St.Georges from Fort George - Grenada

I was located at Fort George in Grenada taking a number of shots.

It’s worth the climb from the town up to the fort for the great 360-degree view.  The fort itself has not been kept in very good condition  but it is still worth a visit.  There is a plaque  noting the execution (murder) of the Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and some of his colleagues after the military coup in 1982/1983.   Bullet holes can also be seen in some parts of the fort.

Yes Tony. It's always worth the climbing when you know the results is breathtaking just like this one. Thank you for the introduction.

Nice pic. But, I was interested in your little blurb about Maurice Bishop, so I read up a bit on him. I hope you don't mind my adding something about him here. Gives the image a bit of life, I think.

Bishop was born in Aruba to Grenadian parents, Rupert and Alimenta Bishop, and migrated with his parents to Grenada in 1950, when he was six years old. He attended Gray's Inn and earned his law degree from the London School of Economics, University of London.[1][2] He began post-graduate studies at King's College London but left this prior to being called to the bar in 1969,[3] he practiced law in the UK for two years, co-founding a legal aid clinic and developing his interest in campaigns against racial discrimination, especially against West Indians in England.

Returning to Grenada, he became active in politics. In 1973, he became head of the Marxist New Jewel Movement(NJM) political party. He was elected to parliament, and for several years he held the position of leader of the opposition in the Grenadian House of Representatives, opposing the government of Prime Minister Eric Gairy and hisGrenada United Labour Party (GULP).

In 1979 Bishop's party staged a revolution and deposed Gairy, who was out of the country addressing the United Nations at the time. Bishop subsequently suspended the constitution and declared himself Prime Minister of Grenada. Without a constitution in place, the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) simply issued laws by decree. Bishop began to build a close relationship with Cuba after he took power. He initiated a number of projects, most significantly, the building of a new international airport on the island's southern tip (that in May 2009 was renamed in his memory). American President Ronald Reagan accused Grenada of intending to use the new airport’s long “airstrip” as a waypoint for Soviet military aircraft.

Among Bishop's core principles were workers' rights, women's rights, and the struggle against racism and Apartheid.[4]Under Bishop's leadership, the National Women’s Organization was formed which participated in policy decisions along with other social groups. Women were given equal pay and paid maternity leave, and sex discrimination was made illegal. Organisations for education (Center for Popular Education), health care, and youth affairs (National Youth Organization) were also established. The establishment of voluntary mass organizations of women, farmers, youth, workers, and militia were presumed to make the holding of elections unnecessary.

In 1983, disputes among the party leadership occurred. A group within the party tried to make Bishop either step down or agree to a power-sharing agreement with Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard. Bishop rejected these proposals and was eventually deposed and placed under house arrest during the first week of October 1983 by Coard. Large public demonstrations in various parts of the island demanded Bishop's restoration. During one demonstration, the crowd freed Bishop from house arrest. In unclear circumstances, Bishop made his way to the army headquarters at Fort Rupert (known today as Fort George). After he arrived, a military force was dispatched from another location to Fort Rupert. Fighting broke out at Fort Rupert, and many civilians were killed. Bishop and seven others, including cabinet ministers, were captured. Later that day, 19 October, they were executed by an army firing squad.

The beauty and serenity of your photograph certainly belies the history.  I hope it stays like this.  Excellent shot... Mike

I don't mind at all. Good old USA was called to help and help they did. To this day they don't know where the body of Bishop lies. The people 'responsible' for the firing squad were jailed in HMS Prison which is located at the top of the mountain where the lights start in the central position. They were waiting to be hung but it never happened.

From what I am told it was a terrible time for Grenadians with soldiers and curfews, etc. Of course things have been normal for a long time. 

Here is a not so good photo showing my position at Fort George and the prison. For this shot I was located at another Fort Frederic.

PS my late biological mother was married to an Emmanuel (family name) here in Grenada but I was born in another island.

