Gertsamtkunstwerk

Food un-porn

My earliest food photo is from November 2002. I am fairly sure this is Pakora, in a brilliant but short-lived Nepalese restaurant on a side street at the top of Brixton Hill. 

According to Wikipedia, Instagram was launched in October 2010. I am not a member of Instagram nor do  ever want to be. "No filter" scream people, even those who really ought to know better. Oh, wow! You took a photo without a filter. How innovative.

I didn't invent taking photos of food. I didn't even invent 'amateur blogger/photographer takes photo of food and publishes it online as part of an internet-based journal'. But nor did I copy anyone or jump on any bandwagon. Other photos at the time show that I was developing an interest in small objects. I think painters call it 'still life'. Again, not innovative.

Google 'Still Life' and the first hit under Images is Apples, Peaches, Pears and Grapes. Paul Cezanne 1880.

Another webpage says: 

The fruits and objects are readily identifiable, but they have no aroma, no sensual or tactile appeal ... They bear no relation to the colorful vegetables of Provence -- gorgeous red tomatoes, purple aubergines, and bright green courgettes. In his pursuit of the essence of art, Cézanne had to suppress earthly delights.

History of Art is not one of my strong points, but I can be fairly certain that Paul Cezanne was ridiculed for his still lifes of fruit.

I bought these mini pottery casserole dishes because they match my other Le Creuset kitchenware and because I get unnecessarily excited by scaled down objects. I made a lovely breakfast by soaking some smoked salmon in milk and chives, adding an egg, and baking. 

   

I watched the film Julie and Julia; it was entertaining and thought-provoking. A film about blogging. How tedious, how achingly zeitgeisty said some critics. Whatev. (A rare film that manages to feature a woman doing something other than angst over a man, whilst also acknowledging that women can actually combine 'thinking' and 'doing' with 'being in a relationship'. Heck, it was a film with the two main characters being women. That's noteworthy for Hollywood).

For a few moments I contemplated a similar exercise. Find a cook book and diligently work my way through, blogging each and every creation. I quickly rejected this. Some people may feel I'm a bit of an anorak but I'm not a completist. I don't need all records/books by any singer or author, and I don't feel compelled to walk/cycle the entirety of the South West Coast Path, the Capital Ring or the Wandle Trail. I'm quite poor at sticking at things. With leisure pursuits, what's the point of going on if it doesn't give you pleasure?

Last summer I discovered that goats cheese and figs are a blissful union. To be honest, it was only last summer I discovered figs - other than the dried sugared version that come in fig rolls. An oversight. Great recipe - hint, parboil the potatoes first! Photography wise, should I over-expose it or over-emphasise the yellows and beige? In any case, why make it look 3 dimensional when 2 dimensions are just fine! 

 

Photos 7048 and 7049. So mediocre I can't be bothered to give them meaningful titles.

On the other hand, this blog is supposed to be a snapshot of my life and snapshots from my life. I enjoy cooking, although I go through phases of not being bothered. Food can be so colourful but I don't think the world needs another set of recipes typed up by me, especially as I'm not a creative cook.

Beautiful colours but out of focus and blurry. Again, not getting the essential 3rd dimension!

I tend to stick to recipes, and even though I may substitute some ingredients, I don't go far off piste.  I mock recipe web sites where people leave comments such as 'This is a veggie recipe but we're not veggies so we took the veggies out and replaced them with meat" or "I added mushrooms sweetcorn and creme fraiche and left out the red wine aubergine and spices". On the other hand, I think it's fun to read other people's recipes and sometimes they inspire to cook a related dish from a different recipe.

There are some truly dreadful amateur food pictures on the internet. Most people cook food to eat it, and take a quick snapshot before it goes cold. Look at recipe books, magazine articles or websites for restaurants and you see something different. In most cases, the food was cooked specifically to be photographed.

There are tricks that some photographers use - coating food with inedible substances to make it shine, inserting wooden or plastic props to make it look three dimensional. Even those that don't use these tricks pick their lighting carefully. They rarely shoot in pokey home kitchens, and usually use professional photography lights and reflectors. Should amateurs use flash, or not? The results from professionals can be spectacular. From amateurs, less so!

Chocolate cake! Who can resist? Actually, this was so-so. I made the sponge chocolaty by adding cocoa, as I have been doing since childhood. But it didn't really taste of chocolate. Was the cocoa poor quality, or long past its best before date? Some recipes add melted chocolate, but most use cocoa. It was dispiriting. 

I did a few things right in these photos - capturing the three dimensions, and showing the inside, a casually carefully placed cake slice to imply action. But, again, the colours aren't right, the framing and placement isn't right, and I really should have made an effort to wipe the crumbs off the plate.

