Gommes Forge Reccy

This morning I visited Gommes Forge, about 2 miles outside of Princes Risborough. This was not a full shoot as production only happens Monday to Friday but an intro and reccy of the location. Met by Jed who with his dad Heorge were cutting fire wood in the rain I was quickly shown round the main areas of the Smithy. The family have always been blacksmiths, and can trace their ownership back to the mid nineteenth century. Now most of their work is wrought iron gates, fireside tools and aluminium castings of signs.  

The Workshop covers a good size space with an outside area our back where the casting is performed, the metal heated to 1000 degrees. However due to machinery and projects the space is limited even with a 50mm. The large workshop reduced in size in the viewfinder to that claustrophobic workshop of the silversmith last year. I will be visiting again and will be shooting with a wider lens, - 35mm or a 28 if I can get it. 

interior of Gonmes Forge

Collaboration: FInally Underway, update of Rethink

I've spoken this morning to a folk musician I know in Newcastle regarding BHP, when we discussed it a few weeks ago he was interested in being involved in the project, this morning I sent him lyrcs and sheet music to a folk song collected in 1906 by Cecil Sharp down in Somerset entitled The Stone Cutter's Boy.  He aims to have a recording done and sent back to me sometime in the coming week! He is also going to leave room for me to add some mandolin on top, and I am very much looking frward to seeing what he comes up with.  The music is to go alongside #5 of BHP: The Stonemason who I photographed a couple of weeks ago in Gloustershiure close to the Welsh boarder.  Cathrine was a real find as she explained herself it is very unusual to find female stonemasons but they are slowly coming more common.

The shoot went well with alot packed into a couple of hours: Leica with 50mm, Bessa with a 35mm and 3 rolls of Sunny 16 film.  I have not started editing the video yet due to finishing a commission first. 

Other musical input coming in from: Vaughan Bloomfield, a fiddle player I have worked with for a few years now, he will be playing The Farrier's Song, collected in 1890 to accompany BHP#2, and I have suggested to the band both Vaughan and I are in to do an arrangement of a drinking song that is also in the archives of the EFDSS housed at Cecil Sharp House to accompany BHP#4 The Brewer.

I will be taking a tune to do myself as well, perhaps for the silversmith...

Rethink: Successful stereoviews of fishing on the grand union - just need to scan, and in a couple of weeks there is a marathon being run along the canal path, I have contacted CRT about documenting it.  I have also contacted some boat owners I know about letting me join them for a few locks one weekend.

The BHP #3: Silversmith

Just back from an initial shoot with a local artisan silversmith. A wealth of information who creates beautiful work often combining silver and other materials such as glass or wood. Today whilst giving me a tour of his studio and his chicken, James Dougall worked on a copper practice piece for a pair of candlesticks.

He often works on copper to start with due to coat of material and to minimise wasted silver or gold. There appears to be lots of similarities to both other crafts I have documented already, as well other crafts such as ceramics and printmaking. 

I shot three rolls of colour today, working at 400iso..  50mm on Nikon and 35 on the Voigtlander rangefinder. I feel a good start to the project but I will need to revisit in the coming weeks perhaps to photograph progression of candlesticks

James' Chicken

Person at Work, shoot 3

This morning I finished the person at work assignment, again focusing on traditional hand crafts, a Sadler. Today she was focusing on some hand stitching of leather for a bridle, using tools that once belonged to the royal sadle maker. To start with I wasn't sure what I was going to get, I have not grown up in an environment where the use of horses is everyday, I know many who own or ride horses but that knowledge is not instinctive to me. The workshop is a good size, similar in size to the forge of the farriers that I photographed a couple of weeks ago. It houses two work benches equipped with selections of threads, knives, braddles, hammers and a pot of die sitting on top of the small stove.  

We talk through the process explaining the use of the tools and the fact that they are no longer made (Dixons Tools going out of business as the leading producer) while BBC One plays in the background; Saturday Morning Kitchen. Perhaps the most unusual tool in use is a type of wooden vice called a 'Clam', shaped like a giant pair of tweezers where one end sits on the floor between the feet, the other holds the leather tight allowing both hands free to hand stitch the leather into a loop around the buckle. This I would imagine would be how handmade belts are stitched too.

