Jean Williamson, Photographs/Ffotograffau - Exhibition

I will be starting 2012 with a local exhibition - my first - which will happily coincide with St Dwynwen's day (Welsh patron saint of friendship and love, Jan 25th). The photos on show will be a departure from much of the work you can find in the Galleries section of our web site, but will be familiar to those who have received handmade greeting cards from us over past years. The initial catalyst for this series of pictures came from a valentine card I made many years ago, building on landscape and still-life work I did at college. I am endlessly fascinated by the dynamics of the heart shape in relation to the more chaotic energies of nature.

1 - 31 January 2012, at Caban Caffi/Café, Brynrefail, nr Caernarfon. 9am - 4pm, 7 days a week. www.caban-cyf.org

photo and poster: Ice Lightning © Jean Williamson

Cadw Calendar 2012

To celebrate twelve years of publishing its calendar, Cadw has produced the 2012 edition using all the images which featured on the cover but were not used for the months inside. Jean and I have done rather well out of this as, between us, we took eight of the photographs including the re-cropped view of Pentre Ifan Burial Chamber on this year's cover. Check out other Cadw products at cadwshop.co.uk

photo: Pentre Ifan burial chamber © Mick Sharp

cover: Crown Copyright 2011

Ancient Britain Historical Map

I'm delighted that the Ordnance Survey has chosen one of my (MS) photographs for the front cover of the latest edition of Ancient Britain. When I first set out visiting and photographing ancient monuments around Britain, one of my main references was the 1964 Second Edition split into North and South sheets.

photos: Stenness henge and stone circle © Mick Sharp.

covers: Crown copyright 2011.

Loop Images

We have sold all of our darkroom and most of our film camera equipment, bought a secondhand Flextight to produce publication quality scans up to A3 at 300 ppi, and started using a professional quality digital camera. For those who wish to be able to view, download and pay for our work online we are gradually placing some of our more ‘commercial’ photographs with Loop Images. Loop specialize in the best of British imagery: they are helpful, friendly, a pleasure to work with and we are delighted to be included in their excellent online library. Browse their special galleries, search via keywords or type in Mick Sharp, or Jean Williamson, to find us.

www.loopimages.com

Prehistoric Britain (2nd Edition), Timothy Darvill

First published in 1987 by Batsford and reprinted nine times, this much loved and referred to book has been substantially revised and published in 2010 as a new edition in the Routledge World Archaeology series. ISNB 978-0-415-49027-6.

The cover of the 1st Edition featured one of my (MS) photos of the Hurlers stone circles on Bodmin Moor, the new edition has one of my shots of Maen y Bardd dolmen above the Conwy valley. Tim was awarded an OBE in June 2010 for his services to British archaeology.

ANGLESEY Past Landscapes of the Coast

"The dramatic and stunning Welsh coastal landscapes of the island of Anglesey are documented in this beautiful pictorial record of the history of Anglesey's coast, from prehistoric times to the present day. The fact that Anglesey is an island has been crucial to its history; its coast the scene of prehistoric fishing and oyster catching, Neolithic tombs and Bronze Age round barrows, Roman-influenced estates, Irish incursions, a Norman motte and, at Beaumaris, the last of the great Edwardian castles. The building of the two great bridges and the development of Holyhead into its main port in the nineteenth century is chronicled, with the growth of sustainable energy in the form of wind turbines in the twentieth. The photographs taken by Mick Sharp and Jean Williamson are supplemented by text from Frances Lynch who introduces each chapter and provides detailed captions describing and giving background information to the images." There are also aerial photographs by David Longley of the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust Ltd (GAT) and by Toby Driver of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW) plus a map and illustrations.

Photographers Mick Sharp and Jean Williamson have been based in northwest Wales, and involved in the archaeology and history of Anglesey and Gwynedd, for over thirty years. They run a photo library specialising in subjects connected with Britain's ancient monuments and the history and spirit of the land. As well as their own books they have contributed to well over a thousand publications including many Cadw guides to historic monuments.