For my final dish I tried something different. Basically, putting together a dish from scratch. In my Uni hall of residence I loved chef's bulgar wheat and walnut chilli, and made it myself (from my head) occasionally over several ensuing years. I photographed several stages, with the intention of blogging "Hey, look, smug, my recipe, yeah, cool"

Can't really go wrong with the method.

Saute onions and garlic, add stock, carrots, peppers, chillis, and reduce it down.

 

Add kidney beans and walnuts. Add bulgar wheat and paprika.

 

Cook until it resembles an unappetising sludge, and add a tin of tomatoes to try and inject some colour.

 

I divided it into six portions to freeze individually. When I pour them out of the bag it looks disgusting. It has that slightly noxious odour characteristic of bulgar wheat and couscous. Heat it up, stir it around and you have the a comforting and filling meal, packed full of flavour, incredibly nutritious and just lovely. But photos cannot convey that hug-in-a-bowl sensation. I probably used too much bulgar wheat. As with couscous, I underestimate its potential to absorb liquid and swell up.

Perhaps the next time I photograph something I cook I shall pay better attention to lighting, placement/framing and generally how to 'style' a dish. But never to the detriment of eating it.

June 2008 and 2009

June once again proved to be not the greatest month photographically in 2008. I took several photos of a couple of my favourite tenors at the stage Door of the  Royal Opera House. But I'm not sure they'd thank me for publishing less than flattering pictures of them.

We did go for a river walk, though. Putney Bridge to Hammersmith, on the Middlesex shore.

Even so, the pictures resulting was far from the best set of Thames-side pictures I've taken:

It doesn't get better than that. And not in a good way!

June 2009 seems split equally between a family wedding, again which has no need to be on the internet, and two wonderful bike rides via Battersea Park right round the river to Barnes Bridge, although the photos seem to stop at Hammersmith. There's a fabulous trek through the forest. Great for cycling, hopeless for photos!

Many more in the London album - start at Rust bucket and press previous until you can take no more. Or have a quick look at the Battersea Park album.

 

Mid decade June photos

I went right off photography in the spring and summer of 2004. I was on long term sick at the time. I took only a few decent photos in June that year.

I'm not entirely sure what happened in June 2005. I took many photos of a family party but they are of little interest to anyone not related and I imagine that some of the relatives would be miffed if I stuck the photos up here. A small selection are on the 'Book (for those relatives I haven't blocked on the 'Book).

I don't even have a folder for June 2006, somewhat confounding my prior assumption that June would be a photo-rich month, marking the transition from Spring into Summer.

In June 2007, we went to Trooping the Colour. I took loads of photos:

Lots more in my Trooping the Colour album

We also went on an open top bus tour of London, which, as an experience was a bit mixed, but did afford the opportunity for lots of photographs.

Lots more in my massive London album - start at Westminster Abbey and keeping pressing 'previous', until you get bored.

Then there were the perennial garden photos eg

To be honest, the best way to enjoy my garden photos is to come round and see them live. 

June 2003

In late May 2003 my house was burgled, which was an unnerving experience. The silver lining in the cloud was that the scrote stole my basic point-and-shoot camera. I had been umming and erring for months about whether to upgrade. With my hand forced, I did. I bought a Canon G3, which almost literally changed my life. A lovely camera which unfortunately developed a mechanical problem with the zoom a couple of years ago. I replaced it with its successor, the Canon G11, which has more features but just isn't as good.

In the first month I shot a great number of photos. They are mainly of no consequence, some are pretty poor, but there are some I'm really quite fond of. Some of them I'd compose differently nowadays, but I'm not sure that would be an improvement. Sometimes raw instinct works better than thinking too deeply about theory.

We went for a walk in Dulwich Park and realised they had a fair on:

On one particularly hot Sunday, we walked from Richmond to Kew, and caught a boat back to Westminster.

Pictures from the past

I thought I'd start doing this, at least through the summer. Posting some photos from years gone by. And, as it's early June, I'll post a few from June in years gone by.  

I initially thought I would devote this blogpost to the 'pre-digital age', in other words, photos taken on film and subsequently scanned in. 

But until the mid-90s pretty much all the photos I took in June were of parties. In other words of people. Very important to me, really good memories of good times. But not that interesting to others who weren't at the parties or who don't know those in the photos. Also, I think a bit awkward to publish photos from twenty years ago of people generally being quite drunk who wouldn't know or guess those pictures would be on the internet.

I've realised that film wasn't a good medium for a clueless amateur like me to take pictures of 'things' - landscapes, cityscapes. The preview/review screen is such a wonderful tool. I've learnt a lot from putting pictures on the PC and analysing and post-processing. I'm not afraid to put pre-digital pictures on the blog - see the sidebar - but I've found, anyway, that the pictures that look best on photo-paper don't always look that good digitally. 

