Martin
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martinrobbo.bsky.social
Martin
@martinrobbo.bsky.social
52 followers 69 following 50 posts
Only here to be personable. Stop me if I overstep.
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martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up

#landscape #yorkshire #photography #grass #nature
Mown grass being cut for hay. We watched for three days as the fields were worked for hay gathering. A pale blue/gray sky sits above a patchwork of fields rising to a horizon in the centre of the frame. A skeletal tree breaks the horizon on the left. In the foreground alternating stripes of darker and almost acidic green run diagonally left to right. The colour change is caused by the mowing of the grass which leaves short cut stalks and longer blades of grass, the longer blades left to dry before collection. In the mid and back ground the stripes diminish, their directions match the geometry of field divisions delineated by the much darker green lines of hedges that run horizontally and diagonally to the horizon. It’s a very geometric landscape that couldn’t exist without both the land and the farmer. That’s of course true of all farmland but the alien nature of the geometry serves to highlight the fact.
December 11, 2024 at 8:12 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
#garden #path #photography #Chelsea
This photograph shows a rocky floor with planting. A rough path disappears. A blue sky is just visible between the leaves of large trees in the background. It’s not a remarkable landscape photograph really but, as it’s a Chelsea Flower Show show garden every element here has been moved from many other places and assembled by hand. I suppose this is a photograph of craft, graft and imagination. Behind and surrounding me are thousands of people in central London. None of them have the slightest impact on the view but they are the reason it’s here.
December 10, 2024 at 8:27 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
#stairwell #architecture #photography #artgallery
A view up the centre of a not quite spiral staircase. Looking upwards to a skylight four stories above, a stairway winds upwards towards the light. A near semicircular plan view distorts as the stair rises from landing to landing to form a wonky spiral. A dark metal balustrade draws a line upwards within the pale golden stonework.
December 9, 2024 at 7:35 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
#architecture #engineering #photography #gallery
When grilles were grilles. A wooden floor with boards running horizontally into which is set a metal ventilation grille. My feet are bottom right just for scale. The grille is a rectangular metal plate pierced to allow the passage of air from below the floor. The intricacy of the piercing is quite remarkable. A rectangular border frames five circles themselves bordered by a sinuous border linking (and separating) them. The outer two circles and the central circle are filled with diminishing concentric circles, the remaining two circles are perforated with a pattern of lines radiating from the centre. The work is as good as a silversmith’s and quite beautiful. Most people were looking at the Monets on the walls.
December 8, 2024 at 5:59 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
90 next year and looking as dynamic and youthful as ever!
December 7, 2024 at 5:16 PM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
Urban reality. Under a once white Victorian iron bridge (no, not that one) a dirt stained white wall cuts horizontally across the frame. The rust and dirt stained deep beams run diagonally above the top of the wall. To the right a sign above an unwelcoming shopfront set in an archway promises Hot Munchies. To the left a fading and frankly filthy poster proclaims LOVE NOT HATE. At the foot of the wall on the left are five grey wheelie bins, the last of which cannot contain its contents so the lid sits partially open. A young couple walk in step from right to left. They are just about to pass the bins and the poster. On the right another couple with backpack and wheeled suitcase are about to exit the frame. They are passing the open door of Hot Munchies, not about to stop. Does anyone?
December 7, 2024 at 9:07 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
#photography #reflections #nature #bridge
A foreground of grass, bottom of frame, and dressed stone wall, left of frame, form a 90 degree angle. They are both lightly shadowed by a tree which overhangs top right. A stone arched bridge disappears from left to right. The water it crosses is broken by a weir and the still section closest to the grass bank reflects a grey cloudy sky. The still section of water appears as though it’s upright, almost like a glass wall. Just one of those odd moments life throws up where you’re not quite sure what’s going on.
December 6, 2024 at 7:04 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
#BarbaraHepworth #womensart #nature #photography
Another Barbara Hepworth sculpture in the garden of her studio. A variety of green leafy plants pretty much fill the frame. A tree trunk divides the frame vertically taking up about a quarter of the frame leaving half to the right and a quarter to the left. Towards the top of the frame the trunk divides, one arm turns 90 degrees left and exits the frame on the left. The other rises vertically. In the crook of the tree on the left sits a single sculpture, a bronze ovoid with an oval hole, the light catching the form giving it depth. The surrounding foliage and trunk are not similarly defined so there’s a tension between the form and surround that is not resolved.
December 5, 2024 at 8:05 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
#photos #nature #plants
Just teazle seed heads glowing as the winter sun pushes through their outer edges. The background is pale brown and muted green vegetation.
December 4, 2024 at 6:26 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
Just a detail of a cactus against a wall. A green cactus in front of a white rough-plastered wall. Six large disks of green cactus leaves link together as though balanced. I say disks but they are the sort of random shapes you’d get rolling out circles of pastry so imagine flattened teardrops and round cornered quadrilaterals (this is where simple geometry and reality fail to get on). Four of the leaves have flowers on their edges that punctuate the outline of the shape. They look a bit like a small cup on a short stalk. The pattern the cactus makes is unusual and arresting. The white wall is not shadowed but the texture is visible without dominating. It’s the shape and the feel that make the picture interesting. Oh, and it was taken in the garden of Barbara Hepworth’s studio in St. Ives.
