Just random pictures of Molly….

Just because I haven’t for a while …. Molly photos. These from the phone-cam.

Bruton Family Holiday – London 2008,

This was the holiday that wasn’t really meant to be a holiday. Initially this year we’d only thought we’d be going away just once to Northumberland. But sometimes circumstances dictate otherwise. Instead we headed down to London for me to see That Petrol Emotion once more and Louise and Molly to go and see Grease at the theatre as a birthday treat.

(York Station. Molly in charge of camera.)

It was also the first trip with Molly’s new camera and she became principal photographer for the entire journey, with me only being allowed access to the camera when she was too busy having fun doing something else.

The majority of the photos from the trip are at Molly’s Flickr stream. And I’m on a very tight end of holiday schedule so it’s only the briefest of write ups about it all.

As I remember about the first time I went to London the thing that Molly enjoyed most was the Underground. Whether it was busy, empty, fast, slow, long trip or short – she just loved whizzing around London at will – especially the escalators:

(Molly outside St Paul’s – one of the few occasions I was allowed the camera)

The quick itinerary went as follows:

Tuesday – train down, check into Youth Hostel at St Pauls, off to Camden Market and Covent Garden for mooch. Then off to gig and theatre. All was enjoyed. More on the That Petrol Emotion Gig here.

Wednesday – tourist overload – Millenium Bridge, London Eye, Buckingham Palace & The Mall, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Parliament, Comic Shopping at Gosh (well, it wouldn’t be trip to London without it). Tea at Rain Forest Cafe. I’ll end up writing about Gosh somewhere else no doubt, but the whole day was a whirl of tubes, walking and doing all of the big tourist things. I’d recommend the London Eye to anyone, a great way to get an overview of London. Dinner was at the Rain Forest Cafe, not so much as a restaurant as one big excuse to sell children merchandise with a meal as a minor part of it. A rather upmarket version of the Happy Meal if you want to think of it that way. But very, very nice food and Molly picked well, getting herself a lovely Orang Utan from the shop.

Thursday – Houses of Parliament tour, Tate Modern, train home.
Unless you’re very, very against the idea of government and the opulance of Westminster, I’d definitely recommend signing up for the 75 minute tour during summer recess. Fascinating for all three of us.
Tate Modern was great, but not quite as wonderful as I was hoping, probably because there was nothing spectacular (indeed, nothing at all) on view in the Turbine Hall. So the visit was essentially a trip around the galleries. But just four public galleries took th ethree of us 2 hours (and that’s doing the quick tour with Molly pushing us on).

(Outside Tate Modern, almost art in it’s own right.)

(The outer wall of Tate Modern – by Blu from the recent Street Art exhibit)

An exhausting time, but very enjoyable indeed.

Cupboard full of love …..

Would you believe this is the cupboard of cuddly toys AFTER Molly had gone through it and removed a bin bag full?

Molly’s Birthday – the pictures

This time it’s something different. These are all pictures taken by Molly of her presents using her new camera, of which she is very, very proud. It’s better than mine in every way except for having a bit less zoom. She doesn’t care. It’s hers. She is now promoted to the role of official Bruton Mansions photographer:

A very good day and a very happy daughter, who will be even more pleased to see these up online, especially when I show her that she’s got her own Flickr account.

Bruton Family holiday 2008: Northumberland – part 7 – Skyspace

Kielder Skyspace. Described in the leaflets as:

Visitors to Skyspace will find themselves in a circular room where the artist manipulates our normal perceptions of light and space. In daylight hours, this chamber, illuminated only by natural light through the roof opening, is a contemplative space that focuses the visitor’s attention on the sky. During the changing light conditions at dusk and dawn, the lighting system becomes active and visitors can expect to experience a rich and unforgettable display of tone and colour

Described by Molly as “good to look at for a second, and nice to photograph”.
Described by Louise as “Okay” & “Not worth the walk”
Of course, since it was one of those destination artworks there was the small matter of at least a mile and a half to walk up to it through the forest. Which was lovely, but it was all uphill on a very loose, rough forest road.
But I loved it. I could easily have sat there all afternoon and just relaxed. And at dusk, when the lighting system turns on it must be even better.

It’s one of James Turrell’s Skyspace installations. There’s another one at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park which Molly and I will try to get to this holiday. According to this piece the Yorkshire one is better as the reviewer just didn’t think much of the Kielder Skyspace. Personally I don’t agree and actually found the idea of the “pilgrimage” undertaken to the Skyspace made the contemplative and restful nature of the installation work so much better. It was a wonder to just sit and rest and watch the sky.

Of course, doing a little reading on Turrell was as illuminating as always. Particularly this BBC piece and the lines:

After more than 500 hours flying his single engine plane in the search for the perfect volcano, in 1974 Turrell found Roden Crater. In 1977 he bought the volcano and began the long process of raising funds to develop the site.
Without drastically altering the natural site, Turrell’s vision is to create a number of chambers within the volcano where visitors will ‘feel the presence of gathered starlight’. To this end he has engineered a set of dimly lit corridors and rooms that have a perfect view of the craters rim, therefore limiting the horizon and providing a bowl like view of the sky.

Buying an extinct volcano to create a huge viewing area designed to restrict the actual view available to the visitor. Genius.

A little photography session entailed from Molly and myself. She’s just so much better with the camera than I am. Not fair. But she seems to instinctively take a good photo whereas I look at something and think it will be a good photo and find the results disappoint me. Molly just looks, points, shoots and ends up with something really good. So all of these are by Molly, except, obviously, the last one.

Northumberland 2008 – start here

More pics of Molly ….

At Kilnwick Percy Hall’s Summer Fayre last weekend.

Abandoned Russian Library

Stunning images. (via Boing Boing)

Pocklington pictures ……..

I have decided that some sort of record of Pocklington would be nice, both for me and for the blog. It’s such a lovely place and deserving of wider recognition. I shall endevour to do my bit.

It also means I can get on with something I have decided to do – getting the camera out more often and taking more photos. I’m also determined to get a few more black and white shots going as well.

This week: All Saint’s Church, Pocklington. Site of the annual Flying Man Festival:

(and just one of molly)

Favourite photo July 2006

This has to be my favourite photo from the whole month of July, captured on holiday in Anglesey.
Louise always says I tend to take far too many pictures in close up of Molly and I keep meaning to try different things. But then I get results like this and realise I take these sorts of pictures because I think they’re fantastic.

Of course it does help that I happen to think the subject is the most gorgeous thing in the world.

Anglesey Holiday – Day 8 – Photos

Photos from Llandudno. So good we went there twice.

(Punch & Judy – mass murderer entertains small children. Parents happy.)

(The Llandudno Jet-Ride. That’s me and Molly disappearing into the distance at speed)

(Top picture – the view from the top of the very, very windy Great Orme.)
(Bottom picture – sod the view, lets play golf daddy)

(The Great Orme tramway – well worth a visit, great fun, beats walking.)