Old Hay in Photographs

 There's a talk at St. Mary's on Wednesday 5th November at 7pm.

Tim Pugh will be giving a slide show of Old Hay in Photographs.

It should be a fascinating evening.

Tickets are £5, in aid of St Mary's Church, and the St Mary's bar will be open. 

Simo in Gaza

 There was a stall on the market on Thursday selling booklets of photographs in aid of a family in Gaza.  There were two volumes - the first shows what Gaza looked like in 2023, and the second shows the devastation since October 2023.

There's a short introduction to the first volume, explaining why Simo (Salama Al-Lada) made the booklet.  He says it is to tell the truth about the blockade of Gaza by Israel, that was tightened up when he was seven years old.  He grew up with Israeli checkpoints opening and closing at arbitrary times, meaning (for instance) that patients were unable to get to hospitals for treatment, and with Israel controlling all goods that went into Gaza.  

One of the pictures shows the fence that surrounds Gaza, with the Israeli army on one side and Palestinian protesters on the other.  "Do you notice the difference?" he asks in the caption.  "The difference is the Palestinian's fighting with his voice and the Israeli is fighting with weapons, artillery and tanks."

This is the background to the terrible events of October 7th, 2023, as shown through the photos of an ordinary young man living in Gaza.  He, and others like him, were trying to get information out to the rest of the world about what living in Gaza was like and why they wanted it to change.

I didn't get the second volume (but I will if the stall comes back), but that shows how life changed for everyone in Gaza after October 7th. 

Wildlife Calendar

 Stewart Roberts, who often posts wildlife pictures on the Hay pages on Facebook, has some of his wildlife calendars in the Red Cross shop at the moment for sale to raise money for the Red Cross.  They're £10 each (and they'd make a nice Christmas present!).

Exhibitions at the Castle

 Yesterday I went up to the Castle to have a look at the new exhibitions.

There are three of them.

On the first floor, around the printing press, there are delicate pastel prints by Sue Hunt, done while she was on a residency in Osaka, Japan, at cherry blossom time.

Upstairs again, there's The Humble Mug - hand crafted mugs from a variety of potters, and all for sale.

Then in the art exhibition space is Dark Skies.  The room has been kept very dark, apart from illumination for the photographs, most of which are of the night sky, taken by Judy Goldhill.  There's also a recording playing in the background of ambient noises on the Brecon Beacons during a star gazing session.  Not all the pictures are local, though - one is of the Milky Way above Namibia.  I spent quite a bit of time in there - I like stars.

The exhibitions are all free, but you need to buy a ticket for the Castle to get to them.  They run until 7th January.

As a local, I can get a special discount ticket for £3, which lasts for three years!  I hadn't got round to doing it before, but I did it yesterday.  Unfortunately, they had run out of the passes temporarily, so I'll have to go back to pick mine up.  In the meantime, all the details were recorded with the highest technology - written in a school exercise book!

Outside on the Castle lawn were the tents for the Winter Festival, so I also slipped in there to look at the Festival bookshop, and came away with Sacred Britannia by Miranda Aldhouse-Green, who I was seeing later that afternoon.  She was talking about Welsh legends, but this book is about the gods and rituals of Roman Britain.

Events at the Castle

 Three exhibitions are opening at the Castle on 24th November, just as Hay Winter Festival starts.  

The Humble Mug brings 150 mugs together from a variety of potters.

Dark Skies is a photography exhibition by artist Judy Goldhill.

And Reflections is a range of etchings made by artist Sue Hunt, when she was in Osaka, Japan for cherry blossom time.

Then on Saturday 2nd December at 7.30pm, Maritimum Wind will be playing Christmas music, with mulled wine and mince pies.  The concert costs £12, or £5 for a child, and 10% of the ticket price will be going to Shelter Cymru.

And on Saturday 9th December, it's the Hay Christmas Fayre, with 30 stalls in the Castle and the rest in the Memorial Square and surrounding areas.  There'll be over 100 traders altogether, with mulled wine, street food, carols - and a reindeer!  The perfect time to get those last minute Christmas presents!

Icons of Hay

 Tails of Wales has a new project - they're photographing local people in Hay with black and white photography for a new book.  If anyone would like to be involved, the details are on their website at https://www.tailsofwalesdogphotography.com/iconsofhay

They've got quite a few already, up on their Facebook page, including Kelvyn Jenkins and The Herefordshire Piper.

