Sally Wakelin – Studies in Creativity
Paintings, drawings, sculpture and writing
Looking through old family photo albums recently, I found images my Dad had made sometime in the early 1960s. I don’t recall having seen them before though I must have done at some time. Just two months ago I happened to be there, on Bangor Pier and took some very similar photos. I found that rather heart-warming, not the usual tourist choice, we must share some sensibilities and an interest in form. We must have both loved these detailed patterns made by the series of cast benches.
I am a great admirer of Thomas Heatherwick’s work and this week had the chance to see his Sitouterie in an Essex garden.
It is a hard subject to photograph but I went for the simple approach, looking in from the outside and looking out from the inside of the same corner. The metal spikes are hollow with amber translucent material at their tips so showing tiny spots of amber light on the inside. A young girl who happened to be there at the same time called to her grandfather “Grandpa, come and see, its the best bit of art I’ve ever seen” (I think she might have been 7 years old at the most!)
On the north side of the Thames estuary near Pitsea, Essex, the mud banks, marshy grassland and still water at low tide made for a magical scene of light playing on the water, deepening shadows as the light faded and the promise of the sounds of sea birds calling – a quiet place of reverie – an example of the south Essex landscape that my brother loved so much.
A difficult subject, looking across water and expanses of wet reflective mud towards the setting sun – I only had a phone camera but did some tweaking in Camera Raw afterwards. Unfortunately it is slightly out of focus but it has captured a moment and much of the detail of the scene, the paraphernalia of the crane, the wire fencing, the jetty, life buoys and all the complicated outlines of the boats. A tripod and a digital SLR would have made a better image and I should have included the top of the crane but I did successfully capture a moment in remembrance of my dear lost brother.
Sally Wakelin - Studies in Creativity 
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