In June 2002, we had a staff event at the Tower of London. Pissed it down in the morning - deterred the tourists - then brightened up in time for our extended lunch break.

  

  

These photos were from two cameras ago, a very basic Fuji point-and-shoot. I took just over 20 photos for the whole day, mainly of colleagues, which, of course, I won't blog. I've recently walked past the Tower, twice, and, in due course, will blog the highlights of those walks. But I have almost 600 photos waiting to be blogged (on a highlights basis, obviously!).

My album of London photos currently contains over 500

River Life

Time and again I am drawn back to the River Thames. So many different ways to see it, at different times of year. I could write paragraphs of clichés about 'a great river...ever-changing yet remains the same...life-blood of a city...heartbeat of a nation'

Historically, towns - that became cities - were built by rivers (if not by the sea). It's only very recently that it's become easier to travel by water than by land. In ancient times maritime communities had excellent communications with other maritime communities.

And the Thames is the nearest river of any significance to where I live.

On one stifling hot day in April, we spent some time on the river. We started at a pub near Vauxhall, in the St. George Wharf. I can see the attraction of it, a very large place close to the river,and maybe we just got unlucky with the bar staff who didn't seem to have a clue about the product she was selling and laughed at us for asking to buy - for money - the beverages of our choice which her employer stocked to be sold, for money.

So after one drink we left the pub and went to look at the river. It's changed since then; amongst other things, they've built a pier, due to open imminently.

The tide was low and what looked like a crane on a barge was moored, seemingly left high-and-dry.

For April, the weather was stunningly gorgeous, although in the morning it was still hazy enough to shed a photogenic light on Battersea Power Station.

I also discovered that each of the arches of Vauxhall Bridge is decorated with a relief of a human figure.

We then went into Central London. It was horrendous, all the tourists converging on Westminster Bridge, many of them acting like utter morons, not even capable of crossing roads and making you wonder whether they should be allowed out unsupervised.

We waited for seeming ages for a boat. There was a problem with it being an exceptionally low tide and boats were delayed,and they were going as far as Kew, not to Hampton Court. But eventually it left, and we had a pleasant cruise in the sunshine, and I took lots of photos, some of them just to tell a story.

I like the Thames as a working river - the refuelling barges the fire rescue station in front of the headquarters of the International Maritime Organisation and, as I fondly believe, oil rigs, which will eventually make us all rich!

Then there are the derelict-pending-redevelopment Power Stations at Battersea and Lots Road in Hammersmith

There are modern developments on both banks - Norman Foster's Albion Wharf and Chelsea Harbour

We ended up in a pub in Kew called the Botanist on the Green, which turned out to be a disappointment. I started with a deep-fried cheese affair which tasted better than it looked but I followed with fish and chips. The presentation made you think they cared enough about being poncey to care about the food but this was the second attempt after I'd sent the first one back for being smothered with salt to the exclusion of all other taste. Even after complaining it still had salt, visible for the sharp-eyed I can only assume they powered on the salt to disguise the taste of food about to go off. Jimmy said I would have found his fish and seafood dish too salty, too.

When we were joined in the garden by a South-West London family from hell, we knew it was time to leave. You know the sort. Bloke sits there bellowing into his phone how he'd been playing tennis all day and been away in Moscow for several days buying vodka.Heleft and returned half an hour later carrying a new-born baby held with his arms out in front of him so that everyone could note and admire his virility. Behind him followed the wife, clearly exhausted, struggling with buggy, bags, football etc, followed by two very bored Infant School kids, who were ignored by the boastful shouting father and the exhausted mother, so they noisily kicked their football round the beer garden which was laid out for eating, not a kids' playground. I expect he had brought them to the pub as a grand gesture to save the wife from cooking. Not that I feel sorry for her. She married him, possibly just for his earning power, and she's stuck with him for several years and three children.

It was nice to be out on the river, but once again found London pubs lacking the attention to detail which would make them good, and worth recommending,or returning to.

More photos from this day,and earlier trips out round London are in my London photo album. I also have an album of Food and Drink photos.

Rush Common

I like this. If you didn't know, you couldn't guess that Rush Common is just a thin strip of land that runs alongside Brixton Hill! It looks much better full screen on the PC, but I'm not that daft: I only publish massively compressed photos.

Tiles

Going through my holiday photos from Costa Blanca last September - photo album available - I remembered how I had been enchanted by the decorative tiles I found on so many streets, especially in Denia. I photographed a lot. They're not especially interesting or good photos in themselves, but I thought it worthwhile blogging a selection of them as a sort of collection!

   

Elephant in the room

On Wednesday, I popped out of the office to take photos of elephants in Victoria Tower Gardens. I got better pictures than this of the actual elephants but they can wait.

