sunday

It were a proper right day on mothering sunday, there were a fine array of subject matter fer me clicker, so i clickd am a few times.

Ragged trousered philanthropists

Julian Gaskell

Girls dancing

I went to see the Ragged trousered philanthropists on saturday at the Blue bar in Porthtowan and it was brilliant. The lead singer (Julian Gaskell) played the accordian, violin, squeeze box and electric guitar. The double bass player had an electric double bass and the drummer was smart as anything. They play ''rabble rousing gypsy skiffle from Cornwall''. A mix of jazzy swing times with marching and punk tempos with a rocky edge put on traditional styles of European folk music. The final song was a cover of 'Anarchy in the U.K' whereby the bass player changed over to banjo. My favourite song was on electric guitar that sounded inspired by django rienhardt. The band stayed together through a crazy piece of what seemed to be improvised guitar work, total genius if you ask me.

Check out their site http://www.raggedtrouseredphilanthropists.co.uk/

Hamada at the Leach

Tomoo painting a decorative bowl in the 'Hakeme' way.

Turning a straight-sided 'Oribe' style 'Chawan' (teabowl) with Koy onlooking.

'Turning' a large bowl with iron 'loop' tool.


Tomoo's 'Chawans', In various traditional shapes, on display in their finished state.


For the last week I have had the pleasure of meeting and working alongside Hamada Tomoo. He is a third generation potter from Mashiko, Japan, and a descendant of the great master Hamada Shoji. He came to the Leach pottery studio's to create a body of work with the local potters that live in the penwith district in west Cornwall, including; Jason Wason, John Bedding, Jack Doherty. These pots were to be included in an exhibition of his work at the Leach pottery where I have my pottery studio space. He created enough pots to fill the kiln in three days. It would take me about a month.

On saturday Tomoo demonstrated a few of his techniques to the public and gave a talk with the help of his translator Koy. This was followed by a kiln opening, and later, by the private view of his exhibition.

The Hamada family history is rich with stories and knowledge. Their links to the U.k's pottery traditions are highly important. It was Hamada Shoji's partenership with Bernard Leach in setting up the Leach pottery (St. Ives Cornwall), in the 1920's, that has given a strong and influential foundation for the significance of modern day studio pottery in Britain.

happy wanderings

Fashion and shopping

St. Antonin's cathedral

Resting place

An older lady wearing fashionable clothes

Happy shopper

Fruit men

I just walked around the streets all day because I didn't know what else to do. Sometimes i didn't eat anything for a long time. On this day I had to find the youth hostel which was like a prison. I didn't stay there in the end but i still had to pay for it. I didn't get any pictures but when i arrived there was this junkie in there going mental. Many of the photos that day are the result of getting completely lost for hours.

Italy day two

The crazy guy, probably dosed up, he had a hammerhead shark haircut and scars all over his face.

Shirt covered in shit, football stadium.

I took so many pictures its real hard to edit them. I don't know what to do with them all.

The problem with photo's is that sometimes you select them because they are personal moments and they don't come across so strongly to an audience.

I really enjoyed photographing Padova city, it had so many characters.

I tried a few new methods of trying to get a bit closer to subjects and extending landscapes further into the frame whilst I was away. I have come forward in my photo taking lately but I am still not happy, I feel I need more grit and more personal encounters with subjects. Its always old people and stuff.

I experiemented with a less conventional framing method with some of my shots whilst I was away by taking random shots at random angles. I think this will become more apparent in the following weeks on this blog.

I have lowered the picture quality on this post to save time but I think it was a shit idea.

Lesson: do things generously.

Italy day 1 Padova streets

Double click on the images to get a better look then press back on the internet page at top left of screen to return to the blog.

Flying ants

I flew to Italy and on the way I advised a lady on how to improve her bowls game, of which she had once been champion. In my opinion her confidence was low because of many other troubles she had experienced. It seemed the only option was to enjoy it whether you win, lose, drop the ball on someones foot! Anything, but just enjoy it. It's a game isn't it?