Peter Bowater

It is with great sadness that I have to share the news

of the death of my husband,

Peter.

He died on 1st December 2018 in hospital 

at Bron in Lyon. He was 74.

His death was totally unexpected and brutal but we believe 

and hope that he was not in pain and did not suffer.

Peter is greatly missed by me and our daughter Justine.

This will probably be the last posting on this Blog.

 

'All the World's a Stage'

William Shakespeare:  "As You Like It"  Act II, Scene VII

We traveled, as photographers, individually or together for many years and visited many countries in the course of our work.  Here is a 

compilation of 53 portraits from 20 of those countries.

Here we think is one of the most interesting ways to enjoy a variety of

work that we hope will amuse and intrigue forever.

One of the privileges of having been working photographers with international

assignments has been to visit often obscure regions in as many as

50 countries.  This enabled us to meet the people going about their

daily lives, their work and their pleasure, often in places that tourists

never visit.

One of the greatest pleasures of traveling is to observe the people, their

differences and their similarities, their customs and the changes in their

lives that are so noticeable over the years as one visits the same

country or region again and again.  

The portraits in this collection are, in a number of cases, unimaginable

now as so much has changed in such a short time. 

This composite is available in a Limited Edition of 8 at

80cm x 80cm

or also in a smaller edition of 8 at 54cm x 54cm.

Each portrait is also available as an individual print.

Pictures from our Archives

These pictures, as with all the others on this Blog and on our 
Website  www.bowater.fr
are available as
Fine Art Prints, sometimes in two different formats,
always in small Limited Editions.

We've been noticing that some of the subjects currently popular on on-line 

art galleries are reflected in our archive of photographs and, in many cases, 

have not been looked at for years.

We found a couple that were particularly to our liking and quite different

in content.

The Ahmed Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo, 867 CE, which we visited many years ago when were on assignment in Egypt, is an ancient religious building

that made a great impression on us at the time.  We often wonder

why the design and structure of modern buildings so rarely compare with

the work of architects and builders hundreds, even a thousand, years ago. 

Not only are these ancient buildings more permanent and more agreeably

designed but they have atmosphere and are people-friendly.

And, for something completely different, we have noticed that prints of

holiday beaches have become very popular.  This one is not exactly

the beach but just at the edge of the beach in Nice, Côte d'Azur, France.

This picture is back to Georgina's minimalist approach which seems to

make it more interesting than a straightforward document.

We don't always find what we're looking for in our archive as easily as we'd hope.  Somewherewe have some interesting old images of the beach at Alexandria in Egypt

and it would be fun to work on those as, given the present interest in fashionable beaches, these would be ultimately counter-intuitive.

A New Showcase

One of Georgina's most evocative images has just been selected as among

the 15 artists who have won a space in the 

Mixed Media Winners Video

created by Artists Info.

Here is the link to the video:

https://youtu.be/0M3mZrlQ4rE

Vizzavona, Corsica.  Beeches in snow.

Prints of this image are available in two sizes:
A Limited Edition of 12 at 53cm x 53cm
A Limited Edition of 6 at 100cm x 100cm

Printed on heavyweight Fine Art Rag paper 310gsm using Canon's
archival pigment inks.

Numbered and Signed and with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Prints of this image are also offered for sale through online galleries that represent me:

https://www.artgallery.co.uk/work/239266 

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Photography-Winter-Forest-Vizzavona-Corsica-Large-Limited-Edition-2-of-6/765626/3898109/view

In my opinion Corsica shares, with the West of Scotland, the distinction of being one of
the most atmospheric places on earth.  The Col de Vizzavona joins the North and South
parts of Corsica.  Coming over the pass one day in snow, I stopped to walk through the
beech woods near the road.  Perfect peace.  A relaxing simplicity and only about four
colours.  In the snow some of the trees were clinging to a few of their autumn leaves
like well-placed decorations.  I couldn't resist the temptation to simplify the view even
further and am intrigued by all the little 'creatures' and strange figures that, with a little
imagination, I can see among the trees.

New On-line Gallery

Georgina is now represented on another on-line gallery 
Artgallery.co.uk
and has been busy 

for the last week or so uploading work onto the site.

To see the work please visit:

https://www.artgallery.co.uk/search/keyword.aspx?keyword=bowater

 

Latest Exhibition

To see more of our work please visit: www.bowater.fr

We are also represented by Saatchi Art:

https://www.saatchiart.com/gpbowater 

 https://www.saatchiart.com/peterbowater

Note:  The exhibition has now been extended to the end of 
January 2018

 

To see Robert's work please visit: www.robert.jayet.fr

Living in the Diois

To see more of our work please visit: www.bowater.fr

We live in the Diois  -  la France Profonde.  Sometimes it's frustrating to live in 

an area so thinly populated and hence so far from many of the services and

luxuries that town dwellers take for granted.  Little choice for entertainment,

particularly eating out, limited medical facilities and few live cultural events.

But then, both as a discipline and as a pleasure, we justify one of our original reasons

for coming here by walking with a group of Châtillonais, (members of the
Association Fleurs & Fontaines), every Wednesday afternoon.

The walks have the multiple functions of reminding us that we live in some of the world's  most magnificent walking country, largely unspoiled, unpolluted and almost empty, that our

intentions to take regular long walks are too often thwarted by other commitments, but that, on Wednesday afternoon we must drop everything and go.  Last but not least the group's real purpose is to take secateurs and shears to keep the walking paths open.  The

benefits are obvious and help us to keep fit in body and soul.

In the past we have always preferred to walk on our own and we still do when we are looking for new subjects for our prints.  But the group is not merely a discipline but a

very agreeable one.  We learn a lot from the local people who know these mountains and

their history and know and can identify the plants and explain the geology and much more.

It's enriching and amusing and does a great deal to help us with the French language. 

The Diois is in the Drôme near to the border with the Isère Département.  It is an

administrative district surrounding the town of Die. Châtillon-en-Diois, where we live, is about 15 Km further into the unknown at the foot of the majestic cliffs of Glandasse

which is the southern tip of the Vercors Pleateau.  The climate is not quite Provençal but

very nearly.  We have plenty of sunshine all the year round with hot summers and sometimes quite cold winters, plenty of snow and plenty of seasonal variation.  The

wild life is fabulous and around the village we see wild boar, deer, foxes, badgers, three

species of vulture, eagles and other raptors, herons, snakes, gorgeous lizards, enormous toads and even wolves.  The list is endless.

Here are just a few glimpses of the country we walk in and the people we walk with.  They

are all very fit and keep us on our toes.

Serge Baude.  Our 'Chef'

 

The sun doesn't always shine