As I was close to College Green, the epicentre of the media circus surrounding the formation of the new coalition government, I thought I would linger and shoot there, too.

The elephant in the room may well be that no one seems to have mentioned that Simon Hughes may not be entirely overjoyed at having to work closely with the Conservatives

NB: Anyone who posts a confrontational comment arguing on the basis of serious political points will be deleted; this isn't supposed to be taken seriously as Political Commentary. And yes, I know it's lame opportunistic attempt at stretching a metaphor/chiché to breaking point.

Also, in retrospect, I should have changed the angle to get the full glory of the clock face.

Recent photos

Pirate Ship, in the playground of my local Primary School/Polling Station

Brixton Windmill

Brixton Elephant

3 Contenders

Rye and Winchelsea

At the end of January we spent a few days on the South Coast, in East Sussex. That was when I realised that my old camera was well and truly past it - if I zoomed in, the shutter button wouldn't depress. It was, therefore, impossible to take zoomed photos.

I just thought I'd throw a few I did take onto the blog, now.

By the river in Rye town centre


Rye Churchyard


Winchelsea Beach


Miles of sand and sky


The famous derelict groynes of Winchelsea Beach

The trip to Winchelsea was strange. We asked the bus driver to drop us 'near the beach'. Perhaps I am expecting too much, but what seemed perfectly clear to me wasn't for the driver. I expected that, as we entered the environs of a village called 'Winchelsea Beach' and asked for the beach, we would have been dropped by the beach, but instead he took us onto Hastings, where it rained.

I think I twittered at the time that Hastings must be England's most disappointing town. Hastings resonated with English history, the cornerstone of the past. And it's basically a rather shit rundown seaside resort, which gained a reputation in the 80s and 90s as being where 'Care-in-the-Community' clients were dumped into bed-and-breakfast. It might prosper with the High Speed Rail Link, but, frankly, I doubt it.

We returned to Winchelsea Beach and followed public footpath signs to 'The Beach'. We had got so far and were debating which turn in the road to take when a car pulled up. A woman asked us if we were lost. I initially thought she was taking the opportunity to scrutinise us, see if we were up to no good. But she explained that the public footpath lay across muddy fields and without wellingtons, we weren't going to make it. And she gave us a lift to a more accessible spot. Which was extremely nice and almost certainly rescued us from a day of frustration and disappointment.

It was wonderful on the beach, miles and miles of space. In the far distance we could see a few people working, maybe catching worms or seafood. A couple of dog-walkers, two or three other randoms. But they never came within hailing distance of us. We watched as the sky reddened predicting a glorious sunset (in the event it disappointed compared to the previous day's, which had been Tweeted by various people the length and breadth of the country).

That evening and the next day, Jimmy mentioned to several locals (to Rye) where we had been. They all responded with upturned noses and the comment 'It's a very shingly beach!' Not in our experience. I suppose it would be shingly at high tide, and we were there at low tide. We also noticed signs severely limiting the amount of commercial and anti-social behaviour permitted in high season, which also makes it attractive!

Alicante pictures

I'm still in the process of editing my holiday photos from Costa Blanca last September (not exclusively, I am alternating with later pictures).

I took about 500 in Spain, including duds and duplicates, about 400 in October, including ill-fated (and misjudged) attempt to take a photo a day, lots of pictures (not for the blog) of Jimmy's nephew's wedding, and loads when I went up to my Mother's - those of my 'country' walk are potentially for public consumption, those of the nephews and nieces are not. I took another 250 with my old camera, mainly during our visit to Rye, and I have so far taken about a hundred with the new camera.

After loading photos to the PC I go through and delete the obviously totally dud. But I don't tend to delete the so-so ones immediately, because I find, it's not until I open it in the editing software and look critically at it, perhaps even slide around a few alterations do I decide that either this photo that seemed a good idea at the time is dull - poorly composed, fails to tell a story, whatever - or that my attempts to rescue an over- or under-exposed picture will never render it anything than a mis-hit. Sometimes I keep badly lit or out of focus pictures, not for their photographic value but for their content - it might be the only one of that subject and I don't want to lose it.

Anyway, when on holiday in Villajoyosa,we took a day-trip to Alicante. A pleasant if somewhat slow train journey along the coast landed us near to the castle. We spent the best bit of the day in the castle, but, ultimately, it's a mediocre castle. The rest of the day was so-so. A very pedestrian unfriendly city and poorly signed. We spent some time on a dull over-crowded beach , before eating a perfectly adequate (but no more) meal at an over-priced restaurant whose highlight was a picture of Fabio Capello on the staircase.

We agreed we'd go potentially to Alicante again, but only for the airport and maybe the railway station.

