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BB2232
: Sea To The West
16th
November 2022
Totally
unexpectedly, I have received an invitation
to an exhibition. But before I tell
you what it is for, let me relate a strange
coincidence that happened today.
We
were heading towards Gurnal Dubbs, the large
tarn on Potter Fell,.....
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.....
when I spied three ladies approaching us.
To be fair, it was quite chilly but
they seemed to be dressed for exceedingly
cold weather.
Being
a friendly northerner, I said in jest "Hello,
girls, have you been swimming?"
"Yes"
they replied. I thought they had entered
into the joke but it became clear in their
further conversation with Mike and Tony
that indeed they had been swimming in the
tarn.
I
know it's not that unusual. In fact
daughter Emma has been known to do the same
thing in the same place before now.
What
I didn't ask, fortunately, was whether or
not they had been skinny dipping. Skinny
dipping is not entirely unknown amongst
BOOTboys. Graham did it back in 2004
in Angle Tarn (BB0407)
and Terry has been known to do likewise.
We
bade them farewell without asking when and
where their next exhibition would take place.
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It
had been a late start for us, as seems to
be increasingly common these days, with
a brew at Wilf's in Staveley before setting
off across the river .....
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.....
and up the steepish climb that leads over
to Littlewood farm. This is the place
that has its own private graveyard. Tony
was a pal of the farmer buried there so
he visited to pay his respects.
We
then crossed over the valley and climbed
to the Potter Tarn.
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After
lunch sitting on the overflow blocks, or
whatever their proper name is, we set off
for Gurnal Dubbs and the encounter.
The
coincidence is that I had just received
an invitation to an exhibition of the ouevre
of our erstwhile skinny-dipper, Graham.
It features his photographs and is entitled "Sea
to the West".
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You
may recall from earlier
reports (BB1309
in particular) that as well
as having been a fell runner
and mountaineer in his younger
days, he had developed (no
pun intended) an interest
in black & white, wet-film
photography and, in particular,
using a pin-hole camera.
Sadly
Graham died just about a
year ago and this exhibition
is a memorial to him.
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We
retraced our steps to Potter Tarn.
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Tony
spotted something white and spawn-like on
the ground and challenged us to identify
it. We thought they were probably
the eggs of giant frogs. Tony informed
us that it was actually otter poo. At
least, I think that is what he said.
Kendal,
to the south, seemed to be in sunshine.....
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.....
whereas looking west towards the sea, things
looked much more dramatic.
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Enlightened,
we turned south down to Hagg Foot and crossed
the river.
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The
path alongside the Kent is one of my favourites
but we didn't see any kingfishers or other
birds of note though we had seen a buzzard
earlier.
The
afternoon finished, as you and Graham would
have expected, in the bar at Staveley's
Hawkshead Brewery, discussing when we should
visit his exhibition. We will of course
report back. In the meanwhile, the
photos in this report are, as you will have
noticed, all in black and white, in tribute
to Graham.
Don,
Wednesday 16th November 2022
My
thanks to Mike and Tony for their contributions.
Sea
To The West
Exhibition
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Cross
Lane Projects presents a
collection of Graham Whitwham’s
panoramic pinhole photographs
exploring the Cumbrian Coast,
"Sea
To The West".
Cumbria’s
coast extends to some 180
miles of often heavily-indented
coastline and has a rich
and fascinating history.
To
create the imagery for this
posthumous exhibition, Graham
travelled the Cumbrian Coast
for locations of historical
interest.
From
Silverdale in the south,
to the Solway Firth in the
north, these images form
a photographic essay of
this unique coast by highlighting
places of significant note
and importance.
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The
images originated on traditional film, in
a wooden panoramic wide-angle pinhole camera,
one of the earliest forms of image making.
This technique characteristically
gives a degree of distortion and softness
to the images. The cameras have an almost
limitless depth of field and a long time
exposure blurs or even prevents the capture
of rapidly moving objects, adding the dimension
of time into the final image.
The
exhibition, which has been programmed alongside
Kendal Mountain Festival, runs from 17th
November - 10th December, Wednesdays to
Saturdays at Cross Lane, Kendal LA9 5LB.
Cross
Bay Projects
Comitibus
:
Don, Mike, Tony
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