The Harvest of 2010 archive goes Facebook

All the images from the Harvest of 2010 are now on Facebook, with an album for each of the seven parts - so you can see them as high quality, larger versions, and also leave any comments or even Like the pictures. It's always interesting and instructive to get feedback of any kind, and the reaction has been great so far - so don't be shy! See all the albums here.

If you haven't read the Harvest of 2010 you can catch up here on the blog - Part One is here and all the subsequent parts are linked from there. So go ahead and dive in! There are seven bite-sized parts, each with a small selection of images.

Harvest of 2011 will be starting soon here on the blog, so stay tuned, and Like the Facebook page at facebook.com/paulcliffordartist to stay up to date.

Harvest of 2010 Part Seven - Staying Centred Amongst the Chaos

Harvest of 2010
Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six - Part Seven

The final part of my review of 2010...

4001 - London, England, 2010

To me, a really sunny bright day in early winter is a blessing, it's a light like no other. Clear blue skies and a sharp, crisp light and shade that you just don't get in summer. It can make for more dramatic pictures, and really helps with an unfussy, straightforward subject like this.

4005 - London, England, 2010

I use those sharp shadows a lot when they fall at an angle across a wall. Here the lovely colour and shape of the lamp is enough for me, but the shadow gives it another dimension, diagonally across the straight bricks.

A note here about the composition - I hear a lot about never putting things in the centre of a composition - it's one of the 'rules of photography'. After 20 years of taking pictures, I don't really see the need, or even the use of these rules, particularly for beginners - it's up to the photographer to make those decisions on the spot. For me, something will sometimes benefit from being central, sometimes not, sometimes closer, sometimes further away, sometimes with something else, sometimes on it's own. It all depends on the 'weight' of the elements in the composition, and I can't really explain what I mean by that.

4007 - London, England, 2010

Another delightful shadow. There's an absence here that seems even lonelier when something else nearby is reaching out with a dark shadow, raking across the empty surface through the day. Not vague or fuzzy, a crisp outline with those definite edges. There's an epic quality to the minute details on the wall, putting them into focus like this creates drama from the craters and cracks.

4008 - London, England, 2010

An endlessly interesting picture. So ordered - evenly composed paving stones, a 4x4 red grid nice and square, the glass ascending so perfectly 4,6,8. So chaotic - the greenery out of control, one window pane missing, one broken, two replaced out of symmetry, the vent on the roof off centre, the reflection all over the place. Such a mess, and still so ordered.

4015 - London, England, 2010

I think one of the best things that has happened to my photography in the last few years is the branching out in so many new directions. Part of this may be down to going digital in 2009 - more scope for experimentation without keeping one eye on the costs. Anyway, here's a composition I couldn't see myself trying just a few years before. In the past, I've been all about straight-on shots, organised images. This one is all over the place, and all the better for it - it seems very much in motion. Like some images coming next, it looks like a composite of different images put together - it's not, but the situation there did feel like two worlds meeting, and completely ignoring each other.

4018 - London, England, 2010

I took a few shots of these pipes - all those colours were just fantastic. You can still see some drips on the fence for the recent rain, and otherwise dull and dirty colours are often heightened and brightened by being wet. It was really interesting making and choosing compositions - this was my favourite of them.

4019 - London, England, 2010

4021 - London, England, 2010

These two shots are more like records of strange, but real things. The first, 4019, looked almost as weird as this in reality, but stranger still here with most of the sky taken away. Like 4008 above, what seems at first to be a very balanced image soon falls apart the longer you look.
And 4021 - who knows what happened here? You can make your own story, but what we are left with is an illustration of ingenuity, and I hope, an interesting composition.

4022 - London, England, 2010

Absence again. Something has been here, but there's nothing left of any use. When a picture is as white as this, you work all the harder to find detail I think. And there's that central composition again - clearly becoming a major concern for me in late 2010.

4023 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

Like a lot of the pictures we've looked at in Harvest of 2010, here you get half a story - why is this like it is?

