• Place: YHAI Hostel Garden, Mussoorrie, Uttarakhand, India
• Date: 21 September 2009
• Camera: Nikon D50
• Lens: Nikkor 18-200 mm
• Focal Length: 105.0 mm
• Aperture: f/5.6
• Exposure Time: 1/320
• ISO: 800

“povestea unei zile de noiembrie“

* Dewi magazine, June 2005

The debut opening of Roy Petley’s gallery in London caused an uproar in the West End, with people seen queuing down the street to get in. In fact, that wintry October night saw so many people in the gallery that the fire department responded four times to heat alarms going off in the building.

Roy Petley (photo: Titania Veda)

This dream of an art gallery began many years ago by a boy abandoned to a children’s home. Trapped in a dark and dreary world, even the beatings by his guardians could not curb Roy’s irrepressible spirit. “My escape was painting and drawing, the reality was horrible. I quite liked the fistfights but I didn’t like the beatings,” he confides. Becoming the first ever to receive a scholarship at the children’s home at the tender age of sixteen, Roy left for Brighton University but after his first semester he decided to go to Florence in the arms of a beautiful woman. His thirst for the foundations of art, well-drawn, well-coloured and well-painted works naturally drew him to the Italian masters of old; Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo. Several years later, after living through his work in Italy, he returned to his homeland, England. There, he exhibited on the Green Park railings, a then melting pot of would be artists.

A chance meeting with the Duchess of Kent was the beginning of a lifelong friendship with the British royal family. The late Queen Mother and the Prince of Wales are collectors of his works, the late Queen Mother being particularly fond of his Norfolk landscapes. A whirlwind romance with an adoring public commenced, with sell-out shows following him wherever he went, from London to Barbados, Dublin to Dallas.

To satisfy his love of beautiful sports cars, three Alfa Romeos, engine red Ferraris and an E-type Jaguar once decorated his backyard. He even appeared on Good Morning Texas, flanked between William Shatner who “was on before me trying to promote a video game for Star Wars”, and a piano-playing-pot-bellied-pig who refused to perform. “It wouldn’t play the piano because it was camera shy”, Roy deduced.

Roy’s rags to riches story caught the eye of both the BBC and Sky Television, resulting in documentaries on his life and his art, and forced a change on his outlook on life. “I used to have people lining up to buy my work – but once the BBC did their documentary on me, they ended up banging on my front door trying to buy a paintings, it became a nightmare!” he exclaimed. Once dubbed the Best Dressed Man in London, this sort of major publicity was not in line with Roy’s solitary nature. In the early nineties, he chose tranquillity over fame and moved to a lonely farmhouse in the south-west of France. “I left England to become an unknown, to have a peaceful life”, he said. He quickly applied his energy to rebuilding his new-found home, which was soon to be featured in House & Garden, Homes & Gardens and Interior magazine.

the last of the sun by Roy Petley (courtesy of Petley Fine Art)

An impressionistic painter, he finds inspiration in his surroundings. In the summers, he is often found by local fishermen knee-deep in water, drawing models draped in flowing white dresses and adorned with wide-brimmed hats that Roy is known for collecting, or painting his neighbour’s children licking ice lollipops in his rose garden.

Self-taught, Roy experiments with all mediums, disclosing how he changes “mediums when I want to change my mind-set”. At his leisure, he moves effortlessly from pastel to oil, watercolour to sanguine. He speaks of each medium with equal passion, stressing on the ability to draw well being essential when working with any medium, particularly watercolour – “There is no changing it…there is only one chance”. He continues on saying, “watercolours are my reference for my oil paintings, an oil painting becomes a fuller version of the watercolour on a canvas.” He describes how Degas used to work with charcoal before drawing in the pastel, but prefers himself to draw with colour immediately. He is also is quick to illustrate that “pastel is a dusty medium and after a short period of working with it, I am always happy to return to my natural medium – oil.”

The subjects of Roy’s works are as varied as his mediums, drawing upon inspiration from anything and everything – portraits, still life, cityscapes and landscapes have all felt the touch of his brush in his paintings. “I usually have an idea of what I want to do before I begin, I see the world through my paintbrush and palette – all that remains to do is to recreate the image that I see in my mind.”