"Frances Lynch retired from lecturing in archaeology at Bangor University some years ago but has continued to live and work in the area. Her parents had a long association with Anglesey and she has researched the prehistory of the island since the 1960s when she began a series of important excavations. In 1970 she wrote Prehistoric Anglesey for the Anglesey Antiquarian Society and has since written several academic books as well as the popular Guide to Ancient and Historic Gwynedd for Cadw in 1994. This is her first excursion into the more recent past."

Windgather Press, an imprint of Oxbow Books www.oxbowbooks.com

Hardback: English ISBN 978-1-905119-29-5, Welsh ISBN 978-1-905119-30-1. Publication 23 June 2009. Designed by Val Lamb.

Publication of the book has been supported by the Sustainable Development Fund, a Welsh Assembly Government Initiative in the Isle of Anglesey Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) www.anglesey.gov.uk/aonb

A Land of Gods and Giants, Mick Sharp, Introduction by Christopher Chippindale

Extended captions and over 120 colour photographs exploring the mystery and power of megalithic ceremonial monuments in Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain.

Published 1989 by Alan Sutton, ISBN 0-86299-664-3. Designed by Richard Bryant and Martin Latham.

Reprinted 1994 by Fraser Stewart, ISBN 1-85648-214-6.

Both editions out of print, but second-hand copies are available through AbeBooks or Amazon Marketplace etc. The rights have reverted to me and I am interested in producing a follow-up to what was a very popular and influential book.

Prehistoric Scotland, Ann MacSween and Mick Sharp

Tells the story of Scotland’s early years through text and black and white photographs of “over 100 outstanding sites” - their discovery, original purpose, present remains, folklore or legends - under the headings of Settlement, Defence, Tombs & Burial, Ritual Stones & Henges, each prefaced by an illustration of prehistoric life by Jean Williamson.

Published 1989 by B. T. Batsford Ltd, ISBN 0 7134 6173 X.

Out of print, but available second-hand and it continues to be borrowed from libraries. The rights have reverted to the authors who would be interested in producing a new edition to take account of some of the many exciting discoveries which have been made during the past 30 years.

Images of Prehistory, text & commentary by Peter Fowler, photographs Mick Sharp

“Stunning and atmospheric” black & white photographs with an “affectionate but trenchant commentary” looking at prehistoric monuments in Britain through the themes of Living, Working, Defending, Believing. Four landscapes - Orkney, Maen-y-Bardd, Avebury, West Penwith - are then examined in detail from the Neolithic through to the Iron Age. A well designed and printed, large format book blending art and academia - “a potent memorial to a vanished way of life.”

Published 1990 by Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521-35646-6. Designed by Paul Oldman. “.........a majestic book which is exceedingly rich in design and content.” The Independent on Sunday.

Stayed in print into the 2010s, but now available second-hand from Amazon etc. The look inside facility on Amazon rather misleadingly shows part of the Introduction and gives little indication of the quality, contents and layout of the rest of the book.

Holy Places of Celtic Britain, Mick Sharp

A selection of special places set apart for sacred use in Britain from the Late Bronze Age through to the 1990s demonstrating a ‘Celtic’ sensibility to natural locations, unseen forces and indications of the longed-for otherworld. Colour and black & white photographs, extended captions and introductions to chapters on The Pagan Celts, Romano-Celtic Britain, The Age of Saints, Continuity and Revival.

Published 1997 by Blandford Books, a Cassell Imprint, ISBN 0-7137-2642-3, ISBN 0-7137-2642-8, ISBN 0-7137-2792-0.

Out of print but available second-hand and, in 2008/9, the most popular of my books to be borrowed from libraries. The rights have reverted to me: Cassell was not interested in a re-issue and there are doubts about the survival of the printing ‘plates’. In spite of ‘difficulties’ this book has been well loved and deserves a reprint.