Hidden Treasure

On a recent visit to Liverpool Cathedral I sort of bumped into, gate crashed, another meeting. Cathedral architect Ulrike Knox was still with my client discussing the possible relocation of a reredos to a position within the Cathedral, the connection being that the reredos was designed by the architect G F Bodley.
In 1902 Bodley was an assessor for the competition to design Liverpool Cathedral which selected a design by the young Giles Gilbert Scott. When construction of the cathedral began in 1904, Bodley was appointed to oversee Gilbert Scott's work.
The reredos in question was originally installed in St Stephen the Martyr, Grove Street, Liverpool where it had a chequered history, one of the incumbents didn't like the reredos and nailed battens to it and covered it with material!
One week later I find myself back at the Cathedral operating a sort of taxi service to the current home of the reredos at St Stephen's Church, Crown Street, the reredos was moved here when St Stephen the Martyr was demolished in 1992. St Stephen's closed as a centre for parish worship in the Summer of 2014 and is now in use as a centre for community work, since that change of use the reredos has been covered again, this time with care, to protect it from damage. Getting the new cover off proves to be a bit of a challenge, I've no photographs of this stage as everyone in the building was required to lower the cover to the floor! As we stood back we were all amazed at the good condition of the reredos, apart from the colour of the wall it sits on and the large pieces of timber to mount the cover, it looked amazing.

The Bodley Reredos uncovered!

Update:

The decision to put the Bodley reredos in Liverpool Cathedral has been decided against, but the reredos is moving to another church in Southport once it has been approved by the Liverpool Diocesan Advisory Committee.

I don't know what the interior of the Southport church looks like but I just had to quickly put the reredos on what I think is a better background colour! 

Sweeping up

The Foundation for Sport and the Arts has now wound up it's operation for good.

Along the way some of the projects I photographed for the annual reports were unfinished and in an effort to keep the Foundations photographic archive complete I have, when able, been 'sweeping up' these unfinished projects.
The most notable of these being Firstsite in Colchester, only at the superstructure stage when I originally visited for the FSA's 2007 annual report.

Firstsite’s new building was designed by the Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly. His design was selected by a worldwide architectural competition that attracted more than 100 entries. Rafael Viñoly Architects PC are also creators of the Curve centre for the performing arts in Leicester, and the recently completed masterplan for London’s Battersea Power Station redevelopment.

Firstsite is built on a steel frame, and clad entirely in TECU Gold a malleable copper-aluminium alloy that had to be applied by hand. The building lies on Scheduled Ancient Monument land, with archaeological artefacts buried beneath. This meant a ‘no-dig’ policy, conventional foundations could not be dug. Instead, the vast 3,200 square metre building is supported by a giant concrete ‘raft’, which floats above the ground.

Organising a visit to photograph Firstsite was, as I thought it would be, easy, I would already be in the area and would combine the visit with another job. Everything slotted into place as I thought it would, two days before I was due to be in Colchester, yes you guessed it, the phone rings, 'hello Lindsay here can you cancel as someone has smashed the entrance porch glass which will have to be ordered from Austria and will probably only be replaced in a couple of months'!

So here I am trying to 'sweep up' unfinished jobs nearly ending up with a brush in my hand! only photographed the interior this time, I'll have to revisit once the exterior has been repaired!

The 'Object Project'

Sounded simple enough, photograph artwork and produce Giclee prints for an exhibition! By way of an introduction, read on.

Exhibition by Lin Holland & Jane Poulton with the participation of 18 residents from West Everton

The Object Project began almost one year ago with collaborating artists Lin Holland & Jane Poulton working with seventeen households from the West Everton Community Council on a participatory research project.
The aim of the project was to build a dialogue between the artists and residents wherein they could collectively explore how objects become meaningful in the lives of their owners and what role three-dimensional contemporary art might have in domestic spaces.

The artists visited each household where the project participants revealed their significant object and explained how it had accrued its meaning. The portraits, objects and stories were recorded, creating an archive of intimate heritage. Seventeen new artworks have been made by Lin & Jane in response to this exchange and these will be exhibited, along with photographic images documenting the project.

Now Lin & Jane have put me through the wringer before always interesting, sometimes very challenging projects.
No surprises this time! Three location's for the photography the first being a studio at Hope University followed by a shoot in the Everton community centre involving a model who has never been photographed before, is agoraphobic and needs to take up ten different classical poses after famous works of art representing 'Venus'.

Then followed wax, glass, plaster, linen, coloured boxes, cutlery, granite, bronze, a mirror, feather filled pillow and last but not least several Lego towers with a house on top of each, a great project and very rewarding to see all my prints on display at Hope University at the private viewing.

'Le jour le plus long' St Mary-le-Bow from top to bottom

As commissions go being asked to photograph the interior of St Mary-Le-Bow in London seemed like an exciting and straightforward proposition at first.

As the detail of this church presented itself so did all the problems, no chance of shooting in the week as this is when all the services are held, so a weekend is looking most likely.

The tower

On to the pendolino on a bright Saturday morning and two hours later I'm trying to buy a ticket for the underground, yes maintenance work on the very line I need to use. I need to get to Bow soon, as my work will be interrupted by a wedding later the same day, bus journey is one and a half hours! I decide it will be quicker to walk. It is quicker to walk but the combination of a large camera bag and tripod takes it out of me, I arrive looking rather red-faced.

Interior

Rood detail

The interior of Bow is uncomplicated and very fresh looking, in part because it was almost completely destroyed by enemy action in May 1941 and not rebuilt until 1964, no great problems here the shots look great, now for the norman crypt, amazing atmosphere down here. Also required is a shot of the famous Bow Bells whilst they are being rung, so off I go up the tower.

The famous Bow Bells

After the Great Fire of London an attempt was made to shore up the old tower, but Sir Christopher Wren had the ambition for his second (after St Paul’s) tallest structure, this tower is huge, and it's a long way up, red-face time again!

Time to return to Euston, yes you guessed walking again, whilst sitting on the train I was reminded of a route I climbed in Jordan a long time ago. 'Le Jour le Plus Long' this is a route up the South West Face of Jebel um Ishrin, in the Wadi Rum area of Jordan It is Graded 5+ it has twenty two pitches, total length six hundred metres, first climbed by the Swiss brothers Claud and Yves Remy in 1988. Today has also felt like 'the longest day'

Crypt