Kestrel of Bahji is the first half of this site. It is a gallery of some of my photographs. I will add new ones regularly.

Droichead na h-Aislinge shows a sculpture I worked on for 25 years and for which I am seeking a site.

KestrelofBahji4500@yahoo.com

Showa Bridge in the Night Season

I worked on this photograph for more than two years. I visited this spot many many times, day and night. For some reason I was drawn to it. If you wonder why, you wouldn’t understand the answer. It is a combination of two photographs taken from slightly different vantage points. While I was looking at the scene the cat you can see on the left was looking at me. It won a Silver award from Tokyo International Foto Awards: /https://www.tokyofotoawards.jp/winners/social/2023/23-39635-23/

Sarah Akiyoshi

I made this photograph during a concert by the Japanese Kagurabue and Shinobue player, Sarah Akiyoshi. It won honourable mention in the 2023 Tokyo International Foto Awards competition. It was made during a live concert, not posed. I had to listen closely to the music to determine the right moment.

I studied photography at Pratt Institute, New York. I took photographs of trains, people, animals, and buildings at many locations, day and night, even aboard a freight train and atop a suspension bridge. I used a 35mm and a large format camera. My style is: The camera is my eyes, I photograph something just as I see it. I don’t think about composition, there is a direct link between what I feel about what I see and the photograph. It also won a Tokyo International Foto Awards award: https://www.tokyofotoawards.jp/winners/social/2022/23-34276-22/®/

Kawasaki Factory at Night

I was standing on a bridge, often shaken by passing trucks, in the loneliest part of Kawasaki. The smell of sulphur suffused the air, and the wind was blowing. What more could you ask for? After years of shooting in this spot I discovered that a small aperture renders lights at night like stars. A long exposure renders steam or smoke like a spectre and gives water an otherworldly quality. I used Neopan 100. I find it renders machines and industrial buildings beautifully at night and has no reciprocity factor.

Okutama Factory on the Nippora River

I took this photograph with an Asahi Pentax 6x7 in Okutama, Tokyo Prefecture, standing on a bridge overlooking the Nippara River. I love this type of industry in a natural setting. In the future all our industry will be part of the ecological system. That’s when we will know peace and safety. That said, I hope it will have the inherent beauty of mid-twentieth century industry, sadly lacking in the modern world. It won a Mono award: https://monoawards.com/winners-gallery/monochrome-awards-2022/amateur/architecture/hm/16708

I took the photograph in 1975. I was standing on the oil tanker, the closest car to the viewer, traveling maybe 80 kilometres per hour, hanging on for dear life.

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The Nightingale of Revelation

The Nightingale of Revelation began as a journey I made to Bru na Boinne (Newgrange) in Co. Meath, Ireland. This is a megalithic tomb that predates the Pyramids. Each winter at the Solstice, daylight reaches the back of the tomb. I read in a Baha'i publication that the light comes from the direction of Bahjí. I'm sure that there is a connection. The painting is an expression of that connection.

The bird itself is created from one of the Hidden Words:

O Son of Justice! Whither can a lover go but to the land of his beloved?

And what seeker findeth rest away from his heart's desire?

To the true lover reunion is life, and separation is death.

His breast is void of patience and his heart hath no peace.

A myriad lives he would forsake to hasten to the abode of his beloved.

Each of the lines above forms an element of the bird, in Persian, in the following order:

First line: The taj or crown of the bird.

Second line: The right wing (from the viewer's perspective).

Third line: The head, beginning with the eye.

Forth line: The body.

Fifth line: The tail.

Sixth line: The left wing (from the viewer's perspective).

The painting itself is oil and gold leaf and is about 2 metres in height. It took two and one half years to do from beginning to end.

The theme of this sculpture is world unity, the most pressing need of this age. It is a sculpture, not a model railroad bridge, although it could carry a variety of model trains. The intention is different. It will be about 35 metres long. The towers will be about 3.7 metres tall. Most of the metalwork—the steel parts of the towers, the span, and the metal part of the anchorages—have been made. They are waiting for a site and funding.

This is an early drawing. At that time I modelled the East Tower, the one on the viewer’s left, on the Brooklyn Bridge. Since then, it changed a lot (see painting below).

East Tower

The most striking feature of the East Tower is its flame-shaped columns. In contrast to the gentle curves of the steel of the West Tower, the East Tower's flame-shaped, pointed exterior is striking. Two 1.5-meter-tall flame columns, each with a tunnel entrance, will be located on either side of a central column, 37 meters above ground level. The columns are bright red with gold edges. One of the central flame columns is decorated with symbols and hieroglyphs. The other central flame column features Irish writing and symbols. Three flame columns will be connected by a cathedral arch, a brilliant silver and gray color. The cathedral arch is topped by two smaller Gothic arches and a smaller bronze peaked roof. Behind each arch are two copper peaked roofs. These are supported by metacarpal traverses. The Metacarpus Traces is placed on a brick wall featuring a trapezoidal wooden door and a crescent moon, three trees, and a group of 15 stars. The lower 2 meters of the East Tower are made of thick, sturdy brickwork and feature a large Egyptian-style wooden door with a bird symbol above it. The overall impression of the East Tower can be described as one of mystical realms.

Height from span to water surface: 2 meters

Length of longest cable: 3.5 meters

Tower height: 3.7 meters

Average tower width: 1.5 meters

Average width at tower-to-span interface: 1.7 meters

Number of bricks: 2,110

Amount of mortar: 1,914 kg

Base volume: 3.6 cubic meters

Tower weight: 6.8 tons

Base weight: 5.4 tons

Tower and base weight: 12 tons

Celtic Flame Pillar

This is part of the East Tower. In English it reads: Cross this bridge for it is built to carry your soul to its home. That’s the spirit and purpose of this sculpture. The figure at the centre is Jesus Christ, as depicted in the Book of Kells.

The Anchorage

This sculptural bridge has anchorages at both ends. The anchorages serve two functions. First, they pull the four cables down to the ground, reducing lateral sway caused by the weight of the span. In addition, the anchorages themselves directly support the span. Each anchorage features an archway beneath the ground, revealing the loosened ends of the cables, safely secured to the steel rods.

The two star-shaped and two circular structures above the anchorages serve to lower the cables down and into the brickwork. By seeing the cables being pulled directly, visitors can visually see how the anchorages function.

This anchorage is the starting point. Here are the spans and cables, and it's here that your journey begins.

Height of each anchorage: 1.06 meters

Width of each anchorage: 0.99 meters

Average width of each anchorage: 1.05 meters

Number of bricks in each anchorage: 90

Volume of each base: 1.33 cubic meters

Weight of each anchorage: 1.8 tons (2 tons)

Weight of each base: 2.02 tons

Weight of anchorages and bases: 3.83 tons