Virtual Exhibition

Virtual Exhibition April 2021

One year on from my first virtual exhibition here is the 2021 version. It runs through April, with a different photograph posted each day. All photographs are available to buy by contacting me direct. This year there will be a number of rooms in the exhibition hall, which will be filled room by room. 

Room 5 

29 Lomnice. Macedonia 1984

This village on the eastern side of the Sar Planina mountains was only reachable by footpath. One of the men in the picture had put my rucksack on his horse to help me out. When I asked if I could take a photo, the whole village assembled into this tableau. The people were ethnic Albanians in the predominantly slavic Macedonian republic of then Yugoslavia.

 

28 On The Beach

Taken at lunch time on a London working day. The walkways of the South Bank were alive with the jostle of office workers on their break, and tourists on the move. I looked over the wall and saw this woman who had found some peace and quiet amidst it all. An unexpected beach. The shadows, the lines, the angles; sometimes composition falls into your lap like this, other times you have to work hard at it.

27 Windmills on the Ouse

Taken last week. Unusual to put an image up so soon with little time for reflection. The river is tidal here, this is the moment the tide turned. Both before and after it was a raging river. I hope that the still reflection of the wind farm makes it an unusual image. I hope it is not too normal. It will be in my Spirit of Elmet book.

26 Two Waters. Barbican

I was walking through the Barbican estate in the City of London, when I looked down and saw two pieces of water, one smooth, one ruffled. I loved the contrast, and the geometry of the concrete architecture. There is a reflection of the Baribican in each pool.

25 Azores Bamboo

Taken several years ago on the edge of a crater lake in the Azores, it has taken me a while to decide whether or not to exhibit this shot or not. One of those that is hard to judge without external comment. So I am about to find out. It will be on the wall at York Open Studios in July this year. 

24 Cod Beck Forest

Taken on the North York Moors. There was a cold mist all over the forest that was just being broken by a bright sun when I took this shot. It made the forest mysterious. Half an hour later and the sun was at full bore. 

23 Levels of Reflection

I have never shown this shot at an exhibition - it is a pandemic creation. So I shall enjoy showing it as part of York Open Studios in July of this year.

I walked past the Old Railway Pond close to where I live in York; it was originally dug as a brick pond, providing the clay to use in the bricks that built 20th century York, there being no building stone closer than 10 miles away at Tadcaster. More recently it has been cleared of extensive scrub by a volunteer group to reveal a beautifully reflective sheet of water. The light there is incredible.

I saw this corner of the pond reflecting in so many ways that I knew I had to get the shot. I hope you see in it what you want to; for me it includes the green shoots of spring, dark reflections, things beneath the surface, and ripples of change. It should repay repeated contemplation.

22 Cottam Chapel. Yorkshire Wolds

This image is on the cover of my Wolds book. The book is still available on Amazon or from me direct palmour@gmail.com. 

The village of Cottam had 50 taxpayers in the 14th Century and was thriving still in 1698, but in 1719 the owners of the land, the Dean and Chapter of York, decided to authorise the demolition of all but four of the houses “as soon as conveniently may be” to be replaced by a rabbit warren. The rabbit warren at nearby Cowlam was itself replaced by ploughed fields early in the 18th Century as enclosure took root. This chapel, Holy Trinity, was rebuilt in 1890 for the main landowner. Made of incongruous red brick it has been left to slowly decay year by year. A Norman font and a carved stone were removed to Langtoft church in the 1950s. Cottam is a place that is totally unheralded, not a sign or an information board is in sight. No brown tourist signs, no English heritage, no National Trust. What is there, is a fascinating and evocative abandoned place with clear indications of past streets and houses, best appreciated when a low sun picks out the contours of habitation against the springy pasture. The building of the big Cottam House in the 18th Century saw the total eclipse of that past. 

21 Hook Moor Windfarm

This image will be on the cover of my new photo essay, due out in July 2021. It was taken on Hook Moor which, with a little imagination, looks like the Castile plain in this shot. Elmet has seen its coal, peat and gas resources used up over the centuries, now it is well placed to make the most of its flat plains to maximise wind power. 

Room 4 - Cityscapes

In this room there are urban shots from around the world.

20 Sheffields Most Wanted

Taken on the canal above Attercliffe, this shot, which is named after the graffiti on the wall, was very popular when I first showed it 10 years ago. I neglected it (rather like the building) and it has bided its time. So here it is again. It is of a deserted factory that has lost its roof and its purpose but still stands with the hills of Sheffield in the distance.

