For a while now I’ve been posting short vignettes on my Instagram and Twitter. A single image and jotted down streams of awareness notes always starting “Notes made whilst …”. Usually, though not always these are nature or landscape based. Most of the photos have been made digitally: some are …
Notes made whilst in Sheffield: 6 August 2019. ~ warm wind, with an edge; blowing dark cloud in from the peak ~ children’s squeals from fairground rides ~ sparrows bustle in paving hemmed street trees ~ in Fargate’s swirling crowd’s chaotic flow leaves a sudden eddy of space, pigeons swoop …
Notes made whilst on a bridge: 20 June 2019. ~ rumble of traffic, chatter of people ~ sand martins scooping river flies ~ shadow of heron passes ~ dragonfly hawking from typha ~ crowfoot trailing in the current ~ river Don, dead in my childhood, now alive again ~ …
Notes made whilst sauntering: 1 July 2020. ~ a long familiar place, unvisited for decade or so ~ wind, carrying drizzle, in branches ~ grass snake swimming amidst horsetails ~ the great sickness, for a while, far away ~ half traces of maybe paths – tempting ~ explore for a …
Notes made whilst away in memory: 11 August 2020. ~ an old photo, January on Kinder ~ the quietness of cold fog ~ alone ~ an isolation not imposed but freely chosen ~ running easily within a moving twenty metre cocoon ~ distant guback-gabuck grouse laugh ~ then silence, bar …
I found this marvellous book, Modern Photojournalism: Origin and Evolution, 1910-1933 by Tim N. Gidal, in a local antique market. It turns out to be the first volume of a series Photography: Men and Movements. These particular men* are predominantly working in Germany from the last years of the German …
An old favourite this, rich almond rock cakes, crispy outside, moist and crumbly inside. Eaten warm with apricot jam they’re the most luscious comfort food. A mug of hot chocolate or cocoa to wash it down with is indulgent, and good. The cakes are also, if any last to become …
A simple yeast free bread, quick to make and eat. Like most bread, it’s best eaten slightly warm, but it toasts well next day too. I’ve made it with a range of flours, from a basic self raising white (leave out the raising agents …) to an artisanal wholewheat. A …
A picture can paint a thousand words, or so the phrase says. Perhaps so. On a long office day, editing my back catalogue, a 5×4 slide starts talking about memories. In 2001 my world, like many other people’s, was turned upside down. On an isolated farm in Northumberland some …
A work in progress. Well, more play than work, and in several parts … … this being part one. An old piece found lurking on my Mac, an idea, … “As it’s ‘that’ time of year(surely the new year really started ten days ago, after the solstice?) a plan. Probably …