Mike - Thanks.

And here is Fort Frederic.

Along with three other forts, one just next door, though not in good condition (the Americans bombed it in 1983 based on an invitation), Fort Frederick was started by the French to secure their position after they had so easily captured the island from the British in 1779.

The French had confounded the British (who had been anticipating a naval attack) by attacking from inland. Not wanting to be caught out in the same way, the French constructed Fort Frederick with its cannons facing inland, rather than out to sea, earning it the nickname "Backwards facing fort."

Look down on more history :
Fort George, the Island's main fortification; the ruined hotel which was bombed in 1983 (another one !), having been taken over by Maurice Bishop's party, thus housing his assassins at the time of the American "intervention"...

The reason so many people remember Fort Frederick, though, is for its location. It really does afford a world class view in every direction.

Interesting, very informative and great pictures to boot. What more can I ask for. The top picture is great Tony just the right amount of light to let us enjoy the scene.

Best Always, Holger

Great photos Tony - and fascinating history.

Best, David

Holger and David - Thanks.

First, it's really hard to look at this picture in this small size.

But (squinting), I like the color sandwich of the gentle twilight blue-greens of the foreground and the sky middled by the loud, festive red-oranges of the city. I particularly (and oddly) like the large calm blue-grey in the lower right corner, with the stone of the building, as an anchor to that "side" of the color contrast.

There is also a nice directional back and forth, with the left-right of the orange/red versus the right-left of the blue-green-grey. Even the spikiness of the mostly concealed ship in the mid-right works versus the fuller, organic roundedness of the top and bottom -- with the feeling of insertion or sandwiching of different kinds.

A good picture with a gentle but nevertheless surely composed statement of feeling.

I'm amazed that this image hasn't drawn more views. Julie's comments are spot on, in my opinion. Although warm tones grab more immediate attention, cooler ones provide balance. Also, I'm impressed by the dominance of the fort in the foreground.

A well-deserved POTD . . .

+1 on Julie's comments. The lower right grey roof makes my gaze bounce back towards the center and search for a subject in the distance.

I appreciate what has been said about the color contrasts and their appealing tones. Tony has some very original images in his portfolio, even if I have only had time to look at the initial sample portfolio.

The present image I find a bit disturbing from the compositional viewpoint (others may well find that apparent imbalance a positive asset). The building in the foreground at right fights with what the background shows and with what we might imagine to be there but do not see. I don't mean the tall ships masts that we see only partly to the right above the forground building, but instead the interruption of the interesting curved harbourfront by that building and the slight awkwardness of the relationship between the near and far subjects. It is for me like there are two subjects. Perhaps the buiding and background could be juxtaposed better (different POV or angle of view) or simply that either is an appealing subject in itself (the forms of the building offer much interest, as does the curved shorefront), begging more introspection and development by the photographer. Ultimately, I feel the interesting color contrasts and harmonies (blue-orange) are let down by the composition. But I will gladly return to Tony's other images, particularly his simpler and to my mind particulrly successful ones.

It is for me like there are two subjects. Arthur, in my opinion, this is an element that brings additional interest to the image. Indeed, Tony could create two images - by cropping to the left of and above the fort's external wall, thereby concentrating on the harbor, etc. or by concentrating exclusively on the fort. But each of them, in my way of thinking, would be mundane compared to the original.

Arthur,

Could you explain this comment further.

Thanks.

