About Elsie esq. / Les Chatfield  

hazeyjane says:
"I've been looking through Les's pictures, and i have to say what an easy cool they have about them. They look, though i'm sure they were not, almost effortless.

Like snapshots that just came out perfectly, though clearly, this work here is more than simple snaps, these photographs have that effortless glide and appeal that allows them a certain lack of pretense which is key to their success. They seem real, not overly contrived, and inherent in that is part of their value.

See the piers, how they are depicted, so fragile and graceful on their stilt-like legs, the grand old ballroom ontop a monument to time and we know, sadly, that one day, time will reclaim these great things and take them to the sea.

Even the old changing houses along the beach front - how i remember those as a child when we used to go to Brighton or South End back when i was in the U.K..

Les brings back all of those memories for me, and more, is able to convey the complexities and beautiful things about our country to those who are not there or perhaps have never been or never been to those parts.

The waves crashing over the seawall, the animals lolly-gagging about in the sunshine, all add to the sense of ease that many of these photos have and they remind us not only of the beauty of those days gone by and how perhaps we have lost them now forever or soon will, for the sea and time will take them, but also that our own memory often fails us. Photographs like these are a real value because they DO withstand the test of time and give us something more permanent. One senses that these photos will be here long after the buildings themselves or the particular moment captured on film is gone.

If every photo is worth a thousand words, then these are worth a novel each, for they each tell me part of a sort of secret history that can be shared by two people from the same country and more, if the photographer wishes as clearly he does, a history and a life that can be shared so beautifully with the rest of the world.

A great photographer and humble with no pretense or nonsense here. This is the real deal and worthy of any gallery wall or perhaps more imporantly to me, anyway, worthy of any real home's wall where the photo would sit framed on the mantle in a house by the sea. What higher praise could there be than that - i would take these into my home.

qp"

Brave Heart says:
"It seems everytime I need to better understand the use of light I go to see what Les2001 has to offer. He just is a master at letting light work with and for him. I just want to thank him for sharing so much with all of us, Thanks Brave Heart."