4037 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

More so than many of my images, I can't help seeing this one more meaningfully - a thoughtful image about pathways, decisions and alternatives.

4038 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

Busy, busy, busy. A total mess of road markings, it's been so many things, so many colours, over the years. Here I've brought a bit of order to show the disorder.

4040 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

Dynamic compositions are sometimes made for me, and I just can't pass them by - even if it means standing in heavy traffic, waiting for a car free shot. With all my road marking images, I'm fascinated by how often the bold layouts and clear designs are fudged by globs of paint and uneven lines from a brush or machine.

4042 - London, England, 2010

As I mentioned in Part Three, peeling paint can be dodgy ground for a photographer, an easy option leading to a creative dead end. But of course, as I said, rules are made to broken. A lovely patch of paint. It's initially hard to say whether the blue or white is underneath, or which is dominant. The directions and volume of the peel keeps this one interesting for me - I also find the false perspective a little confusing.

4046 - London, England, 2010

At the end of 2010, with a few weeks to go until my first Doors and Windows exhibition, I was keeping an eye out for new ones to include. But trying to create them, rather than letting them occur naturally down the years didn't really work. This was the best of them I think - a nice, balanced image - and even this one didn't make the show!

4048 - London, England, 2010

I like how the doorbell is central here, which throws the tiles off centre. Another neat meeting of two worlds - this time the poetic and the practical.

4051 - London, England, 2010

For some of you, I won't need to explain what this resembles. This (to me anyway) says something about the demise of film, and it makes me feel a little sad.

4052 - London, England, 2010

I like the drama in this shot. I had the focus fall off on the right to show the wall coming in at an angle, the bare wood shooting in like lightning. A bell entry system like the one in 4048 above has here become an annoyance I think. Painted over in uniform blue in the hope that everyone will forget about it.

4053 - London, England, 2010

One of the themes of this part seems to have been making sense of chaos, using photography to apply order and make compositions I enjoy, taking small sections of disorder and getting them in line, sometimes literally. Again, this one seems constructed, but it's not, not by me anyway. It's been created by someone with a pipe to fit, someone with green paint, someone with white paint, someone with blue paint, people with stickers and pens, a bit a weather, a bit of dirt and a bit of use. I just took the picture.


And so we come to the end of 2010 - I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to comment below - let me know any favourites, or any thoughts on the images in this part - do you agree or disagree with what I've said? I'll be doing Harvest of 2011 slightly differently, so any input now will be helpful.

I love discussing my pictures at fairs and galleries, it really helps me to think about my work - so talk to me here - if you want!

Harvest of 2010
Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six - Part Seven

Harvest of 2010 Part Six - Tricks of Light and Inspiration in Strange Places

Harvest of 2010
Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six - Part Seven

Continuing my review of 2010...

Some days I just 'get it'. When the light is right, I have time on my hands and a camera in the bag - I see pictures everywhere in everything.

3930 - Bromley, Kent, England, 2010

3933 - Bromley, Kent, England, 2010

This was one of those days - a set of goalposts bound by chains and lying in the grass at the edge of a park became a source for some fascinating compositions. There are infinite ways to shoot an element like this - the choice of framing and angles giving an infinite choice of images - here are a couple of them. To me, the first resembles something secret, even dangerous, the second a kind of ending, a loss of energy.

3940 - Southampton, Hampshire, England, 2010

Stuck at a motorway services for an hour or so, the best way to fill the time was to have a wander and see what images I could find - one of my favourite pastimes. A totally unfamiliar and unusual location, an entirely open ended proposition.
These railings went over the top of a motorway underpass, the path going underneath it. I was struck by the way so many diagonals could be made to cooperate so beautifully. As we saw in Part Four, a point of view can bring a peace and contemplation to almost anything. 

3949 - Southampton, Hampshire, England, 2010

3948 - Southampton, Hampshire, England, 2010

Down into the the tunnel, I was struck by how sparse the design was inside. It framed the two exits beautifully. Above, the first one leads back towards the services, the second out into what seemed like wild country after the car park and traveller's motel. And the pictures tell you all you need to know.

