We are two-thirds the way into the summer holidays already. We have just had our family holiday, we don't venture far since the children have been born but thankfully we don't really need too. Apart from the horrendous weather we sometimes get, the beauty around makes up for it. It's been an eventful couple of weeks. I love our time together. We head up to the coast for the first week, it rained, and rained. We watched parts of England descend into chaos with the riots as we sat under the quietness of the north east rain, feeling (thankfully) a million miles away. The second week we headed for the Lake District. We stayed in a small cottage not far from William Wordsworth's house. We had a small garden. It was so wonderful to see the kids imagination working .. working with nature. They had no toys, but the gate provided endless entertainment, particularly as a horse or farm.
The photo's here are what I feel are the essence of our time together. That valuable time of togetherness. I love how they connect to their surroundings, to nature, to water, to the fells & mountains. I thought I would see big changes in the year since I started this project. I did in some ways, in the obvious ways such as getting taller, their capabilities such as climbing bigger mountains, becoming stronger swimmers & the conversations we have. And yet they are the same. They are beautiful, unique individuals who have stayed the same in so many ways and I think these photographs have captured that for me.
On a slightly different note, it has been a good couple of weeks. I have had my work featured on FlakPhoto & THIAPS and have confirmed a solo exhibition next year (and maybe one or two in the pipeline). Tomorrow I am back to wet plates and then it will be our final week of the summer holidays and changes will be happening for my son in particular as he starts a new school and so it begins over again when September, for me, feels the cruellest month.
Love it
ReplyDeleteThanks very much Dzo.
ReplyDeleteThese are beautiful, Deborah. I love the way you've described your holiday, and your obvious love for your children shines out in the images. Congratulations! Sophie.
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful to read about your children connecting to nature and playing games with anything at hand. I believe these activities which stretch their imaginations and inquisitiveness will serve them well for the rest of their lives. Reading about their adventures makes me recall some of the fondest memories from my own childhood.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Sophie for your lovely, kind words. I am so pleased you enjoyed this, and as for the love shining through, that's wonderful :)
ReplyDeleteI am so pleased that these images evoked your own childhood memories Paul, I love that. Although my work is personal I always hope it is universal too. Thanks so much for stopping by and your kind comment, I really appreciate it :)
ReplyDeleteI have recently found your blog and am really enjoying looking at your work and your approach to photography. It has an other-worldy feel to it, with a touch of intimacy like the work of Sally Mann. I am a relative newcomer to large format photography and am intrigued to hear how your work with wet plate is going. It sounds very fiddly indeed!! Best of luck for the future.
ReplyDeleteHI Marmalade, thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. I am really pleased you like my work. If I can ever help you in any way with you large format you are more than welcome to email me (not sure if I would be much use but even if you just want to chat). I see we don't live that far away from one another either. As for the wet plate, it has it's challenges and it would seem that when everyone goes on a course they think it is easy and then go away and find a very different story .. I have written a few blogs about it .. including my last entry. Anyway, thanks again :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Deborah, I may take you up on that if I may...I can't see your email address anywhere here...so here's mine and I'll email back.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Penny
penny at marmalade dot me dot uk
(please remove spaces and replace the at and the dots for symbols - trying to avoid spam!!)
Sorry Penny, I forget this is my blog .. email on website, but will email you no problem.
ReplyDeleteDeb, as always an infinite amount of sincerity here and your so personal way of sharing the magic is really touching! Thanks so much! Take care!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful as ever. You should know that I usually end up with tears in my eyes when viewing your work.
ReplyDeleteSo lovely to hear from you Codrin, thank you so much for your lovely comment .. I hope you are keeping well and feeling inspired :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much 'Anon' for your lovely comment, I am so pleased you like my work and it moves you .. I hope it doesn't make you too sad though :)
ReplyDeleteI'm always made so quietly happy by your work. It is melancholy in the best way, longing for children to stay ours, seeing them grow, remembering the terrors of childhood through the veil of adulthood, aware that that veil distorts so much, filled with wonder.
ReplyDeleteI just love it.
as someone said, the only certainty in life is change! Growing up seems to last forever!
ReplyDeleteStacie, it is so lovely to hear your thoughts .. you seem to engage with my work in exactly the way I hope someone would. I came across someone talking about my work today who said that it left them 'uncomfortable' .. not that it's a bad thing but nonetheless I was surprised. I suppose though it's good that people view through their own unique vision. I am feeling all these things that you suggest right now .. I sense change ahead, I feel the passing of time, the children growing up so quickly. And yet, I don't yearn to go back to nappies and sleepless night lol!! Anyway, I am rambling .. thank you so much x
ReplyDeleteAnd the only other certainty Dave is that time passes (my granddad always said that when I dreaded the doctors or dentist:)) And you are right, growing up does last forever :) Thanks so much for stopping by, lovely to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteHey Deb. These are stunning images. And, yes, you have achieved that crossover between personal and universal - absolutely. From being YOUR children's childhood, the pictures become childhood.
ReplyDeleteI am so VERY happy to hear about the exhibition. Oh Deb. How exciting. Please mail me and let me know where and when and I will be there. I feel a bit rubbish about myself as I didn't manage to try and troubleshoot the wet plate stuff this weekend, oh well, I will try tomorrow...
I think that your photographs show how childhood is, I know I have said this before. It isn't all about balloons and parties and being carefree and happy. Children internalise things and have such an intense inner life - this is what I see - what goes on nehind the eyes. And that is a rare gift Deb.
Hi Lucy, always lovely to hear from you :) As always thank you so much for your lovely, thoughtful comment, it's always great to hear your thoughts. Don't worry if you didn't get to do some trouble shooting, I think it is that time of year .. I am pretty lethargic now .. I seem to go in bursts. I am desperate to start my book again but am waiting for kids to be back at school .. I need to do a few more wet plates but need a bit of a kick up the backside lol!! I hope you are well x
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