Thursday 18 July 2013

you can take a horse to water.............

border detail at Sussex Prairie Garden



This weekend has been a prime example of how making images has to come from the good feelings that lie within.

On Saturday I made my first, long anticipated visit to the  Sussex Prairie Garden. As one who is addicted to grass, this was something I had been looking forward to for months. It is a truly beautiful garden created with passion by Paul and Pauline McBride, and inspired by the work of Piet Oudolf.

Piet is a well known Dutch garden designer, and some beautiful images of his style can be seen here. Paul and Pauline have created their own garden over six acres in the 'naturalistic' style that Piet champions.

Mostly the colours are very subtle, but there were occasional splashes of bright colour hiding amongst the swathes of grass and herbaceous perennials. One of the lovely things about the garden are the wood chip paths encouraging visitors to stray deep into the plantings of the wide beds.

What a shame then, that our visit was on a scorching hot, blue sky day, when the light was harsh and the heat was challenging.



bison on the prairie


I took some photos, but I know that I can do better. I will return when the conditions are more conducive to capturing the softness of the planting, when the light is lower in the sky, and the grasses are turning to silver and gold from their current shades of green.



poppies

So different from the mood that caught me later  the following day; a day when half of the world came to Camber Sands to enjoy the beach. After they had all gone home I took myself down to Rye Harbour for a stroll, where a welcome breeze broke the heat, and I set myself a little project of seeing how many different views I could make of the golf clubhouse in the distance, across the dunes. Golfers have money.............maybe they would spend some of it on my images?



rye golf club from rye harbour




Maybe not; I don't think they would appreciate my take on their clubhouse, but by experimenting I got into that zone ..........the one that was missing at the Prairie Gardens............





An old railway carriage at Rye harbour

new tarmac caught my eye


At high tide the fishing boats went off to sea


gone fishing


And the red hut popped up wherever I went




down low amongst the wild flowers

shooting the breeze


Two hours passed in blissful oblivion to the rest of the world, and I returned home with my spirits lifted by the sheer pleasure of having being out making images.






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