So far, our title has been talked about being called "A Window into the Past". This was discussed at one of our club meetings about our contribution. I put forward my idea, which I explained to the rest of the group. This was that as there are at present not many members in the group, this allows us to be able to display 4 framed photos each. The next part of my idea was that visually, each 4 photos would look good displayed as if they were a window. Members then had to decide for themselves if they wanted their photographs displayed either portrait or landscape.
The process we used to decide what we wanted to photograph was to write down everything we could think of visually associated with Llangollen. As 1000 years is a large aspect to cover, many of the landmarks were written down as choices such as Plas Newydd, Dinas Bran, Valle Crucis Abbey and Collen Church.
Debbie came up with the idea of water and the River Dee. We then drew her attention to the fact that the bridge is one of the 7 Wonders of Wales - which surprisingly she didn't know! Martin, after a few glasses of wine, thought that his contribution should be the pubs in Llan!
Recently one of the college projects was to create a "Joiner" and I had done mine on Whittington Castle. This then inspired me to try out another one and I thought this would be a great opportunity to incorporate what I had learnt into this display. I said that whatever we did I would like to do mine in the form of a Joiner and to some members of the group I had to explain what this method was.
My first idea was to do Plas Newydd but another chap in the group lived virtually opposite it and due to his other commitments it was only fair that he had that choice.
Debbie suggested Collen Church to me which at first I wasn't too sure about the fact that visually I was going to do it justice in a way.
I went into the churchyard, there were 3 areas where I viewed the church to try to get the best possible view of it and the churchyard. This was very difficult due to the season it is. In May trees are in full bloom and whichever way I viewed the church, some trees made it difficult to get the best shots of the church itself. So the viewpoint that I eventually chose was the best in my opinion.
This is a joiner of St Collen Church I have produced.
I noticed as I was going around the church that both the windows and doors are decorated with stone heads. Some are of women, most are of men. I also could see that some were damaged - particularly in the nose area!
I like taking photos of statues and other carved figures so I took a few photos and then thought about what I could do with the photos.
In college we had investigated how photographers create "Typologies" which are a series of photos taken of types of things and for college I had concentrated on car wheel hub caps. I thought that perhaps I could use these photos of stone heads in the same way for another part of my exhibition entry.
This is my typology of stone faces on the outside of the church.
I have already got in my head the idea that my other entries would be the church windows and the roof. The reasons being that I have found out that the wood used for the roof came from Valle Crucis Abbey and the windows maybe, like the church, are 16th. century.
I am still toying with the idea of how to present the last 2 photos in my window presentation. When I get to the church on my next visit the "Big Guy" will send me some inspiration!
This is meant to look like a postcard of the windows.
I visited Collen Church yesterday (22nd May) and I would like to say thank you to the vicar, (whose name has slipped my mind sorry), whom I talked to. He was very friendly and made me feel welcome. He took the time to tell me some history of the church and explained some of the alterations that have been made over the years. He was very informative. I enjoyed our conversation very much.
My selection of interior shots in the church.
The dates of the festival are: July 15 - 23, 2011 but the exhibition is normally on a little longer so please phone the pavilion to check details.
Aperture Camera Club
come and join us
LLangollen photographic club is attended by a small group of dedicated local photographers.
The group meets every 2nd Thursday in the month
7.30 pm - 9.30 pm
At the Rafa club,
Canalside Gardens,
LLangollen.
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