View allAll Photos Tagged Ravilious,
In the last week of the holidays, we went up to Bristol to see the Ravilious exhibition at the Royal West of England Academy (RWA). We parked up in Clifton Village (I know the back roads quite well from when I lived there in the 1970s) and walked down. As we approached the Victoria Rooms, there were a few large spots of rain, which quickly turned into a heavy shower lasting about five minutes at most. We took shelter under the portico of the Victoria Rooms, and watched the rain, until it eased off.
(I always did like Al Stewart.)
Farmstock or Cockstock, a weekend camping and enjoying farm life (private event and location), Cheshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Boys only, surviving at camp in the depths of winter. Actually a wonderful weekend with great people, driving tractors, getting stuck, building fires, shootings guns and going to the toilet in the great outdoors. An annual farm based experience weekend for a select group of guys.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. October 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
The Rural Eye archive project was designed to give me the opportunity to engage with a very traditional documentary practice and to be able to get out and shoot as often as I could. With 2 shoots done at Leek Auctions, I realised that Market Drayton's own livestock auction was the same distance from home in the opposite direction, and so it seems a very logical next step to go there and move the project forward.
Arriving at Market Drayton Market, I had my usual walk around the whole site, something that I always do when possible to kind of feel the place out and get an idea of the function of the site. I then visited the office and spoke directly to Mark Jones, one of the auctioneers, just to explain what I am doing and why. Mark really understood the nature of the project and was happy for me to get on the camera out and do whatever I needed.
I have to say that I was immediately welcomed in a way that was surprising and heart warming. The farmers at this site were interested in what I was doing in a positive way, and while I was still often asked whether I was 'with animal rights or not', it was not a problem at all, in fact it just gave me that window of opportunity to talk to people and explain my motivations.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
The Bell Inn
10 St. James' St., Castle Hedingham, Halstead, Essex. CO9 3EJ
The Blue plaque is on Bank House,
Bank House, 11 St. James Street, CO9 3EN
"Essex County Council
Eric Ravilious
artist and designer lived here
1903-1942"
Friday, 28th March 2014, Castle Hedingham, Essex.
I watched a very moving YouTube video on James Ravilious. He loved to use uncoated camera optics for the way they tend to "open up the shadows" and help the hightlights create a "creamy" look. Thinking a bit about that, I decided to see how I might achieve that look using modern tools and techniques. These are just a rough draft. I'll print them out to some smooth Hanemulhe rag to see what they look like.
Farmstock or Cockstock, a weekend camping and enjoying farm life (private event and location), Cheshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Boys only, surviving at camp in the depths of winter. Actually a wonderful weekend with great people, driving tractors, getting stuck, building fires, shootings guns and going to the toilet in the great outdoors. An annual farm based experience weekend for a select group of guys.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Farmstock or Cockstock, a weekend camping and enjoying farm life (private event and location), Cheshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Boys only, surviving at camp in the depths of winter. Actually a wonderful weekend with great people, driving tractors, getting stuck, building fires, shootings guns and going to the toilet in the great outdoors. An annual farm based experience weekend for a select group of guys.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. October 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
The Rural Eye archive project was designed to give me the opportunity to engage with a very traditional documentary practice and to be able to get out and shoot as often as I could. With 2 shoots done at Leek Auctions, I realised that Market Drayton's own livestock auction was the same distance from home in the opposite direction, and so it seems a very logical next step to go there and move the project forward.
Arriving at Market Drayton Market, I had my usual walk around the whole site, something that I always do when possible to kind of feel the place out and get an idea of the function of the site. I then visited the office and spoke directly to Mark Jones, one of the auctioneers, just to explain what I am doing and why. Mark really understood the nature of the project and was happy for me to get on the camera out and do whatever I needed.
I have to say that I was immediately welcomed in a way that was surprising and heart warming. The farmers at this site were interested in what I was doing in a positive way, and while I was still often asked whether I was 'with animal rights or not', it was not a problem at all, in fact it just gave me that window of opportunity to talk to people and explain my motivations.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Farmstock or Cockstock, a weekend camping and enjoying farm life (private event and location), Cheshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Boys only, surviving at camp in the depths of winter. Actually a wonderful weekend with great people, driving tractors, getting stuck, building fires, shootings guns and going to the toilet in the great outdoors. An annual farm based experience weekend for a select group of guys.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. October 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
The Rural Eye archive project was designed to give me the opportunity to engage with a very traditional documentary practice and to be able to get out and shoot as often as I could. With 2 shoots done at Leek Auctions, I realised that Market Drayton's own livestock auction was the same distance from home in the opposite direction, and so it seems a very logical next step to go there and move the project forward.
Arriving at Market Drayton Market, I had my usual walk around the whole site, something that I always do when possible to kind of feel the place out and get an idea of the function of the site. I then visited the office and spoke directly to Mark Jones, one of the auctioneers, just to explain what I am doing and why. Mark really understood the nature of the project and was happy for me to get on the camera out and do whatever I needed.
