James Jenkins' Photo Journal

Big Issue Seller and Buyer

2005-09-15T16:54:00.000Z

Chatsworth House

2005-09-14T22:58:00.000Z

Cogs

2005-09-13T21:02:00.000Z

Chester Riverside

2005-09-12T23:57:00.000Z

Canal Dock Bollard

2005-09-11T21:35:00.000Z

Statue in Bush

2005-09-10T22:30:00.000Z

Beach Reeds

2005-09-09T23:03:00.000Z

Dry Dock Roof

2005-09-08T21:45:00.000Z

Erddig Hall, Wrexham

2005-09-07T22:29:00.000Z

Cotton Weaver

2005-09-06T22:50:00.000Z

Sunflower Head

2005-09-05T21:24:00.000Z

Lock Side

2005-09-04T19:39:00.000Z

Old Wooden Barrel

2005-09-02T18:51:00.000Z

Pole & Shadow

2005-08-31T00:28:00.000Z

Police Car

2005-08-24T22:55:00.000Z

Can't Stop

2005-08-23T21:59:00.000Z

Kayak's & Sailing Boat

2005-08-22T09:15:00.000Z

Curve

2005-08-18T22:40:00.000Z

Light Winds, West Kirby

2005-08-17T22:30:00.000Z

Egg

2005-08-16T23:00:00.000Z

Upper Bridge Section

2005-08-15T23:55:00.000Z

Who makes GM food?

2005-08-14T22:12:00.000Z

BBC Article: GM Food

Wet Sands, Formby

2005-08-13T23:29:00.000Z

Another Place, Antony Gormley

2005-08-12T23:24:00.000Z

Widnes Power Station

2005-08-11T23:06:00.000Z

Running On Time

2005-08-10T22:56:00.000Z

Canal Bridge

2005-08-09T22:51:00.000Z

Lock Gate

2005-08-08T23:08:00.000Z

1950's New York, Liverpool 2005

2005-08-07T22:36:00.000Z

Old Futurist Cinema, Liverpool

2005-08-06T22:53:00.000Z

Scatter

2005-08-05T23:06:00.000Z

Cool Breeze

2005-08-04T22:56:00.000Z

Wheels

2005-08-03T22:07:00.000Z

On The Move

2005-08-02T22:40:00.000Z

Filming Hollyoaks, Chester

2005-08-01T16:59:00.000Z

26 Years Young

2005-07-31T17:19:00.000Z

£2.00 a ride, Hilbre

2005-07-30T17:09:00.000Z

Beach Tyre

2005-07-29T21:33:00.000Z

Down There!

2005-07-28T21:46:00.000Z

Body Shop, Liverpool

2005-07-27T21:55:00.000Z

With a Flake!, Yorkshire

2005-07-26T21:50:00.000Z

YH 296, Cromer

2005-07-25T22:11:00.000Z

Longhorn, Wales

2005-07-24T22:20:00.000Z

Cow Hide

2005-07-23T22:04:00.000Z

Religion & War

2005-07-22T15:14:00.000Z

IT IS STRANGE how elements can collide and work together to initiate, inform and direct a reflection. My starting point each day is an experience I have encountered and captured in a photograph, which I can explore and reflect on. But other wider events, knowledge and previous experiences inform this process of reflection. Today’s image has haunted me since I took it on Tuesday at Valle Cruis Abbey and it has been clear to me that it would be one which would spark and fuel reflection for sometime. However, it was the attempted bombing yesterday in London by suspected Islamic extremists that brought this reflection forward and refreshed the questions about religion (in particular my own Christian tradition) and war that were triggered by the carving. The design was carved into either a tomb top or cross section and shows a vine interweaved with a sword and spear. The imagery of the vine comes predominately from John 15 where the writer states that Jesus proclaims that ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower’. He goes on to say that ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing’ (NRSV). By viewing the elements of the carving, as described above, through the original text we can begin to understand the meaning and message that is being portrayed by it. Once the vine is seen as a metaphor for Christ, it becomes quite clear that the image is seeking to show not simply a compatibility with the sword and spear, themselves symbols of war, but indeed promotion and legitimisation. The interweaving of the weapons within the vine and the way in which each is rooted in the same ground as the vine, hints at common source; the three of them creating triune image. As if each is as a valid a product of the soil, growing strong and straight. The vine is actually much thinner than the sword or spear and seated at the right hand side it leans in towards them and seems to wrap itself around them. Most pertinent is the abundance of fruit, which is largest around the sword. The fruit of the vine edges it’s way around the left hand side of the sword, supporting it. The branches around the sword have an almost hand like feel to them as if they may close around the handle of the sword. These branches are clearly very fruitful and strong, and John tells us that this is a sign that they abide with Christ, and that Christ abides with them. I find this type of imagery very uncomfortable, and it would be easy to dismiss it as simply a misuse of Christianity in the dark and distant past. However, Christianity’s history is not simply a separate and self-contained element of the tradition. It is a force that is both a backdrop and a continuing and real influence in both private faith and the structural outpouring of that faith. Although there significant differences between this period and the Second World War it is possible to go into many chapels and see a combination of biblical imagery and warfare, created not 500 years ago, but 50. There are so many issues here. Those peculiar to Christianity and many which cut across all the main religions. Of particular importance is how we interpret written words or Scriptures, when they are said to hold eternal or divine messages. I have spent the last three years arguing for the need for acceptance of different interpretations of the Bible. That one persons understanding is as valid as another’s. But these bombings raise really very serious questions as to how far this works when extremist scholars can interpret scriptures to justify the sort of actions that we have seen over the last two weeks. Almost all traditions would hold up their scriptures or texts as being divinely inspired and state the need to judge actions and behaviour according to them, but is there a need for something by which the text, or at the least the interpretation itself can be judged?

Puck, Chatsworth

2005-07-21T21:41:00.000Z

The last Squire of Erddig

2005-07-20T23:11:00.000Z

DURING A TRIP to Erddig Hall today I got talking to one of the gardeners, trimming the ivy. The conversation started as most do with the weather and moved on to the house and his connection to it. Working there for over 30 years he knew the last of the two private owners, brothers Simon and Philip Yorke. The latter he divulged was very religious, so religious in fact that one denomination could not contain him. One Sunday might see him at the local Catholic Church and the next the Baptist, followed by the Scientologist the next. It was on one of these Sunday mornings that he rushed past the gardener shouting over his shoulder that he couldn't stop on account of being late for the morning’s service, which started at 10:30 at whichever church he was attending that day. He jumped on his bike and set off. Well in the words on the gardener, 'he must have peddled a bit hard', because no sooner had he arrived and sat down in the pew than the poor man passed away.

Valle Cruis Abbey, Denbighshire

2005-07-19T23:17:00.000Z

The Old Church of St. Martin, Cumbria

2005-07-15T23:33:00.000Z