3954 - Southampton, Hampshire, England, 2010

The design was, as I said, sparse. And straight. And square. Astonishingly so. This image captures that. Exposed to show both the elegant simplicity of the layout and the grim misery of the lighting, I like how the last bulb kicks across the picture.

3958 - Southampton, Hampshire, England, 2010

One last shot here of the tunnel - a crazy mix of two ways of going about things.

3959 - Southampton, Hampshire, England, 2010

I love the way the shot is bisected by the line on each step, the asymmetry of the railing providing a nice counterpoint, leaning out as if to expose the steps even more.

3963 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

3964 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

3965 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

3966 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

A lovely set of garages. As with so many of my shots in sequences, the key is in the differences. Setting each door in an image twice when possible, once with each of it's neighbours, allows you to see it in a different context. Obviously everyone here has their own door and lock in their own colour, but what I like best is that even the pelmets at the top have been individualised by choice, and the front 'lawns' are all so different depending on use, or on levels of interest and neglect.

3972 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

A sunny day can do wonders for the most mundane edifices. The ghostly, watery reflection here adds an elusive, painterly beauty.

3978 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

A more regimented reflection here suits the wall behind it. I think the somewhat unbalanced composition here works because of the weight the triple reflection carries, anchored by the horizontal strip fleeing from the right hand side of the image.

3974 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

Reflections again - here working more like a version of a shadow. The No Parking text is made inconsequential and clumsy, almost accidental, a minor player beside the strong play of light.

3975 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

Like some of the shots in the last part of this retrospective, I feel someone else has done a lot of the work for me here. And, also like some of those shots, it looks constructed, too odd to be true. The centre of a square area, where the four sides don't quite meet as they should, this innovative solution sorts it all out in an audacious fashion, unnoticed by those who walk across it every day. 

3980 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

Another image created by the frame. This seemed so English to me, the terrace, the clouds, the green. In a way it also reminds me of the garages earlier on - one home, one chimney, each the same but different depending one the requirements and desires of the residents.

3984 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

When it's right, it's right. The perfectly straight shadow, the two vents I could place centrally, the wall with it's myriad interest. Irresistible.

3988 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

I really like this one - I enjoy shining a light on inconsequential details like this. As always - nothing was moved, the leaves here falling as they may across the composition. One creates a kind of comet at the centre of the image. I can't imagine trying to move them to make a natural balance.

3989 - Lymington, Hampshire, England, 2010

Like the paving in 3975 above, a practical solution to an impractical task, this time where car parking spots bend around a corner. The leaves add a casual sprinkle to the picture again. Initially I was frustrated with the car popping in no matter how I tried to shoot the markings, but I found a way to use it, the cheeky eye peeking in, adding a curve of pure colour as well as emphasising what the painting is there for.

Harvest of 2010
Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six - Part Seven

Harvest of 2010 Part Five - A Revolutionary Change of Scenery

Harvest of 2010
Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six - Part Seven

Continuing my review of 2010...

You may notice a certain unity amongst the images this time - they were all taken in and around Ironbridge in Shropshire, England, as were the last few in Part Four. The area played a big part in the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s, and much of the architecture around is historic, preserved for posterity in a 'heritage' fashion as museums. The marked change in the content of the pictures from my usual subjects is really noticeable to me.

3885 - Ironbridge, Shropshire, England, 2010

One of the interesting juxtapositions I found in Ironbridge was that whilst so much of the town is authentic with aged bricks and tiles everywhere, it also has to cater to the tourist trade, and also to the needs of its residents, all in a very small space. So buildings of completely different construction, age and usage butt up next to each other. This image looks for all the world like two pictures cut together, but I assure you it is real!

3886 - Ironbridge, Shropshire, England, 2010

I love lonely objects, and pushing them to one side of the image or the other tends to highlight their situation. This is another exhibition in the making!

