Clive Haynes FRPS

Since the Group’s inception in the autumn of 2020, I’ve regularly contributed work. I always have projects on the go and my selection is from five of these.

Behind the Altar

Going ‘back-stage’, so to speak, entering vestries and small side-rooms of churches, not only gives insights into what can be referred to as the ‘theatre of religion’, where one finds sacred vessels and vestments alongside the trappings of festivals, but it also reveals the impoverished state of church fabric.

Landscape with a Memory – The Desolation of Orford Ness

Currently owned by the National Trust, Orford Ness was once a remote hush-hush world where advanced weapons and munitions were tested. Here, too, an early form of RADAR evolved. Perhaps most sinister of all was research for Britain’s first atomic bomb, ‘Blue Danube’, where much of it was housed in purpose-built bunkers. Now largely cleared, Orford Ness stands as an epitaph to the socalled ‘Cold War’.

Scarecrows

I find scarecrows to be both singularly strange and oddly fascinating. In general, they fall into three categories. ‘Working’: those employed upon a farm. ‘Domestic & Decorative’: a gentrified and prettified version of ‘Working’, considered not to frighten animals and those of a nervous disposition. ‘Feral’: frequently characterised by quirky repairs and splints, they appear to have no particular function and to have strayed beyond their original meadow, market-garden or allotment.

Subterranean Bath

Many of the gracious Georgian buildings of central Bath have lower ground floors. Where once servants and those ‘below stairs’ lived, modern-day residents and tenants either ignore or use these basements in a variety of ways. Where space allows, barbecues, patio furniture and larger plants reveal evidence of outdoor living. Frequently, inelegant stairways descend to these dark corners. Some areas are dingy and scattered with litter. This series illustrates different attitudes to these nether regions.

The Convex View

Have you noticed how many convex mirrors are appearing at the roadside? Although many are smart and pristine, others of their kind suffer from ailments such as cloudy vision, irritatingly scratched lenses or less than perfect sight. The next time you see one of our cyclopean friends, give this modern-day eye of Polyphemus a wave of encouragement, its unstinting service will benefit you and others.