New Local Business

 

Tails of Wales have been around for a while - they've had a stall on the market selling their photos - but now they have a permanent studio above the British Legion.  Their speciality is dog portraits.

Having My Photo Taken

 Botany and Other Stories are putting together a book in which they ask 100 people what their favourite flower is, and why.  Each person is asked to write 150 words, and the book is going to be illustrated with photos of the contributors.

So I was asked to contribute, and I wrote 150 words about snowdrops, and my memories of coming to Hay for the first time, and seeing snowdrops growing all down Cusop Dingle.

Last week, I met Patrick Dodds, the photographer for the project, half way up Cusop Dingle, to have my picture taken.  I'd got there a little bit early to find a place I might want the picture to be taken, and decided on the bridge over the stream where my second-favourite waterfall of that stretch is.  My favourite waterfall is just below Lower House, but you'd have to lean over the fence to get it into a picture!  So we started off there.

Patrick had seen a crab apple tree in bloom in the grounds of Lower House (a public footpath runs through their garden), so we went off to have a look at that.  Sadly, the blossoms had finished, but we did find a rather picturesque field gate opening into a field full of buttercups, so he took a few more photos there.  

I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn out.  

Francoise from Botany and Other Stories had told me that he was very respectful as a photographer, and had been very patient with the young Ukranian girl he photographed for the book, on the Warren.  He was very good at putting me at my ease, and we had a lovely conversation, ranging from stories about working for Richard Booth to performances of Shakespeare we'd seen.  

As we walked back into Hay, we met Francoise and Pierre.  "Ah, you two know each other?" Francoise asked.

"We do now!" I said.

Passport Photo

 I went down to the Co-op to use their photo booth.

I think the last time I used a photo booth, it was in Woolworths - which shows how long ago it was.  I was even worried about whether I'd have the right change, but of course it's all contactless now.

So I waved my card at it.

Nothing happened.

I inserted the card.

Nothing happened.

I wandered over to a cashier, who summoned help for me.  Turns out you do the photos first, and pay at the end (Duh!).

It costs £9 for 5 photos.

The lovely young man pressed all the buttons for me, and then hung around outside the booth while I took the actual photos (you get three tries to get it right) - so he could point out to me where they came out while the machine was printing them.

Now all I have to do is fill the form in and send it off.

Local Events During Hay Festival

 The Hay Festival programme has come out online, and I've had a preliminary scroll through to see what looks interesting - one of the big names this year is Hilary Clinton.  I remember hanging around at the top of Backfold (is it really twenty years ago?!) waiting for Bill Clinton to arrive in Hay - he was horribly late!

Mostly, though I was looking for local interest, and it struck me quite forcibly just how musical people in Hay are.  Performing through the Festival are the Hay Shantymen, the Hay Community Choir, the Hay Climate Choir, the Hay Festival Chorus (made up of members of the Community Choir and others) and a new group focussing on Welsh music, Cantorion Y Gelli.

Also featured are local authors, illustrators and photographers.  Adele Nozedar and Lizzie Harper talk about Adele's new book The Tree Forager, which Lizzie illustrated.  Jenny Valentine is running a writers' workshop, and Billie Charity and John Bulmer are talking about their books of local photography, created fifty years apart.  The Hay Writers Circle also has a spot to talk about new local writing.

There's also a talk about the interesting churches and chapels local to Hay, and The Poisonous Solicitor Walk, visiting sites related to Major Armstrong the Hay Poisoner (or was he?).

New Photographic Exhibition

 Thru The Lens has a new exhibition for the New Year.

It's called Golden Valley Faces, and is a selection of vintage photos of people who lived in the area over a hundred years ago.

Paintings and Photographs - Local Exhibitions

 John Clare is putting an exhibition of his paintings on at Tinto House, from Friday 23rd July, 11am to 5pm.  The exhibition ends on Friday 6th August.

Meanwhile at Thru The Lens, Billie Charity has an exhibition of her photographs on now.  She's been taking photos of people who sit on the bench opposite the Chemists, and has made a book of them.

Bus Pass and NHS Tests

 When I was sitting on the bus to Hereford, it occurred to me that I have just passed a Significant Birthday, so I am eligible for a bus pass!

I looked it up online when I got home.  Transport for Wales issues the bus passes, and there is a simple form to fill in.  You need your NI number - and a digital passport style photo.

