Crazy about Cathedrals

We in Norwich have a very fine Cathedral. You can see the spire from almost anywhere in the city.

The cathedral is one of my favourite places to photograph, you can never tire of it's beauty and majesty at any time of year. Viewed from any angle it inspires awe and wonder.

Up on high the famous Norwich Cathedral peregrines soar. In the grounds stand the fine statues of national heroes Nelson and Wellington and just outside the cathedral walls on Tombland you will find  the wonderful Edith Cavell.

I am sure that all residents that live in a city are proud of their beautiful cathedrals but I feel sure that we have the best here in Norwich...

Here is a link to FineArtAmerica where you can see all sorts of cathedrals across the globe. Click the link to see which you like best from the artwork and photography featured here.

<a href="http://fineartamerica.com/art/all/cathedral/all" style="font: 10pt arial; text-decoration: underline;">cathedral art</a>

Find out more about the cathedral's history and architecture here: http://www.cathedral.org.uk

Oops a long time..

It has been a long time since I last blogged.. sounds like a confession doesn't it?

Well the truth is, it is always the last thing on my mind as life is typically busy with lots of well.. stuff!

You know, the every day survival stuff, the creative stuff, the administration stuff, the Christmas stuff and now the new year stuff.

I miss writing and this year I hope to do more.  Not only blogging but other writing too, more serious stuff.  Well as serious as I ever get.

Anyway, this blog is supposed to be about my photography and there has been a lot of that going on.  Winter is no excuse to stay indoors and I have plenty of warm clothing so I really have no excuse at all.

My most recent foray was led by a desire to photograph Norwich Castle in the snow.  Well a couple of weeks ago I looked out the window and these lovely big flakes were falling and actually settling.  Yay, that's it!  I grabbed my camera, a hat, coat and warm boots and off I rushed to the city.  But of course, when I arrived, no snow to be seen.

It was freezing but undeterred I thought I'll just wander about the city and take a few street shots as it would be a bad thing to waste (an expensive) car park fee and time.  So that is what I did, and here are the results.

If you see images here you like enough to want to hang on your wall somewhere, check out my websites http://sally-lloyd.artistwebsites.com and http://www.photo4me.com/profile/myriadlifephotoart to find them in varying formats including canvas, framed, metal etc.

You can buy my photo prints mounted on wood via https://folksy.com/search/items?t=items&q=myriadlifephotoart&commit=Search

I sell through a number of retail outlets across Norfolk too including The Handcrafted Co in Blakeney, Coastal Life Gallery in New St Holt, Norwich Gift Emporium in Lower Goat Lane and at the Norwich Castle museum plus the Mermaid's Purse in Holt.

More venues coming soon... and hopefully more blogging...

Sailing into new friendships..via Twitter

I love Twitter.  Over the past few years, Twitter has introduced me to people I almost certainly would not have met otherwise.  And from my experience, tweeters turn out to be such great people.

Talking online gives pretty much an immediate connection when you meet in 'real' life and does away with all that awkwardness of finding out basic details about each other.

This weekend just gone for instance, I noticed that a fellow tweeter, someone whom I converse with occasionally and share the odd joke was going to be sailing on the Norfolk Broads.  I love boats and thought it would be an ideal opportunity to go watch some exciting racing action and capture some images too.  So I asked him where would be a good location to watch from.

My Twitter buddy invited me to his club, and made my family and I feel very welcome.  We had a great time - the sail boats were beautiful, the scenery wonderful and the people friendly.  I felt so lucky!  Plus it turned out that in 'real' life, he was even more fun and good humored than I'd picked up in our brief tweet exchanges.

Here are the images I took.  One I loved so much I made it into an A4 photo block.  Which is your favourite and let's see if I chose the right one...

If you would like to see more of my photo blocks check out my Etsy store MyriadLifePhotoArt

Like my Facebook page to get regular updates on events I attend, shops I supply and my latest images.  I photograph local scenery, horses, wildlife, nature and more so pop in and take a peek!

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Moody Great Yarmouth - a brief history of my visits..

On Saturday I decided to go to Great Yarmouth, mainly because I haven't been there for many years.

Most of my pictures are of the north Norfolk coast and a visit to the east coast was well overdue.

My memories of Yarmouth involve going there as a teenager with my best friend, we caught the bus from Cambridge.  It was a miserable day, mainly we darted between pubs, got soaked in the rain and dried out in the rather luxurious toilets of a hotel (can't remember which one) and then endured a very uncomfortable bus ride home.  Well it seemed a good idea at the time..

Years later I took my young niece there, this time we caught the train from Norwich on a blazing hot day.  She loved the amusements but the trampolines on the seafront brought her the most joy.  A little too much joy in fact and I think I had to bribe her with an ice cream to persuade her off them or we'd have missed the train home.

Another long stretch passed before I returned to go to the races.  We lunched beforehand in a restaurant that had not changed decor since the 1950s and the menu hadn't changed either. It was a novelty, unexpected vintage dining.

This trip was more of an exploration of the town, the market and finally the seafront.  The day transformed from very warm to very cold in only a few hours.  The bright sky took on a moody stance and became a photographer's dream.   In the distance it looked as if there were but a few inches between the black forbidding heavens and the calm sea.

The rain held off although it looked as if the clouds would burst at any moment.  I felt grateful to the stormy sky for holding out until I made it safely back to the car, having satisfactorily caught a few shots...

