<p>The sandy beaches of North East England are beautiful, the climate beastly. This is no Theme Park. The high-spirited happenings are spontaneous, generous acts of Geordie exuberance. Here you find yourself laughing with your fellow creatures, not at them; and before you know it, you too have been transformed into a child, adding your antics to the array of contented eccentricity.</p>
<p><em>”Riotous rituals, always the same and always surprising: leaps into the surf in full clothing, bodyless heads grinning in the sand, cool sand-mermaids melting in the sea’s embrace at the end of the day. And all of it taking place again the next day and the next summer, and long after I have taken my photographs.” – Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen</em></p>
<p>Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen began to photograph on the Northeastern coast on her arrival in Newcastle in the late 1960s. Initially attracted to the extraordinary abandon with which the local people take to the freedom offered by their beaches, she later focused on the natural elements and transformations of the beaches as live drama in their own right. Writing in the Sand is a culmination of twenty five years of inspired photography.</p>
<p>“The perfect shot eludes me. A man with a leg in plaster hops around in a game of family cricket, using his crutch as a wicket. A bride hitches up her hem and veil and goes for a plodge. A skinhead moons his tattooed buttocks to a blast of belly laughs, and a football team races backwards. A theatre group on stilts wade into the sea like giant redshanks… and a woman turns and turns in her silent Tai-Chi… But I am at the other end of the beach.</p>
<p>An opportune moment arrives. Sun and shadows on the morning beach reveal the nocturnal revelries of tide and sand in intricate similes of crushed silk, forests and lunar landscapes. Before I manage to stoop close enough with my camera, the light has died and the picture has gone.</p>
<p>This is a natural habitat for cameras. Mine, which strays to gaze upon other people’s antics, occasionally invites refreshing responses. A gang of motorbike lads charge into the sea, fully-clothed, yelping with glee. Spotting me in my bikini camouflage, they seize my arms and legs, carefully remove my camera and swing me in, too! Other times I put away my camera to stop smaller boys performing for me at their own peril.</p>
<p>The light on the beach, blindingly abundant, allows for shutter speeds of a thousandth of a second, making it possible to seize the briefest of moments.</p>
<p>My pockets spill with addresses penned on sandwich wrappers. The church group from Glasgow religiously remember me for their photographs with a Christmas card each year, and the mermaid¹s dad keeps me posted.”</p>
<p>Working both in photography and film, Sirkka-Liisa’s long-term projects Byker, Step by Step, and Writing in the Sand have each evolved into exhibitions, photographic books and films.</p>
<p>The film, The Writing in The Sand, is a mammoth labour of love by its creative team. Comprising 400 of Sirkka-Liisa¹s photographs, it depicts a city dwellers’ day out on a windswept Northern beach, ending in a disturbing metamorphosis. An unprecedented experiment, the photographs were shot with free camera movements and married to a complex soundtrack of beach recordings, music and poetry. The result is a stirring cinematic experience.</p>
<p>Hardback – 120 pages, B/W tritone<br /><span class="caps">ISBN</span>: 1-899235-97-3</p>2007-02-04T17:58:34+00:00sirkka-liisa-konttinen-writing-in-the-sand81510Book2007-02-04T17:58:34+00:00Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen - Writing In The Sand2007-02-04T17:59:39+00:00Amber
The sandy beaches of North East England are beautiful, the climate beastly. This is no Theme Park. The high-spirited happenings are spontaneous, generous acts of Geordie exuberance. Here you find yourself laughing with your fellow creatures, not at them; and before you know it, you too have been transformed into a child, adding your antics to the array of contented eccentricity.
_"Riotous rituals, always the same and always surprising: leaps into the surf in full clothing, bodyless heads grinning in the sand, cool sand-mermaids melting in the sea's embrace at the end of the day. And all of it taking place again the next day and the next summer, and long after I have taken my photographs." - Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen_
Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen began to photograph on the Northeastern coast on her arrival in Newcastle in the late 1960s. Initially attracted to the extraordinary abandon with which the local people take to the freedom offered by their beaches, she later focused on the natural elements and transformations of the beaches as live drama in their own right. Writing in the Sand is a culmination of twenty five years of inspired photography.
"The perfect shot eludes me. A man with a leg in plaster hops around in a game of family cricket, using his crutch as a wicket. A bride hitches up her hem and veil and goes for a plodge. A skinhead moons his tattooed buttocks to a blast of belly laughs, and a football team races backwards. A theatre group on stilts wade into the sea like giant redshanks... and a woman turns and turns in her silent Tai-Chi... But I am at the other end of the beach.
An opportune moment arrives. Sun and shadows on the morning beach reveal the nocturnal revelries of tide and sand in intricate similes of crushed silk, forests and lunar landscapes. Before I manage to stoop close enough with my camera, the light has died and the picture has gone.
This is a natural habitat for cameras. Mine, which strays to gaze upon other people's antics, occasionally invites refreshing responses. A gang of motorbike lads charge into the sea, fully-clothed, yelping with glee. Spotting me in my bikini camouflage, they seize my arms and legs, carefully remove my camera and swing me in, too! Other times I put away my camera to stop smaller boys performing for me at their own peril.
The light on the beach, blindingly abundant, allows for shutter speeds of a thousandth of a second, making it possible to seize the briefest of moments.
My pockets spill with addresses penned on sandwich wrappers. The church group from Glasgow religiously remember me for their photographs with a Christmas card each year, and the mermaid¹s dad keeps me posted."
Working both in photography and film, Sirkka-Liisa's long-term projects Byker, Step by Step, and Writing in the Sand have each evolved into exhibitions, photographic books and films.
The film, The Writing in The Sand, is a mammoth labour of love by its creative team. Comprising 400 of Sirkka-Liisa¹s photographs, it depicts a city dwellers' day out on a windswept Northern beach, ending in a disturbing metamorphosis. An unprecedented experiment, the photographs were shot with free camera movements and married to a complex soundtrack of beach recordings, music and poetry. The result is a stirring cinematic experience.
Hardback - 120 pages, B/W tritone
ISBN: 1-899235-97-3
2007-02-04T17:58:34+00:00manual900122105deny1Default115.9981510truetrueDefault2007-02-04T17:59:39+00:002007-02-04T17:58:34+00:001126791815102007-02-04T17:59:39+00:00http://static.shopify.com/s/files/1/0001/4200/products/wsand.jpg?1262801793