19 A Fine Balance. Paris 2012

Taken below Sacre Coeur. The lamp post is missing ladder bars. The juggler provides them with his pose. A pose that looks religious, away from the cross. Most of the crowd look at the juggler, but one girl looks the other way. The light catches her hair. The city unfolds into the distance. As soon as I saw this I grabbed my camera as quickly as I could, turned my back on the cathedral and pointed down to this tableau below. When I got back to the flat I was staying in, it was an anxious look to see if the shot had worked.

18 Melbourne from Yarra Bend

Sometimes a shot that looks like it will make a great photograph disappoints when it is reproduced. Other times the opposite occurs, like on this shot. I had cycled out of the city on the Yarra River path before climbing up above the Yarra Bends. There was something about the light that gave the middle distance of the school-house a hyper-real unreality. This contrasts with the high-rise skyline of modern Melbourne, and I like the balance that this gives the image. 

A client who bought a copy pointed out that the white trees in the bottom right part of the picture look a little like dinosaurs reaching for the leaves above them. That is how I see it too now.

Room 3 - Landscape Abstracts

Into the third room and it is full of images abstracted from landscapes. These have been my most successful type of photograph over the last 15 years or so.

17 Silent Running

This image is hanging in the corridor on the way to Room 4. It is one of a kind, so has its own space. 

It had been a long, wet, cold day at the athletics meeting. When the sun came out and cast these shadows and silhouettes off of the statuettes, I knew the photograph would make the day worthwhile. “Are they not of real people?” gets asked a lot.

16 Humberhead

Last one in Room 3. The Humberhead Levels in South Yorkshire are some of the most beautiful, desolate and lonesome landscapes I have encountered. They feature heavily in my upcoming book Spirit of Elmet. I have seen cranes, hobbies and red deer on the moors there. This shot is of a scrape far away from where the public go: apart from the reeds the image is entirely reflected in the water. 

15 Sand

Here it is in the centre of this year's virtual exhibition, my most popular image. Taken at Aberdovey in mid Wales. There are at least three levels of ambiguity. 

Firstly, which is the sand and which is the water? 

Secondly, this is not in black & white but a colour image, un-manipulated.

Thirdly, what scale is it?

I took this shot by standing in the sea and shooting straight down; half an hour later the tide came in and the sand was changed for ever.

14 Rainforest Pool NSW

A companion piece to The Pool in the Catskills. Taken in New South Wales, Australia. This pool was a great contradiction of reflection, sky, water and trees. I still struggle to make sense of it.

13 The Pool in the Catskills

Taken near Windham in New York state. There are several layers here, the surface of the water, the leaves upon it, the leaves below the surface, the trees reflected in the water, a few hints of the land edging the pool, and the sunlight reflected back off the water. The pool was serene, encouraging relaxation and contemplation. When I got back to town the talk was all about bears on the prowl, which made the peace of my time at the pool seem either fortunate or foolhardy.

12 Pond Ice

Inspiration can come from unexpected places. Rushing to cycle my daughter to school I noticed this pond frozen in an unusual way. The ambiguity of the shot lies in the ice itself: these are not bubbles within water, rather the whole surface is ice, all is frozen. There is also an ambiguity in the reflection cast across the pond: people have thought that the shadow cast is from the legs of the photographer rather than a birch tree. I have heard it so often that I start to believe it myself. The lesson from this shot - always have your camera with you.

11 Lochan

Taken at Aultbea in north west Scotland where Sea Eagles roam. Walking across a bleak exposed moorland, I headed for a lochan for some respite and found this place of calm. The uncertainty of where the line of reflection lies is confused by the lilies adding a third dimension, as though they have been slotted in amongst the dark reeds. For some people the reeds have a Japanese-print feel to them. One person told me she looks at it each day when having a morning coffee and thinks.

Room 2 - Travel

10 Albanian Men 1989

I visited Albania when it was still singularly communist. I liked it. It was in Tirane that I saw conscript soldiers holding hands as they walked through the streets of the capital, which has to be a good thing. This shot was taken looking down from the top of a hill, I like the perspective that this gives the shot.

This is the last photograph in the Travel Room. Tomorrow we move on. 

9 Children in the rain. Pindus Mountains Greece 1984

We had been invited to stay with a family in a mountain village. We were talking with some of the adults on the veranda outside the house. It was raining, but this was not going to stop these two watching what was going on. Lovely children, now in the their 40s.

