It was my 40th birthday the other week and part of the weekend was spent up in London with lots of friends, skateboarding around the city. The first time myself and some of these friends skated london was in the late 80s so it was something special to relive that in part with skating through the streets before ending up at Mile End skatepark for a wind down with some drinks.
I’m really lucky to still have skateboarding and some amazing friends still in my life.
After discovering some years ago that seals frequent not only my local harbours Portsmouth Harbour & Langstone Harbour but they also live and travel as far as Southampton in the West and and Chichester Harbour and beyond in the east I’ve wanted to see them in their natural environment. There are two types of seals in this area, the Common or Harbour Seal and also the occasional sightings of the rarer Atlantic Grey Seal too.
A while back I went out on a boat trip in the harbour to try and find some seals, who particularly enjoy the low tide muds around places like Thorney Island and the plentiful food the harbour provides. The beat travelled down to the harbour entrance, past East Head before exploring the smaller channels in to the wide, remote mud flats, inaccessible from the shore. We spotted a single seal initially and then as the boat came around a corner a group could be seen enjoying the sunshine and seemed happy to have some photos taken before we had to leave and return to the harbour entrance, with a wide view of the Solent out beyond. I’m hoping to see more of these residents of the local harbours this summer too, with a little luck.
Reaching the wet but warming by the sun sand of Aberporth beach meant finally walking out in to the open, early spring morning sunshine. the first thing to explore was where the stream exited from it’s hill source under a road bridge and joined a channel down to the seawater. This was where the few fishing boats were located, with their pots and nets. From here it was a short explore to the lowest cliffs, perfect for climbing up and giving a central, elevated perspective of both sides of beach and the bay as a whole.
The cliffs had been worn away by millennia of weather and tide but there were also human wear too, with names scratched in to the rock. It was difficult to tell the age of these scrawls but some could date back to the early history of the village, some hundreds of years ago. My time on the cliffs and beach quickly past and I had to both leave the sands but also get ready for the drive back to Southsea.
On a recent week long trip exploring the west coast of Wales I had a bit of a camera malfunction with my Nikon FE2 so ended up using my digital camera for the trip. On the morning we were set to return to Southsea I got up with the very early sun and grabbed the camera anyway (no light meter and shutter fixed on 1/250) and some rolls of film and went down and explored the two beaches and pathways around the village we were staying in, Aberporth.
We stayed in a converted train carriage on top of the cliffs overlooking the beaches and Aberporth Bay and I was lucky to get out just after dawn with the low, golden light breaking over the serrated shoreline. The quiet path down through some trees to the first beach ducked in and out of the sunlight as it weaved down the cliff to the back sand and to where the river meets the beach. The view of the village and the beaches unfolded as the path got closer and closer to it’s destination.
Somethings change, somethings stay the same. Hoping to post lots more photography in the next few months here and on Quiet Corners and the Quiet Corners Facebook Page and get back to a regular routine again. I’m out with my Nikon FE2 a lot more again and want to share the results.
What better place to start than my home of Southsea. It is easy to feel that your home for some time has no more secrets or nothing new to show you and inspire you creatively but that’s actually a reflection of your own blinkered view I’ve found in my experience. This small village on the southern tip of a southern island on the southern shore changes from one day to the next and given the chance will always have something new, if I look past my own tired eyes.
Autumn has fallen on Hampshire. I love this time of year, the slight chill in the air, the bite of cold rain and that first time in months when you walk in to a pub with a log fire. About this time last year Jo and I visited Petworth House over in Sussex. English Heritage have done a wonderful job of making the huge house accessible but just as importantly they have left much of the land wild, allowing you to get in amongst the hills, the trees and the deer. The deer observe with a bit of a disinterested air, keeping an eye out incase you get that little bit too close.
The entrance to Portsmouth Harbour is heavily fortified with the Hot Walls and the Square & Round Towers and thankfully much of this part of Portsmouth’s history is both still here after the ravages of the Luftwaffe and is open and accessible. The different spaces, views and walls can give dramatically different sights of the water and it’s continuous movement of traffic passing in and out.
Midhurst lies in a green corner of West Sussex and is home to the Cowdrey Ruins and to be honest, I do love a good spot of English Heritage. The ruins sit at the end of a long, straight almost causeway like path through the wetland up and over a small river that travels perpendicular to the gates, as if man handling it to form a moat. The ruins, the riverside and the woodland around it all cut the light up in vertical lines of colour and shadow that unexpectedly visually united the different locations and views. Even the hidden Norman ruins up on the wooded Motte formed a quiet partnership with the tall trees and straight stone lines still marking the walls and walkways left from a thousand years ago.
This has to be the worst summer ever, right? Each year I try to swim in the sea down here in Southsea as much as I can but it’s been really difficult with the weather and work commitments. Part of the bad weather has been the return of the familiar winter sound of the fog horn across The Solent. Not too long ago I visited the pier during one of these days where the horizon and the Isle of Wight disappear from sight.
After walking the dockyard wall in Portsea I walked through Kings Bench Alley, which has existed for hundreds of years but has a mixed history. Appropriately enough up in the barbed wire overhead was an empty bag, more than lightly something stolen. The alley runs down behind houses and spat me out back on the road again from where I went for a walk along Southsea seafront to use up the last of the roll.
