Standing by the dock of the bay – with my iPhone

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Guthlac
20100820-_orford_quay

Well I am certainly not Ottis Reading and Orford isn’t really next to a bay but I did have my iPhone.  Whilst I was away I tried to make some panorama photographs with the iPhone.   As I have previously written I am not after technical perfection with iPhone and so I wasn’t after images that could be stitched together seamlessly.  Instead I was after some thing that would reflect the english summer and coast.  This wasn’t meant to be the high gloss you see in, perhaps a Tommy Hilfinger ad, but the more ordinary crumpled reality – well the reality that I see.

So this is the first example of the work – I think it does hit all the points I wanted say.  I like it and that is the only thing I can ever hope to do for certain.   This will be going into my forth coming book on iPhoneography.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

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Orford Ness – one day on.

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Guthlac
20100818-_lab_no_1_-_orford_ne

Well I am back home, knackered but satisfied.   I have had a little time to think some more about Orford Ness.  My last post was actually sent stand next to the only nuclear testing facility open to the public, the sinister Lab No 1.   The place is truly strange in both a good and very sinister way.  The good is the landscape of the ness.  It is open, flat and devoid of any useful reference points.  You cannot judge distances when you are on the ness.  Lab No 1 seems next to the landing point but it is almost 2 km walk.  This is very weird.

This disorientation is not helped by the wide bland skies when we were there.  There was plenty of detail with the sky but yet it seemed to hold no information – as though this had been drawn out of.

Then there is the sinister.  The whole ness is a huge weapon development sight.  Beyond the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) buildings there are innumerable craters dotted around the place.  Some small, others not so.  These provide a strange vignette to slowly decaying AWRE buildings.   Whilst there was never any nuclear materials on the Ness the delivery systems contained high explosives and so the buildings were designed  to contain any explosion should they occur whilst the testing took place.  The result is a series of weird looking buildings which again only reinforces the sinister feeling of the place.

The site of the ill fated Cobra Mist radar station only adds to the air of sinister malevolence.  When you add the nearby Rendlesham Forest UFO incident, ‘Britain’s Roswell’ then this a very strange and slightly disturbing part of the world.

However,  this being England things aren’t quite what they seem.   Whilst the Ness was this super secret testing site Orford is only 500 metres across the River Ore and any testing that went on must have been in plain site of anyone with even the most rudimentary binoculars.  America has Groome lake, an area intensely guarded and we have Orford Ness right next to a small quayside and pretty medieval town.   I think I prefer Orford any time.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

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Orfordness

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Guthlac

Well I’m bit stung but it is worth the discomfort. Orfordness has a very strange and sinister feel. The place was used to test nuclear bomb delivery systems and you can feel the danger in the crumbling buildings. In the distance is the site of the super secret radar system, that never worked, and beyond that is Sizewell A & B, two of the largest nuclear power stations in Britain. In short this conspiracy theory heven – no wonder it is also the site of the most UFO sightings in the area. Very X files.

Photo

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www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac
http://simonmarchini.blogspot.com
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I hope you enjoy

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Off to Orford Ness in Morning

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Guthlac
20100817-_orford_ness

My friend David and me are off to Ordford Ness in the morning for a couple of days of photography.  I really don’t know what to expect which is rather exciting in its self.   To prep I have been making a few sketches just get the creative juices flowing.  Lets hope I don’t make a mess of myself with them.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

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Andy Warhol I am not

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Guthlac

A bit of pop art? I think not. However it is an interesting effect of combining Photoshop for the iPad and a brushes painting which didn’t really work out.

Photo

Sent from my iPad

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Sunflower and Photoshop

Posted on August 15, 2010 by Guthlac

We have some great sunflowers in the garden. I don’t know what it is about sunflowers but they always make me feel just that little better with myself. Anyway, this inspired me to create this painting. I then scrubbed it through Photoshop for the ipad and gave a rather strange border.

Photo

Sent from my iPad

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Mother and calf

Posted on August 15, 2010 by Guthlac
177

Sent from my iPad

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Bull elephant

Posted on August 15, 2010 by Guthlac
175

Sent from my iPad

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Unfinished face

Posted on August 15, 2010 by Guthlac

If at first you don’t succeed try try again. So I have been trying out different ways to create a painting of face. The eye is still too big but I am finally getting some where with the nose. In short practice and more practice. I find that time simply slips away when I am working on these – just what do I call them? Sketches? Perhaps. Anyway it is really rewarding in a Its own way. Looks like it going to be another long day sketching – such hardship!

Photo

Sent from my iPad

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Another step forward

Posted on August 14, 2010 by Guthlac
Ellie

For some people this might not be a huge step forward but for me it is.  It has taken me the best part of a day to produce this painting and there a huge number of things wrong with it.  However, I have learnt so much from this that my next painting should be a whole lot better and then the next and the next until one day I may turn in something half decent.   This is in the future but for now I am pleased with what I have done.  I can do a whole lot better but this, for me, is showing promise.  
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

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