Graffiti under the bridge: Gallery

Story

If you have not read the story of these graffiti I found under bridge during my regular walks in Thorpe Meadows please go here or click the link above.

As a regular in Thorpe Meadows where we do our walks and cycling I always find this place a nice contrast, the once drab industrial walls transformed by colourful graffiti, juxtaposed with the natural surrounding of trees, grasses and the river nearby. After all, this site is part of Thorpe Meadows, one of the smaller parks that comprise the Ferry Meadows Country Park.

All photos were taken with an Android phone, Google Pixel 6 (https://amzn.to/3XDYCWr)

Graffiti under the bridge

Gallery

Underneath the Nene Parkway - Longthorpe Flyover in Orton Mere is a hidden gem, a legal graffiti site that is a beauty to behold. Located in Thorpe Meadows where you will find Nene Park’s purpose-built rowing lake, nice riverside walks and a public sculpture collection, these graffiti walls are a very welcome sight to regular walkers and cyclists who have seen this part of the bridge once littered with ugly graffiti by vandals.

I think the reason this place was touched up was because it became a venue for outdoor dance events by a company called Mixology. They held their first dance event in this area in summer of 2021 and I seem to recall passing by this site while out cycling with my wife. I think they were about to start back then as we saw young people walking towards this site, which was fenced off and had a few burly security staff directing them to the venue.

Red Brick graffiti

A few weeks back I went down to Glastonbury to attend our first face to face team meeting since the lifting of Covid restrictions in July. Although I was not able to see the town made famous by the music festival I was fortunate to be in the meeting held in a heritage building with interesting graffiti all around it.

Red Brick Building used to be a factory transformed into a vibrant community space for all ages. What caught my eye are the graffiti created by presumably local artists and found all over the building - actually the old factory was comprised of three buildings.

More information on Red Brick Building: https://redbrickbuilding.co.uk/

All photos were taken with my Google Pixel 3a (https://amzn.to/3ap2wKE)

Power Rhythm by Robert Erskine

 

Power Rhythm by Robert Erskine

Erskine was successful in winning a national competition to create a landmark sculpture for the City of Peterborough. The resulting sculpture, Power Rhythm, was created in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium, the opening of the Sustrans cycle network, and the contribution made by Perkins Caterpillar engines to the local community. Perkins Engines have been an important manufacturer and employer in the city since 1932. The heritage of engineering in the City linked with Robert Erskine’s background in and passion for design, engineering, industry and nature, inspired this monumental sculpture. (Source: Nene Park Trust)

Located as part of the Green Wheel cycle route (Nr Eye Roundabout, Parnwell Way, Peterborough) I was able to visit this a couple of times now through cycling as part of the Eye Green route we took from our home. Sadly, it has seen better days and appears to be not well maintained with graffiti and trash found when I took these photos.

All photos were taken with my Google Pixel 3a (https://amzn.to/2Yx3eDf)

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)

Peterborough Blue Plaques heritage trail

Booklet

A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term is used in the United Kingdom in two different senses. It may be used narrowly and specifically to refer to the "official" scheme administered by English Heritage, and currently restricted to sites within Greater London; or it may be used less formally to encompass a number of similar schemes administered by organisations throughout the UK. (Source: Wikipedia)

And it is in the second use of the term that Peterborough Civic Society decided to erect 20 blue plaques to commemorate people and places in Peterborough City Centre in 2017. I am familiar with almost all of the designated blue plaques and at least half of it will be easily covered as they are near to each other. I intend to take on this heritage trail as a photography project at the same time so watch this space.

Beautiful autumn foliage

Despite the unpredictable lousy weather, autumn is a favourite season of mine because of the colourful foliage that surrounds us for a few weeks, even in our drab neighbourhood. That is why I chose the subject 'autumn colours' in last month's theme for my monthly photography project.

I looked back at my past photographs of autumn foliage and I was disappointed. Despite the many times I enjoyed seeing the colourful autumn foliage I forgot to take photographs of it. When our sons were much younger we walk them to school before I go to work. In that short walk of 5-10 minutes, our eyes would have feasted on colourful foliage.

The photos I have featured in this post are a few years old already. This was when I was just starting out my photography hobby. Most of them were within a 5-minute walk from our house. I even tried to be creative on a couple of shots - selective colouring on a maple leaf and a zoom blur shot of a fallen yellow coloured cherry leaf in the middle of other cherry leaves.

There are a couple of photos here that were taken in London. I had the good fortune of travelling to London in autumn on a couple of occasions but that was quite a few years back now. One occasion was a team meeting in London and the other occasion was when I went to the Philippine embassy to process some documents.

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).

First (and only) model photoshoot attended

A few years ago, our small and short-lived photography group held our first and only photoshoot with a model. A member who knows a professional photographer had arranged for this event for a small fee. It consisted of two parts - an outside photoshoot and an introduction to software editing.

The outside photoshoot was held in Bretton Park. During the photoshoot we were taught about poses and how to direct a model during a photoshoot. The model our trainer brought along was very professional and very patient with us. In the second part, which was held in a member's house we were taught on portrait editing using a leading software. I did not stay long although I wrote some notes as I was intent on doing it using GIMP software.

And for this blogpost, I decided to do very minimal editing on Snapseed e.g. crop and auto image tuning only and then lower the resolution on Pixlr for this blogpost. I wanted to showcase the colours you can get from the legacy Minolta lens I used on all portraits during this photoshoot.

We had great fun in this photoshoot but portrait photography is not one of my interests. However, the lessons learned from that activity proved helpful to me during parties where I took photos of friends and family.

All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (two earliest versions of https://amzn.to/2kSIQc4) attached with a legacy Minolta manual portrait lens (for most shots) and a few shots from a standard kit lens (earliest version of https://amzn.to/2nyhf0M).

The band

A few years back we attended a friend's 'Life begins' birthday party and we got to dress up nicely for a change. But we are not the story here. A group of talented musician friends have provided live band music for the glitzy birthday party. The birthday celebrant and her spouse joined the band and entertained the crowd with a couple of songs.

The lighting during the band performance was not very good for photography though. It was quite dark and the background lights were quite distracting on the photos I have taken. So, I decided to convert these photos into black and white with a bit of tweaking to ensure the viewer's focus will be on the musicians themselves.

As the band performed in the dark with only minor lighting, nailing focus was quite hard for my amateur hands. It was a good thing I brought fast prime lens, otherwise I would not have gotten decent photographs.

All photos were taken with a micro four thirds camera (mostly from an older version of https://amzn.to/2nuWd35 and a few from an older version of https://amzn.to/2kSIQc4) attached with a prime lens (mostly from https://amzn.to/2nDAW7H and a few from https://amzn.to/2mXefei).

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.

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.

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).

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).