| Reflections |
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The images in the reflection series were taken at two different locations; one was from a boat as I sailed out of Aberdeen Harbour and on Tottenham Marshes. Those from Aberdeen Harbour were taken on a single journey as I set sail for the Scottish Islands on a bright sunny morning in May during 2008. The harbour is quite extensive, with many boats moored alongside and painted in many bright colours that throw a myriad of reflections onto the surface of the water. As the boats sail past, their wakes flow across the reflections and then bounce back of the boats and harbour walls forming exciting patterns and images losing their original identity. Those from Tottenham Marshes, (which is part of the Lee Valley Regional Park), were taken along the Lee Navigation, which is a canal that passes through the area. Weeping Willows and Black Poplar trees grow along the west bank, and on bright still mornings throw stunning reflections onto the flat water’s surface which in turn is often disturbed by water birds, such as Moorhens, Coots and Mallards. The activity of the birds animates the waters surface, and breaks up the reflection transforming it into a dancing abstract pattern. The Lee Valley Regional Park runs from Ware in Hertfordshire to the Bow Creek Ecology Park, where the River Lee flows into the Thames, a distance of 28 miles, and is referred to as the ‘green lung of London’. Tottenham Marshes are just south of the North Circular Road, between Enfield and Hackney, and consist of an area of 42.25 hectares that contain large areas of semi-natural grassland, with some plantation scrub and rivers with both relatively natural and concrete sided banks. I often walk along the east bank of the Lee Navigation on clear still mornings, with the sun behind me, looking for images composed of interesting shapes and colours in the fascinating array of reflections that invert the scene on the other side of the canal. This perfectly formed upside down world is comprised of trees, a small area of reeds, industrial buildings dominated by the gasworks and bridges decorated with graffiti painted in bright colours that span the water. It is strange how this world of light that looks so solid can be shattered by a passing Moorhen or Coot and transformed into a dancing abstract pattern. When I go out on location to photograph reflections I stand at the canals edge waiting for these water birds to disturbed the reflection and then I start looking for images that I want to capture. I want the pictures I take to have lost most of the identity of the original scene that has been reflected, offering me a vista in which a new meaning is evolving. The success rate of images that truly inspire me is very low. My response to the images that I like is firstly generated by colour, shape and composition, but there also has to be something that is hard to define - a feeling that this image is right and was always meant to be and that someday I would discover it. |
