Castleton Garland Ceremony

The Castleton Garland Ceremony is believed to originate from a Pagan fertility right. Although keeping ancient traditions, it's celebrated on 29th May, Oak Apple day (unless that's a Sunday), to commemorate the restoration of the monarchy in Britain in 1660. The procession is led by the "King", wearing the garland, and his Consort.

The garland is a large beehive shape, and the frame is covered with flowers gathered from around the village. Traditionally it's the men who dress the garland.

The King and his Consort ride the boundary of the village, and then go to the host public house. The pubs take it in turns to host the ceremony. The Castleton Silver Band arrive behind them playing the Garland Tune. Also a group of village girls gather wearing all white with flowers attached to clothes and in their hair.
The garland is then placed over the head of the King as the band again play the Garland Tune, and the girls begin to dance the Garland Step.

The procession then heads to the eastern end of the village and turns to head back through, stopping at each hostelry along the way. At each stop the girls dance the Circle, and the Chain Dance.

Eventually after visiting all the hostelry's, the King and Consort ride into the church yard and to the base of the tower. A rope is lowered and the garland is attached and hauled to the top and placed on a pinnacle where it will stay until the flowers die.

Now the girls can gather around the Maypole in the Market Place where they entertain the crowds with six dances of varying complexity.

When the Maypole dances have ended, the King and Consort ride the short distance to the War Memorial followed by the band and the girls. There is a solemn ceremony and the King lays the Queen Posy to commemorate the dead of Castleton in the two World Wars. The band play the Last Post which is followed by a silence. Finally the band play the National Anthem.

 As they leave, the band play the Garland Tune again as the girls dance the Garland Step, or the Cross-over Dance. And so ends the Garland Ceremony.

For more photos: http://www.expono.com/purple_t/album/9482

This year, 2010, was the first time i've been to the Garland Ceremony. It was a wet and VERY overcast day. I arrived early afternoon and walked around for a while. I met up with some old friends and together we checked out the Garland making, visited the tourist shops, and eventually the chip shop. When we saw the King and Consort walking around the town we followed so as to see them start their ride, then went to the host pub and waited.
The Garland is quite impressive when seen close up, and must weigh a considerable amount. It must also be difficult, if not impossible for the King to see through it. Fortunately his horse is well behaved and not bothered by the crowds. The Consort was a bonny lass with a bright smile and could be seen talking good naturedly with the villagers.
At each pub stop drink was brought out and handed round the followers, and the band members.
Although there are apparently only six pubs, it's still a slow process stopping at each one, and the band had to play as the girls danced. The King could be seen at least once without his Garland, and with beer in hand, but that's hardly surprising considering the weight, and the fact he can't see anything through it.

Probably the highlight for me was the Maypole dancing. It's a long time since i watched any, and was quite impressed with the complexity of it all. It's something i'd very much like to see more of.

Traditions such as the Garland Ceremony are what we should be supporting. It's part of our past, our heritage. It's what makes us who we are in England, and Britain as a whole. In this case it's the mixing of Paganism and the Restoration of the Monarchy becoming entwined that helps make it even more interesting. Everybody is expected to wear an oak leaf to show allegiance to the crown. People walk around selling oak leaves, and so i heard, sometimes they have a person with them carrying nettles to attack you with if you refuse, all good naturedly of course.
As i'm not exactly a monarchist i felt like an treacherous soul wearing a sprig of oak, but better that than be beaten with nettles, or worse.........


This is the sort of event that makes me proud to be English. Our ancient traditions being kept alive. Instead of screaming and shouting about us losing our heritage, perhaps people should get out and support these events, yet it seems those who make the most noise cause the most trouble, and do nothing to protect our heritage, and that sickens me.
Personally i look forward to the next event of this type i can get to, and to visiting our ancient sites and trying to learn more of our past, and what makes us who we are, English!

Lensbaby

So i recently succumbed to buying a Lensbaby www.lensbaby.com/
I decided on the Composer as it seemed to be the best for what i'm likely to use it for. It's relatively quick to use, and fairly robust. I also bought the Pinhole/Zoneplate optic to go with it.
I'd thought of buying one for a while, but was finally inspired by Pirate Photography
www.piratephotography.co.uk/
piratephotography13.blogspot.com/
Her work with alternative fashion and art nude helped me see how i could use not only the Lensbaby, but the Pinhole/Zoneplate optic with my work.

