www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk Thursday,March26,2015 I CUTHEROEADVERTISER&TIMES i


Thursday,March26,2015 www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk


CUTHEROEADVERTISER&TIMES I


VALLEY GOES VENETIAN


Symbol of the Cross above a Venetian doorway.


Th eph otoMart inselec tedforhisbookcover.


The sights of Venice that tourists don’t see


FEATURE


byEricBeardsworth eric.beardsworth@jpress.co.uk Twitter: @clithadvert!ser '


. Steps down to the water in Venice.


■ isitors to Venice take thousands of photographs of the city’s sights... the Grand Canal,


St Mark’s Square, the Doge’s Palace and so on. But not Martin Seddon. Martin (57) from Chat-


burn, seeks out the nooks and crannies that most tourists miss; the stairs, the doorways, the pavements,


■ the carvings, the statues, the crumbling render on the


walls. . Architecture and photog­


raphy are Martin’s passions, andhehas combined them in a book “Venice in Detail” il­ lustrated by photographs he has taken on no fewer than


m


".-six visits to the romantic city with his wife Alison. Martin’s work so im-


- pressed Francesco da Mosto, presenter of BBC television’s “Francesco’s Venice” and


• “Francesco’s Italy”, that the' Italian celebrity wrote the , foreword to Martin’s book. - . The broadcaster said: “A


This statue was an unexpcted delight in aVenice back street. fi


collection of gems hidden among Venetian alleyways, where history and objects from our times and earlier


are mixed in the reflections, shapes, shadows. Behind austere and decorative friez­ es, made by expert crafts­ men, a civilisation consisting of colours arid sparkles, - wood and elaborate marbles, fights with time and weather to survive.” Martin’s only image ofthe


much-photographed Rialto Bridge was taken from the ca­ nal underneath, showing the initials carved in the stone by lovers over the centuries. Mr da Mosto wrote:


““These images talk to us by themselves, bringing back the sounds of our memories, like the picture taken under the Rialto Bridge. When I pass in the boat with my youngest child Cosimo we always shout‘ohoo’ together and listen to the echo’s reply.” Born in Bolton, Martin


was awarden, along with Alison, at Friends Meeting House, Sawley, for 11 years and they have lived in Chat- burn for 15 years. Martiri is also involved in the “Quarry Tales” history project at Clit- heroe and the campaign to restore The Pinnacle in Clit- heroe Castle grounds. But it is Venice that in­


spires his photography the


. most. “I love the history, I love


the architecture. Venice has it all,” he says. “Alison and I went there


/Keenansestateagerits. Martin Seddon with his book ‘Venice in Detail’. Photo: AlisonS


for the first time in 2006 for our silver wedding anniver­ sary, and we’ve been back every two years since then.” Martin studied architec­


ture to post-graduate level and is an occasional lecturer in architectural photography at the University of Central Lancashire, in addition to his regular work producing au­ dio, video and cross-media from the couple’s home in Mount Pleasant. He also illustrates


books for other authors, but decided to put to­ gether a collection entire­ ly of his own for “Venice in Detail”. He added: “I most cases


I haven’t given a defi­ nite location, or at least I have beenvague


about it. This is intentional. The point of these images isn’t to produce a set of iden­ tifiable sights but a set of photographs that show the the essence of Venice.” • “Venice in Detail” by R. Martin Seddon, published by his own company Footnotes, isonsaleatClit- heroeBook-' shop, online at Amazon. co.uk, or from www. • byfoot-


t notes. co.uk (price


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