 

Sale pictures, also autumnal

Back in October I went for a walk round my childhood stamping ground. I was extremely lucky, because it had been grey and overhung in the morning. There was a heavy shower as I was getting ready to go out, and then it stayed dry until just a few hundred yards from my mother's house. In between I enjoyed an autumnal walk in crisp watery sunshine.

The first photo was actually taken the previous afternoon but I again walked past this spot to reach the canal

At the time I tweeted my walk thusly

• 15:37 I am in England's most boring local park. It tantalises with a model railway which I've never seen run. Cafe/duckpond fail.

• 15:38 It's comforting to see Sale is as boring as it was in my youth. No kids play out. Few adults walk or bike.
• 15:50 I feel like Julia Bradbury yomping along the tow path. I suspect several of my fellow walkers are channelling Sylvia Plath.

The bridge in the distance is Park Road, Timperley.

• 16:00 I walked down the steps to the brook which I was never allowed to do as a child. I didn't fall in.

This is the bridge that takes Sinderland Brook, the historic boundary between Altrincham and Sale, below the Bridgewater Canal I wonder if the bridge is as old as the canal (18th century); in any case, it seems a shame to have done such a rubbish patch-up job with non-sympathetic materials. It would be quite fun to try and do a walk of the brook (although obviously at this point it would be necessary to divert along the tow path and cross the canal at Timperley. It would also be fun to bike the length of the canal, even more fun to do it in a narrowboat.

There is a nature reserve on the banks of Sinderland Brook

• 16:08 We have WIN as one kid swings across the brook on a rope and another crawls across the pipe!

I did try and get photos of the kids on the pipe and the rope but they didn't turn out well (I feel awkward when taking photos of random children). I hope this gives a sense of what fun it is to crawl along the pipe across the brook.

• 16:18 This other park is the win cos of the brook, & cos the swings & slides have been renewed since the 70s.
• 16:20 Also because of the random crap sculptures near the playground and the large derelict house with 'Danger Keep Out' signs.
• 16:52 Walked along the brook through the woods into my third park of the day. Feel sorry for the lamerz sealed into their metal bubbles.

The light was fading by now, so my pictures of the pitch-and-putt/polling station failed. It's a great little polling station in a small polling district. On a good day ('Labour weather') a teller can just lie in the park and soak up the sunshine.

• 16:56 Why do so many of the Smug Marrieds drive round in Drug Dealers cars? Don't they know they live in boring suburbia?
• 16:58 A boring suburbia their kids will want to flee as soon as they cut the umbilical cord & allow them out unsupervised (age 25).

I think the point I was trying to make was that, wherever one lives, it is usually possible to find some green space to take a walk. This is quite a built-up residential suburb, it's not in the countryside or whatever. Sometimes we think we have to travel for miles and consume time in search of nature, and we forget what lies on our doorstep.

I find walking quite hard on my feet, but, nevertheless, such a walk is good for one physically and can be great for mental health. It makes me sad that one passes so few people grasping the opportunity; it also saddens me to think of all the times I have preferred to stay at home or join in the rat race rather than walk, look and reflect.

Some photos of Autumn

Nothing quite like being inappropriate!

I looked out of the window and was startled to see some daffodils looking very much like they'll be blooming in a day or two. As I opened up this editing box, a Tweet from a neighbour flashed on screen 'Spring has sprung chez moi finally' with accompanying crocus photo.

Meanwhile, I'm looking at my photo file titled 'To blog' and thought I would just throw these into the mix

 

Some London photos

Taken last Autumn

A sign on a building on Horseferry Road, not far from where I work:

Mr Fegan's Homes (Incorporated)
To the Glory of God
And for the welfare of orphan needy and erring boys, here and hereafter. The Foundation Stone of this house of mercy was laid by
The Right Hon. Lord Kinnaird
on
20th May 1912
His Compassions Fail Not

This building houses the Arts Council of England on Great Peter Street, but considering its proximity to Church House and hence to Westminster Abbey, I assume its origin is Ecclesiastical.

London Wall, slightly surprisingly just a short distance from the Barbican Centre and in the heart of the City of London. I suppose this is the moat!

I quite like this, especially the way it fans out at the top, and especially in contrast to the spalling concrete down below. I like a lot of 90s/00s architecture but worry that it might look dated by about 2030.

Villajoyosa photos

Villajoyosa was a pleasant town to stroll around, spotting eye- catching sights to photograph.

On the last morning, or maybe it was the penultimate, Jimmy chanced to get up at sunrise and grabbed my camera for this:

Photos from Denia

We caught the train up the coast to Denia, a delightful journey. And we spent a pleasant day in Denia, although we decided Villajoyosa was a much nicer place:

 

Some holiday photos

We went away in mid September to Villajoyosa in the Alicante area of Spain. I took over 500 photographs. At that point I also had some photos taken previously but unedited. And, of course, I have taken many photos subsequently - another 500+

I have an aversion when editing photographs to going through sequentially, applying close attention to several really rather similar photos. So instead of editing them in the order 1, 2, 3...I edit them in the order 1, 11,21...6,16,26...9,19,29...etc.