December 3, 2024 at 8:11 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
A view from above. Cyclists remount next to a sparsely planted rocky outcrop at the bottom of the frame. At the top two slightly isolated groups sit on the ground. To the right are two parallel tracks of water. They have no apparent explanation.
December 2, 2024 at 7:13 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
As it’s the first of December, a white paper bauble on a Christmas tree. Why not?
December 1, 2024 at 9:38 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
A narrow bare earth track, big enough for one pair of feet, tracks slightly raggedly across a grassy hill. The track disappears in the centre of the frame, over the edge of the hillside which slopes upwards from left to right. In the distance beyond the hill a deep blue sea paints the horizon, meeting the track at the point where it disappears. A band of white cloud sits just above the horizon above which the clear sky fades from light to deep blue. Love a disappearing track, it always spurs me on.
November 30, 2024 at 7:54 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
Horizontal steel beams in brownish grey fill the frame. The bottom of the frame is a steel painted orange with a fixed horizontal string of six single light bulbs. Another string of bulbs hangs diagonally at the top of the frame below which are three white cubes with blue letters B, A and R. Between the BAR sign and the orange beam is a sign offering frozen cocktails and cold beers.
November 29, 2024 at 6:35 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
Just light reflecting from the ripples of water as a light breeze softly moves the surface. Nothing spectacular, nothing amazing but quite calming in its own way. Meditative, almost.
November 28, 2024 at 6:28 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
A window that looks like modern stained glass but the striking greens and arcing lines are actually sunlight vividly shining through a plant outside that covers the window. It is set in deep stone reveals and has a simple diagonal black steel handrail crossing.
November 27, 2024 at 8:33 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
Another waterfall, in Wales this time. A boulder strewn course in a shallow valley. Grey rocks, white and grey water, dark green foliage rises above the high water line. Sombre tones but not a sombre mood. Very Welsh in its unspoiled honesty.
November 26, 2024 at 7:44 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
A blue sky, a small wisp of white cloud trails horizontally. Left of frame a vertical white flagpole with a bright orange flag blown in the wind, part lightly shadowed, part brightly sunlit and bearing the words in black uppercase lettering “NO INFLATABLES”. There are, as you would expect, no inflatables.
November 25, 2024 at 9:15 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
A brooding tarn. Still water, ragged diagonal of foreground grassy shore. Grey sky reflected in the water, dark fading to light meeting a reflected hilly horizon forming a lumpen horizontal band. Grey cloudy sky with soft white topped cloud. Not a waterfall in sight.
November 24, 2024 at 8:03 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
What is it with Bluesky and waterfalls? Anyway, this waterfall is the sluice at Cromford Mill, the world’s first factory. Powered by water the brown brick buildings are rationally functional but the setting they create is rather lovely. Two steel paddle wheels rich with oxidation sit to the side of the pouring sluice waters. A meagre grey sky sits at the top of the picture and weed and moss growth dot the foreground paving. If anyone visits don’t miss the nearby Scarthin Books - definitely one for booksky peeps.
November 23, 2024 at 9:00 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
A blue sky, a central horizon drawn by a rounded outcrop topped by a single tree. The tree’s wonky but that just makes it better.
November 22, 2024 at 6:39 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
Water lilies in the rain. A late autumn picture of water lily leaves spread across the top of the picture with some isolated flowers. The leaves are bright against the dark water which is spotted by the light reflecting from raindrops splashing into the pond. It reminded me of Monet’s paintings, of course, but also Hockney’s iPad drawings capturing rain on the surface of water exactly as we experienced it here.
November 21, 2024 at 8:21 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
An unmade path between hedges. The trees close overhead and bend to form an oval tunnel dappled with sunlight. There’s no discernible end to the track but it begs to be explored.
November 20, 2024 at 7:00 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
The garden of Barbara Hepworth’s studio. A foreground tree trunk on the right and overhanging branches frame a view back to the simple white studio building. Grass and border planting occupy the centre ground but the interest comes from two bronze sculptures, each a penetrated solid, one vertical and one horizontal. The vertical sculpture is in the foreground on the left, the second horizontal piece is part seen through the nearly circular hole of the first and bisected by the sculpture’s slender curving edge.
November 19, 2024 at 7:15 AM
martinrobbo.bsky.social
All I’m going to do is post a photo (that I’ve taken) each day and see what turns up
A seafront promenade with the sun setting, partially obscured by heavy cloud which spread the light across the sky and thicken its glow. A shard of pale blue sky fades into the softer cloud of the background and is torn by the luminous ragged edge of the foreground clouds. A figure on the promenade deck is silhouetted and partially obscured by lens flare adding to a feeling of detachment. Long low shadows and the line of the railings that bound the promenade to the left draw the eye into the centre of the scene. A pier in the distance obscures the horizon to the left while the town rises to the right. The sun is the star though :)
November 18, 2024 at 8:09 AM