At this point in time i've only had the chance to use it on a cold and very windy day out walking in the countryside, so i tried a few landscapes. Today i tried a few arty self portrait nudes, so here's a few examples of what i've done so far.


                         Landscape using the double glass optic supplied with the lens

                          B&W landscape using the pinhole optic

 
                         Landscape using the pinhole optic

 
                         Self portrait nude using the pinhole optic

                             
                         Self  portrait nude using the zoneplate optic

                         Self  portrait nude using the zoneplate optic

A Walk Around The Roaches And Lud's Church

So whilst the country was stuck in turmoil about the elections and who was going to be our next, and no doubt very much disliked, Prime Minister (as i type it's announced Cameron has taken the position) a group of us did something far more important, we went for a walk!!

So off to Staffordshire to The Roaches we went. This is a place i used to go rock climbing many years ago and is a part of the Peak District National Park en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roaches  Due to the inclement weather conditions there wasn't much in the way of climbers there on Saturday. We saw a few, and there a few people bouldering, but the wind and rain in the air must have put most people off. It was not good weather for climbing!

Half a dozen of us, plus two children, met just below the rocks. The walk took us up up through the rocks and onto the ridge. It was very windy, and rather cold with a little rain in the air. But this just helped make it bracing!

 
The views were good though, and some of the rock formations were interesting.
By the time we reached a small road we needed to cross, we all felt it was time for a light lunch break. A dry stone wall gave reasonable shelter. A warm coffee went down very well indeed :-)
As we moved on we dropped down into some woodland. It was a little odd as it was almost all silver birch, but still very pleasant, and out of the cold wind!

After a short way we dropped down to what is known as Lud's Church. This is a chasm caused by a landslip sometime in distant past. It's said that it was sacred to Pagans as the sun penetrates into the chasm on midsummer's day. It was also used as a place of worship in the early 15th century by followers of the church reformer, John Wycliffe. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lud%27s_Church

 I've known of Lud's Church for a long time, but had never visited it before. It's a very impressive place. I can just imagine Pagans seeing it as a special place, and also see how it would be used by Christians during a time of persecution as a place of worship. It has a good atmosphere about it, and quite peaceful.
As we left the "Church" we headed back through more woodland, this time more diverse, until we arrived back at road we'd crossed earlier. At this point it was decided we head back along the road instead of going back up into the wind. But it's a quiet road so not a bad choice.

After a walk it's always good to visit a pub, and just down the road is the well known Rock Inn. Unfortunately people wanted food, but they had stopped serving, so we headed back towards Leek (the nearby town) and stopped at another pub. Again they had stopped serving hot food, odd considering a sign outside said "All Day Carvery, 12-8pm". So off we went until we saw another pub. This time just one person went to see if the "Home Cooked Food" sign meant we would be able to eat..? Of course not! So we ended up in Leek. Not ideal, but at least we found an OK pub with food that was decent enough.

Eventually it was time to go our separate ways. It's always good to meet up with good friends, and to meet in good countryside for an interesting walk makes it even better. It was a lovely day indeed!

For more photos

P.T.

Don McCullin-Shaped By War

I've been an admirer of Don McCullin for many years, from his early work in the streets of London, his war photography, and more recently, his brooding landscapes.

On Saturday i happened to be in Manchester for a Spencer Tunick photo installation, so took the opportunity to to go along the Imperial War Museum North as they have and extensive exhibition of Don McCullins work to celebrate his 75th year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8492000/8492777.stm

Although there's an introduction to his early work, and a little of his later work at the end, this is primarily about his his war photography.

The room is dark and this makes you focus very much on the photos and memorabilia. Very quickly i felt great sadness looking at the photos from Vietnam, but walking slowly round it's terrible to see just how many wars he covered. Vietnam and Cambodia, Beirut, Biafra, El Salvador, Northern Ireland to name just a few.

In Vietnam he took the iconic image of a US Marine staring shell shocked. The photo is about five feet tall, and so just about life-sized. You can look closely at those eyes and only imagine the horrors that left him in such shock. Just one man who's life was perhaps forever ruined by mankind's sickness and desire to destroy
At the side of the photo is another smaller version with post it notes, and scribblings showing exposure times for the final print. My photography brain suddenly took over, i couldn't help but look back and forth at the different versions, and realised just how much care the magazines took to make sure a photo was the best it could be........