The upside is that I can take a fresh approach to just about every photo I edit. The downside is that when I take nearly 1200 photos in 6 months a backlog of editing can build up, and, as I like to publish to in a chronological sequence, I have to wait until I have edited 90% of  the photos in the set before I can publish them in the albums you see to your right.

But I don't think that should stop me publishing a selected few in the body of the blog on an 'as and when' basis. And now is 'when'.

The sea looked rough but that didn't deter people from swimming, notwithstanding the red flag flying (we escaped to a nearby pub, fortunately it was fruit cake day and Countdown was on the TV, otherwise our holiday could have been ruined)

My new baby toy

I think I mentioned a few weeks I wanted a new camera. Well, yesterday I ordered one and today it arrived. In some ways it's very similar to my old, which is a Canon Powershot G3, universally acclaimed, in its time, and for many years after,  as the 'prosumer' camera.

For years, people lamented that the subsequent models didn't have the wonderful swivel screen of the G3, and I knew that, having used a swivel screen, I could never go back to a fixed screen. Just before Christmas, my brother mentioned he'd got a G11 and it has a swivel screen; just after Christmas, the zoom button finally seized up on the G3, as it had been threatening to do for several weeks. So, perfect serendipity.

Of course, when it arrived, I realised that not only was the battery different from the old one (but, at least, one was included) but it's a totally different memory card. That did annoy me, because I bought an 8 GB one at Gatwick just last September, and have now gone out and bought a 16GB. By the time I've bought a spare battery, a soft case and a remote switch, that's adding on £150 to the original price, all of which seems like redundant spend.

It took a bit of getting used to even doing basic stuff, although I was quite pleased that my hands have already started moving instinctively to certain buttons. I shall give it another couple of whirls in the next few days, taking photos that won't be irreplaceable. It seems smaller than the G3 although the main bodywork is pretty much the same size. But it doesn't have that Cyrano-type nose, or that annoying lens cap held on by a piece of string.

Anyway, I took some photos.

 

Jimmy, as usual being totally unphotogenic, but I almost like the way I framed this - in Franco Manca in Brixton market - that's my organic lemonade in the front

I took this, intending it to be an iconic shot of iconic Lambeth Town Hall - which I have never previously photographed from the outside - but rather than thinking these people and vehicles got in the way, decided they were more interesting than the clock tower.

After we got off the bus, we went to see Jimmy's sister-in-law Julie at New Park Fruiterers, so I took some pictures round the shop. These are my favourite:

 

For some reason, and this manifests itself most starkly in the red roses, the colour in the RAW file doesn't seem replicable in LightRoom - in the original they are more crimson, in this they look more scarlet

Update:  I finally got round to downloading the newer version of Lightroom and with no additional processing, I get this

Amazing!

Photo of the Day

A few weeks ago I declared that I would copy loads of other people and take part in the Photo 365 Project, as one could grandly call it. For a few days I stuck at it, and then something happened - I was feeling lousy, or the weather was dreary, or something, not important, or my diary was jam-packed during daylight hours and I didn't take a photo.

I looked at the photos sitting in my 'To Edit' folder, and thought - are you actually lacking in opportunities and inspiration to take photos? Even now, I have almost 300 photos taken when we were in Spain in September that I haven't edited (or decided they're not worth the effort!).

I have 30 photos from when I went on an unplanned stroll around the City of London, 40 from our ride out to Wimbledon Park, over 40 still from Stephen and Jelena's wedding, nearly 60 from when I went for a walk round near my mother's, and over 20 of the nephews and nieces, plus assorted others. Why on earth would I want to take more photos when I still have those to occupy me through winter. Spring will come again and the outings and excursions will recommence (once I get my brake pads fixed!), and there will be more photos.

In the meantime, here's one I prepared earlier:

Lifeguards on Villajoyosa Beach as the storm was rising, and we escaped into a pub, fortunately it was fruit cake day, so we got lucky.

Safety Starts Here

For several months, Streatham Hill station has been undergoing building or renovation works. I think it's to do with the sidings/loco sheds but it also affects the passenger parts of the station, such as a temporary exit and entrance.

This sign bugs me. I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it's because it seems inadvertently to imply that 'Safety' is of no concern on the platforms or even the actual rail track.

Autumn Desolation

I had this all to myself last Saturday. It's alongside Sinderland Brook, which separates Sale and Altrincham.

I walked from the A56 main road (near the Pelican) up to Woodheys Park and did not pass a soul. It did cross my mind - if I were to be attacked it might be days before anyone found me.  Meanwhile, of course, the A56 was bumper-to-bumper with traffic going nowhere fast.

