Gaia sleeps

September 23, 2026 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

At this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, one of the gardens featured a giant wooden sculpture of the goddess, Gaia, or Mother Nature and she’s often known. The sculpture featured flowing willow‑branch hair which was crafted by the aptly named artist, Tom Hare, while her leaf‑crowned face and shoulders were carved from a fallen mature tree by sculptor Tim Wood.

And now the entire artwork has been transported north to Sheffield where it will permanently reside in the middle of the Park Hill Flats complex. So, on a visit to the town centre a few weeks ago, I decided to take a detour and go have a look.

Thanks to the hot dry conditions we’ve endured this summer, some of the surrounding grass was a dry yellow, although Gaia herself was somewhat aptly surrounded by lush green growth. There were quite a few people visiting the sculpture, including some who appeared to be part of a guided tour!

The figure is part wood, and part dry stone wall, with her torso meticulously carved with intricate swirling designs.

Up close, she makes for an interesting, if very large, portrait subject.

I took a whole slew of pictures on both film and digital, but these black and white Acros II shots are my favourites, I think.

I’ve been past her again since this first visit and took more pictures, she’s a subject that will reward the photographer, I think.

Nikon F80 & Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 ED VR on Fujifilm Acros II. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 15 August 2026.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Empress Sisi of Austria

September 2, 2026 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Empress Elisabeth of Austria, also know by her nickname Sisi (or Sissi – it seems to be spelt both ways) was Empress of Austria and, then, Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Franz Joseph I on 24 April 1854 until her assassination in 1898.

So why is there a statue of her outside a casino hotel in Funchal? Well, it’s because she visited twice, first in 1860 to 1861 to seek a reprieve from respiratory illness. The villa in which she stayed was eventually demolished, and the casino stands on the same site.

She visited again in 1893-94, but this time stayed at Reid’s Palace Hotel (which still exists and was just down the road from the hotel in which we stayed).

People leave flowers in the hands of the statue in remebrance.

Olympus Trip 35 & Fujifilm Across II. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°

Taken 2 July 2026.

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Freddie Gilroy and the Belsen Stragglers

June 5, 2026 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

This sculpture, situated on the seafront of Scarborough’s north bay, is titled Freddie Gilroy and the Belsen Stragglers. It was created by sculptor Ray Lonsdale and depicts Freddie Gilroy, an old soldier who helped liberate the Bergen‑Belsen concentration camp during the second world war. Lonsdale created it as a tribute to Gilroy, who was his friend, and as a broader reflection on war and the Holocaust.

It was only meant to be displayed in Scarborough for four weeks in 2011 but a local resident stepped in to buy it so it could stay in the town.

What isn’t apparent from my picture is the scale of the figure, which is twice life size, and dwarfs people as they pass by.

Minolta X-300, Minolta MD 50mm f/1.7 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 14 March 2026

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Equs Altus

May 4, 2026 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

I’m not one for Latin, but I think that’s maybe “High Horse” to you and I. The sculpture stands atop a tall metal column in the Trinity Leeds shopping centre.

It represents the pack horses that were used in the wool and textile trades, for which the city of Leeds was a major centre.

Its sculptor, Andy Scot, is perhaps best known for his work The Kelpies, which stand at Grangemouth in Scotland. Equs Altus may not have the same scale, but it’s definitely born of the same (ahem) cloth.

Nikon F80 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF-D on Fomapan 400. Rodinal 1+25. 6.5mins @ 20°.

Taken on 13 March 2026

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Lady with a camera

April 9, 2026 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

I’ve been re-scanning some more of my pictures from out trip to Italy back in 2018. This is another from the day-trip to Capri.

Olympus OM-1 and G-Zuiko Auto-W 28mm f/3.5 on Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 21 August 2018

35mm · Film photography · Photography

The world on his shoulders

February 26, 2026 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Olympus OM-1 and G-Zuiko Auto-W 28mm f/3.5 on Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 21 August 2018

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Physics in action

February 25, 2026 fishyfisharcade1 Comment

A further image from Capri (I think I’m posting these while I figure out how to post a batch of much more recent pictures).

I don’t know if this boy-and-elephant sculpture is a permanent fixture outside the Prada store in Capri, or if it was just a temporary exhibit, but it deserved a photo.

Olympus OM-1 and G-Zuiko Auto-W 28mm f/3.5 on Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 21 August 2018

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Chainmail

February 24, 2026 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Another picture from our Sorrento trip that I’ve recently re-scanned, but which I don’t believe has ever featured on the blog before (from my quick search, at least).

Again, this was taken on the island of Capri and this interesting sculpture of a woman formed from bike chains was an eye-catching sight.

Olympus OM-1 and G-Zuiko Auto-W 28mm f/3.5 on Kodak Ektar. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 21 August 2018

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Sheffield Covid memorial

July 25, 2025July 25, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

This memorial was unveiled in 2023 to recognise those who lost their lives, or went above-and-beyond to help others, during the Covid pandemic. The designer of the memorial, Geoge King, described it as follows:

“When we thought about Covid and how the pandemic affected so many people, the willow tree idea was powerful to us. A willow has a strong trunk which symbolises how people worked together to create the strength that was needed at such a difficult time. It is also a flexible and resilient tree, whilst also being delicate. When a storm hits, the tree bends with it. Its long branches sweep all the way to the ground and when it rains the droplets fall all the way down the branches like tears to the ground. When you stand underneath a willow tree you feel embraced and protected.”

Olympus OM-10, Zuiko Auto-S 35mm f/2.8 & Kodak Gold. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 3 May 2025

35mm · Film photography · Photography

A day at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (part 3)

July 19, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The final batch of pictures from my Yorkshire Sculpture Park visit. As previously, I’ve added a little information about the artworks below each picture, but you can find out more at the park’s website.

**Seated Figure by Sean Henry**

Sean Henry makes detailed and life-like sculptures of anonymous figures, often in casual poses and deep in thought. They are usually based on members of the public or actors, and scaled either up or down, so they are never actually life sized. *Seated Figure* is a monumental 3 metres tall. The artist uses clay to model his works in the studio, before they are cast in bronze. (taken from the YSP website)

This piece can be seen from miles and has a commanding position looking out across the landscape from the top of a hill.

The charity boxes that inspired this piece were a common sight when I was younger, although not with the additional flourish added by Hirst, which features the collection box pried open by a crowbar. I was amused and happy to note that crows had taken up residence within the open collection box and were carrying nesting material in there as I watched.

**The Virgin Mother by Damien Hirst**

Damien Hirst’s The Virgin Mother stands at 10 metres tall and is the tallest sculpture at YSP. A powerful presence in the landscape, it is partly inspired by the historic sculpture *Little Dancer of Fourteen Years*(c.1881), by Edgar Degas. Hirst deliberately makes the materials look different than they are, for example *The Virgin Mother* is bronze painted to look like plastic. (taken from the YSP website)

This is a striking piece of sculpture and my picture doesn’t really give a sense of scale, with a full grown adult barely reaching the figure’s calves. It’s also slightly disturbing with the figure appearing intact from her left profile, only to reveal tissues, muscles, bone, and a fetus in her womb. Where her left hand crosses the demarcation between outside and inside, the fingers are severed.