Oliver Wood Photography

The weather has been slightly more unsettled today with a little intermittent drizzle. Lighting conditions will still not permit me to undertake a few local photo experiments, which I have in mind; but things are bound to change soon.

Heading out of Bollington and deep into the night.

Last night I managed to do a full circuit of the Bollipot Loop without mishap — (mental note to self) must return Jane’s light! This time I had the good sense to take one of my cameras, actually a bit of a cop-out as I decided to take the little Sony w50 — which is still rather surprisingly good and allows a lot of creative latitude — no pun intended mind! Generally, it is not quite up to ultra low light exposures as the slowest shutter speed is about 2 seconds but it did allow me to capture some interesting deliberately shaky shots of lit objects and also carry out a little “light painting” with my bike lights. A kind of luminous abstract homage to the Bollipot Loop I think.

I seem to become ever more taken with Bollington every time I visit the place, the cosy sense of community, a certain down to earthiness and the general aesthetic of the architecture, which is both typically rugged and at the same time quirky and whimsical. Bollington is full of intriguing little details. The shear variety of cottage door designs and also the way that people decorate the stone lintels and a door surround is a very charming feature. Bollington does have some semblance of an active cultural life, which is contemporary and genuinely artistic.

Night Ride

light painting with LED bike lights on drystone wall Bollington.

Next I need to do the much more challenging trip up to Bakerstonedale and Charles Head where wind formed Scots pines and gorse bushes line the hilly high altitude roadsides. A landscape which can at times appear very surreal and cries out for my black and white treatment.

Since Farrow & Ball set up shop in Wilmslow I have noticed a steady return to more traditional paint colours and finishes on a lot of the local buildings. Prestbury is starting to look a little more colourful again with personalised but tastefully traditional paint applications on New Road instead of the universally applied and rather drab black and white timber work. I have noticed quite a lot of transformative activity in and around the village since I have been enjoying the luxury of extended free time, job in-betweening or whatever euphemism is currently in vogue for the inevitable down side of capitalist labour exploitation. The large swath of land behind Ford House (the village allotments during the war apparently) is currently being landscaped, no doubt for private use. This patch would make an excellent communal village green but I have an awful feeling that it is either going to get built on or turned into a car park — eventually. The old vicarage is all being done up and the charming features of Spencer Brook close to the start of the Vicarage drive way have all been enhanced and cleared of vegetation — or something? I can’t ever remember the stream feature down there but this may be because it was so overgrown.

Last nights Bollipot Loop ride (Prestbury, Bollington, Pott Shrigley, Bollington, Prestbury) did not go quite to plan though this ‘perturbation’ shall we say, constituted one of those events that helps to restore my faith in human nature. It was a lovely clear but temperate night with a gorgeous unclouded sky, Venus shining out in the East quite magnificently, I just knew that I had to head out to the ‘Hills’.

The Bollipot Loop ride usually consists of a stop at the top end of Bollington for chips, before the climb up to the highest point then dropping down into Pott Shrig. At this point I decided to put fresh batteries in my rear light but unfortunately put them in the wrong way round in the dark and must have blown all of the LED’s in the unit. No rear light on this particular ride can be almost suicidal, as one has to traverse a number of pitch-black hilly lanes that are frequented by mad drivers and country boy racers in vans, 4x4s, and large tractor trailer combos etc and even after dark. At this point I had to abandon the rest of the trip up top and headed back down into Bolli where I met a very nice lady walking her dog and asked her if there was a garage near by that may sell bike lights? Nearest is in Tytherington, a long dark lanes ride away. Jane invited me back to her house where she was able to lend me one of her daughters bike lights. So, I managed to get home without incident. Only in Bollington will this kind of thing happen, in fact other people have asked me if I am alright on other occasions when I have had to stop with bike problems, or just chat about the general minutia of my trip.

So there we are, not much in the way of news but my spirit is replenished and I’m finding that basic satisfaction in my environment and the sense of just being out and observing. It is great when otherwise familiar settings seem to take on a whole new life of fascination, this is when you start to notice details and certain qualities that are conducive to photographic work. I’m still trying to perfect my night time photography and find a certain group on flickr to be particularly fascinating. It is for nocturnal photography with no artificial light.

Mark (our man in London) is attending the Festival of Sins in Camden tomorrow night and he has provided a photo of his make up for the night, actually this was just a test run.

I really do need to get my act together with regard to trip down to the big smoke to meet up with some of my old chums.