Given that I wasn't attacked, but did get mud on my shoes and the bottom of my trousers, who do you think was better off?

Some more holiday photos

I am slowly editing my holiday photos in my preferred unrandom-unsequential way.

Difficult to explain. These houses are built over-looking what appears to be a dried-up river bed. I assume it's long term dried up from my cursory examination of the ground. The houses seem to cling precariously to a crumbling cliff, with many cracks and much evidence of subsidence. Villajoyosa.

We didn't much like Alicante, although we enjoyed the castle and the panoramic views it afforded. Editing this photo inspired me to ask the question, on Twitter and Facebook:

Do any of you own yachts. Or dinghys. Or launches. Or any sea-going vessels?

People offered answers of 'lilo' 'blow up boat', 'score to HMS Pinafore' and 'that reminds me, I must check my lottery'. Oh, god, they're wits these people. One person did offer a father who has a yacht that he's pouring money into (tr. 'my inheritance').

The thing is, often when I go on holiday, away for a weekend, or just out for a day trip, I see lots and lots of boats. Many are working boats: for fishing, ferrying goods or people, dredging etc. Many more are commercial pleasure boats, for excursions, or for hire by the week.

But that doesn't go anyway to explain why there are so many sea-going boats that are apparently privately owned - and, by definition, not actually at sea. I recognise that there is a whole section of society outside my direct experience who are very seriously rich. But they are only a tiny number, and surely can't possibly own all the leisure boats in the world. I suppose the celebs who generally fall out of nightclubs, or the greedy city sharks who are ever-present at their desks could own some of them; their desire for ostentatious status symbols would explain why so many are tied up in docks.

But there are just too many boats around for that to be an explanation. I reckon there must be large numbers of people who are keen on sailing and have bought a boat -  a modest sized thing, with a small cabin, capable of being crewed by one or two people.

They don't have to be seriously rich, just comfortable/prosperous. I just don't know (hardly anyone) like this. I think of a friend-of-a-friend, a solicitor with no dependants, a modest flat, no car, no 'lifestyle' expenses. She had a yacht, and most summer weekends she took to sea, gradually sailing round the coast of Britain. I can understand that. But she is the only person of my enormous social 'circle' that I know who actually owns a yacht.

And another thing: I have just noticed that one building in that picture appears to have solar panels. It's only when it's pointed out starkly in that way that you suddenly realise that none of the others do. I have read that Spain generates a far greater proportion of power from the wind than Britain does, even though Britain is better situated to do so. So it's surprising that they aren't using more of what comes more naturally, the sun.

Some holiday photos

 

Lifeguards' chairs

When the lifeguards were on duty they built a tent city out of umbrellas and stayed inside, possibly smoking ganja.

 

Boatyard

Benidorm station café

Daily Photo fail

The more observant among you will have noticed that a couple of weeks ago I announced, with a grand flourish that I was going to take a photo every day and publish it.

And then, after a couple of days, I missed a day.

And then another day.

I realised that it is actually quite difficult to do. If I go somewhere specific, I take lots of photos as things appear to me, but then, back home, I reject large numbers of them.

The point of this is to go around my everyday routine, to and from work, to the shops, the odd evening out, and be looking for something out of the ordinary to photo. Having the courage to take out my camera in unexpected places, and then frame the shot to make it worthwhile.

I decided that as I still have lots of photos to be edited from summer outings, and in a couple of weeks I shall be on holiday, I shall start again in earnest.

Specifically on 1 October, which is a pretty random day but means that the first few months will be resolutely autumn and winter. I take more photos in Spring/Summer than Autumn/Winter and I guess most people are the same.

But, in fact, some of the more interesting light is in Autumn and Winter, and it should act as spur to take photos of small objects of details in often gloomy or miserable weather

Just because I haven't been publishing doesn't mean I have been entirely camera shy. For example, I took this last week as I walked from South Kensington station to the Royal Albert Hall - it's a bit of detail on the wall of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Photo 365/3 Fail 1 - Dolly Likes Beer

I know it's only 10 pm and I could go out and hunt for photo-shooting ops, but I'm really not in the mood. I have been fairly busy all day, attending to domestic minutiae and researching the area where we are going on holiday. Having thought we have booked a beach holiday, we are now planning on taking walking boots - and using them.

But rather than not publish a photo at all, I thought I would publish one I took at a wedding I attended a few weeks ago. I constructed the scenario especially for the taking of the photo.  It wasn't that I was drunk, as such, although, clearly I was under the influence. We were Bride's Family, I think the doll belonged to Groom's Family.

