Staircase, The Hub, Regent's Park

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Wherever I go I come across Hubs. By that I mean buildings that have been given that name, presumably to, in some way, describe how they are the focal point of one kind of activity or another. In recent years I've been to Hubs in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and London, and I know of others. Some have been training venues, one was a gallery, one a medical facility, another an educational establishment. Clearly this name has attractions for organisations but one can't help but wonder how much confusion is caused by its popularity. Most recently I visited a Hub that was a new building built into a mound, topped by a cafe, that serves as the focal point of a number of sports facilities in Regent's Park, London.

This particular Hub was a quite utilitarian building, designed of materials that could cope with muddy, sweaty, athletic people who were using the lockers, toilets, cafe etc. Fortunately the architects had an eye that went beyond utility and the building incorporated a particularly interesting central staircase that connected the ground level (actually below ground level) with the cafe at the top of the mound. Glass, steel, concrete and plywood combined with the well-lit top of the building to create sinuous lines between the two floors - an attractive subject for a photograph.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Staircase, The Hub, Regent's Park, London
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 15mm (30mm - 35mm equiv.) crop
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

hub becomes nccd

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It seems that the hub (lower case) has become nccd (also lower case). An improvement, certainly, but wouldn't it have been so much better to have gone the whole hog and made it N.C.C.D.?

Ever since I moved to Lincolnshire I've visited the National Centre for Craft & Design in Sleaford. I've been delighted, bemused, exasperated and despairing as I've viewed their regular exhibitions. And that's exactly how it should be. There's absolutely no reason why I should like everything that is shown. I much prefer to see a wide range of exhibitions that bring me experiences that are new, different and challenging, and that necessarily means, as far as I personally am concerned, there'll be hits and misses. The next blog post will feature the current main exhibition which I think is a definite hit. However, for today let's stick with the "re-branding" exercise.

It makes much more sense to use the initials of the centre's official name rather than the generic title of "the hub". There are too many other places with that name which leads to confusion, and anyway it's become a touch passe. But why keep the lower case? Surely that's a fashion that's had its day too. Moreover, lower case becomes either confusing ot unreadable when written in a block of text. I would rather that capitalized initials had featured in the new advertising and that subsequent updates to the style and signage simply modified them. I do, however, quite like the overlapping angular shapes that accompany the revised name, and the painting of them on one side of the building works well too. So well in fact that I had to photograph them with the window reflecting a nearby tree.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 40mm
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Sculpture, galleries and photography

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It's fairly common for photographers to be told that they can't use their cameras in certain locations. Regular visitors to this blog will remember my experience photographing in the private "estate" of More London on the South Bank. Shopping malls ban photography. So too do the majority of galleries and museums, even where they are essentially tax payer funded institutions. So, it's a real pleasure to come across somewhere that does allow photography inside their premises, as I did at The National Centre for Craft and Design (known as "the hub" - I don't like the lower-case) in Sleaford, Lincolnshire*. This venue regularly stages exhibitions, and we frequently go along to see them. I've said elsewhere that these are not always to my taste. However, that doesn't matter because one of the points of visiting such a place is to expose yourself to new ideas. Moreover, I find that I do enjoy the exhibitions sufficiently often that I keep returning.

The two exhibitions I saw on my most recent trip to Sleaford couldn't have been more different. Jason Lim's "New work in ceramics" didn't appeal to me very much at all. The shapes and textures of his clay work offered me neither beauty nor interest. I did like some of the colours and patterns of his glaze, but that was about it. I was, however, most impressed by Claire Morgan's sculptures. These featured stuffed (as in taxidermy) animals - all road-kill I believe - placed in volumes constructed of monofilament on which were fixed various plastics and even dandelion seeds. The exhibition was called, "About Time", which sums up the artist's motivation in creating these pieces. However, had I known nothing of this - and a video gave further insight into her ideas and techniques - I should still have liked the pieces featuring the crow and the fox.

The fox was standing in a grid of vertical lines on which were fixed torn shreds of back plastic arranged in such a way that the animal appeared to be in an inclined cube. The strongly directional lighting of the gallery emphasised texture, light and dark and the sham solidity of the sculpture. The crow was up-ended on the ground as though it had just crash-landed and was surrounded by two part-spheres made of dandelion seeds fixed to a grid of wires. A third piece with the rabbits - both "alive" and dead - had the word "Shhh..." backwards, made of pieces of pink plastic floating above. Descriptions such as mine don't do justice to the pieces, nor do my two-dimensional photographs: they have to be seen and walked around to be properly appreciated. If you can, go and see them.