Whether it be landscape or still life, light and shadow are the basis of his works. There is a certain light and youthfulness, a grace and joyfulness that emanates from his paintings. He depicts an untouchable innocence that is reminiscent of childhood and days gone by. Although it may seem an old-fashioned and romantic world, this is Roy’s world as it exists today. Each painting draws you in, engages you with its subtle colours and soft lines.

sunlight in the dark canal by Roy Petley (courtesy of Petley Fine Art)

It is said that once you have had a show in Cork Street, you have made it in the art world. Having exhibited in galleries on the street for over a decade, Roy had reached a point in his life where he wanted to give something back. In his youth, Roy himself had approached gallery after gallery, carrying his portfolio, and had been turned away. In later years, the same galleries would beg him to exhibit with them – he wanted to provide artists with the opportunities he never had, with “a gallery they can trust, where artists feel comfortable”, where the open doors and laid back atmosphere would encourage artists – especially the younger ones. In the autumn of 2003, he did just that. “I started up the gallery because I was really fed up with how artists are treated”, he explained.

Petley Fine Art sets itself apart from other galleries because as Roy proudly states, “this is the first time an artist has owned a major gallery promoting work other than his own”. True to his word, Roy has raised the bar for the whole area by filling his gallery with only the finest paintings and sculptures from an international pantheon of artists. “We have famous artists, infamous artists, and also young artists just starting out in their careers – regardless of where they are in their careers, it is their talent that attracts us to them.”

It is this refreshing concoction of artists that gives the gallery its lively character and explains why artists enjoy exhibiting there. Neil Forster, an artist of Petley Fine Art and an established portrait painter whose sitters include The Prince of Wales, speaks highly of the gallery. “I thought this gallery opening in “the” art street of London and offering art with no over-intellectualizing or posing, is so refreshing that it must in time be one of the most visited galleries in London.”

Roy is also quick to point out that a lot of effort has been made to ensure nothing distracts from the paintings. His long-standing motto being, “the art is foremost, the gallery secondary and all emphasis is on the artists”.

Filled with boundless energy and enthusiasm, Roy floods his gallery with the same vitality he fills his paintings. Now with three galleries spread across Europe, Petley Fine Art seems to be going from strength to strength. As for Roy, does he miss the good old days when he was a struggling painter? “Well,” he laughs, saying, “I have artists ringing up at 4 AM telling me their problems with their wives who are jealous of their models. One artist calls up and says can I come see you now? I think, what’s going on here?”

Petley Fine Art
9 Cork St
London
W1S 3LL
+44 207 494 2021
http://www.petleys.co.uk/

Images like this probably attracted me to photography. Images that did not have the usual friends and family that we took but a different perspective of looking at things.

I guess there is a photograph waiting to be taken everywhere you look

A large hoarding near Harlem Centrum in Netherlands advertising a photo processing lab in Netherlands

• Place: Harlem, Netherlands
• Date: 30 August 2004
• Camera: Sony CyberShot DSC P-72
• Focal Length: 6.0 mm
• Aperture: f/5.6
• Exposure Time: 1/160
• ISO: 100

Here is my lovely mum and dad in 1976 on New Years Eve. I just submitted the photo to My Parents Were Awesome. I really hope they post it! Deb and Dave would be so excited. I think…

I took these photos in the town of Franschhoek, near Cape Town.

Enlarge the Tub and Printed Circuit radio. See more of my gallery here.

Radio from around 1950s

Photographed by {platinum}

I took this original photo at Huntington Beach, but my friend Kim did
some cool stuff with the photo processing. Great job Kim!

– License

Will you regret the things you are doing now when you grow old?

The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the grey head.

Proverbs 20:29 King James Version, The Bible

Our latest addition to the iTunes App Store, MonoPhix Monochrome App for iPhone is getting an update within the next weeks. It’s the first of the -Phix apps that will be updated to version v2.0. But MonoPhix carries this tag with pride bringing a total of 15 changes and new features.

In MonoPhix 2.0, iphoneographers will be able to control the output of their Monochrome pictures completely. Where other apps only enable you to change the contrast settings, MonoPhix v2.0 will enable you to set highlights and shadow intensity. In this way you can make simple grayscale images with incredibly bright clear parts or adjust the sliders to make beautiful Monochrome images of pictures taken in all conditions. All changes can be previewed using a thumbnail.

Another major change is the absence of the Hard Mono and normal Grayscale features, these can now be accomplished by setting the slider in the right position with or without a little help from 4 preset settings. The missing buttons have been replaced by buttons to enable Sepia and Antique filters using the same depth and sliders which you use to make monochrome images.

Other changes include a significantly smaller filesize, a more logical save dialog and faster Monochrome filters provided by a major upgrade to the MonoCore engine.

But pictures say more than 1000 words (here are some pictures edited with MonoPhix v2.0 Release Candidate 1) :

MonoPhix v2.0 Monochrome example

Another MonoPhix Monochrome example - "Light at the end of the tunnel"

MonoPhix v2.0 Sepia example - Antique Fields

Another Sepia example which shows the right grain balance - Scratched Snow

Final example : Sepia - Monaco Train Station

Screenshots will be posted at release, MonoPhix v2.0 will be submitted to the App Store when all Beta testers approve of its quality.

