burning [Liverpool]

This chapter of the blog revolves around an area that had a glorious past but now just another district that calls for regeneration. Mostly, residential but with empty terraced houses, some dilapidated churches and empty streets howling with gentle winds.

"It is just one of those days, when you feel like doing nothing, when you feel wasted, when you just feel to be all on your own… and then you decide to take a walk in wilderness."

But… I decided to go to Liverpool 8. I guess, one of the most silent walks that I ever did during my stay in Liverpool. The time was somewhere close to the sunset… yes, fortunately the sun did shine for the whole day.

Theme of photography 

[ Losing Glory ] 

Photography tip - the idea was to photograph the area in silhouettes. The lens of my camera faced the sun directly giving me some wonderful images showing outlines of houses, trees and some people.

If talking conceptually - I believe the sun is a symbol of 'hope' in all of these photographs, highlighting that the area can rise to its full potential one day if the authorities are considerate enough to invest in regenerating its past.

in search of the [beacon]

... and it was the month of November here in England when I decided to go over the waters of River Mersey and search some 'beacons' and this was my very first time in a year and a half. All this time I was in #Liverpool but never got a chance to go on the #Wirral side.

[time-lapse]

... I made this time-lapse over the period of two days. I have tried to capture the environment - the beacons standing tall, once used as a source of invitation. Almost all of the beacons are not in use anymore.
I am borrowing a quotation from a book that I read sometime back, that said, "Every place has its history and symbolic connotation that merge into an event that obtained its meaning through the time of the day, illumination, weather and landscape.

Hmmmm! have a look at the video maybe you will be able to observe that connotation:

in search of the beacon from Sameer Aftab on Vimeo.

[Competition] Submission

I have submitted artworks for this particular competition.

The client's brief is:

Fantastic Opportunity to be Part of an Growing International Hotel Brand

The Client, Ashall Projects (NJS) Ltd; Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Balfour Beatty have opened up a fantastic opportunity for the

winner of this Artwork competition to design the new headboard artwork, which will not only be installed in the new Liverpool Aloft

Hotel, but the winner will also get the chance to visit the European flagship Aloft Hotel in Brussels on a weekend break.

Moreover, all the artists were supposed to submit their proposals according to the client's specified criteria and that was:

Criteria – Create two images, final and colour scheme below of the Iconic Liverpool City Scape, in a style similar to those depicted in the images in Photoshop PSD or JPEG files at 300 dpi (i have not displayed the sample images).

My entries for the competition...

I am hoping to win it. :)

[bidston]

12:52 hrs

Yellow: indicates the area that I covered by walking, 

while my visit to Bidston.

I had arrived in #Bidston. The most unattractive, smallest stations I had ever seen in England till now,  even the #Edgehill station did not seem to me so inadequate. I was a bit lost because there was nothing in between anything. I saw no houses around, no people, no cars, the only thing that I could see was the sign that said, "Temporary Ticket Office"and even that was closed.

Anyway I started walking towards a bridge that stood so lonely that I could even hear the whistling of air as it passed through the hollow bars. As I was standing on the bridge, I could see the lighthouse on a hill that was considered as the highest point on the Wirral Peninsula.
"It is going to take me ages to reach the lighthouse," this is all I could think of because in order to reach there I had to cross a highway and since I did not know anything about the place so had to find my way to it.

Why... always a lighthouse?? To me they symbolize 'hope'.

I decide to walk along the Hoylake road which met Worcester road on the right and lead me to Vyner road north. Yes, I was using the maps from my i-phone otherwise I would have been completely lost.

 The walk took me to the entrance of the Bidston Hill Park, a natural reserve.

The illustrated map at the entrance showed me a wind mill. 

"This brick built tower mill replaced a wooden 'peg' mill that was destroyed by fire in 1793, and was used to grind corn into flour for 75 years up until 1875. Although access was difficult for a horse and cart laden with sacks of grain or flour the top of the hill was the ideal place to catch the wind. In fact, it is believed that there has been a windmill on this site since 1596."

