My latest exhibition, ‘Art Trek’, at St Annes Chapel in Barnstaple (with Monika Grand) is made up of two brand new pictures from this year (2016), three pictures from a few years ago which have not made it to the printing stage before, one image re-made from the original frames, another three made for the Sock Gallery in Loughborough last October and not shown before in Devon; plus some additional oldies and goldies.
The brand new 2016 images are from Bossiney, or Benoath Cove, in North Cornwall. It’s a place I’ve known for a few years but have really grown to love this year. The beach there is only accessible on a really low tide and even a spring low tide only gave me a couple of hours to explore the amazing caves.
The two caves at high tide are from Combe Martin, accessed via my kayak just as the tide had turned to go back out. The original photographs were shot in 2014 but my computer memory wasn’t large enough at the time to enable the full realisation of the works. This year I upgraded to 64Gb of RAM and so I have at last been able to blend the crashing waves successfully.
Another picture which proved impossible at the time of taking was the Cave at Menachurch Point, which was made up from such a huge number of images that I again had to abandon it until this year. This picture has been described as ‘tomb-like’ by one of the exhibition visitors. It’s right-hand cave wall, vertical, flat and ridged, is a great example of the original sea-bed of this contorted sandstone strata.
Mousehole Cave, Cornwall – original image
The Mouse Hole, has been totally re-made for this exhibition. Although it is an extreemly popular image I have often been troubled by the saturation and unworldliness of my original finished piece shown small here. This remake, literally taking the original RAW files and re-processing them in Photoshop and Lightroom, them re-stitching has given me something far closer to the original memory of the cave at Mousehole.
My new exhibition Sea Caves, Shipwrecks and the Rocky Shore is now up and open for viewing at the Landmark Theatre in Ilfracombe, North Devon. I’m very please with it and it is receiving a lot of interest.
“….your exhibition looks fantastic! Absolutely love it! A massive well done to you. The work is excellent, the framing is great and you have presented it in a really wonderfully creative way…”
Sandy Campbell exhibitions organiser for North Devon Theatres Trust.
Opening times 10am – 3pm everyday. Exhibition closes on Sunday 7th April.
I’ve been working towards my exhibition, Sea Caves, Shipwrecks and the Rocky Shore, at the Landmark Theatre in Ilfracombe from 25th February until 13th April. Ilfracombe is full of stories of smugglers, pirates and wreckers with place names like Brandy Cove and Samson?s Bay, named it is said after an infamous smuggler. Hidden beaches only accessible through tunnels, cut through the cliffs by Welsh miners in the Victorian era. One of these tunnels itself was a mighty cave which William De Tracey took refuge in 1170 after the murder of Thomas A Becket. October 9th 1796 is another key date in Ilfracombe?s maritime past, the day the London was wrecked at Rapparee Cove, adjacent to the harbour. Its cargo?was prisoners of war, from the West Indies,?passengers and a quantity of gold and silver and Ivory.
Right now is a great time to have an exhibition in the town because of its association with Damien Hirst. His artwork is made in a factory on the edge of Ilfracombe and a caf?, 11 the Quay, is decorated with his original artwork also a couple of months ago a huge statue of his, Verity, was installed on the harbour side. So Ilfracombe is becoming an Art Mecca? I hope so, and that my exhibition at the Theatre will add to its attraction.
Two of the pieces in this show are brand new and have never been seen. They are from the rocky shore below Hillsborough, where the London was wrecked. Many other images have never been seen before in North Devon. My next major exhibition in September is on the sandy coast of North Carolina, where this work will tour the Maritime Museums for a year.
I’ve just gone through the pains of replacing my computer. My main frame was making so much hard drive noise and running so slowly that it was high time I moved forward from XP and 2gb of ram. I now have a Intel i5 processor with 8gb of ram which should suffice for a few years. Suddenly I am able to construct images that I could not have hoped for in the past and this image from the cave at Menachurch Point will be my biggest ever photograph once it is completed.