Then it was back to the unrelenting horrors of the photos on display. Wounded soldiers, dead soldiers, a man forcing himself up in the back of  a truck in his last moments of life desperate not to die. McCullin had also been wounded in the mortar attack that killed this poor guy. A marine throwing a grenade, and next to it a photo of the same marine being comforted by colleagues as he'd been shot in the had immediately after.
A well known photo of a dead Vietcong soldier. The Americans looted the body, then McCullin carefully placed the dead mans personal effects for the shot, including a family photo. It was the only time Don McCullin placed items like that. What a terrible and sad thing to feel the need to do, and yet such a poignant and sad image it created.

How crazy it must have been in Cambodia! Many photographers were captured and killed. McCullin lost friends there and was lucky to get away himself.
Sean Flynn, the son of actor Errol Flynn, was one of the photographers captured in Cambodia with his colleague, Dana Stone. They never came back! Tortured maybe? Murdered certainly!

I looked at the photos from the Biafran war. This was a rare occasion that Don McCullin ignored the fighting and focused on the suffering of the people as they had supplies cut off. Starving women and children, hundreds with cholera in one building just waiting to die. There's no hope to be seen in their eyes.
FUCKING HELL! I want to scream and cry!! What is wrong with mankind?

Amongst all the photographs there were memorabilia. Magazine articles, equipment he used. There's the Nikon camera that took a bullet, a bullet that may have killed him otherwise. There's contact prints from his photos. It's amazing to see how consistent his exposures were. In my mind i try to think what it must be like in mid battle to be taking light readings. To be so aware of what you're doing despite the horrors going on around you is quite amazing. Such professionalism under fire!

Beirut is another example of our inhumanity. Is that the correct term? Maybe such shit is the real humanity, and the good side is inhumane, our history would suggest such!
The Israeli bombings in Beirut...Such a waste of life! And seeing photos of the Phalangist Christians forcing Palestinian women and children out of their impoverished homes, and the next photo of the two men shot dead in the stairwell.
The Palestinians forced from their lands became an easy target as refugees!  An ugly reminder of how we pick on the displaced around us and blame them for our troubles.
Don't we see it to a much lesser degree here today? The way people quickly lay the blame for everything on immigrants? Yet isn't it the troubles between the Israelis and Palestinians to blame for much of the modern terrorism? Why can't we just live in peace??

There are images from Cypress, the Greeks and the Turks fighting....for what? Why do humans have to hate so much? Why this sickening desire to solve our differences with guns and bombs?

Much nearer to home we have Northern Ireland. Troubles going back hundreds of years that suddenly flared up in the late 60's. Years of terrorist murder. Catholics against Protestants! Christian against Christian! We can't change the past, but we can stop the killings of today, surely we have to!
Photographers became the target of rioting youths just as much as the army were. The streets full of rocks and petrol bombs thrown at anyone they didn't like. What a terrible few decades these people had to look forward to. It wasn't a situation where any side could be seen as being good. Too much killing, too much murder!
Although there's greater peace there now, just tonight as i type there's a report of a bomb going off, and recent the Real IRA claimed responsibility for another bombing. Surely the people have had enough. Surely they won't allow it to go backwards after so much hard work to bring peace!

In San Salvador McCullin was to fall through a roof as he followed fighters going to battle, a fall that left him with serious injuries. This kept him from being able to hold a camera for a year. The war in El Salvador was at times overlooked by the British press due to the Falkland conflict. McCullin fought hard to get it the recognition he felt it deserved.
Don McCullin also tried to go to the Falklands, but was refused permission with the argument there was no space for him. This is was what finally helped bring an end to his war work. The excuses for not letting him, and other good photojournalists, from going , were lame to say the least. But this was also perhaps a time when government attitudes to war photography changed. Soldiers had always been welcoming of photographers on the front line. They were pleased that the world could see what was happening, but this was also seen as much of the reason many in the USA turned against the Vietnam war. It was close up, it was horrific, and it helped show the futility of fighting such a determined enemy so far from home. Governments see photographers as the enemy!

