Interesting people, interesting things, interesting places.
I’ve often wandered past a tin shed behind some gates, and wondered what was inside. One day I went inside and met Trevor, who has worked there since the age of 14. His Father worked there too, up until 4 weeks before he passed away at the age of 94. With all the welding, drilling and cutting that goes on there is a lot of dust everywhere but Trevor says he is tidying it up. Whilst I was there we came across a letter from 1984, although Trevor said that he had found one from the 70’s recently!
Okay, I’ve been away; I’m sorry. I’ve spent most of the time out and about exploring the streets. It’s been fun, although my feet haven’t always agreed. I’ve met some great people and photographed most of them. I’ve also been surreptitious; I’ve been doing some street photography and below are some of the results.
Please enjoy and as Arnie said – I’ll be back.
:DK
Dorota is a painter from Poland who has been in England since the 1970’s and who has one of the Chertsey Artists studios in Windsor Street, Chertsey. You can see some of her paintings here.
Another artist with a studio within the Chertsey Artists commune is Mary Hayward-Smith who is a ceramics artist and also paints in oils. She is Head Of Art at a school in Twickenham, and you can see some of her work here.
I photographed Claudia in her Chertsey Artists studio on a fabulously sunny afternoon with lots of lovely day light streaming through the windows. Claudia is a mixed media artist and you can see some of her work here.
Continuing my series of portraits of Chertsey Artists in their studios, here is Simon Gannicliffe who is a painter and enjoys life drawing:
Chertsey Artists are a very talented bunch of artists who run a variety of workshops and art sessions from their studios in Chertsey. However their premises are under threat of redevelopment and they contacted me to help underline what they do for the community and the arts, to see if the development could be avoided or a new home could be found. As well as creating portraits of some of the artist in their studios, I attended some of their portrait sessions to capture the artists at work, which you can see below.
However this did mean I had put myself in the firing line and was cajoled in to sitting for one of the portrait sessions. Sitting still was my main concern but somehow I managed it. You can see the resulting portraits at the end of this post.
Heater’s Bakery in Windsor Street, Chertsey is one of a small number of family run bakers shops in Surrey. They bake all their own bread in Bisley and deliver it to their shops fresh.
43 Guildford Street in Chertsey is home to Paul Simonson’s studio where he designs and makes unique bridal gowns. Paul also lectures at The Design School in Kingston University.
Alan and Jeanette have owned Carpetrama in Chertsey since 1991. Being in a shop in Windsor Street with large windows they have had a big screen viewing of some of the filming activities that have taken place in Chertsey over the years.