A collection of my photographs are available to buy at Etsy

MyriadLifePhotoArt

and here is my Facebook page

MyriadLifePhotoArt at Facebook

To the Castle..

The fine city of Norwich boasts a very fine castle, beautifully preserved through the ages it stands square, handsome and proud atop a hill close to the city centre.  It would be difficult for you to visit Norwich and miss it!

The castle was built by the Normans 900 years ago as a royal palace.  If only it could speak of all that it has seen through the ages, but then it does in its own way.

From palace to prison and now museum and art gallery this magnificent landmark is full of stories.

You can read an in-depth history here.  Norwich Castle History

My own history with Norwich Castle is but a pinprick in the annals of time.  I first visited over 20 years ago.  It was a great place to take visiting children who loved the dungeons, battlements and exhibits.  A place to let their imaginations (and mine) run wild.  Now those children are grown up I usually visit on my own to take in new exhibitions or look for ideas for my writing.

You can see for miles across the cityscape from the castle and spot plenty of other landmarks such as City Hall, the market, the cathedral, and the old gaol.  It's a place to take in just how wonderful and historic Norwich is, to absorb all that it has gone through including the bombing in the last world wars, rebuilding,  its growth and continued vibrancy.

So I am of course delighted that a collection of my photographs mounted on beech wood blocks has been selected to show at the Castle Museum shop, in time to coincide with the John Wonnacott and John Lessore exhibition - two renowned artists who have taught in Norwich and whose work is much celebrated and admired.  

It's an honour to be a part of the castle's history in my own very small way.  I hope you like my images.

You can see more details and dates of the exhibition here John Wonnacott and John Lessore: the Life Room and the City

Here is one of my images available via the Castle Museum Shop 

If you would like to see more of my work please visit my online Etsy Store 

MyriadLifePhotoArt

also you can visit my Facebook page here MyriadLifePhotoArt at Facebook  and follow me on Twitter @MyriadPhoto 

In love with a fine city..

Ok it's an overused term here perhaps but Norwich is a really fine city: historic, cultured, vibrant and increasingly diverse, not to mention beautiful, very beautiful.

Shall I count the ways I fell in love with Norwich when I moved here over er hem 20 years ago?  Oh go on, you've persuaded me.

It all started driving up Newmarket Road.  As a young child I would roll around in the back of my Dad's humungous Volvo clutching a Pippa doll (yes I'm really old), looking out for a metal bird thing on top of one of the rooftops.  Something we always looked out for.  It wasn't so much what it was (because I can't remember exactly) but it heralded the excitement of arriving in this mysterious city.  Well it was mysterious to me because my main shopping experiences had been limited to Cambridge and the likes of Saffron Walden thus far.

Fascinating buildings towered over us, the streets were wide and thronging with people who for the most part spoke in indecipherable accents using words I'd not heard before such as 'mizzling, boards, bishee barnabees etc.'  All very alluring as a child and still strangely enough, alluring all these years later.

Then as a teenager I explored the broads via boat, accompanied by my slightly older cousin who was better versed in the way of boys than me.  Atop of Ranworth church tower we spotted a couple who quite obviously had followed us and now were waving like excited ants a death drop away.  Hastily we negotiated the stony steps only to find two handsome boys willing to whisk us off to a local disco. There my first love began, albeit brief.  So Norfolk was where I shared my first proper kiss.

Late teens saw me traveling up on the bus to see my cousin who ended up at UEA.  We'd scoff burgers in Captain Americas, wander around Earlham Park and trek round the pubs taking in all the fun we could manage in the short weekends.

Then later, in my twenties when deciding on a good place to live, it seemed a no brainer to me:  stunning beaches, an exciting city and memories of romance sold Norwich to me without even having to try.

So now I try to pay homage to this fine city for all that it has given me by writing about its charms and photographing them too.

Norwich, I have loved you, I love you and I will always love you.  Gush over... well for now.

I am in the process of creating a collection of colorful photographs of Norwich mounted on wood to be sold via my Etsy & Folksy stores and you will also find them at the wonderful Norwich Gift Emporium very soon...

Follow me on Twitter @MyriadPhoto, Facebook: MyriadLifePhotoArt and Google+

Right under my nose

Photography has you constantly looking for the perfect scene or subject.  I spend a lot of time gazing at cloudscapes across the huge Norfolk skies or seeking perfect water reflections as boats sail by, or waiting for a horse to strike a perfect pose.

This summer has been lovely (so far), we've pretty much been very lucky with the weather but a few weeks ago I found myself trapped indoors by storms and torrential rain.  I'm not so intrepid that I particularly want to risk my camera equipment in monsoon conditions or be struck by lightning for my art so I sat waiting impatiently for the storm clouds to pass.

Once they did it was a bit late to set off anywhere so I went into the garden with one eye out for giant slugs and the other looking for subjects to photograph that spend most days right under my nose.

You can travel far and wide looking for great and interesting things but sometimes your own little garden has huge potential to give you images you may not usually even bother to look for.  I sometimes chase butterflies and bees about the plants until they fly off with an agitated sigh ( I can almost hear them whisper 'who do you think I am, Kate Moss?')

So here are a few shots I took on that day with a few others I have taken on sunnier days.  Enjoy!

If you would like to see my collection of photographs available to buy, they are available mounted on wood blocks ready to hang and as mounts - check out my Etsy store or head to my Facebook page, give it a like and get regular updates.