It was with some relief that i finally came to the end of the exhibition. A few of his brooding landscapes helped take away some of the horror, and to see a video from just a few years ago when McCullin went to Africa with Christian aid. He'd photographed people there with AIDS a few years before, people who had no access to medicines that could give them a fairly normal life. On his return he gave a photograph he'd taken to a child who's mother had died. The child framed it and it made him happy to have something of his mother. Then he got to meet another mother and her children. She'd been unable to look after her children before, but with medicine she was now able to be a mother again. He said it's the first time he'd ever enjoyed pressing the shutter. That says so much about his life in wars.

Don McCullin has said how his life has been shaped by war, he's said that it was like an addiction to war. Wherever  there was conflict he felt he had to go. He's talked of the effect it's had on him. How haunted must be his dreams. To see such horror, bodies ripped apart, to smell the blood and death, to feel the fear. How terrible it must have been.
People are only now talking of the effects on soldiers in war, Post Traumatic Stress is now accepted as a real problem. How many soldiers suffer serious depression? How many become alcoholics or turn to drugs? How many end up on the streets? The numbers are many! But what about the journalists? What about those who just had a helmet and cameras? Don McCullin and his like are owed such gratitude for their uncompromising dedication, for putting their lives on the line to show us the reality of war. As a photographer i wonder if i would have had the guts, strength, and ability to survive such awful experiences. I have such admiration for those who have given so much of themselves to get the truth out in way of photographs. It's such an amazingly powerful medium!

Throughout the exhibition i had to keep wiping tears from my eyes. The imagery is quite relentless. It's a wonderful exhibition, but also quite awful in it's brilliance. If someone views this exhibition and doesn't feel like crying, then i don't believe they have truly looked at it, or that they're simply not human!

As i walked away i was left with just one question. After all he's seen, all the years of horror he's been through, how does Don McCullin survive?? How does he live with it all in his mind?? I honestly don't know if i could!!

Ordinary People-A Naked Ambition (Spencer Tunick Photo Installation)

12:30am on 1st May i walk up to the Lowry Arts Center in Salford. A couple walk up behind me and we look around to see where to go. We walk around the side of the building and see that a queue is forming, so we walk to the rear, and are told by someone that we're roughly abut the 75th in line.
This was the start of several rather chilly hours!

We were all gathering for a Spencer Tunick photo installation commissioned by the Lowry to celebrate their 10th anniversary. People were arriving early as there were to be only 500 today, then another 500 tomorrow, so best to make sure we all got registered as some would be turned away.

It was a friendly atmosphere outside as people joined into small groups, four in our little group, and the time ticked by until eventually at around 3:15am they started the registration process.

We were all given a bag for our gear, slippers for the short walks involved later if we needed them, and a drink. There was just enough time to use the toilet before we formed a queue to go the waiting buses, a selection of coaches and double deckers. Then we were off!

Photos of Lowry paintings were passed around, and it was clear that the installations were inspired by Lowry, very fitting for the arts centre built in his name.

We pulled up in a small car park where Spencer had his open top bus. This was close the where the first three sites were. Spencer gave a talk about what he wanted, and how we were behave in the shoots. Basically we had to walk around until he said to stop, and also to lean forwards as the figures in Lowry's paintings were often leaning as they walked. He told of how he would be shouting at us, and it wasn't personal, he just had to be heard, and also get the job done. He thanked us all for coming along several times, then set off to the first location.

Within a few minutes we set off on foot. At this point everyone was still clothed, but the few people were starting to get a little apprehensive, but no one was backing out. We were led up a hill to the top of a small park. Again Spencer told us what he wanted, and that we should walk down the bank onto the park, then spread out. As he set off, it was time to undress. Being a life model for 19 years now, this didn't bother me, so i offered a few words of encouragement to those nearby who looked nervous. Then suddenly, there were 500 naked people running down a cold wet bank to the park, and boy did it feel cold at 6am! Just as an early train passed on the bridge just a hundred yards away.

Spencer barked his orders and shouted at us to halt! His assistants ran around moving people from time to time. "Don't look at me!" shouted Spencer. "If you're looking at me turn away!". "That man at the front, look away from me!!" "Can you separate those two people in the middle...yes, them. Move them apart! Thank you!". "More people under the trees! Please, move to the trees over there!" And so it went as he took his photos.
For all the randomness, he must have also been looking at the aesthetics of where people were, and how it would look better. I found that very interesting.
In a way it was funny seeing people trying to keep still for a few minutes. I saw them as others perhaps see me when i'm working.