The Zenit TTL camera seemed to really struggle after the sun came out and it looks like shooting in to strong sunlight is something it is not too keen about, mores the pity.
I’m always looking around charity shops for old film cameras, the more clunky and unusual the better. Back in late winter this year I found an old Russian Zenit TTL SLR in a local shop and picked it up for a few pounds. It needed a bit of work and the focus seemed a bit iffy but was heavy and it felt rugged so I loaded it up with a roll of film and set of for a walk around a part of Portsea I hadn’t explored before, the outer edge of the Dockyard walls.
This particular part of Portsmouth running along Queen Street for many, many years was infamous for it’s dangerous pubs and prostitutes plus it’s slums which reached a head in the 1920s with the murder of Brighton Mary which led the way to urban renewal, council housing in the city and dramatic change. With the bombing of this part of the city during the war and the redevelopment in the 60s this part of the city now has next to nothing to show for it’s past history apart from it’s road names.
One thing that has endured is the Dockyard wall. This wall runs around the dockyard circumference but at this part of Portsea is tucked well behind flats and housing, far away from the casual viewer’s eye. I had never explored this area so set off with this cold war camera in the cold weather in the low sun looking for new things and old things.
It’s been a busy six months or so. Around Christmas time I started up a new company Strong Island Media as part of the Strong Island family and have for the last six months worked on a load of different film, web design and photography projects. It’s been busy but fun. Sadly it has meant I haven’t had much time to take photos and post things up too.
This new showreel covers a few recent projects. A new website should be up soon too at www.strongislandmedia.com, for now it points to our Vimeo with all of our previous video work.
Eastney’s beach is one of my favourite parts of Southsea, it has a very unique mix of both landscape and people. The beach is overlooked by the imposing old MOD base yet it’s also home to the city’s nudist beach at the same time as well as a popular location for the shore fishermen. The beach runs from the quiet eastern edge of the southern shoreline to the centre, marked by South Parade Pier. This part of the beach is a constant hum of people and activity.
How did a month go by so quick? It’s not been the best month for all sorts of not very nice reasons but a perfect time to pull out some photos from a fun visit to the Kessingland inland water. The lakes are just protected from the sea by a narrow strip of beach yet are home to many different birds. The lakes and the local landscape are shaped by it’s heavy use during the second World War and Jo and I had a good explore of the man made hills and gullies plus the odd pillbox or two. Sunshine, sea, beach and countryside, I need some more of that.
A little while back I went out early to use up the last half of a roll of film in my Konica Pop. The camera looks amazing (I have a green one) and is so nice to use, simple and generally takes nice photos. I ended up at one of my favourite morning spots, down by the entrance of Langstone Harbour. I walked along the water’s edge and really enjoyed putting footprints on the fresh sand as the tide rolled out.
Some places are so wonderful to visit, particularly if they are on the coast, that visiting them in the depths of summer is almost impossible as they are so popular. In stark contrast visiting these places in winter can mean you almost have the spaces all to yourself which in it’s own way can make it so much the better. West Wittering beach is such a place.
The tide at the Witterings drops right back when low, opening up the beach to long sands with scattered pools of ridged sand to explore and splash through. The wind is heavily utilised by the brave kite flyers as it cuts along the curve leading to the Solent. The only downside is that the perfect swimming water is a little on the cold side out of season, mores the pity.
It’s easy to forget some of the amazing places that exist in your home town and spend time travelling and exploring more further afield. Sometimes it’s good to be a tourist in your own neck of the woods. One local place that I have only been to once or twice in over fifteen years is the Historical Naval Dockyard, home to old naval ships such as HMS Warrior and HMS Victory but also home to the navy’s most advanced vessels too. The general dockyard area is free and open to everyone and has great views of the ancient and modern docks. I’m really looking forward to the new Mary Rose museum, due to open this year.
Back. Sorry. Such a backlog of photos I didn’t know where to begin but these photos from a fleeting visit to London back in the autumn caught my eye. The parks in London at that time take on a beautiful haze of green through to gold, something that generates a welcome feeling inside. I think because they remind me of a trip many years ago, one of my earliest trips to London with a camera where I really began to look and explore with a lens more than before. I need to do more of that again.
I was talking to my girlfriend Jo about our trips to Southwold in Suffolk, I think we have been 3 times but I get the events on the trips mixed up so have to look at my photos to remember sometimes. While looking for a photo of a bike ride I found a few photos from the second trip that I never put up. These photos date the trip perfectly, the bunting is due to the royal wedding which happened the day I took the photos. These bring back some very fond memories. Particularly of The Nelson.
Now we really want to go back again…
The second part of the Langstone and Warblington walk was away from the shoreline up in to the woodland paths and then through to the famous castle tower and the church. The tower is the final remains of a medieval castle that had a very lively history with it being in the hands of Kings of England on a few occasions and also visited by many Kings and Queens of England and Scotland before it being demolished during the civil war.
From the tower to the church and then off back towards the harbour, the late autumn sunshine was falling through trees on to muddy pathways looked something special. Looking down the tree lined tracks the sunlight was reflected back from the surface of the rippling water.