I knew I will not be able to find it on my own so I took help of a couple walking in the same direction. These locals of the place told me that a fifteen minute walk will take us to the mill. 

There it was, gorgeously standing in one of the remote areas in #England, I suppose. I was standing close to it in order to take the best shots from my camera. There was plenty of light but still I used long exposed techniques to take pictures using my tripod that I was carrying as well.

Ahhhh!!! there was some special essence in the moment that I was in, the smell of the bricks that were not adhered well with its surface, the texture of the mortar that I found extremely historic... seemed like I was not standing in 2013. 

This was not it... there was a walking track that led to an old observatory.

"The Observatory was built in 1866 when Liverpool Observatory had to relocate due to the expansion of Waterloo Docks. The building is made using the stone mined during the creation of the cellars, the deepest of which (36 feet or 10.97 meters) maintains a constant cool temperature.In 2004-5, the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory relocated to a new building at the University of Liverpool."

Behind the observatory was the Bidston lighthouse constructed in 1873. It is part of the observatory, not accessible at all.

"There has been a lighthouse on Bidston Hill since about 1771, when the first Bidston Lighthouse was built, further from the shore than any other lighthouse in Britain. The tower was octagonal, and the lamp room featured a massive parabolic reflector, 13’6″ in diameter, developed at the Bidston Signals Station. The present Bidston Lighthouse and Cottages were built by Mersey Docks and Harbour Board in 1873, after the original lighthouse was damaged by fire and demolished. The building is Grade-II listed and privately owned."

It was getting dark, so had to rush to the station. 

[ keep walking - New Brighton awaits you ]

Remember - the main purpose of the trip was to find lighthouses across the Mersey river on the #Wirral side.

1310 hrs
I was at the #Liverpool Central (station), rushing towards the Wirral line tube and hopped in after waiting for ten minutes. It is quite ironic that sitting in the train usually reminds me of end of times. I am saying this because the journey from the station to #Birkenhead Park was almost underground. The train was almost empty. No one going to New #Brighton... I suppose.

1330 hrs
I got off from the train at the station and started walking on the Atherton street towards the sea... the Irish sea I am talking about here and reached the King's Parade. Now by looking across the road I realized that I was standing at the Marine Point. I could very well see the #lighthouse from here. I had read before it was the Perch Rock lighthouse that stood there since 1827 and now it was not being used anymore. The point seemed to be a complex of high-end retail brands. Anyway I started walking towards the tower.

I was walking...

... walked a little more.

... and finally I reached the tower. "Errr!!! Not a pleasant day to come out" I kept saying this to myself all the time. The sun was shining and I could feel the warmth of it but then nothing seemed alright because of the howling wind.

I stood right in front of the tower, close enough to get a feel of the environment. Aaaahhh!!! what a pleasing view. I could see the white tower wearing a red hat standing amongst the blues of the sky and water... the water did not seem that blue maybe because the clouds had covered the sun now.

I remained there for an hour, clicked loads of photographs. I had brought my tripod along as well but was almost useless because I did not have a ND-filter to take long exposure at the daytime. I walked to the pathway that lead to the tower. I thought I could make it but then the waves were aggressive and I remembered what my friend had told me about the weather forecast in the morning, "There will be a thunderstorm, do not go out (in a squeaky voice)." At that time I could only see the sun and the storm but thunder was missing, then I decided not to go any further.

There were people everywhere now. Trying to run on the stones and guess what... no one succeeded to reach anywhere near the site.

1500 hrs
I left the site and started walking towards the New Brighton Station to catch a train to #Leasowe - another lighthouse to explore.

Hmmmm!!! It was one bright corner of #England I must say, which was not that vivid historically as this part was hugely owned by smugglers and thieves.

You can look at the coloured images on Facebook.

blurry [Lisbon]

I just wanted to capture another moment of sunset but this time the location was at the edge of europe, the farthest I could travel in the western part. I took these photographs in Belem (#Jardim da Torre de Belem) area in the beautiful city of Lisbon, Portugal.

"To me sunsets have always been emotions rather than moments. The feeling of being free, the notion of doing something that narrates a story, the feeling of looking at life with positivity."