After ten or fifteen minutes he was all done, and off we went back up the hill to our clothes. A young woman who got changed with her friends near me, and had been nervous, said that getting naked was the best way to meet new people. Suddenly she was loving the freedom, and feeling relaxed naked with others.

We were led back down the road and round a corner under the railway bridge. Spencer had set up under the next arch, so we all stripped again and walked over. At this point a tramp acme down the road with beer can in hand. His jaw gaped at all the flesh, and it looked like his eyes would pop out of their sockets. He regaled us with jokes, asked if we had any spare change, sand "Fat Bottomed Girls!". Of course, we were supposed to be keeping still, not smiling, and certainly not laughing. Again the shoot was fairly quickly over, so back to our clothes we went.
The women were told they could head back to the buses as Spencer wanted to do a shoot with just the men, though as it turned out, he wanted just one woman in the shot.. Right across the road was a building with a yellow wall. He wanted us to line up with the first row backs to the wall, then each row just a few feet apart until the last row was close up to him. Then he asked us to turn one line to the left, next to the right, and so on. He started shooting, and then asked us all to lean forwards from the waist. This brought a few giggles from some (most) of the men.
It has to be noted that as 250 naked men ran across the road at the start, the two police officers helping out had to stop a couple of cars. One driver was heard to say something about why was he being turned away, "look, there's loads of naked men, why aren't you doing something about them??" It must have been quite a shock!

Back on the buses we had the chance to warm up again. There were smiles on pretty much everyone's face as the excitement had got to them all. Just a few weeks before most of these people wouldn't have believed they'd be running about naked with hundreds of strangers, but here they all were, and they were all being imortalised for art!

The buses moved on, and after a while we arrived at the last location, Peel Park at the back of Salford University. At this site the press had been given information so they could come along. Some people felt a little uncomfortable seeing a few new cameras there, but maybe if they'd heard the young female photographer as she saw us all, even before we stripped off, saying it was really scary! I found that very amusing, but i guess she'd never been in a position to be confronted with 500 naked bodies before, and we were all very comfortable with it now!

Spencer came over and told us we were to strip off up here, then walk down a path and onto the park. He wanted us to spread out as much as we could, but not to block the flower beds. The time came, and off we went again. People walked and ran down the grassy bank, and laughed at the fun of running naked without a care in the world. Sadly that's a freedom we lose with our childhood. Perhaps it's a freedom we would be better off keeping..? The smiles and laughter would suggest so.
As we spread out Spencer called to us that we should jump up and down, and then run on the spot. Again people laughed, and it also i think gained a little heat from the exercise. Then we had to walk around until Spencer said to stop.
As was now usual, Spencer shouted to have some people moved around. Move forwards, move back, don't group together etc, and some individuals had to be moved too. Then we had to walk around until again he said stop! And he was shooting away again!
Spencer then asked us all to surround the flower beds. They were in circles so we all moved about to join a circle. Spencer could see the gaps and shouted his orders yet again. When he was happy he took his shots, then told us to all turn round. A minute later he said to walk forwards. This looks really good on the video on the news.

Now it was time for the men to leave...except one! This was to be the final shoot, and was to be with the women...plus one man!
We all headed back to the top of the park and biscuits.
After a while some of the women came back to applause. The others were still being photographed.
We all had to gradually make our way back to the buses. It wasn't too much after 8am. The experience was over all to quickly for most of us. Like me, i think many would have been happy to carry on all day.

For most people, it had been a wonderful opportunity to be involved in a work of art, to be able to feel free and uninhibited amongst hundreds of other people. We were young, old, short, tall, fat, thin! Just a very normal cross section of people, Everyday People doing something unusual.
For me as a life model, it was the chance to be part of a much larger work of art. In my job i'm the one on my own, naked in a room of people to be drawn, painted, sculptured, and, on occasions, photographed. To be just one of many, and to have no say in what was happening, was quite a good experience. To be anonymous and not the centre of attention made a very nice change....

I guess everybody will take something different from the experience. Perhaps the best is from a blog i read the other day by a young woman. In her earlier blogs she talks a lot about her eating disorder, there's even a video of an interview she did on TV about it. In her Everyday People blog she says about how comfortable she felt being naked amongst so many, and that for the first time she felt comfortable in her own skin. If it helps her just a little bit, then what a great day it was.

P.T.