Amen!

SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER=YOUTUBE

Schenken Sie sich doch mal das ganze Hick Hack

Nehmen Sie’s wörtlich oder eben….bildlich. Schenken Sie es sich. Oder anderen. In jedem Sinne.

Privat, beruflich, professionell.

Mancher hat mehr oder weniger damit zu tun. Tagtäglich. Und in diversen Farbspektren.

Die Idee

zu dem vierteiligen Bilderzyklus, der Serie und ihren Einzel- und einzeln erhältlichen Motiven entstand, als ich zufällig vor ein paar Jahren den Begriff sogar im Duden entdeckte. Man findet ihn nicht nur da, sondern in jedem Fremdsprachenwörterbuch, das hier im Office steht. Les bisbilles, les chamailleries …….im Französischen. Squabbling …im Englischen. Discusiones oder disputas …im Spanischen. Seltsamerweise kein Pendant im Italienischen. Humorvoll könnte man mit Augenzwinkern sagen, da gehöre es zum Temperament. Hitziger zu diskutieren.  Und man landet dann auch im Italienischen bei disputa, le dispute. Disput……trifft aber nicht so ganz die Bedeutung des Hickhacks. Das ja immer ein wenig den Beiklang, die Tonfarbe, die verschiedenen Farben des “Streits um Nichts” birgt.

Oder wie der Duden es ausdrückt: Hickhack… eine Doppelung, verdoppelnde Wortbedeutung in Ableitung und  Anlehnung an hacken, wie bei Zickzack u.a. In der Bedeutung einer sinnlosen, nutzlosen Streiterei. Törichten, zermürbenden Hin- und – Her- Geredes.

Sie werden nie jemanden finden, der bei auch nur einem Streit frisch von der Leber weg fröhlich zugeben wird, er streite um Nichts. In jedem Streit geht es um was. Nicht immer um das, was in einer Klageschrift bezeichnet ist. Nicht um den Betrag. Nicht um den Gegenstand. Auch. Auch vielleicht um diese. Aber immer auch, wenn nicht sogar oft genug um etwas ganz anderes. Um enttäuschtes Vertrauen, um Wiederherstellung dessen, was als gerecht, als richtig empfunden wird, wieder empfunden werden kann erst dann, wenn es nicht nur richtig, sondern auch gerichtet ist. Gerichtet, wie man ein defektes Holzregal richtet. Gerichtet, wie man die Wiederherstellung der Waage versteht, die aus der Balance geraten ist. So wie die Vertrags- oder persönliche Beziehung zwischen Parteien und Beteiligten an eben diesem Hickhack.Das aus der Balance gerät, sobald einer sich nicht an das hält, was versprochen wurde, worauf man zählen wollte. Und feststellen musste, dass man sich verrechnet hat, auch bei dem, worauf und auf wen man zählen könnte. Vielleicht nicht beim ersten Mal, wenn die Waage, die Ausgewogenheit kippt. Im Augenmaß des einen, nicht immer beider. Und nicht immer in die gleiche Richtung einig, was und wieviel aus der Waage geraten ist.

“Es geht mir nicht um den Betrag.”

“Es geht mir nicht um den Schmuck.”

“Es geht mir nicht um den Unterhalt…sondern um die Schäbigkeit, die Unehrlichkeit, …….anstatt einfach mit mir zu reden…… wenn es eben nicht mehr geht…..”

“An mir soll’s nicht liegen, sich zu vergleichen…sich zu einigen…. wenn……. “

Wenn…..

Anwälte kennen solche Sätze zur Genüge und fast immer wird in genau solchen Streitigkeiten am heftigsten und unnachgiebigsten gestritten.

Nicht nur im Familienrecht. Bis die Luft ausgeht, auch die im Portemonnaie. Bis zur Erschöpfung, ohne am Ende mehr als ein Stück Papier zu erreichen, in welchem der eine weniger muss, als der andere will oder einer mehr muss, als dem anderen je genügt. Wenn es um …ja, eben was ganz anderes geht. Das anders geklärt, gefiltert, bereinigt werden könnte. Und um das man sich das ganze Hickhack schenken könnte, das nur in vielen Farben für das steht, was enttäuscht, versagt, verwehrt wurde. Aus welchen Gründen auch immer. Begründeten, berechtigten, unbegründeten, unberechtigten, aus Missverständnis. Aus Nichtverstehen. Aus Nichtverstandenfühlen. Aus Nichtkommunizieren. Überall wo das Wort Hickhack im Bild und Hick hack in Auseinandersetzungen zu finden sind, findet sich auch jeder dieser Farben.