* I asked at the "The Hub" if I could take photographs in the gallery and was told I could. I believe, from previous conversations on the subject, that photography is allowed with some exhibitions and not others - a policy that is much better than that of most museums and galleries.

photographs and text (c) T. Boughen

Photo 1
Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 8.8mm (41mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2.5
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO:400
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Craft, shoes and architecture

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Britain's National Centre for Craft and Design, is located in a converted seed warehouse in Sleaford, Lincolnshire. It is called the hub ( all lowercase), a daft name and confusing because it is used by many other organisations. To avoid such typographical silliness, it will be henceforth called the Hub (capital "H") in this blog post. I've written about visiting this exhibition space/teaching location/shop/cafe before. It's something we do fairly regularly, and enjoy, despite the varying quality of what is on offer. Frequently we come away having been entertained, educated and impressed by the exhibitions. Where the subject has interest for me -  recent architecture/design and guitar making come to mind - I find it a very rewarding place. But I've also enjoyed subjects that I wouldn't have thought at all appealing, for example the history of women's underwear or rubber jewellery and drawings. However, on other occasions we depart exasperated by the vapidity of the objects on display and the pretentiousness of the accompanying panels written by the creators of the "pieces". Perhaps I shouldn't be so critical of these kinds of exhibits: after all many of the displays are not everyday objects so much as doodlings and musing on craft themes.

The other day when we visited the Hub the main gallery held an exhibition entitled A Personal Collection: Vivienne Westwood Shoes. Well, that was like a red rag to a bull for this visitor because I have strong views about the "look at this, ain't I awful" gimmickry of this designer's output, and a glance at the first case of footwear confirmed my feelings. So, while my wife went to look at the shoes, I went up to the next exhibition - The Hub presents...Contemporary Crafts Network. My usual routine when viewing an exhibition is to walk around it fairly quickly to take in the whole, get a flavour of what is on offer, and see if I can discern any overarching themes. Then I go round again slowly, giving each piece my consideration. That's what I intended to do this time except I departed after the quick tour because here again was work that didn't engage me at all. Which left me with some time on my hands while my wife did the tour and so I went outside and photographed the building.

I've taken a few shots here before, but this time I looked up for my inspiration and focused on the thrusting, interlocking shapes and shadows of the building against the blue of the sky. The image above has had the shadows "burned" in a little to give them greater emphasis.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 45mm
F No: 7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On 

Self-portrait and artists' voices

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I recently lamented the reluctance of some artists and photographers to talk about the how and why of image making. When I wrote those words I must have been suffering from amnesia. Either that or I'd forgotten what I'd written in an earlier post about some explanatory texts that accompanied a group of art works that I'd been to see. They combined verbosity, pretentiousness and opaqueness in a way that almost made this viewer overlook any good qualities that the pieces exhibited.

I suppose what I really want is artists to write something intelligible and intelligent about why they do what they do, and why they do it in the way that they do. However, I'm fast coming to the conclusion that only a few are capable of this seemingly straightforward task, and so in retrospect, it's probably better that the majority say nothing. There is, after all, a lot to be said for letting the artwork speak for itself and for the viewer to come to a determination about it uninfluenced by the artist's utterances.

Today's photograph is a self-portrait in an installation by Machiko Agano at an exhibition that I visited recently at The Hub in Sleaford, Lincolnshire.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 5.1mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 125
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Faces at the window

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My wife said the other day that if "The Hub" (Britain's National Centre for Craft and Design) wasn't at Sleaford we'd visit the town less frequently than we do. She was right. What I like about this building, and what makes me return regularly, is that it introduces me to aspects of art, craft and design that I might otherwise not see - some of it very good, some of it less so.

Our most recent visit was to see the exhibition of winning designs from the annual international competition initiated by the Design Museum and sponsored by Brit Insurance*. The selection on display, some in actual form, others in video, included work as wide ranging as the new Oslo Opera House, the MYTO chair, and the Magno wooden radio from Indonesia. It was an exhibition well worth seeing. We also took in the exhibition entitled, "Home Sweet Home: an exploration into the subversive elements of the domestic by UK graduates in craft & design", a collection described as "innovative, inspiring and daring", which I found immature, facile and depressing. What made this exhibition worse was that every piece was accompanied by a written commentary by the artist, each of which would easily qualify for entry in the Pseuds Corner column of Private Eye.

Connecting the two main display spaces is a tall stairwell with landings. These were showing jewellery by Clare Knox. I was initially ambivalent about this, liking its originality, the fluid forms, and the tactile qualities, but I wondered whether it would work when worn. However, I warmed to it on repeated viewings, and felt that with the right clothes it could be successful. The jewellery is described as being made from "EVA, rubber", and looks like it has been poured or dripped to make the required, quite original designs. She had also created a series of big drawings that hung in front of the windows, using the same technique as she uses for the jewellery. One of these, in my judgement, stood head and shoulders above the others and appealed to me so much I took this photograph of it.

* Brit Insurance. Now there's a company I'd reject solely on the grounds of its name. I hate this recently coined contraction of the word "British".