I have to say that I was immediately welcomed in a way that was surprising and heart warming. The farmers at this site were interested in what I was doing in a positive way, and while I was still often asked whether I was 'with animal rights or not', it was not a problem at all, in fact it just gave me that window of opportunity to talk to people and explain my motivations.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Dairy Cottage Farm, Apedale, Staffordshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Dairy Cottage, despite the name, is a large beef farm which also produces feed (silage and haylage) for their own cattle and for sale to other local farms. With a mixture of modern and very old building as well as some antique farm machinery, this was a wonderful place to spend a day and the family really made me feel welcome and were happy to take part in The Rural Eye project.
The weather was very poor on this day and all the cattle were of course in for the winter, but I will be returning in the next season to photograph again and catch the farm under different conditions.
Many thanks to Tracey, Royston and Tom Pepper.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Farmstock or Cockstock, a weekend camping and enjoying farm life (private event and location), Cheshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Boys only, surviving at camp in the depths of winter. Actually a wonderful weekend with great people, driving tractors, getting stuck, building fires, shootings guns and going to the toilet in the great outdoors. An annual farm based experience weekend for a select group of guys.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Leek Livestock Auction, Leek, Staffordshire. October 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
My second shoot for The Rural Eye archive project, and the staff and customers at Leek were really getting used to my presence and the idea that I am 'on their side' so to speak.
I had a cuppa and a long chat with Bruce Daniel, one of the senior auctioneers about the work. Bruce told me about how Leek is the last livestock market in all of Staffordshire, as my research had suggested. In fact there used by many, one every 12 miles at least, ensuring that no farmer had to walk his cattle more than 6 miles to market. There was a livestock auction in my own town of Newcastle-under-Lyme until 1994, but in the last few decades they have closed with farmers now having to drive their cattle to Leek or other auctions over the county borders.
Today I found myself really engaged with the animals, especially the sheep who are fascinated by the camera pointing at them. I do find something rather surreal about the sheep, of course their situation of being sold for food or breeding is something they are unaware of, but they always carry a worried look that as a human I can't help but translate anthropomorphically. As an ardent meat eater, I feel that I am gaining an understanding of the industry that feeds me, and I am not seeing anything negative at all, just people doing their best to raise their herds and flocks, to try and make a living in a hard and tough industry and economic climate.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Dairy Cottage Farm, Apedale, Staffordshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Dairy Cottage, despite the name, is a large beef farm which also produces feed (silage and haylage) for their own cattle and for sale to other local farms. With a mixture of modern and very old building as well as some antique farm machinery, this was a wonderful place to spend a day and the family really made me feel welcome and were happy to take part in The Rural Eye project.
The weather was very poor on this day and all the cattle were of course in for the winter, but I will be returning in the next season to photograph again and catch the farm under different conditions.
Many thanks to Tracey, Royston and Tom Pepper.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Went to visit the parents and had an afternoon to myself to walk a section of the fantastic North Devon coastline, completely different to home in Sussex.
It's very much Ravilious country with the Atlantic Ocean right ahead.
Farmstock or Cockstock, a weekend camping and enjoying farm life (private event and location), Cheshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Boys only, surviving at camp in the depths of winter. Actually a wonderful weekend with great people, driving tractors, getting stuck, building fires, shootings guns and going to the toilet in the great outdoors. An annual farm based experience weekend for a select group of guys.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Farmstock or Cockstock, a weekend camping and enjoying farm life (private event and location), Cheshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Boys only, surviving at camp in the depths of winter. Actually a wonderful weekend with great people, driving tractors, getting stuck, building fires, shootings guns and going to the toilet in the great outdoors. An annual farm based experience weekend for a select group of guys.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Morecambe Bay Shrimps on Toast in the Ravilious Rotunda Bar of the Midland Hotel, Morecambe, UK - so named after the artist Eric Ravilious, whose murals (now lost) originally decorated the bar's interior walls.
Designed in Streamline Moderne style by architect Oliver Hill, with sculptures by Eric Gill, the hotel was built by the London Midland & Scottish Railway and opened in 1933. It finally closed in 1998 and lay derelict until it was restored in 2006-2008 and reopened as a hotel again.
The English Winter Fair 2012, Staffordshire County Showground, Stafford, Staffordshire. 18th November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Simon Wragg, press officer for The English Winter Fair, supplied me with a press pass for this event and I am very grateful to him for that.
This was a huge event including the tasting of cooked food, a carcass hang, all manner of cattle and a huge show ring where animals were presented at their best for prizes. I had never been to such an event before and it was great to see many familiar faces there, people I have met at Leek and Market Drayton livestock auctions on previous shoots. While I was aware of the 'showing' of cattle, in a similar vein to a dog show really, I was still surprised to see young people brushing and even blow-drying their prize cattle, spraying them with glitter and taking a real pride in their animals.
