"Heaven and earth, the Celtic saying goes, are only three feet apart, but in thin places that distance is even shorter. They are places that make us feel something larger than ourselves, as though we are held in a place between worlds, beyond experience."
Kerri ni Dochartaigh (Thin Places)
Image Of The Week
On My Photo Stories Site
Whernside Words by Andy Marshall
📸 Along the eight miles walked that day, I tagged onto words that came and went with the transient crowd. The chatter was ragged at both ends, with the odd phrase overheard on passing, teasing me with truncated sentences: [more..]
From The Shop
Gothic Time Shift Digital Print Large – Photo Wellness
Gothic Time Shift captures the movement of light over a day on one of the most iconic Gothic facades in Europe: Peterborough Cathedral. [more..]
From The Blog
Evocation of Place | Sideclick
📸 I think it was St. Francis of Assisi who said our hands imbibe like roots, so place them on what is beautiful in this world. Perhaps, it’s more ‘lens’ than ‘hands’ for me. Over the years the act of photography has gifted me with nourishing insights into people and place. [more..]
Vanlife
Christmas in the van...
On My Coffee Table
18 Folgate Street : the life of a house in Spitalfields (Book, 2001)
📸 I love this book. A regular read. Dennis Severs follows his instincts to fill a Georgian House in Spitalfields with the spirit of the past. A remarkable insight into a house that you can visit.
Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman
📸 We're losing our ability to create a beginning, middle and an end - to tell stories that engage and help change perspectives. Pullman teaches us how to tell stories again.
From The Charo's
Earth to Spirit: In Search of Natural Architecture
📸 This book is the result of a lifetime's obsession with buildings that are in harmony with the natural environment. A wonderful insight into buildings that are of the hill rather than on it.
Hotspots
Middleton, Greater Manchester
📸 Finished off a commission to photograph some of architect, Edgar Wood's buildings in Middleton. Middleton is an architecture park - from Romanesque through to Art Nouveau and Modernism. For more on Edgar Wood check out the Edgar Wood Society website.
Ramsbottom, Lancashire
📸 Took advantage of a window in the weather to walk aside the Cheesden Valley, up and over past Whitelow Hill which holds a Bronze Age sacred site with a ring cairn and cremations. Beyond Whitelow Hill looms Whittle Pike. This landscape is a place of transition between the Cheshire Plains and the Pennine Moors, and during certain times of the year the pikes and peaks are separated from the prospect with snow - thus their names. It feels very special when these transitory landscapes (from plain to upland moor) isolate new realms with a dash of white. It is, perhaps, why these places were seen as sacred.
We dined at Tre Ciccio, a real treat after a 5 mile walk and the prospect of a 6 mile return journey.
Chester
📸 My trip to Chester, on a commission to photograph part of the Cathedral was cancelled due to Storm Barra. I'm there next week, but there's no harm in sharing this gorgeous little pilgrimage in a day from The British Pilgrimage Trust.
Chester Cathedral Pilgrimage in a Day - The British Pilgrimage Trust
Chester Cathedral Pilgrimage in a Day Circular Route from Eccleston Church – 8 miles, 1 day. Google Map Yellow Line. Start at Eccleston, head up the River Dee before coming to the ancient parish church of St John (the original site of the cathedral), the Roman Amphitheatre, the beautiful black and white city centre buildings, [more..]
Radcliffe
📸 Visited Radcliffe (Greater Manchester) with artist Lee Crocker, as part of an arts project. Amazed to come across a motor mechanics garage (lovingly cared for by the owner) wrapped within a C17th (or earlier) tithe barn - with original roof timbers - arch-braced purlins and scarf joints. Such a remarkable find in an urban context.
Bookmarked
Well-decked halls: historic homes to visit for a taste of Christmas Past | Day trips | The Guardian
Crackling fires, fir boughs and spiced wine conjure up a festive atmosphere in these venerable homes and museums, with special events over the holiday period
Holloways? | Caught by the River
It seems of late that the Holloways of West Dorset have been getting a lot of attention. I’ve seen images crafted by marvelously creative artists and photographers and I’ve read the fluid song-like words put down by writers who put my simple descriptive powers to shame. However, one thing has brought me to sit here scribbling in my notebook while a mug of tea steams on the table in front of me, the log stove flickering in the corner. One thing that I just felt I had to try and get off my chest.
The Whirling, Spiritual Abstraction of June Edmonds
Full Spectrum spans 40 years of the artist’s career and provides an efficient crash course for anyone new to Edmonds’s work.
Sounds
Listen to Entangled Life — Merlin Sheldrake
Entangled Life is The Times Audiobook of the Year 2020 in the category of ‘authors voicing their own work’
Observations
📸 This week I came across the term Kintsugi whilst talking to artist Rowan Bridgwood on twitter about a project she has been working on to bring back to life a coat given as an heirloom. Kintsugi is a pottery repair method that emphasises the breakages by seaming them with lacquer and powdered gold.
The Tall Sister on Twitter says:
"kintsugi transforms the artefact into something new, making it more rare, beautiful, and storied than the original.”
📸 How have I never heard of this before? It's more than an act of pottery repair - it's a transferable philosophy. My mind is running off-piste with the possibilities. Imagine if we treated our ageing streets in the same way - filling in the cracks and fissures with powdered gold?
There are places that I've photographed that have been tended by people in the same way as the Kintsugi pots. Buildings that are lovingly dove-tailed into future generations. Spaces that seem to generate a sense of rootedness, layered like an onion, quilted and gilded with corners rubbed off by constant passage, with singing hinges muted by time. Places like the shop I came across many years ago in Ashton-under-Lyne.....
Time Travel by Andy Marshall
When I arrived the labrynthine shelves of the ironmongers’ world had gone.They had been dismantled, with great sorrow, by the third generation to have lovingly looked after the shop and its customers. [more...]
More about Kintsugi..
KINTSUGI AND THE ART OF REPAIR: life is what makes us | by Andrea Mantovani | Medium
The 400+ year old Japanese art of kintsugi (golden repair) or kintsukuroi (golden joinery) is a pottery repair method that honors the artifact’s unique history by emphasizing, not hiding, the break [more...]
And Finally...
Andy Marshall on Twitter: "Yes, that's me up there! The interior of the magnificent octagon tower at Ely Cathedral. #chelfie… "
Thanks for alll your support and emails. See you next Friday.
Andy.
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