That was the fun bit.  I already had a head and shoulders shot, but I was smiling, so that wouldn't do.

I transformed my bedroom into a photographic studio!  I had a blank wall behind me, and set up a big mirror to sit in front of.  I've taken photos of myself in various costumes before, and the first three or four are always rubbish, so I was expecting to do a bit of experimentation.  Eventually, I had the curtains closed, the main light on, and a lamp at each side to prevent shadowing.  I was also trying to take the photos without wearing my glasses.  I don't have terribly bad eyesight, but bad enough that details can be hard to make out.

However, I got what I considered to be a reasonable photo, and it was accepted when I submitted it on the form!  Now it should take 10 working days for the card to reach me.

Something else happened when I passed my Significant Birthday - I got a test kit from the NHS, to take a sample of my poo to see if I have bowel cancer.  I was quite impressed with the efficiency of it all - I sent off my little sample to a lab in Wales, and I've already had the letter back to say that I'm healthy.

Artistic Photography

 This is what it's come to - I'm fascinated by the lady taking artistic photos of puddles and lichen outside my front window (and trying to be inconspicuous so she won't be embarrassed by me watching her).

Nothing else interesting has happened today.

New Art Exhibition

 

Thru the Lens have got a new exhibition - My Shrinking World, by Geraldine Charity.

Some of her photos have been exhibited here before.  She takes photos of the things around her now she can no longer get out and about, showing that you don't have to go far to find interest and beauty.

New Exhibition at Thru the Lens

A new exhibition is opening at Thru the Lens, photographs related to the Covid-19 lockdown.

Sticks and Stones Photography Competition

Thru the Lens is holding a competition. They are looking for local landscape shots, and the theme is Sticks and Stones. Each entrant can enter five photos. The judges will be Paul Smith, who was a photography lecturer at the London College of Print, and Finn Beales, photographer. The closing date for entries is 24th February, and winners will be exhibited at Thru the Lens in March.
Entries should be sent by email to andra@thruthelens.photography and the competition is open to all ages.

Photographic Exhibitions

A new exhibition opens at Thru the Lens with a private viewing at 6pm today.
Men Open Up is a collection of photos collected together by Billie Charity, on the theme of men's mental health. It's in support of a charity called CALM, Campaign Against Living Miserably. The men in the photos are local, and Billie has also made use of the notes of Hereford-based psychotherapist and photographer Clive Oxford, who supplied notes about some of his clients, carefully made anonymous.
Also in the exhibition are the photos of Abergavenny-based photographer Glenn Dene, which are self-portraits he took while recovering from a breakdown.
London-based photographer Darren Russell has also provided pictures from a touring exhibition called "My Mate", which was motivated by the story of Billie Charity's brother Stan. Sadly, Stan took his own life three years ago, after living with mental illness.
So the exhibition has been put together in the hope that it will encourage men to talk about their mental health and seek therapy if they need it.

Meanwhile in Brecon, Richard Greatrex is also putting on an exhibition. This one begins on 29th January with a private viewing from 6.30pm, at Found Gallery on the Bulwark. The title of the exhibition is Cuba Noticed, and it is a part of the gallery's main exhibition Vibrant Finds in Winter. Richard Greatrex was a cinematographer for many years, with an impressive CV, and he uses that experience in his photography now.

Children's Photo Exhibition

I had time the other day to pop into Thru the Lens, the new photographic gallery. They've got an exhibition on at the moment by local children - the oldest are sixteen - and they are so good I feel like throwing my camera away!
One good idea they have is selling small polaroid pictures for £1 each, and they also have Christmas tree decorations for sale.

Small Business Saturday

The Drawing Room has been replaced by a new photographic gallery called Thru The Lens. They've opened their first show with a variety of local photographers - I met Billie Charity when I went in the other day. We had been told to go and look for the "blue Dalek" - which is a photo by Jasper Fforde, who is also a local writer (the Thursday Next series and other books).
For such a small space, there's a wide variety of images, including scenes of working class Liverpool, vintage photos of Wales, landscapes, a magazine of images by Richard Greatrex, and a collage of images by Geraldine Charity who is still taking creative photos despite being confined to bed.
They are generally open from Thursday to Saturday, but at this quiet time of the year sometimes they are closed on those days too. The present show runs until December 5th.
They have a website at www.thruthelens.photography which seems to be a work in progress at the moment.