This was a coming together of hundreds of local producers, as well as some farmers from around the country, even from Scotland. There was a festival atmosphere and again the social aspect was very evident. I am now going to pursue more such events for the archive, including ones in Shropshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and possibly even further afield if the opportunity presents.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Farmstock or Cockstock, a weekend camping and enjoying farm life (private event and location), Cheshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Boys only, surviving at camp in the depths of winter. Actually a wonderful weekend with great people, driving tractors, getting stuck, building fires, shootings guns and going to the toilet in the great outdoors. An annual farm based experience weekend for a select group of guys.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Grin Low Road, Nr Buxton, Derbyshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A snowy wander around The Roaches in the Peak District, trying to find sheep farms and show the harshness of farming life in winter. The weather prevented me from getting very deep into the hills, but the landscape was beautiful and the sheep I found were certainly interested in me, presumably hoping I had some treats.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Leek Livestock Auction, Leek, Staffordshire. October 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
My second shoot for The Rural Eye archive project, and the staff and customers at Leek were really getting used to my presence and the idea that I am 'on their side' so to speak.
I had a cuppa and a long chat with Bruce Daniel, one of the senior auctioneers about the work. Bruce told me about how Leek is the last livestock market in all of Staffordshire, as my research had suggested. In fact there used by many, one every 12 miles at least, ensuring that no farmer had to walk his cattle more than 6 miles to market. There was a livestock auction in my own town of Newcastle-under-Lyme until 1994, but in the last few decades they have closed with farmers now having to drive their cattle to Leek or other auctions over the county borders.
Today I found myself really engaged with the animals, especially the sheep who are fascinated by the camera pointing at them. I do find something rather surreal about the sheep, of course their situation of being sold for food or breeding is something they are unaware of, but they always carry a worried look that as a human I can't help but translate anthropomorphically. As an ardent meat eater, I feel that I am gaining an understanding of the industry that feeds me, and I am not seeing anything negative at all, just people doing their best to raise their herds and flocks, to try and make a living in a hard and tough industry and economic climate.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
A53, Nr Buxton, Derbyshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A snowy wander around The Roaches in the Peak District, trying to find sheep farms and show the harshness of farming life in winter. The weather prevented me from getting very deep into the hills, but the landscape was beautiful and the sheep I found were certainly interested in me, presumably hoping I had some treats.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Farmstock or Cockstock, a weekend camping and enjoying farm life (private event and location), Cheshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Boys only, surviving at camp in the depths of winter. Actually a wonderful weekend with great people, driving tractors, getting stuck, building fires, shootings guns and going to the toilet in the great outdoors. An annual farm based experience weekend for a select group of guys.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Market Drayton Livestock Auction, Shropshire. November 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
A second, and really engaging visit to Market Drayton livestock auction. Being the second week in a row, I've now been seen or spoken to by a large percentage of their regular customers which is helping to spread the word about what I'm doing and why. The staff at Market Drayton have been wonderful and today they were asking me what I want to photograph, answering my questions about local farmers, goat farms, events and more, even coming up to me to let me know there's someone I should meet.
Today was very much about the people, with me asking to make formalised portraits of those I talked to or found visually interesting. These are such a stoic and friendly group of people who I am gaining a huge respect for through this project.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
I was inspired by a painting by Eric Ravilious to photography the Uffington White Horse. I tried many view points but could not replicate his painting or even find a location where you could see the White Horse as clearly. Obviously he used "artistic license"! This is the best I could do - in case you can't see it the White Horse is on the top of the hill. Thoughts on improving the image gratefully received.
Farmstock or Cockstock, a weekend camping and enjoying farm life (private event and location), Cheshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Boys only, surviving at camp in the depths of winter. Actually a wonderful weekend with great people, driving tractors, getting stuck, building fires, shootings guns and going to the toilet in the great outdoors. An annual farm based experience weekend for a select group of guys.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Leek Livestock Auction, Leek, Staffordshire. October 2012.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
My second shoot for The Rural Eye archive project, and the staff and customers at Leek were really getting used to my presence and the idea that I am 'on their side' so to speak.
I had a cuppa and a long chat with Bruce Daniel, one of the senior auctioneers about the work. Bruce told me about how Leek is the last livestock market in all of Staffordshire, as my research had suggested. In fact there used by many, one every 12 miles at least, ensuring that no farmer had to walk his cattle more than 6 miles to market. There was a livestock auction in my own town of Newcastle-under-Lyme until 1994, but in the last few decades they have closed with farmers now having to drive their cattle to Leek or other auctions over the county borders.
Today I found myself really engaged with the animals, especially the sheep who are fascinated by the camera pointing at them. I do find something rather surreal about the sheep, of course their situation of being sold for food or breeding is something they are unaware of, but they always carry a worried look that as a human I can't help but translate anthropomorphically. As an ardent meat eater, I feel that I am gaining an understanding of the industry that feeds me, and I am not seeing anything negative at all, just people doing their best to raise their herds and flocks, to try and make a living in a hard and tough industry and economic climate.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...
Farmstock or Cockstock, a weekend camping and enjoying farm life (private event and location), Cheshire. January 2013.
Photograph by Lee William Hughes © The Rural Eye.
Boys only, surviving at camp in the depths of winter. Actually a wonderful weekend with great people, driving tractors, getting stuck, building fires, shootings guns and going to the toilet in the great outdoors. An annual farm based experience weekend for a select group of guys.
To purchase prints, please click the link below and then select 'The Rural Eye Archive' folder...