This constructed photograph is made up of 116 separate frames, many of which were triplicates of the same part where I would use my hand or dodging tool to remove flare; then skillfully merged together in Photoshop layers (minus the fingers). I will be able to get this 1.5gb file printed fine-art high-quality to at least 5 foot or 1.5 metres. An earlier ‘snapshot’ version is below.
This cave is of particular interest to me; lying at the edge of North Cornwall AONB at Hartland it is the spot where the RFA Green Ranger came to rest after it’s shipwreck at Gunpath Rock in 1962.
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| Green Ranger – copyright unknown |
Oops! Hopefully nobody noticed, the shipwrech at Menachurch Point is actually the 1,925 ton steamship “Belem” stranded in thick fog here on 20th November 1917. I’ve included a picture of some of the remains at the bottom of this blog post. There ought to still be something left of the Green Ranger further up the coast – I shall have to explore soon!
I’ll be leading a photographic workshop ‘Sea Caves, Shipwrecks and the Rocky Shore’ here on Thursday 1st November, exploring this and many other caves and what is left of the Green Ranger (see below). You’ll get a good introduction to my own photography whilst learning how to make the best of your own including using your camera under demanding landscape and lighting. Price for the day is ?50, please email me to book a place: info@davegreenphoto.co.uk
Other Autumn Workshops include:
Introduction to digital photography – ?50
A practical days workshop learning to gain control over your camera, shutter speeds, aperture, ISO, flash etc, setting it up for optimum quality under any given lighting, and making better pictures through composition. Numbers limited to a hand-full. I also offer it on a 1:1 basis for ? a day for ?75
Saturday 20th October in Bideford (10am – 5pm)
Thursday 25th October in Exeter (11am – 6pm)
Monday 26th November in Barnstaple (11am – 6pm)
Half Day Intro to digital photography – ?25
A ‘sit around the table’ workshop to get to know your camera better. You’ll learn about shutter speeds, aperture, ISO, flash and setting your camera up for optimum quality.
Monday 29th October in Barnstaple 3.00pm – 5.30pm
Friday 16th November in Bideford 2.00pm – 4.30pm
Photographing your own Artwork 11am – 6pm – ?50
I have a wealth of knowledge and experience of photographing 2D artwork, jewellery and ceramics and I’m willing to pass this on to artists eager to improve their own image making camera skills. Although this workshop is for a small group (max 5) I also offer it on a 1:1 basis for ? a day for ?75, or I can deliver the workshop in your own home or studio anywhere in Devon for ?100
Course Description pdf
Tuesday 30th October in Bideford
Saturday 24th November in Bideford
Painting with Light – ?25
Celebrate the start of the dark winter nights on Westward Ho! beach. There will be natural light from an almost full moon and I will provide torches with coloured lights, flash lights and flame. You will just need to bring your camera with fully charged battery (please check with me beforehand that it can take a long exposure). A tripod would also be very useful but some of these will be provided. A cameraless friend can come along for free if they are happy be a torch bearer and do not mind dancing around with a light source.
Painting with Light pdf
Sunday 28th October at Westward Ho! (6.30pm – 9pm)
Wednesday 28th November at Westward Ho! (6.30pm – 9pm)
*Christmas Specials* Thursday 22nd November Workshop based around Barnstaple Christmas Lights and Fireworks – (4pm – 7.30pm)
Sunday 2nd December Workshop based around Bideford Christmas Lights and Fireworks – (4pm – 7.30pm)
Introduction to Photoshop 11am ? 6pm – ?50
Opening an image file and adjusting levels, contrast, brightness and colour balance. Rotating, resizing and cropping an image. Placing an image or images into a new file. Using layers and history. Participants will need to be computer literate i.e. use a computer on regular basis and understand the basic controls. Small group (max 4). I also offer it on a 1:1 basis for ?150, or I can deliver the workshop in your own home or studio anywhere in Devon for ?175
Wednesday 31st October in Bideford