It seemed another ordinary sunset but then what made it beautiful was the surroundings, the silhouettes of the objects that seemed so flawless, the waters of river Tagus that glittered like gold.

My photographs are the impressions of that time on that fine evening when the sun was disappearing.

I must say, my lens (#Tamron 28-300mm) came in handy this time.

Ps: to catch up with the rest of the photographs, kindly follow my Facebook.

[Masarellos]

Purpose
I made this video one fine day in Porto while roaming around the Masarellos District along with my mates. Masarellos was the site we selected for our final project for masters.
The video is a reminiscence of the site visit in the city that highlights many aspects and problems that the place is facing right now.

Aim
To design a master plan and come up with sustainable strategies for the inhabitants of the area and its surroundings.

Landmarks
Some of the landmarks on the site are worth mentioning:

- Arrabida Bridge

 Sketch - I drew this while sitting somewhere around the waterfront from where I could see the bridge clearly. 

-Porto School of Architecture


Video

New Project 14 from Sameer Aftab on Vimeo.

[ trekking Porto ]

Day 2

This day was marked for us to roam around our beloved sites for our crucial projects for the final year in architecture. The itinerary for the day was such that we observe the great Portuguese architecture. Well, whatever we can observe while walking towards our hypothetical sites.

0800 hrs
It seemed laziness had caught up with all my bones and it was really difficult to wake up in the morning. I guess the idea in getting settled down in a new city was making me tired already. I could imagine all the ruthlessness  that was coming our way in the coming days.
It was time for breakfast now, I could only see cereals. It seemed I had dived into a river of cereals and milk in which a loaf of bread was the only survivor.

0953 hrs
Me and a friend of mine leave the hostel early enough to meet with the rest of the gang... ummm!!! group mates. All of us had travelled from Liverpool to grab a bite of the areas that we were supposed to develop and then design architecture master pieces on them.
We both were the last ones to join others at Cafe Ceuta which was right in the middle of Travessa Do Carregal as far as I know. 

1035 hrs
We are all set to leave now. We walked through paved streets. Some were broad but most of them very narrow. We walked through some of the posh areas but then most of the houses were in a very poor condition. It was raining and was gloomy but the bright colours and the glazed tiles made these houses look arrogantly shimmering. 

And something amazing that I hit my eye on...

It was not the nicest of the areas of Porto that we were roaming around but then the red pitched roof houses with ornamental tiles at their exterior made the environment quite attractive. Well to be honest, no offense but tiles that are designed of such caliber are usually used in toilets in my home country. Well since I have said that architecture varies from region to region in the world. A material that can have significant value in one place might not have the same in the other.

That is the sculpture of the Portuguese rooster... famously Cock of Barcelos in Portugal. I always thought that this rooster had significance because of Nando's but there I realized that it was actually a symbol that had some sort of a relation with the Portuguese culture.

While walking on the northern bank of River Douro I came across some amazing views that could be photographed. However, since the since was hiding behind the clouds that day therefore it was not the best time for it. 

 The whole area seemed to be neglected by everyone except for the owners of it but then was not this the buffer zone for the UNESCO Historic Centre of Porto. This meant in order to save the heritage zone this area was not to have major development schemes.
These were surely the reasons why UNESCO was to include Porto in its World Heritage list in 1996. This classification also extends to the left bank, taking in the Ponte de D. Luis, the city's emblematic iron bridge, built by a disciple of the famous Eiffel, the Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar and the wine lodges that line the river bank in Gaia, where that great ambassador of the city's name, Port Wine, is left to age before being sent to all corners of the world, bringing great pleasure to all those who drink it. 

And when I am talking about Gaia, the southern bank of Douro, this area is mainly used to store the port wine. Sometimes people mistakenly consider it as Porto as well, probably because of the laying out of the houses and road/street networks.

That is the Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar (Serra do Pilar Monastery) at the Gaia side that you can walk through a bridge. 
About that bridge I will narrate in my next issue. The second day does not just finish here. It is just that I am feeling sleepy now.


Cheers