 

365/3 Kensington Gardens

I went to a Prom tonight - I'll write it up tomorrow - so I thought that I would take a photo of something that caught my eye near the Albert Hall. I did take a few that I hoped would have turned out quirky, or something, but I was disappointed. I could see that I could have taken a much better photo on a different aperture setting, so I shall try again another day. Sadly I won't get the light I got this evening, which was pretty gorgeous.

It seems a cop put to take a picture of the Albert Memorial - too predictable, too touristy. It's a bit sad to publish a picture of the Albert Memorial with its top chopped off, but, for a day where the weather forecast was heavy showers, and not a drop did fall (to my knowledge), I think this is delightfully summery

I was standing outside in the second interval, when it was pretty much dark, and some people standing near me were looking for Tinkerbell flying past old Bertie (there's a production of Peter Pan on in the gardens at the moment)

365/2 - Yuppie Flats

I already see a possible stumbling block in this project: if I force myself to publish a photo everyday, inevitably, there will be some that just don't attract the eye. I hope that when such things happen, I will, at least, have a story to tell!

This is not far from where I work. A few years ago, I was working in another building that overlooked this site, which was then derelict and being demolished from within. I assume that it is listed, and therefore they could not alter the façade.

Many years previous to that, I remember there being a furore about the closure of this, the Westminster hospital merging with several others to form what was originally going to be called the Westminster and Chelsea, until someone realised that the acronym was unfortunate*. 

In the late 90s I worked in Hammersmith, and occasionally passed the Chelsea and Westminster, which is massive, huge. Like the Lanesborough Hotel at Hyde Park Corner, which was once St George's, which is now based in Tooting, I simply cannot understand there being opposition to Victorian hospitals leaving the city centre for residential areas, still in Inner London, with capacity for expansion. It was not as if it left that area of London without a hospital, with the large St Thomas's almost visible from there, and Guys not much further up river.

I have been puzzled for a long time what the building is. It seems in some ways to resemble a hotel, but lacks the hustle and bustle and obvious catering facilities of a hotel. It also resembles a block of yuppie flats, but that doesn't really explain why the concierge has a  luggage trolley like posh hotels or the manner in which people come and go. It seems that some, at least,  of the apartments are available for short-term let, for business or tourist purposes.  I am not sure I would wish to stay in an apartment block which so blatantly omits the vital apostrophe in St John's (sic). Lowers the tone, somewhat, don't you think?

* urban myth, possibly

This project is not an attempt to emulate the London Daily Photo, but nevertheless I commend the site to you.

A new 'project' - 365/1

Quite a lot of people seem to be doing this: the idea is to force yourself to take photos every day, and I have decided I will do so.

I have set myself a few rules and excuses.

Photos from the phone don't count (in any case, I'm having 'issues' with my internet connection from my phone at the moment, which means I can't email photos to the blog; I need to take it into a Carphone Warehouse to see if they can sort it)

I will try to avoid taking photos of my house or garden: part of the challenge is to take a look at the wider world; however, if I get laid up with swine 'flu, or when it's cold, wet and windy in winter, I might break this rule.

On the whole, I shall be aiming to photograph everyday objects and sights; there may be exceptions.

I will try and post a photograph on the actual day of taking it, or before breakfast the next day; this won't happen when late nights are followed by early-ish mornings.

When I'm away eg on holiday, I will continue to take daily photos (of course) but I may not upload them until after the return home. If, however, I fail to take a single (usable?) photo in a day, that will be a 'fail'.

I might take and publish pictures of people in the public eye, but I won't publish photos of friends or relatives without their specific permission.

There will be no cat photographs.

Failure won't be a catastrophe, there will always be another day.

So, today's photo: berries on a tree in Millbank Gardens behind Tate Britain

Abundant berries are traditionally a prediction of a cold winter. Both Jimmy and my manager kept telling me this six years ago; it didn't happen.

But doesn't that look autumnal?

Photo

A few months ago some so-called professional photographer visited Jimmy' spub to take photos of staff, customers and premises. He supplied Jimmy with a CD and I have to say, I was not impressed. He was an amateur. Either he had a good camera, or else he had the chutzpah to say 'I'm a professional photographer' which, somehow, makes people more co-operative.

A few weeks ago Jimmy's niece got married. We noticed the two photographers roaming around the reception and assumed they were getting candid shots without people being particularly aware. Claire sent out a message today linking to a site where, with a password, we could access 360 photos of the day, which is an excellent idea. Of course, they are fairly low resolution, good enough for the web, but not for prints. Clever!

Even though I don't like this photo because it's not flattering to me, I can really appreciate what the photographer has done. Or could, if it wasn't me.

Also, Jimmy gets absolved from not having taken one of me full length, even though, of course, any attempts at elegance on my part are ruined by:

• posture
• already perspiring in the heat
• as always, having my bloody camera in my hand!