8 Woman with Knife. Galicia 1984

Walking across the top of Spain on the Camino de Santiago we met this woman who gave us water and apples. It was a hot day and she had a shaded place to sit. Total serenity.

7 Vesna. Montenegro 1984

My walk carried on through the Yugoslavian republics of Macedonia and Kosovo to Montenegro where I took this shot of Vesna in a small village high in the mountains. People in the mountains were not used to being photographed. I always asked permission first, and was rewarded with honesty and unselfconsciousness. I often wonder what became of the people I met in Yugoslavia on that trip. When I was there Tito had only be dead for four years, in fact it felt as if the party was keeping his memory alive effectively and using it to continue to unite the country. Five years later and the whole thing state would start to unravel.

6 House Karpenisi 1984

So into the second room of the virtual exhibition, and some examples of my early travel photography. Plenty of these ended up being published, with an exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society as well. 

In 1984 I walked with a friend from Greece to Spain through the mountains of Europe. This shot was of the first town we saw after ten days in the snow covered Pindus mountains and deserted villages. I liked the symmetry of the umbrellas and the order of the outside kitchen. 

Room 1 - Early Work

5 Mirror at Cannes 1982

One more before we leave room 1. I was working at the Cannes Film Festival in 1982, assisting a screen-writer. He blagged access everywhere, which is how we came to be at the premiere of Werner Herzog's Fitzcaraldo. I had my camera with me, and saw this shot in the mirror opposite where we waited before the show. We are in-shot on the right, the collection of reflected silhouettes was very Cannes. Through the window you can just see the heads of the public trying to catch a glimpse of the famous. Not my favourite place but, like most things, good to experience once. Mirrors are often a great aid to getting an effective shots.

4 Cassettes in Liverpool 8 1978

My last year as a student in Liverpool I lived with friends in a top floor flat on Princes Drive in Liverpool 8. Not the most secure of places, but with the Silver Sands club downstairs it was never dull. This shot is out the window towards the Mersey with my cassettes (a vital part of life then) lined up. I was learning that a good shot could be from the most unlikely of situations; it was when I realised that having a camera at hand at all times was a good idea.

3 Karl. Camden. London 1981

The first work I got paid for was portraits of models and bands that I knew wanting to make it. Karl was someone I worked with who went on to become a professional model, so this got him off to a good start. Taken in a then new estate off of Agar Grove between Camden and Islington which I used for quite a few shoots. The shot was influenced by the work of Max Dupain, a 1930s Australian photographer.

2 Nun. Clacton Front. Essex 1982

Emboldened by my shot of the man on the beach I decided to stage a shot the same day. I asked a nun who I was working with to walk along the front. I composed the shot to include a gritty foreground, a bit of a car and an upright. I was pretty pleased with it (as was the nun, who worked in the east end). However it did teach me that the natural shot is usually the best one.

 1 Man on Beach. Clacton. Essex 1982

Taken early in the morning as the sun came up over the sea at Clacton. It helped me realise that the rules of photography (get light on the subject, shoot with the sun behind you, get up close) were made to be ignored.

Simon Palmour Photographs - Virtual Exhibition 2020

The coronavirus has scuppered York Open Studios for 2020. My response is to host a virtual exhibition of some of my work through the month of April. Each day I'll add a different piece to the show, with the story behind the shot and the cost of a print.

To purchase any of the images just email me at palmour@gmail.com 

Photo 30 - Climbing the Hill

 Here is the final shot in this virtual show. I finish with another new shot. Taken within a mile of Newcastle City Centre it is an example of how wild landscape can get when the beaten track is ignored. I wanted to get across the idea of plotting a path through the trees and rocks. There is a narrative to the image but hopefully it is not too obvious, leaving interpretation to the viewer.
Thankyou for looking at this exhibition. To purchase the image as a limited edition A4 premium print costs £25

Photo 29 - Multiangular Cross

It can be hard to take a shot in York that has not been seen many times before. I was glad to find this shot of the Roman multi-angular tower between the Library and Museum Gardens. The cross may look religious to us, but it was to facilitate the shooting of arrows. The bare branches seen behind the cross give a hint of a crown of thorns. The stonework of the tower just emerges from the dark.