Supriyo, what I was saying is that it is not sure to me what is the subject and therefore the composition did not help me. I think Julie noted as I do that the highly charged and orangeish background requires a large image size to appreciate. There is a lot there that may work well chromatically in contrast with the cold or bluish foreground but I don't really see it clearly enough (its many details) and a large part of it is blocked by the foreground building. The building has interest as a subject but is it the intended subject or is it instead the partly obscured background that is the main subject? If it is both, I think one might better be made the primary subject and the other secondary, perhaps in order to keep our eye on the main subject while appreciating the color or form contrasts it has with the secondary subject. If the building was placed more to the right and the very close and somewhat non-descript roof (immediate foreground) removed, it would allow the balance between the two subjects to be altered with one taking precedence over the other. Maybe by making more of a difference in the luminosity beteen the foreground and background might also be interesting, in this case where everything seems (to me) to be part of an appealing but mixed fruit Christmas pudding. I don't mean this analogy to be negative (I love puddings), but just away of suggesting that quite a lot is going on within the frame


I showed an image in another forum recently whereby the centered subject was important to me, and the surroudings texturally supportive but somewhat secondary, but most of the comments there and prior to that in my portfolio suggested that others would have preferred to see the centered subject off center. Not sure why, except for some pre-established rules of photo composition. There you go, we all see subject matter and composition a bit differently and I am quite happy with that. My feelings here are simply my subjective aesthetic interaction with an interesting image.

It would be interesting to hear Tony speak to his motivation or intended approach in making the photo.

Arthur,
As I understand, you have two points in your comment. One is about the purpose of the image, it's subject, and second is, how the aesthetics work to highlight the subject matter. I think the subject here is the City of St. Georges, showing both it's old and the modern sides. A city with a rich history that has it's ruins spread everywhere. These ruins compete for attention with the bright modern cityscape in the image, as they do in real life. To me, its is this to-and-fro between the old and the new that is being highlighted in this photo, and for this reason I don't mind the old building blocking the coastline. As you said, one would have a more harmonious composition with both the cityscape and the ruins visible without being blocked, if the photographer takes the picture from a higher altitude (if at all possible, I think Tony was already at the top of the fort), but the conflict between the two subject matters will be lost at that point.

Supriyo,

Thank you for your critique of Tony Hadley's photo. We have a quite different appreciation of the photo, which is fine, as that is really what the POW is all about, n'est ce pas?

Hi Arthur,
Thank you too! I had a good discussion.

Arthur, did you read my response to your initial post? If so, I'd appreciate your feedback.

Hi, Michael. Yes, I cettainly did and I appreciate your view, as I did Supriyo's, but my feeling is quite different from them. It remains for me that the image, at least seen at this small scale, is too busy. I think that would probably also apply at larger sizes, due to the multitude of subject matter therein presented. But, as I have said before, and which reflects my own tastes, the advantage of coming across this POW is that we can be incited to visit Tony's portfolio and see there some very good much more minimalist compositions. If you haven't taken that opportunity, I really recommend it.

Thanks very much, Arthur. It looks like our tastes run differently; that's OK.

Arthur, I took your suggestion and took a brief look at a folder entitled Caribbean - Grenada; http://photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=1089635. There's one image (among several), http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=18212248, which offers another perspective on the community, harbor, and mountains. I suspect this fits your taste better. Yet I don't get as much of a connection as that which I obtained from viewing the POTW.

Michael, Perhaps these two of Hadley's represent more my preferred aesthetic: If they don't show up when you copy them into your browser, they can be found in his initial "sample portfiolio" ("Deep into spatial lillia II" and "Fall maple and rays")

file:///Users/arthurplumpton/Desktop/Deep%20into%20Spatial%20Lilia%20II%20-...:%20Photo%20by%20Photographer%20Tony%20Hadley%20-%20photo.net.webarchive

file:///Users/arthurplumpton/Desktop/Fall%20Maple%20and%20rays:%20Photo%20by%20Photographer%20Tony%20Hadley%20-%20photo.net.webarchive

Tony does more color saturation photoshop modification than I like, so most of his images with the exception of those like these (which are very good) leave me a bit "distant". That includes most in the Caribbean folder you showed. If you wish to see more minamilist type images you could do worse than browse some of the earlier work of Michael Kenna. He was influenced I think by oriental paintings and probably also by his artist wife. Anyway, the lillies image of Tony is close to that.