April May not be finished...

It is strange, sometimes how events coalesce to create problems and sometimes produce unexpected solutions. As is the case this time around. This month's set topic of "Reflections" has been causing some anguish with finding an image that is just that little bit different. I spent the last couple of nights planning a parallel mirror shot - and I might still do that - but in sheer desperation more than anything I went trolling through the library and turned up a series of frames from last April.

The series was completely fortuitous. I took them during my lunch break about 100m from the factory gate and in a stinking mood after a bit of raruraru with the boss. So, this is to be submitted...








That leaves the Open entry and Brickell's Buddha wins hands down.


A word of explanation here,because it is richly deserved.

I have met Barry Brickell just once, many moons back about six months after he established his pottery at Driving Creek in Coromandel. We went there about two years ago - it was a bucket list item of mine - to trip up the hill on his private railway. The Driving Creek Railway is likely better known than his pottery these days but I have always had a strong regard for his sense of whimsy and fun.

The Driving Creek Railway runs from the original potting sheds, via two of the clay mines Brickell drew from, to the top of a hill and "The Eyeful Tower". The Buddha sits in a quiet corner, out of the way of most, and if you look him in the eye then turn 180 you will see that his gaze is directed down the valley to the Firth of Thames; I can appreciate the quiet smile of peace and humour at the series of puns included at every level...

Yes, the frame is shopped. The rest of it is a small part of a very large lump of driftwood pine that sat outside the Omapere Hotel for some months. It was taken in colour but monochromed before being used in this image.

UPDATE -

It is probably more correct to refer to Brickell's Buddha as Ho Tai; he is most commonly referred to as Laughing Buddha but Ho Tai is more correct at least in my mind.