To purchase the image as a limited edition A4 premium print costs £25

Photo 28 - Silent Running

It had been a long, wet, cold day at the athletics meeting. The trophies were being placed on a plastic table for the presentation to the winning children. I was looking forward to leaving. Then the sun came out and cast these shadows and silhouettes off of the statuettes, I knew the photograph would make the day worthwhile. I nipped across the track, zoomed in on the detail and took the shot. It is an example of how important it is to always having your camera with you, and to always have your eye ready for that shot that might emerge from the most unlikely of circumstances. “Are they not shadows of real people?” gets asked a lot. 

I have used the image as a logo for a number of years.

It works best as a framed 50x9cm print costing £85

Photo 27 - Barnburgh Cliff

Barnburgh is a classic place of Elmet. A deep history, graves of the pre-Roman Brigantes people, Roman graves and coins, plenty of medieval legend. And then there is a layer of industrialisation; Barnburgh Pit and its rail connections dominated the 20th Century history of the village, there were two fatal pit collapses and the fabric of the place changed. And now that has all gone. The limestone ridge above the place remains, with a network of bridal ways, it is a most serene place. On that ridge you have a choice, to the left is the modern world of wind power. To the right is an ancient hedgerow and path. Take your pick. 

It was only when I looked behind me that I saw the might wind turbines, an incredible and beautiful sight. The new angels of the north.

To purchase the image as a limited edition A4 premium print costs £25

Photo 26 - Melbourne from Yarra Bends

Sometimes a shot that looks like it will make a great photograph disappoints when it is reproduced. Other times the opposite occurs, like on this shot. I had cycled out of the city on the Yarra River path before climbing up above the Yarra Bends. There was something about the light that gave the middle distance of the school-house a hyper-real unreality. This contrasts with the symbol of modern Melbourne, the high-rise skyline, which balances the image. As often happens someone who has bought the image has pointed out something about it to me; in this case it is the two white-barked trees on the right of the image that seem to look a little like dinosaurs reaching up to the foliage.

To purchase the image as limited edition 80x60cm Acrylic wall-art costs £140

Smaller sizes are available

Photo 25 - The Tree On The Beach

A few miles to the west of Cleveland Ohio I came across this desolate beach with a solitary tree upon it. This was an extraordinary sight in a most ordinary place. When the first person I showed this to thought the sea was the desert I knew then it was worth showing. The layers from the top are sky, sea, sand. 

To purchase the image as a limited edition A3 premium print costs £45

Photo 24 - Storm At Sanquhar

Taken in the Southern Uplands of Scotland on a track over the moors between Sanquhar and Wanlockhead. What could have been a pretty standard shot of snow on a Scottish mountain is transformed by the storm-laden sky. The gates look incongruous in such an elemental scene, and the whole image looks more seascape than landscape. Quite often people ask if it is water in the foreground. 

To purchase the image as a limited edition A3 premium print costs £45

Photo 23 - Into The Woods

Taken on the magnificent Hatfield Moors south of the Humber where people now seldom roam. Scene to Saxon battles, royal hunts and severe peat extraction. The birch is often the first tree to recolonise depleted post-industrial wetlands. The image works best as a large canvas, inviting you to try and find a route through the birch trees.  

To purchase the image as a 120x80cm canvas print costs £140 

  

Photo 22 - Sheffield Fountains

The light just after a downpour can be very special, the sun reflecting off the wet surfaces seems to mirror the relief of the ceasing of the rain. This shot has proved popular over the years. There are various layers reflected here; a fountain in the foreground, the middle ground of the street and the bench, then the glass wall which frames the reflection of the steel fountain as well as the silhouettes of a passer by and the photographer. Also through the glass can be seen the cafe inside the station. The whole thing is framed by the Victorian column of the station portico. This shot is based on the composition.
To purchase the image as an A3 premium print costs £45

Photo 21 - The Writing On The Wall

I was walking down from the Montgó mountains above Denia in Spain when I came across this abandoned farm. Nature is starting to reclaim, messages have been written, and the window offers an opening into an unknown interior.
Each time I show this shot at exhibition people are reminded of the Led Zep IV album cover. It looks nothing like it, but I do see what they mean.
To purchase the image as a limited edition 30cm Square premium print costs £40

Photo 20 - Evening Clyde

This is not my usual style of shot. Taken last autumn in Glasgow it shows bridges over the Clyde. There was something about it that I liked, so here it is. I was killing time waiting to meet someone in the Merchant City, got waylaid at a dingy second hand guitar shop, then explored the river where I found this shot. The light was just fading away, but still giving enough for me to get the shot. I shall be interested to see how it is received.
To purchase the image as a limited edition A4 premium print costs £25


Photo 19 - Galisteo

Taken in the high desert of New Mexico in the arid Galisteo Basin. By shooting from a low angle taken against a looming sky these flowers dried by the desert breeze lose their context and scale becomes unclear.

