20
Dec
2009
Churchill & New York City
What a truly random combination of work, but it’s what I have to discuss right now!
As I prepare to prepare (yes, I’m that far behind) for my trip to Ireland, I’m doing my best to finish editing my NYC photos. It’s a fair bet, however, that while I may post them in my gallery on my website, nothing new is going to make its way to my prints until I’m back.
I encourage you all to take a look at the NYC photos I’ve posted thus far and will likely add to in the next week (so check back).
Mark Tisdale – Sept 2009 in NYC Gallery
There’s already some photos in there of which I’m very proud. And as is often the fact, I look at them and ponder when I might make it back to explore more of what I saw. Not tomorrow by any stretch, but someday I expect.
Lady Liberty Lifts Her Light
Knowing my sometime predictable luck, it should be no surprise that the boat ride on my first day in New York was as close as I ever got to the famous Statue of Liberty. Bad weather the morning I intended on visiting left this my best view, but it was not bad at all. The statue is a true treasure, and my photos that day gave me an excuse to do something a little more artistic, creating this many layered image to resemble an old color postcard.
New York Rhythm
This is one image I was quite taken with. It does require a small amount of explanation, though. I am quite near sighted and have an astigmatism. I would not get far in the world without my glasses. I was on a night tour of the city and took my glasses off for a second and glanced down a side street. This is more or less what I saw. And I loved the view, the city boiled down to its chaotic best. Lights without form! It suddenly occurred to me that I could reproduce this for my camera by putting it out of focus. So, you can see the world as I saw it. I played with this off and on the rest of the evening, and may post more but this first try was my favorite.
And now that you’ve seen some New York City, I can jump to Winston Churchill, because the connection is obvious isn’t it? Maybe you don’t know that the iconic prime minister of the United Kingdom, in fact, had American ties? His mother was born in Rochester, New York, and was raised in Brooklyn and New York City. So yes, there is a connection between New York and the famous British Bulldog. However, truth be told, there’s a different reason I’m posting this one. A couple of days ago, I was contacted by a would be buyer who really liked my photo of the statue of Winston Churchill silhouetted in front of London’s Big Ben. However, she had a special request that I fulfilled.
She wanted me to include the Churchill quotation that I have always included with the description of this piece on the print itself. And I think it was an excellent request! I’m really happy with the result and wanted to share it. I think it definitely helps anchor and explain the image and it was almost as if I left that massive base just for this purpose. I wish I could have been that forward thinking! Anyway, here’s hoping she enjoys it when she receives it!
4
Oct
2009
London Tate Modern
It took four visits to London to finally make a call on London’s Tate Modern. In my defense, I had visited the British Museum (twice), The National Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery, and the Victoria And Albert Museum. I think I may be missing a couple in that list. The point is that London overflows with opportunity to take in the arts and the history of said human activity. I am less so a fan of modern art than what we would term traditional art, so it was not surprising that it took me so long to get to the Tate Modern.
Tate Modern
This is a view of the Tate Modern from the opposite side of the Thames. The Tate Modern actually occupies what was formerly the Bankside power station, a massive post-war building that embodies much of the modern in its blocky architecture. The power plant was shuttered in 1981 and in recent years converted into a wing of the Tate musuem, housing modern and contemporary art from 1900 and forward. Seen also in this view is the Millennium pedestrian bridge built to celebrate the 21st century.
Turbine Hall
The interior of the museum is as much a work of modern art as the extensive and revolving collection it houses. Stripped of much of the original and mammoth machinery this building once housed, you get massive spaces such as this, the Turbine Hall, in the middle of the structure. The lines of this place have to be seen to truly be experienced but I feel this print goes a long way towards conveying the proportions.
If modern art is not your thing, you’ll be forgiven for seeking out other places if you visit London with limited time, but if you have time to spare, or you are a fan of modern art, you must check out this place. As with many of the galleries and museums in London, the Tate Modern is free (temporary exhibitions are the exception).
17
Sep
2009
St Pauls Cathedral
St Paul’s Cathedral is certainly an icon of London. The images of the great dome standing above the smoke of WWII is certainly one that will live in our collective conscious for years to come. Officially the Cathedral Church of Paul the Apostle, the church is at least the 5th St Paul’s to sit on this site. The first according to Bede was built in 604 AD.
Crossing Over
This photo was taken from the pedestrian bridge that connects Bankside with the City of London. It’s taken at a very shallow depth of field in order to accomplish the dreamy feel of this image. The only thing in focus at all is the dome and the mass of humanity before it become little more than a blur. This church was built after the last was destroyed by the great fire in 1666. The fire leveled the city but remarkably took no human life. The fire shaped everything about the city we know today, built in stone to lower the risk of fire consuming it. The dome was a point of much debate. The architect, the renowned Sir Christopher Wren was determined that the new St Paul’s would have a dome like St. Peter’s in Rome. Several iterations of the design were rejected before Wren decided not to show any more models to the public for criticism. When it was completed in 1708, some loved it, some hated it, and others couldn’t care either way. Today it’s hard to imagine the sky line of the old city without it.