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 8mm (37mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f3.2
Shutter Speed: 1/400
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation:-0.66 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Re-visiting photographic subjects

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I while ago I posted a piece about the value of re-visiting photographic subjects, and talked about the variables that can come into play if you snap something the second (or third, or more) time around. When I visited photographic forums more than I do now (which is very rarely), I found that there were some photographers who knew and appreciated this, and others who seemed to see it as a failure of sorts if they weren't making images of new subjects in new ways. The fact is, it's impossibe to take the same photograph twice (even if we wanted to), and what we are doing is capturing a variation. If we do the job well, that variation will be as good as the previous effort(s) or better. I'm now in my third year of living in Lincolnshire and I find myself (as I did when I lived in the north-west of England) shooting variations on images I've taken before. I'm doing it with buildings, landscapes, flowers, and more.

Today's photograph of a sculpture-cum-seating-cum audio/visual installation called "The Sampler" at The Hub, Sleaford, is a case in point. In September 2008 I photographed it from a balcony at the top of the building. A couple of months ago I photographed it from ground level, at a time when it was in the process of being repainted. Yesterday I noticed the paint job had been completed, and was different from the original, so I thought I'd try another, slightly wider-angle shot, from above. As I began shooting I decided that the inclusion of people improved the image, and I composed variations with them at various points relative to the main, colourful shapes. Then, as I concentrated on my work, a thought occured to me. The repainting had introduced blue and orange as new colours, dispensed with yellow, increased the amount of red, and reduced the quantity of black. I don't know if the designer agreed to the new colour scheme - I doubt it - but I do think it isn't as effective as the original. Smaller amounts of strong colour worked much better when placed with black, and the whole effect is now more garish. Perhaps this is a photographic subject I won't be re-visiting again!

photograph & text (c) T.Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 11mm (52mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f3.2
Shutter Speed: 1/500
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Through the square window

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When they were small my children sometimes watched the BBC TV programme for pre-school children called "Play School." This featured songs, games, short films, etc, all within a structure that was repeated in each programme and thus became familiar to its target audience (and their parents). One device was where the presenter invited the viewers to see what was through one of three windows, which were round, square and arched.

I was reminded of this long-gone programme as I framed shots that included the square "window" of this structure in today's photograph. It is called, "The Sampler", and is a sculpture-cum-seating-cum-part-time-audio-visual device outside The Hub, Britain's National Centre for Craft and Design, at Sleaford, Lincolnshire. The design, by Catherine Bohme and Andreas Lange, has arms that come off a central pole. These have metal seats, tables and canopies fixed to them, and one has this "window" or frame which can have a screen fixed inside it. The arms can be rotated around the central pole because the are partly supported by wheels. Presumably this serves the double purpose of varying the sculpture and allowing for the position of the sun when projecting images on to the screen. When it was first erected the seats and canopies were painted red or yellow. On my recent visit they were battleship grey. I hope this is an undercoat awaiting the final original, brighter colours, because it takes something away from the design.

In fact, "The Sampler" isn't a particularly great piece, sitting outside the converted and extended warehouse that constitutes the Centre. However, it does offer interesting shapes when seen from the viewing gallery at the top of the building. I've photographed it, and commented on it, before - see here - and the other day I thought I'd try for a contextual shot of it using the square "window" as a prominent feature in the composition.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 11mm (22mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/640 seconds
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Pity the poor posterior

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Public seating is becoming a recurring theme in my images. I've captured a curved (seemingly never-ending) bench, a seat that rotates to keep the occupants out of the wind, and an example made of curls and swirls. All these structures have two features in common - they are interesting to look at (and therefore to photograph), and they're pretty awful to sit on. Today's photograph shows a further example that shares these qualities.

The seating, known as "The Sampler", is outside "The Hub", Britain's National Centre for Craft and Design, at Sleaford, Lincolnshire. The red and yellow seats are painted metal discs on short poles - no backrest, cold to the touch, and not made with the human anatomy in mind. The large black structure has a big, central, parasol-like, metal disc on a pole, with a couple arms that extend from it (some are out of shot), with circular black seats and tables(?) that are mounted on wheels. A big open square shape that can be fitted with a screen(!) is also part of the ensemble. The structure was originally designed to rotate so that anyone who is foolish (or desperate) enough to sit on it could experience a different view should they so wish. However, it has now been fixed in place after boisterous local youths found it an exciting attraction. Perhaps they had read the views of a local spokesman who said “the piece is designed to be exciting and dynamic, and we hope it will become a focus for social as well as creative activity.”

There are many problems with this structure: the Arts Council funded price of £18,000 for a start; its design that manages to make something flimsy out of unyielding metal; the likelihood that it will never to be used with a screen and projected images; but most of all the fact that the designer created a structure that is best experienced not as you sit in comfort upon it, but as you gaze down at it from the balcony at the top of The Hub! The multiple black circles with the red and yellow highlights and the buff curve make a Miro-esque composition that must have looked great on his or her drawing board. However, one can only wish that as much thought had gone into its purpose as a place of repose as went into its function as a piece of eye-catching, multi-purpose street sculpture. It is clearly a form of public seating that follows the modern trend of trying to combine sculpture with a place to sit, and like other examples of the genre, sculpture has taken precedence over the provision of seating, with uncomfortable consequences for the public's posteriors!

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 40mm (80mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/160
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On