Mulgrave Circled
On taking my father to Port Mulgrave and discovering a Mulgrave theme
By 2011 I had started to visit Port Mulgrave more regularly and on this particular spring trip I took my father for a visit. We frequently went on trips together – me to photograph and he to find pictures to paint.
We walked down the steep path slowly and once we reached the bottom we headed for the huts initially as the tide was still mostly high. There was one particular hut I had already tried twice – I think I labelled it as the funky shed in my scan filename though how that helped distinguish it I have no idea. Most of the huts were funky. Anyway I set up again and finally made the main image – via an intermediate image that my dad captured me making with his Panasonic. You can see how I moved the composition to the left for the main image. I also used my Nikkor 120mm f/5.6 macro lens to make it easier to get closer to a lifesize composition.
I had learned from earlier attempts and positioned the circular-shaped bolt more strategically. As I paused and ate my squashed cheese spread and crisp sandwiches (perhaps you have to have grown up in the 1970s to appreciate that!) I meditated on how the repositioning of the circular bolt had made a much better image. I must have had the circular idea fixed in my mind because as I walked on to the beach I saw a circular concretion surrounded by red-coloured rock and decided to give that a go with the Linhof. I made the alternative image.
My dad used his Nikon camera to find a couple of scenes that he subsequently painted – pictures that I didn’t see until I photographed his art collection for a book in 2017-18. In the meantime without knowing it I had stumbled on one of the key themes of my Mulgrave work.
