Festival Boat by Sokan Douglas Camp

Peterborough Sculpture Park | Odd Oaks

Festival Boat by Sokan Douglas Camp

This piece was commissioned from the artist as part of the final Festival of Sculpture in 1989 which marked the end of the Development Corporation in Peterborough. This stunning large concrete piece on the bank of the river Nene takes as its source the festival boats used ceremonially in the artist’s native Nigeria. (Source: Vivacity)

I resumed my sculpture trail in Peterborough Sculpture Park one Sunday morning for a final run last month, this time covering the last six sculptures in the list. Located from the car park and onto the south side of Peterborough Rowing Course these six sculptures are grouped together - Mason's Helios XVI, Davies' Untitled, 1990, Angus' Under the Ocean, Under the Sea, Pope's Odd Oaks, Camp's Festival Boat and Nicholson's Creature. Again, I limited myself to an hour and it was fun doing a shoot and run photoshoot. Great exercise, too!

All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (https://amzn.to/2K8BUl6) attached with a telephoto zoom lens (https://amzn.to/2YvqiMJ).

Odd Oaks by Nicholas Pope

Peterborough Sculpture Park | Under the Ocean, Under the Sea

Odd Oaks by Nicholas Pope

The four wood elements resemble giant acorns – it’s interesting to see how the change of locations affect the way we react to this work. Originally located in Werrington Shopping Centre, the work is now based in Thorpe Meadows. Odd Oaks was decommissioned in 2011 but left in situ in Thorpe Meadows to allow nature to take its course. (Source: Vivacity)

I resumed my sculpture trail in Peterborough Sculpture Park one Sunday morning for a final run last month, this time covering the last six sculptures in the list. Located from the car park and onto the south side of Peterborough Rowing Course these six sculptures are grouped together - Mason's Helios XVI, Davies' Untitled, 1990, Angus' Under the Ocean, Under the Sea, Pope's Odd Oaks, Camp's Festival Boat and Nicholson's Creature. Again, I limited myself to an hour and it was fun doing a shoot and run photoshoot. Great exercise, too!

All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (https://amzn.to/2K8BUl6) attached with a telephoto zoom lens (https://amzn.to/2YvqiMJ).