3887 - Ironbridge, Shropshire, England, 2010

3888 - Ironbridge, Shropshire, England, 2010

Two sets of windows right next to each other, absolutely irresistable to my eye and my lens, and ignored by everyone else. Often I'll stop to take a minute to look at something like this whilst everyone else is walking by, asking myself if anyone else sees it.

3889 - Ironbridge, Shropshire, England, 2010

A real favourite this one. I like the quality of mystery, carefully composed to create an image, whilst (initially at least) disguising the subject. It gives me two layers of effect, one initially stemming from the image itself and how it looks, then another from the divination and realisation of what it is.

3890 - Ironbridge, Shropshire, England, 2010

It doesn't get much simpler than this, but for me all the more pleasing for it.

3895 - Jackfield, Shropshire, England, 2010

3896 - Jackfield, Shropshire, England, 2010

A pair taken from a set of railway trucks - only in these two spots did this little setup appear exactly like this. The similar composition makes for a visual appeal, but hopefully also says something more about the replication that industry brought about.

3898 - Jackfield, Shropshire, England, 2010

I've shown this one a few times, and people either grasp what it is straight away, or are baffled - so I'll leave it up to you!

3901 - Jackfield, Shropshire, England, 2010

A balanced composition here, looking to give equal weight to the two surfaces. It's hard not to try to imagine how splendid those hexagonal tiles would have looked on the day they were completed. So long ago now, but just as compelling and impressive now, for the story they tell.

3906 - Jackfield, Shropshire, England, 2010

After all the greys and decay of industry - a lovely blast of colour. I really like this one, so much so that it adorns the Business Card drop box that you'll see at my shows.

3907 - Jackfield, Shropshire, England, 2010

3908 - Jackfield, Shropshire, England, 2010

3909 - Jackfield, Shropshire, England, 2010

3910 - Jackfield, Shropshire, England, 2010

When I was an art student, I whiled away an afternoon tracing shadows in chalk as they slowly crept across the tarmac hour by hour. This situation reminded me of that, the beautful crisp reflections becoming a kind of shadow, a projection of the sunlight. As always when I work in series, it's about the differences.

3911 - Jackfield, Shropshire, England, 2010

An actual shadow this time - interesting how that, rather than the object itself, is telling you what you're looking at.

3912 - Coalport, Shropshire, England, 2010

Of course, peeling paint and worn bricks are very much an easy option in photography, and I am always careful not to get too carried away. There is an intrinsic appeal to the naturally random uniqueness of decay, but it is an easy option. What appealed to me here was the pipe drooping out through some relatively new concrete - it brings in a whole new element of history and meaning.

3913 - Coalport, Shropshire, England, 2010

It sometimes seems as if the Industrial Revolutionaries were so enamoured of their new skills, and the new potentials for building, that they got a little carried away. I found this wonderful little achievement down on the ground, round the back.

3914 - Coalport, Shropshire, England, 2010

Again, a majestic and beautiful curve; the tiles resembling a vast set of curving steps.

3915 - Coalport, Shropshire, England, 2010

There were lots of strange unexplained things to see too - what is this all about?

3917 - Coalport, Shropshire, England, 2010

Strange again - a consequence of semi-ruined buildings being preserved but also squared off and made safe from future dilapidation.

3920 - Bridgnorth, Shropshire, England, 2010

Letterbox again. This one busted through a window frame, making an interesting image of squares and rectangles.

3923 - Ironbridge, Shropshire, England, 2010

A cousin to 3882 from Part Four of this review. Compared to many of my quiet contemplative images, these seem very noisy and busy to me, angles flying everywhere, lines crashing and crossing over.

3926 - Ironbridge, Shropshire, England, 2010

This shot seemed too good to miss. The aerial has become an elaborate arrow pointing toward the greenery, the roof turned into a solid base.

3928 - Ironbridge, Shropshire, England, 2010

There has been a lot of tiles of late, reflecting the locale of the shots. Someone else has done the work fo me in this shot - each tile placed by hand, creating a roof that does its job, but also tells the story of its creation.


That's it for Shropshire, next time we're off to Kent and Hampshire for a different feel again.

Harvest of 2010
Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six - Part Seven