Strike A Pose!

 

**All photos by Sarah Peart and Darren Washington**

A short post this week. I want to share some of the images from Sarah Peart’s and Darren Washington’s photoshoot from last Thursday. We received the photo files yesterday via the wonders of the internet, and it’s fair to say we were delighted with how they captured this particular moment in Betley Court’s history.

The old silversafe. Artists and photographers often find decay and ruin pleasing subjects! This is not in short supply at Betley Court!

Nigel and I set a fairly broad brief: record our contractor’s builders and craftsmen in formal and informal portraits, and capture the building both in grand scale and in detail. It seems this is quite a tall order in a one-day shoot (in retrospect is it!), but Sarah and Darren settled in one site very quickly, and we now have a fantastic port folio of photos from “Phase 1A” of Betley Court’s rebuild.

An informal pose: one of the craftsmen working in a makeshift work station.

The old study, in the main house. Some of the unlit areas make for very atmospheric photographs!

A more formal pose, but in a non-studio setting. I love the honesty of this photo - clothes marked with dust and mortar, and all the PPE required of a modern building site in place. Our two workmen-models are sitting on top of what will be the new wall on the southern elevation at top of first floor height. The rebuilt drawing room chimney is behind them.

This is just a selection from the day’s session. We need to title each photo, and caption with the location, task or person to make the series a historical record. I’m so pleased almost everybody wanted to get involved – I think quite a few had quite a laugh with Sarah and Darren. Eventually, we'd like to put together an exhibition documenting the rebuild. I'm sure also, these photos will be of interest to hisortians of the future.

In 'the factory' - the former servants' wing, stripping out one of the residents' apartments

Thanks again to Sarah and Darren from Centre Space Arts! We’d love to have you back during 'Phase 1B' when the roof is installed! And a big thank you for everyone at MCL and MD Scaffolding Ltd , who, once again, dealt with our instrusion on their workplace with good humour and patience.

All best wishes

Ladybird Su