Time

Time

I have spent the week wondering about time as a photographic subject.  Although I never seem to have enough of it what with working full time and with a family still at home, time just disappears but how do you photograph that?  

Today I've just spent my day off helping my Dad clear his loft out, most has not been touched for at least 15 years, added to but not removed, a lot of time in that.  Things stuck in a time warp, photos, clothes, dolls houses, Christmas decorations, many empty cardboard boxes but no, not really a photographic subject as I was busy looking for mice (as Dad happily told me he has removed between 30 and 40 in the past couple of years) and trying to avoid falling down the loft hatch.

Then a brainwave struck.

During the week I passed a place called Barcombe Mills on my way home from work.  A small hamlet which the River Ouse flows through, last week I used a photo of the sluice gates for thirds, apologies for using it again but all will be revealed..........

My time is the difference a year makes ,

as the first of each pair of photos used was taken 355 days ago, the second photos this week.  All the pairs of photos were taken of the same spots and a similar angle.

The river as you can see is swollen as it cuts through the farmland.

           

The difference here is noticeable, what was a small water course has turned into a sizable torrent.        

The ducks were nowhere to be seen, hardly surprising!  The speed of the water was unbelievable and the noise was deafening.

And lastly one of the small exit streams originally has been engulfed and turned into a fast flowing river.    

Last year was a standard year for my part of the UK weather-wise,

a cold winter, a warm spring with sunshine and showers and a hosepipe ban come summer.

This year a not too cold winter with a bit of snow, wind and rain.  A warm spring to start and then the rain, more rain and even a bit more rain for good measure.  The wettest April for many a year as the River Ouse shows. 

Ironically the water companies have cried drought and imposed the hosepipe ban earlier than last year, the 6th of April to be exact!!!!!!!

This is a   My Town Friday Shoot Out  post

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

 

Ruins of Corfe Castle in the background, some lovely cows in the foreground, the ruins just happened to be there.

Barcombe Mills sluice gates which help prevent the River Ouse from flooding local farms and houses, although it doesn't always have an effect and it all floods anyway.

Old Heathfield churchyard dating back to the 12th Century, Robert Hunt was a vicar here before sailing to America in the early 17th Century. 

Well, there are three, so it's got to be thirds....... hasn't it?????

This is a http://mytownshootout.blogspot.co.uk/ post

Neglected

A piece of old farm machinery, long forgotten,

or

perhaps it's a piece of modern art.

Which do you think?

Found down a small lane whilst on holiday in Guernsey, this was the part we could see, the rest was overgrown!  It wasn't 'till afterwards we discovered it was inhabited.



This is a Friday My Town Shoot Out post

FMTSO INVITING DOORS

This week have been unable to to be out so have cheated slightly and used some of my old stock.

A bit of an eclectic mix of doors but all within my locality. 

First we have my favourite pub,

it is as every pub should be, great food, (lots of it), great atmosphere, good prices, very welcoming as you can see and less than 10 minutes away.

A garden door inviting us in...

and one inviting us out.

Finally a Chancel arch leading to a Chancel door.

This truly amazing  interior is from St Michael & All Angels Church, Berwick, East Sussex.

Built on the origins of a pre-historic sacred site, parts of the present church originating from 12th Century with various alterations and additions during the following centuries.

The 20th Century murals were painted during the Second World War by the Bloomsbury artists, Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Bell.

Enlarge the photo to see the detail, want to find out more? Click Here for church's website

See more doors at Friday My Town Shoot Out

Paths, Steps and Walkways

 Sovereign Harbour a part of my hometown,

a mixture of a residential  and working harbour

with paths running through it like a rabbit warren.

Part of the posh bit with large boats moored at the end 

of the home owners lawns.

A place to meet and say hello.

The bridges raise to let the boats through.

The paths and walkways are used by the local cormorants,

this ones drying himself after a spot of fishing for lunch.

Local swans also live here despite it being salt water.

and under our walkways the fish have their 

own walkways, trying to avoid the 

cormorant.

  All in all a busy place for paths whether they are static

 or of a watery nature.

This is a Friday My Town Shoot Out post

FMTSO HIGH AND LOW - Hills & Ghylls

FMTSO - High and Low for this weeks theme.  I've been quite literal in choosing my shots.

  High is Balcombe Ouse Valley Viaduct, a stunning piece of architecture which I find hypnotic.

  Sussex is full of hills and ghylls ( a ghyll is a steep dip between the hills which often has a brook or stream running through it).  On a drive through the country less than 40 miles from home, we were driving down a small country road, turned the corner and found this just a field away from the road.

The viaduct is on the main rail route between London and Brighton, it is still in use today with 110 trains every day using it.  Next is my favourite shot of it and is probably the most photographed angle, you can see why!

The viaduct is 1475 feet long and took 11 million bricks to build, give or take a brick or two, at the cost of £38,000 in 1842.


My low is the brook that flows at the bottom of it, not overly impressive, I feel it must have been a bit larger when the viaduct was built.

This is a FMTSO  post

Sepia Saturday 88

My tree as you may notice is missing a bit, admittedly a big bit, but it is still a tree.  Just!

Posing on the tree stump are my brothers, sisters, a cousin, myself and in the front Henry the Wonder Dog.

This photo is from the late 1960s probably 1968, at this time we lived on a large Estate that my father worked on as a stock-man.  Our home, a tied cottage, was a gate house at the bottom of a very long drive on the edge of a large wood.  Through the woods and over a large stream took us to the fields and beyond that farm buildings.  All of this was our playground, as you can imagine it was a pretty amazing place for children. 

Back in the sixties our world was a very different place from the world our children inhabit. We were allowed the freedom of the woods and fields as long as we behaved, told Ma where we were going, how long we would be and we all had to stick together.  Oh yes and we always had to take Henry the Wonder Dog, not that he would stay behind without us, keen was not the word.  Henry the Wonder Dog was our guardian and protector and Ma knew that no one would be allowed near us if he came too.  As the Estate gamekeeper found out one day.

Well here we are on the edge of the woods taking a break from a game of cricket, my cousin a frequent visitor, is in charge of the bat.  The photo is taken by Ma, it has her telltale mark of the camera flap in the bottom left of the photo.  Me?  I'm the youngest right in the middle.

Henry the Wonder Dog is still a pup in the picture but he grew and grew and grew, he walked with Ma to school and back twice a day, a total of 8 miles for them both whatever the weather as there was no car or bus for the journey.

Kids of today have access to the world through computers and phones, everything on demand and transport wherever they want to go.  We had no phone, few buses, no car and we walked everywhere.  

But I know which childhood I would choose...

This is a Sepia Satuday post