To purchase the image as a limited edition A3 premium print costs £45

Photo 18 - Distorted Freedom

I was walking through New York City on a crisp autumn morning when I looked up and saw this reflection of the new Freedom Tower building in New York City rising from the ashes of the Twin Towers. By using another building to capture the image, it distorts things enough to ask a few questions of the viewer. People have pointed out to me that some reflections have produced what look like human figures high up on the building, giving a certain poignancy. The natural blue monochrome really helps the image.

The following year I was there again, looked up and could not workout how the reflection ever took place; the joy and uncertainty of photography. 

To purchase the image as an A3 premium print costs £45

Photo 17 - Wharram Percy

This shot is from my book The High Wolds https://www.amazon.co.uk/High-Wolds-Photo-Essay/dp/1999360303/ It is of a track through the deserted village of Wharram Percy. To me the winter Hawthorne bush and the dramatic sky conveyed the loneliness and the mystery of the Wolds. Here are some words from the book.

Forced abandonment of villages has been a consistent theme throughout the history of the Wolds. During William the Conqueror’s brutal Harrying of the North in 1069 some of the most comprehensive wasting was in the Wolds. The Black Death in the mid-14th Century led to an exodus from villages such as Wharram Percy to vacant holdings in more favourable areas. By the 15th century the number of homes in that village had fallen from 30 before the Black Death to 16, with the final depopulation arriving in the 16th Century when four families were evicted in favour of sheep as changes in agriculture led to pressure on existing settlements. During the enclosures two acres in every three were enclosed (this was the highest ratio in the East Riding), leading eventually to more abandoned villages, of which between forty and fifty can still be traced today

To purchase the image as a limited edition A3 premium print costs £45

Photo 16 - Hook Moor

Peat and coal have been dug and mined from Elmet over the years. Those industries are just about totally gone. Wind power generation is a new use of land in a place where nimbyism is less rife than elsewhere.

These windmills close to the road at Aberford offer a magnificent new perspective on a land that tends to be ignored by most.

To purchase the image as a limited edition A4 premium print costs £25

Photo 15 - Shepherds in Kosovo

Walking from Macedonia into Kosovo over the Šar Planina these were the first people I met in Kosovo. I had been warned of wolves, avalanches and Albanian border guards, so was glad that none came to pass. The shepherds were able to point me in the right direction to the village of Brod, towards the Kosovan plain.
The valley side was so steep that the low angle of the shot was inevitable, the dogs managed to arrange themselves perfectly as well.
To purchase the image as an A4 premium print costs £25

Photo 14 - Sand

Taken at Aberdovy in mid Wales. There are at least three levels of ambiguity. Firstly, which is the sand and which is the water? Secondly, this is not in black & white but a colour image, un-manipulated. Thirdly, what scale is it? I took this shot by standing in the sea and shooting straight down; half an hour later the tide came in and the sand was changed for ever.

This has been my most successful shot. It works at most sizes but looks great extra-large (70x50cm) framed.

To purchase the image as an A3 premium print costs £45

Photo 13 - A Fine Balance

Taken below Sacre Coeur in Paris in 2012. Most people were busy photographing the cathedral behind me,but I looked down and saw this image above Montmartre. I take less street photographs than I used to but this one made the cut. The lamp post is missing ladder bars. The juggler provides them with his pose. A pose that looks religious, away from the cross. Most of the crowd look at the juggler, but one girl looks the other way. The light catches her hair. The city unfolds into the distance.

To purchase the image as an A3 premium print costs £45.

(Other sizes are available, starting at £25, please ask for details)

Photo 12 - Lochan

Taken at Aultbea in north west Scotland where Sea Eagles and Red Throated Divers roam. Walking across a bleak exposed moorland, I headed for a lochan for some respite and found this place of calm. The uncertainty of where the line of reflection lies is confused by the lilies adding a third dimension, as though they have been slotted in amongst the dark reeds. For some people the reeds have a Japanese-print feel to them. One person told me she looks at it each day when having a morning coffee and thinks.