Deep Emotions

Blues

Hope

Melancholy

Ob aus mangelnder Vertrags-Treue. Aus strapazierter Hoffnung auf weitere Vertragsfortsetzung. Aus gescheiterter Vertrags- und langjähriger Geschäftsbeziehung. Von blau(äugig) bis loyalblau, von greenhorn-unerfahren bis immer(noch)grüner Hoffnung, von erfolgreich-abgeschlossen bis melancholisch-bedauernd sepia-nostalgisch-reflektierend. Nichts ist beständig. Nichts fix. Aber Reihenfolge und Phasen sind wandelbar. Und umkehrbar. Probieren Sie es einmal aus.

Hängen Sie doch einfach diese scheinbar immer gleich zyklische Entwicklung, die fast jeder im ersten Moment so sortiert, wenn er gebeten wird, sie aufzuhängen, einmal um. Ohne nachzudenken. Und lassen Sie es dann einfach mal wirken. Wenn Sie sich davor setzen. Oder stehen. Wechseln Sie die Reihenfolge. Um erneut wirken zu lassen. Fallen Ihnen jeweils dann verschiedene Menschen ein? Situationen? Privat? beruflich? Eigene? Die Ihere Klienten, Patienten, Mandanten, Verwandten? Freunde?

Und wenn Sie an konkrete Menschen (sich oder andere denken), wenn Sie die Bilder in einer bestimmten Reihenfolge vor sich haben: DANN bewegen Sie die Bilder erneut. Ganz nach augenblicklichem Empfinden. Denken. Von dem momentanen Denken zu dem, wie Sie es gern hätten. Wie es scheinbar unmöglich ist? Hängen Sie es dennoch um. Manchmal muss man etwas erst sehen, bevor man die Möglichkeiten – und auch ein bisher selbst ungern, nicht gern, gar nicht wahrgenommenes Wünschen sehen will. Eigenes. Das des anderen. Und……….. dass man manchmal nur Kleinigkeiten bewegen muss. Umhängen. Umdenken. Umschliessen. Und doch …eben nicht abgeschlossen. Nicht ohne Option zum WAND-eln.

Probieren Sie es mal. Advent ist ja bekanntlich gute Zeit für be-SINN-ungen und be-SINN-lichkeit. Über Veränderung. Hoffnung. Erwartung. Vorfreude. Friedlichere Zeiten. Um sich Hickhack zu schenken. So…..und so. Sehen Sie es  doch mal ….eben so.

Die Bilder dazu gibt es natürlich von mir. In Gross und Klein. Manchmal muss man ja nur eine einzige Grusskarte in Bewegung bringen, um Bewegung in eine Sache zu bringen….. Infos zu den Bildern und diversen Druckformaten, Rahmen etc beim Klick auf Link unter den Bildern oder auf die Bilder selbst.

Schenken Sie sich doch mal das ganze Hickhack… alle vier im Quartett. Und drehen Sie mal dran.  An  der Abfolge ihrer  Reihe. Bis zur Quadratur der……….. Sie wissen schon.Und mit etwas Flexibilität wird aus sinnlosem Hin und Her, zermürbendem Hick Hack doch eines, das manches in Bewegung bringt. Sinnvoll.

I had a little fun trying to mimic a photograph of my daughter’s great-great-grandmother Edith. We estimate this photo was taken in the 1890s. They are both wearing the same dress.

Edith at 6 months:

Cora at 5 1/2 months:

How did I do?

Second in my series of people photography!!  Now, I know I said that the Mexico series was done with, but, surprise!  More Puerto Morelos pics!  Were these strategically saved for this series or did I just forget to put them with the other series?  You’ll never know.  Anyhoo, its fun to photograph kids doing their kid-ly things.  They always seem so completely absorbed in what they are doing and bring such a fun, carefree-because-they-don’t-have-bills-to-pay  feeling to the photo.  I find that looking at pictures like this always makes me remember how much I liked to do (blank) when I was (blank) years old, long before medical school sort of owned my soul.   

So, this boy and girl were playing in the sand on the shore by the Puerto Morelos pier in Puerto Morelos, Mexico.  They are in front of the original lighthouse that was transformed into the Leaning Lighthouse of Puerto by Hurricane Wilma.  Since it’s more or less non-functional now, there is a new lighthouse a bit further back from the shore.  It is much taller and, personally, if I were a sailor, I’d be glad Wilma killed the old short lighthouse so that I could guide myself home with the more modern upgraded model.

The photo was taken with the Canon Powershot G7.  I used Adobe Photoshop CS3 to adjust the contrast a bit and to bring out the slightly sepia tones in the picture to help create a more nostalgic feel and to highlight the angle of the sun.

Mary Frey

620 // November 24, 2009

Estes Park, Colorado.