I will be returning at some point in the future, her brother has a pottery workshop next door, his work is stunning and is more than happy to be a part of the BHP  

Back with the Loom

Another busy week, the moving house is inally over, just unpacking to do, film from the farrier all scanned ready for next weeks group tutorial and contact sheets done in the darkroom too. 

Farrier contact sheets

Today (after giving back the keys to the old flat) I returned to Freya Jones, today was much more successful where I shot 2 and a half rolls of Fomapan 400 in the Voigtlander as well as a couple of shots on the digital.  It's an interesting challenge, the shift from the intensity of a farrier's forge, to the spinning wheel such as today. One is the process of intensity and speed, the other is a much more sedate slow craft where spinning enough yarn for a jumper would at best take about 2 days.  

I do however like the links between all sections of the BHP so far, the dry stone walls repaired are on the canal network used for the textile mills in the north, these canals used to see boats pulled by horses that need to be shod, transporting the materials needed at the spinning wheels and looms at the textile mills in Rochdale and Todmorden. 

Tomorrow I drive northwards to document an Alpaca farmer. I will still take film, but I feel this one at least for now will be shot digitally. 

Person at Work, Shoot two

After the success of Saturday (Just finished scanning in the 5 rolls of film) on Sunday saw me following a recommendation to a local weaver who has just set up her own business of demonstrating, teaching, as well as sales of looms and her own hand died yarns.  Freya Jones when I spoke to her about the project was more than happy to get involved and very excited bout the concept of BHP, this however had a negative effect as she was very keen to show and explain the entire history of weaving making it very difficult to get the photographs I hope for, there are some I think on a film yet to be processed but for now this was not the success I had hoped for.  My plan is for a second visit where now that she has explained everything will hopefully allow me to be the observer I intend.

She also passed on some other unusual artisan crafts and those who practice them in the local area, giving me more scope to work with.  I have some others to chase up that should be good examples for the coming week, or so I hope.

A good creative day: Person at Work, shoot one.

The forge was hot, the banter amusing to the crude, yet always the focus was on the work.  

My approach ws to shoot film, it was advised against at briefing but I needed this to be a success and something that could be used for the BHP. Fuji Neopan 400CN (C41) was my film stock, loaded into the Nikon F80 with a 35mm F2, and a Voigtlander Bessa R with a 50mm F2. The goal was to shoot mainly with the Nikon till it rewinds, shoot the bessa and go back to the Nikon with fresh film.

Today's setup

Today was a good day. After the late night drive back from Brighton (that last half mile was hard!) it was an early start to be at the Farriers.  This was a stroke of luck, when I phoned round farriers in the week, my second call was to James, instead of going on call with him, I was invited to his forge on the farm where 4 farriers from around the country (Bristol, Forest of Dean, Yorkshire and local)  were meeting to practice for a farrier competition at the end of the month.  Working in pairs they would have hour and a half to shoe half a horse and make a shoe to represent an example given, before passing over to the other half of the team to do the same. The modern farrier works often with pre made shoes, and adapt them to fit on site using a small kiln in the van and a grinding wheel, but not here, for this competition is is the true tradition, taking cast iron rods and turning them into shoes to fit (in this case) a Masters horse for the hunt.  

This of course didn't work, as soon as I started shooting, perhaps helped by the intense heat of the furnace, the batteries in the Bessa promptly died meaning I had to use educated guesses, ocationally double checking against the Nikon for exposure.

I was expecting to stay late at work this coming week to process but I couldn't wait, especially with some of the compositions of the shoeing of the horse, and my hope of a shot where sparks of iron come towards the camera. Instead I risked the high street lab, snappy snaps, process only, one hour is £3.99 per roll, results seem ok but some will need a rewash and looks like the bleach is mixed too strong in the machine.  I will start scanning tomorrow, after hopefully shoot number two for this assignment.

The forge