Throwing grass and letting go in the Hebrides

Luskentyre, Harris

Harris, in the Outer hebrides.



My favourite place in the world.

I went for just four days, determined to do very little other than walk, write and take some photos.

I was thinking all the while about ways to do very little, or as I thought of it 'practically nothing'.

I found a few ways.

Collecting shells on the beach was my first.

On Scarista beach I collected sea urchin fragments. They reminded me of Paul Kenny's work, 'Heaven or Las Vegas', Ross strand, Mayo, 2008, shown below.

Why so rectangular, when a sea urchin is round, I kept thinking.

https://paul-kenny.co.uk/photo_5003362.html

My fragments were less varied in colour.

homage to Paul Kenny, 2019

I photographed them on my notebook and then dissembled the arrangement, not wanting to copy Paul's work.

I found a number of sheep with lambs to talk to.

lamb and ewe, Harris 2019

My favourite was this brown one.

We had a good chat, eye to eye.

I said more than she did.

I revisited all of my favourite beaches.

I had forgotten how white the sand is, and how clear the water.

Such a sense of space and freedom.

Luskentyre, Harris 2019

And when I had tired of walking on sand, I decided to explore the old coffin road that crosses the island from west to east.

Coffin Road, Harris

By this time I was so good at doing practically nothing that I started to play a little.

I searched for circles of lichen on rocks, but the rocks were mostly unappealing.

Still trying to do nothing in particular I waited for three o'clock.

It came.

I walked on, and was soon drawn to some curling grasses by the roadside.

I pulled some and held it, trying to photograph the curling blades with the road ahead.

Then I threw some into the air to catch the wind.

It flew.

I tried to throw and capture it on my camera; not easy with one hand.

I failed over and over.

But the very act of throwing gave more pleasure than I care to admit.

Finally I managed, just once,  to catch a tendril before it fell.

throwing grass, Harris , 2019

Somehow this one photograph captures everything that I was feeling.... a sense of freedom and lightness.

It is my favourite image from the trip.

Later I wrote some words to accompany it.

First I tried typing a note on my typewriter. There is no option to change and edit as one writes with a typewriter, so the first draft is quite spontaneous.

Later I revisited these thoughts and tried some different words in my notebook, writing and re-writing, playing with verbs.

I call them 'Letting Go'.

Letting go

throwing 

throwing grass

pulling

tearing

throwing

grass

pulling skywards

throwing windwards

throwing

blowing

falling

splaying

throw

pull

watch

blow

grip

pull

drop

fly

fall

let

go

 **************

Finding ways to do nothing was a good way to spend a few days.

I won't leave it so long before I go back next time.

Northton, Harris

On words, memory and the moon

homage to Paul Kenny © Caroline Fraser

Having a strange day today.

Clearing out a room for the purpose of redecorating I came across a diary from the millenium year that I had forgotten that I had written.

Back to memories again........

I also found my girl guide pencil and cat badges. What happened to all the others? I had an armful.

I wonder what I did to achieve these. We had no cat and we had no dog. OH has kindly searched the web for me and found that I had to care for an animal for 4 weeks.

girl guide animal lover badge

Perhaps it was a hamster.

I probably had to feed it just like I usually did........

girl guide artist badge

 And I was an artist as well.........

I wonder what sort?

All I do remember is that I learned how to change a car tyre. (- did I get a spanner badge for that?)

I became a Queen's guide.

Which then allowed me to leave.

I was not brave enough to say "I have had enough, thank you".

It has taken me about 50 years to be that brave.

Last weekend I spent two days in the company of one of my photographic heroes Paul Kenny

Paul kenny 'Seaworks' 

His recently published book is a thing of great beauty.

Currently he works with scanned objects, creating images with repeated motifs and laden with metaphor.

Circles represent the world, and squares represent man made objects.

Microscopic landscapes representing wider worlds.



He encouraged us to make images from the confines of a small square of the world that might represent other stories or landscapes.

framing the landscape

I got very stuck. An hour passed and I had not made any images.

Mr Kenny pointed me in the direction of a small round fungus and said 'that'll make a good picture'

No pressure then.

And I had been working so hard to try and avoid copying his motifs and style.

I did as I was bid, and added some grassy stalks.

I processed the image with the aim of making a moon or other planetary orb.

Homage to Paul Kenny © Caroline Fraser

And then today in my lost dairy I came across a poem that I wrote in 2000, and which had slipped my mind.

Poem

It feels as though they are meant to go together.



Along with some words from Robert Frost about writing poetry and his poem about the moon.

On poetry - by Robert Frost

Moons and words..........

Memories and images.

Forgotten and found.

I shall have to start cutting and sticking again; so much more pleasurable to read than a digital diary.

Oakville

I'd rather have a pebble than a diamond.............precious things and photographic influences

I am preparing a talk about abstract landscape photography.

I would love to tell some amusing anecdotes or jokes on the subject to lighten up the presentation. Google doesn't have any on this topic. Possibly because it really isn't a very amusing topic. I may have to  find something deep and meaningful to say instead. Or most probably not. I can't do 'art-speak'.

But I do know what I like even if I struggle to say "why". The emotional impact of an image is  a lot to do with the 'why'. How it makes you feel. Where it takes you in your mind. The memories that it evokes. The senses that are stimulated; touch, sound, smell. Art  is easier to sell if it stimulates all the senses in some way and takes the viewer on a journey to another place within their head.

I have been asked to list the  photographers who have most influenced me as part of my recent learning.

That was easy, and the list was long, so I'll stick to my top three.


Number one has to be Paul Kenny who creates other-worldy abstracts from objects on the seashore and sea water.

I am not one for jewels, but see his works as precious in the same way that others might see a Faberge egg or a diamond. I would rather have one of his prints than any gold or silver.

Second must be Chris Friel for his multiple exposure portraits that pack emotional punch, and his abstracted landscapes that use colour and minimalism to perfection.

His work is always surprising, and ever changing. A master of experimentation and persistence.



 Thirdly I would choose Susan Derges for her camera-less images of moonlight taken from a river bed;

This bears an uncanny similarity of tones and shapes to Paul Kenny's "Blue Moon" above, despite being produce by completely different processes. There is something very satisfying about circles, and calming about the colour blue. Flowing water and luminous landscapes without a waterfall in sight. Cool and refreshing.

I would dive in if it weren't for the toad spawn.........