The Welsh National Mining Mermorial

The Welsh National Mining Memorial in Senghenydd was created to mark the 100th anniversary of Britain’s largest mining disaster at the universal colliery in Senghenydd, where 440 men and boys lost their lives in a devastating explosion. The garden offers a place to honour those who have lost their lives in mining disasters throughout wales. The memorial garden is positioned on part of the former Universal colliery site. On the 14th of October 1913, an explosion tore through the universal colliery, shaking the village as underground coalfaces collapsed and mine shafts turned into roaring furnaces. Fire fighters and rescue men worked day and night, but bravery and determination were not enough. Although 18 men were rescued, death finally prevailed, taking 440 men and boys. An earlier mining disaster at the colliery had already claimed the lives of 81 miners. The youngest of the boys who died was 14. The subsequent inquiry of the 1913 disaster revealed that the mine management had failed to comply with the regulations. They were found guilty and fined one shilling and a penny farthing, an equivalent £24 with £10 costs.

 The statue was designed by Les Johnson, this bronze statue depicts a rescue worker coming to the aid of a survivor after a mining disaster. Dedicated to all those who lost their lives to coal. The memorial has a wall of remembrance dedicated to the victims of the two Universal disasters of 1901 and 1912. Individual tiles are dedicated to each person killed. Local volunteers and school children helped ceramicist Ned Heywood make the tiles, using hand-fired clay. The memorial garden was designed by Stephanie Wilkins, the garden uses materials and methods utilised in the surrounding community’s e.g. sandstone, lime and coal mortar and reflect the landscape of wales. Giant oats represent the horses that suffered too, and the ‘pinhead planting’ represents the bodies found.

 

This picture above gives a good representation of patteren, the tiles are in two rows and repeats it self over and over agin.

 

 

The last image can be photoshopped and turened into a silhouette showing shape

Welsh Coal Mining Memorials Project

I have been asked to do a mini personal project, my chosen topic for my project is welsh coal mining memorials. I chose this topic as I find history of wales and the valleys intresting. Before I took picture of mining memorials I thought I'd get an idea of what the miners whent through every day, so I went down to big pit in blinavon. Big pit is an operational mine and is one of only a few mines left in wales. They do a number of tours everyday where you can go underground and experience what it was like for the miners. Unfortunatley I wasn't allowed to take my camera underground as it is still an operational mine, but I still managed to get a few good shots.

 

 

 

The first few picture I took were of the lift shaft witch took you underground. This was a tall metal structure that was the key point of the mine.



The Red Zone



The image above was one of my favourite picture I took during that day. we just come out from the mine and walked past this. The red buckets and the red painted wood cort my eye.

Aperture Magazine Anthology Book Review

Aperture Magazine Anthology - The Minor White Years 1952-1976, Petter. C. Bunnell, 2012

The book Aperture Magazine Anthology shows a selection of contributions from the first twenty-five years of the magazines life under the editorship of the magazine cofounder Minor White. the book tries to answer the most fundamental questions about the medium for example "how does one read a photography" and "what is the relationship between text and the image" ect. 

The book starts of with a editors preface from Petter. C. Bunnell. An editors preface is an introduction to a book or other literal work written by the works author. Petter. C. Bunnell used the preface to explain the life and work of Minor White and Explained a little of the magazines history.

The book is split up into the different issues of the magazine starting of with issue one. The book contains a range of work from Minor Whites own picture to pictures to work by Imogen Cunningham and Ansel Adams. Petter. C. Bunnell took sections and pictures from each issue and explained them in depth.

My Second Outdoor Photography Session

For my second outing, I tried to experement a little bit. I took a range of close up's and some long distants shots to see what they would look like.





My First Outdoor Lesson

This was the first lesson I had the chance to use my camra, I spent most of the lesson learning the bassics of my camera and just geing used to taking pictures.

Second Photography Studio Session

For my second photography studio session I decided to bring in some bracelets, I brought a range of bracelets from woden to rope. The aim of this studio session was to try and create shadow and form with our objects.

 

 

 

For my first few pictures I focused on the wooden bracelets, I feel like I got a strong texture, you can see the different shades of red and brown in the wood. You also get an element of form from the way the light hit the bracelets.

The next few image I took were of rope bracelets. You get a strong feel of texture looking at these pictures as you can see strands of the rope when you look close up to the image
 

  

I then put all the bracelets together, you get a strong range of form from the bundle of bracelets.

 

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First Photography Studio Session

For my first photography studio session I decided to bring a can, I thought I could take pictures of the can in its original shape and then crush it to form different shapes and forms. I feel that some photos are better than others but overall i think my picture turned out good. 

For the first few pictures I tried to capture the original shape of the can before crushing it so i could show the transformation of the can after I crushed it. I feel like I could of took a few more shots before hand and took some from different angles to get a better view of all the cross sections of the can.

After I crushed the can, you can see the all the different shapes and forms produced by the crushing and the light. i could of gained more form from adjusting the light angles and playing with the amount of light projected on to the can, but overall i fell that you get a good filed of depth looking at the can.

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Hello, my name is nathan and this is my photography blog. On this blog you will find images from my AS photography lessons. Come take a look and feel free to reblog any photos you may like and leave coments.