This is one of my top-three most popular shots. It is also one that works better the bigger it gets. Some images suit a smaller A4 version, but this one works best large scale. 

To purchase the image as an 50x20cm limited edition large premium print costs £60

Photo 11 - Findhorn

At my show at the Penn Club last year I exhibited three shots from glorious Findhorn on the Moray coast of north east Scotland. I asked people to choose which one they liked best. The response was clearly for this shot, which was the most abstract of the three. Shot with an ultra-wide angle lens it was taken on the beach as I walked into the village from the Findhorn community (a vibrant and successful survivor from the time of hippy communes). I included the sandcastle at bottom right as an important reminder of human agency in all of this natural power. Sometimes the light at a place can be so dynamic that it is hard to stop shooting, everything appears magical. Findhorn was one such palce.
To purchase a limited edition A4 premium print costs £25.

Photo 10 for Good Friday - Rainforest Reflections, New South Wales

A companion piece to yesterday's Pool in the Catkills. Taken in 2018 this pool was a great contradiction of reflection, sky, water and trees. The image is unmanipultated, and I still struggle to make sense of it.
In the Australian forest fires this very area suffered badly. 

To purchase the image as an A3 premium print costs £45.

(Other sizes are available, starting at £25, please ask for details)

Photo 9 - The Pool in the Catskills

Taken near Windham in upstate New York.There are several layers here, the surface of the water, the leaves upon it, the leaves below the surface, the trees reflected in the water, a few hints of the land edging the pool, and the sunlight reflected back off the water. Plenty to think about. The pool was serene, encouraging relaxation and contemplation. When I got back to town the talk was all about bears on the prowl, which made the peace of my time at the pool seem either fortunate or foolhardy.

To purchase the image as an A3 premium print costs £45.
(Other sizes are available, starting at £25, please ask for details)

Photo 8 - Teasels at Barlow

Barlow Common is an unassuming land south of Selby. Degraded by industrial waste, pockmarked by pits and embankments it has now come back to some kind of life. The soil is not good, the birch is king, and teasels grow profusely. I love it. Teasels shot at a low angle with the sky behind capture the lonely, other worldly feel of the place.
This is another image that will be part of my next book on Elmet.
To purchase the image as an A3 premium print costs £45.
(Other sizes are available, starting at £25, please ask for details)

Photo 7 - Dark York

Another recent shot taken on a winter's night. Living in York it is hard to photograph the city without repeating images of the Minster that have been seen a thousand times before. To capture the atmosphere of the city without cliche is not easy. 
I was walking up from the river and loved the light upon the wet flags, I was already to hold the camera still and get the shot when a man approached from the top of the shot. I was delighted his mysterious white face emerged from the dark. I could not have placed him better if I had tried. You will need to click on the image to get the effect of the shot. It works best in A4 size.

To purchase the image as an A4 premium print costs £25.

Photo 6 - Screen

Landscape photography is easy to get wrong, to make the bold appear bland, the magnificent seem trite. It is a challenge. This shot of the Yorkshire Wolds is one of my most popular, it features in my book The High Wolds - A Photo Essay. Taken at Settrington the screen of trees high on the chalk Wolds escarpment caught my eye with its stark vertical form. The landscape can be seen through the screen - vague yet enticing. The colours of the fields below and the sky above that are glimpsed as they penetrate the screen give a series of horizontal bands that conflict with the monochromatic vertial bands created by the trees. An image that is obvious and just a little ambiguous at the same time.
To purchase the image as an 50x20cm limited edition large premium print costs £60

(Other sizes are available, starting at £25, please ask for details)

Photo 5 - Humberhead

Thorne and Hatfield Moors lie between Doncaster and the Humber. They have now been rebranded as Humberhead and are a National Nature Reserve. This shot came from the first time I visited the area. Apart from the reeds the image is all reflected in the water on the old peat workings. It is a shot that focuses in on an aspect of the landscape to really get to the heart of it. Taking away virtually all points of reference leaves the image ambiguous and unclear and, I hope, more rewarding to look at over time.

 Humberhead is, in my mind, one of the wonders of the world and almost totally unknown in Yorkshire let alone the world. It will feature in my upcoming book on Elmet so more details of how to access it will be found there.