Old And New
Another view of St. Paul’s From Bankside. The view is much changed since WWII. The buildings adjacent to the Thames were destroyed in the war and newer generations of buildings have grown up between the River and the cathedral. And more recently, the millennium bridge was built as a pedestrian walkway to connect the City of London with Bankside on opposite sides of the River Thames. London as a city has never gotten stuck in a particular style. As a growing metropolis, new and exciting architecture is always fighting for space beside the classics. Much as the classics, these are sometimes met with mixed reactions. When the Millennium bridge was completed in 2000, there was a noticeable wobble and the bridge was closed, repaired and reopened in 2002. This led to its nickname The Wobbly Bridge.
Iconic St Paul's
Another black and white image of St. Paul’s. The depth of field and processing was intended to provide a little of the feel of the old images of St. Paul’s amidst the smoke from the Blitz of WWII.
To see more of London and Great Britain, please check out my Britain Prints Gallery.
2
Jul
2009
London Calling – Print Available
To date, my most popular print was taken on my second trip to the UK in May of 2005. I have always had a fondness for the traditional British Red Telephone Boxes. There’s something about them that immediately says Britain. I simply cannot tell you how many photos I’ve taken of them in previous and subsequent trips. In some ways, they have very much become dinosaurs in this age of mobile phones, but from Scottish Islands to city streets in London, you’ll still find these boxes dotting the landscape.
The first Red Telephone Box was the result of a competition in 1924 and was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. There were a few iterations culminating in the current design in 1935 to celebrate the silver jubilee of King George V. This is the familiar design that has found its way throughout the United Kingdom and beyond today.
London Calling - Red Telephone Box
This particular phone booth was photographed near the Embankment Tube Station near the Thames. It was taken with my simple point and shoot Olympus camera. Obviously, I then utilized photoshop for the final product, converting the image to black and white and then with a virtual brush, removing the black and white layer just from the phone box to allow the booth to really shine. While I’ve seen this type of selective color treatment done frequently, it’s definitely a style that requires just the right image. I believe I found it in this case.
Although so far I have mainly created work that was destined to be printed for display, this is one work that I have also converted into a popular t-shirt which is also available.
London Calling T-shirt
26
Dec
2008
England Is Past
I guess England is well and truly over for now. I dragged it along with me for months now, but for me, a trip is well and symbolically complete when I finish going through all the photos for said trip. I think the UK will always take me longer just for the fact that there’s a bit of sadness when it ends. None the less, I had to push myself through the last of the photos to clear the way for Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
The England Album is complete now. You can check out the new photos starting here. And I’ll post a few highlights below.
Second Lives - Tate Modern Turbine Hall
I spent an afternoon exploring the Tate Modern. In the end, I think the building spoke to me more than anything else I saw. No dig on modern art, just that the lines of the architecture were a bigger hit for me, but I still enjoyed the whole thing.
St Albans Cathedral
I’ve happiily spent many happy tourist moments with London Walks. On this trip, just two outings with them, but both were explorer days out of London. The first was to the little city of St. Albans, about a half hour by train from London. Quaint and somehow more mundane all at once, but well worth the outing. My fav shots are all of the cathedral in all its romanticized victorian grandeur.
The Gherkin - 30 St Mary Axe
One of several photos I took of London’s famous Gherkin, 30 St Mary Axe, a Norman Foster design. I only had a little time one late afternoon and never really found that perfect angle I longed for but I’m still fond of the shots I got. If I had more time to spend in the old city, I’d definitely work on finding my own angle for this piece of fab architecture.
London Chrome - The Lloyds Building
A Richard Rogers design, The Lloyds building was built with its mechanical equipment, stairs, and elevators all on the outside of the building. The inside is supposed to have a lot of wide open spaces as a result, and the outside is a work one part futuristic and one part modern art.
American Cemetery - Cambridge - Fields of the Lost
My last day in England included my last London Walks tour, a day out in Cambridge. Our first stop after the train ride was the American Cemetery and War Memorial a few minutes out of Cambridge proper. I had not heard of the place before, but there are around 3,000 Americans who lost their life in WWII buried there plus the names of the missing war dead memorialized. I really felt this image was a powerful comment on the loss of life.
Streets of Cambridge
This really captures Cambridge for me. The bustle of people, the grand old buildings, and the ubiquitous bikes. Cambridge is worth far more than a day trip. I hope to get the chance to spend more time here one day.
King's College - Cambridge
Our last group activity before we all scrambled back to the train was a punt down the river Cam. It was an optional thing, but I don’t see how a trip to Cambridge would be complete without it. The views along side the river were all pretty much like this. Incredible old buildings were intermixed with lush landscapes. If you ever find yourself in Cambridge, indulge in some punting.
City in Motion - Big Ben
Got back into London in late afternoon. By the time I dropped by the hostel and picked up my gorilla pod and ball head for some night shots, I’d lost most of the dusk. I got a few shots around Parliament before heading up to Piccadilly Circus for some last shots and dinner. I didn’t do nearly the amount of night shooting I should have done but I believe there will be more trips to this grand old city. Even though I have no concrete plans, I’m sure I’ll see more of the UK.
But next up is two weeks in sunny Central America – sorely needed after the alternating cold and gray winter thus far. Fair warning what type of phots are coming next, sunny beaches, tropical plants, and spanish-influenced architecture.
