Longhouse Bursary project

Dawn Pilot

Nautical Twilight is the next phase of dawn - starting with the sun 12 degrees below the horizon and spanning light conditions from being able to start to make out outlines of objects outside and getting lighter but not getting to the point of easily being able to work (or play sports!) outside. Sometimes referred to as 'the blue hour' by painters and photographers. Street lights are still on for this period.

On 9 December this phase was from 6:31am to 7:14am

We watched, drank tea, photographed, noted changes... the many shifts in the colour and lighting of the sky, shop lights coming on, traffic picking up. A dark cloud seemed to rest right across the horizon, but the breaks in this deep blue block framed the lightening sky dramatically. Photos below at the time of transition from Nautical Twilight to Civil Twilight.

Longhouse Bursary project

Dawn Pilot

Images: Shifting light and increasing illumination of the sky, photographs taken during the pilot dawn watching gathering, December 2010.

Click on an individual image for a close up.

Longhouse Bursary project

Dawn Pilot

Civil Twilight and Sunrise: On December 9th 2010, civil twilight started at 7:14am and ended at 7:54am with sunrise.

Civil twilight is the final phase of the dawn, with the sun now 6 degrees below the horizon. In this time the horizon becomes clearly visible, and ground objects progress to becoming visible too, and during this period there starts to be sufficient light to undertake activities outside, and street lights may be timed to switch off during this time.

We were surprised to see how much change took place after sunrise. The red glow on the horizon was just after sunrise - the time when the upper edge of sun becomes visible over the horizon - but this soon faded to a sky of greys, and then, around half an hour after this there arrived pinks, yellows, turquoise blue sky... the colours one typically associates with sunrise. Photos below taken at: 7:45am, 7:47am, 7:54am, 8:27am

Longhouse Bursary project

Shifting cloud cover at 7:30am during the period of Civil Twilight...

Applauding the Dawn

Here are some video clips from YouTube of a localised tradition, a spontaneous action that happens sometimes on Ipanema beach at sunset:






I'm interested in instigating a gathering to see the dawn, and to welcome it with applause.

What is the experience of rising to watch the daybreak? Of welcoming it - joining with others to give it applause even? I'm interested in the experience of stepping out of one's daily routine to contemplate a natural event in an urban setting, making a link to Romanticism and its focus on a sense of wonder at nature, but also - influenced by the applause on Ipanema beach - on a group action.

I'm now planning a publicly advertised gathering to watch the dawn through to sunrise - to take place in London.

Flowers for the Sea at ARTSIDE 2010

Photo credit: Priya Saujani



Flowers for the Sea was a public intervention on the beach at Southend-on-Sea.

The work:
Passers-by that approach an impromptu flower stall are invited to select a flower that they can take to the water's edge and - looking silently out to sea - think of their wish and simultaneously throw the flower into the waves. The work displaces a tradition from Brazil of offering flowers to the sea.

At ARTSIDE:
During the afternoon of 17 July 2010 over 100 participants received flowers which they individually threw into the waves. During it's progress, interest in the action spread around the area by word of mouth and attracted more participants.

The flowers washed up gradually along one stretch of beach.


Thanks:
To Derek's Florist for support and donation of flowers.
And Coexist Arts for organising the ARTSIDE programme, supported by Southend-on-Sea Town Centre Partnership.
And Priya Saujani for working with me on the stall.

Video montage produced by Michaela Freeman at Coexist Arts.
Archive of ARTSIDE 2010 programme

snap - a conceptual photography relay race

snap is a work in development

Responding the work of Doug Huebler, and the use of the camera by artists to automate image-making and bring in elements of chance.

Two competitors each receive a disposable camera and - within 24 minutes - take a set of 24 photos to most exactly replicate my photos of 24 arbitrarily selected buildings taken nearby. I immediately develop/print the films. The most accurate photographer of the pair wins; the new photos form the starting point for the next competitors.

‘snap’ functions on various levels. It emphasises lack of authorship – I do not make an aesthetic decision but randomly photograph 24 buildings in the surrounding area. The subject matter of buildings is arbitrary. Participants are more ‘camera operators’ than photographers; asked to re-enact the taking of photographs I started, which may mean copying those of another participant. In effect, the participants are asked to act out a live version of a reprint, with inevitable approximations.

The images produced in each round could be used to fabricate sets of 'snap' card games, where the pairs in the game are each a 'not quite' match due to the process used to create the duplicates.