To purchase the image as an 50x20cm limited edition large premium print costs £60

(Other sizes are available, starting at £25, please ask for details)

Photo 4 - Lomnice

In 1984 I walked through the mountains of Europe from Greece to Spain. Climbing up from Macedonia towards Kosovo I had to cross the Sar Planina; the village of Lomnice at the foot of those mountains. There were no roads to the village, a man had put my rucksack on his horse and walked up with me. After a chat in the village I asked if I could take a photograph. This group formed itself perfectly and unprompted - I could not have asked for better composition. On the trip I never took photographs without first asking, the answer was nearly always yes, often with a request for a copy to be sent to them when I got back to England. I was happy to oblige. The people were ethnic Albanians living in slav-majority Macedonia. The first people I met on the other side of the mountains were slavs living in a Albanian-majority Kosovo. It was a complex region. In communist Yugolsavia I could wonder across the border unchecked, today it would not be possible. The picture has been published a number of times. 

To purchase the image as an A4 premium print costs £25.

(Other sizes are available, please just ask) 

Photo 3 - Pond Ice

By the early 2000s I had switched to digital, which meant having a camera with me all the time became easier still. I was rushing to walk my daughter to school when I saw the pond in the garden frozen in this strange pattern. I have no explanation for the ice being like it is, a solid sheet with bubbles in it. All I know is that I loved it. I decided to crop in so that it became a semi-abstract image, not entirely clear what it is, what the scale is etc. The dark reflection gives the image a more dynamic impact.
To purchase the image as an 50x20cm limited edition large premium print costs £60

(Other sizes are available, please just ask)

The reflection is of one of a trio of Birch trees that stand at the front of the house. Over the years numerous people have said to me "is that you reflected in the pond?", the answer is "no, it is a tree" but somehow I have become to see it as my reflection despite knowing it is not. Then a couple of years ago I took this shot in New South Wales, this time the reflection is me and it does not look too dissimilar. 

Photo 2 - Harrow Road

Next up, my first published shot. I had moved to London and loved to cycle and walk around the city with my tiny 110 camera at the ready. In west London waiting to meet with friend Mike I spotted this man about to set off with his milk bottle trailer. I was busy soaking up lots of influences photographically at the time; this shot just had to be taken. It really could have been from long ago rather than 1980. Ironically the use of bikes for cargo in cities has boomed in the last ten years so such a sight now would not jar so much.
The shot was printed in Camera magazine in 1981; this was a high end photography magazine of the time, so I was really pleased to get in to the magazine. 

My father dutifully went into Oxford to WH Smiths to buy a copy. He got it home saw my two photographs then noticed that the free Erotic Masterpieces supplement had not been included with his copy. Dilemma, feel ripped-off or feel embarrassed complaining at Smiths.

To purchase the image as an A4 premium print costs £25.

(Other sizes are available, please just ask) 

It will be sent with a signed and numbered Certificate of Authenticity.

Just email me direct at palmour@gmail.com and it will be arranged (payment can be via Bank Transfer or PayPal)

Follow me on twitter @Palmour to get notifications of new photos as they are unveiled at this Virtual Exhibition, or comeback here each day to see the latest addition.

Photo 1 - Levels of Reflection 

I start with my newest shot. When I am teaching one of my golden rules is "Always carry a camera with you". This has got a lot easier with phone cameras becoming such brilliant devices. Anyway, practicing what I preach, I walked past the Old Railway Pond close to where I live in York with a new camera in hand. The pond was originally dug as a brick pond, providing the clay to use in the bricks that built 20th century York, there being no building stone closer than 10 miles away at Tadcaster. More recently it has been cleared of extensive scrub by a volunteer group to reveal a beautifully reflective sheet of water. The light is incredible.

I saw this corner of the pond reflecting in so many ways that I knew I had to get the shot. I hope you see in it what you want to; for me it includes the green shoots of spring, dark reflections, things beneath the surface, and ripples of change. It should repay repeated contemplation.

When I show a shot for the first time that I like a lot (and I like this one) the reaction it gets is telling. Sometimes people agree with me, sometimes they do not. I have a category of  "I love it but no one else does" hopefully this will not be one of those, but you never know.

To purchase the image as an A3 premium print costs £45.

(Other sizes are available, please just ask) 

It will be sent with a signed and numbered Certificate of Authenticity.

Just email me direct at palmour@gmail.com and it will be arranged (payment can be via Bank Transfer or PayPal)

Follow me on twitter @Palmour to get notifications of new photos as they are unveiled at this Virtual Exhibition, or comeback here each day to see the latest addition.