Twenty seven // July 6
• Home, England
• This week the official paperwork finally came through on a job change at work and as well as all the daily stuff, it has sealed three interesting changes to my home life. Firstly, my working day has shifted about 4 hours forward so that I can be on a similar time to my colleagues in "the D". This is a great thing. Working into the evening is a tiny, tiny sacrifice to pay for once and for all escaping my hatred of early mornings. I know it's healthy and has the best light but frankly if I never see pre-8am again in my life I won't shed a single tear. Secondly and largely because of this, I now mostly work from home. I love the freedom but it's a double edged sword. With everything I need right around me it's a constant battle not to let days slip by without stepping further than the porch to collect my morning milk. Right now I'm hard at work devising a regular excuse to get at least some fresh air every day. The final change is the house itself. When I bought the place a decade ago it felt like a massive and terrifying achievement and the freedom from rented accommodation filled me with a seemingly unstoppable zest for renovation. However, after re-buying it five years later in a shoddily thought out personal stability plan, I discovered that this motivation had also packed up, slammed the door and left. But that was then and being here all the time there are hardly any excuses left - which is why I'm breaking the only self portrait rule I had and showing you a glimpse of the horrifying pink bathroom I inherited. That way I'll have to fix it right? I mean seriously, look at that tile!
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Saturday, July 05, 2008
26//52
Twenty six // June 28
• Jodrell Bank, England
• It was my birthday this week. I got what felt like a million best wishes messages, some very cool gifts and for just a couple of minutes ... it even stopped raining. I took this opportunity to lure an international visiting team up to see Ron and Ronet in Manchester stopping off and the ridiculously impressive Jodrell Bank radio observatory in Cheshire. I remember coming here as a child and the 250' diameter Lovell Telescope looked just as massive today as it did to my reduced vantage point back then. Please know that I did try so hard to get a "here's a photo of the dish" type joke in here but frankly lost enthusiasm for the project after seeing my squinting sun-blind face. Anyway, another reason for the trip was the couple of Radiohead tickets that my amigo Carl counjoured up for Sunday night. Whilst not having been a massive fan in the past I was hugely impressed and had a great afternoon lying in the sun and listening to absolutely the best sound I've heard at an outdoor venue. Something confirmed back at Ron Towers where apparently you could easily hear the gig from a couple of miles away across the city.
• Jodrell Bank, England
• It was my birthday this week. I got what felt like a million best wishes messages, some very cool gifts and for just a couple of minutes ... it even stopped raining. I took this opportunity to lure an international visiting team up to see Ron and Ronet in Manchester stopping off and the ridiculously impressive Jodrell Bank radio observatory in Cheshire. I remember coming here as a child and the 250' diameter Lovell Telescope looked just as massive today as it did to my reduced vantage point back then. Please know that I did try so hard to get a "here's a photo of the dish" type joke in here but frankly lost enthusiasm for the project after seeing my squinting sun-blind face. Anyway, another reason for the trip was the couple of Radiohead tickets that my amigo Carl counjoured up for Sunday night. Whilst not having been a massive fan in the past I was hugely impressed and had a great afternoon lying in the sun and listening to absolutely the best sound I've heard at an outdoor venue. Something confirmed back at Ron Towers where apparently you could easily hear the gig from a couple of miles away across the city.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
25//52
Twenty five // June 22
• Home, England
• Spent this week mainly catching up on sleep and e-mail after my time living out the back of a Land Rover and it has seemed to fly by. I was delighted to see that every single piece of flora in my garden had quadrupled in size whilst I was away which as the World's least enthusiastic gardener potentially presented an issue. My plan however, is to use a combination of hired hands and dangerous machinery to regain control ... that or just tip a gallon of Round-Up over it. A method used to great effect in my Basra inspired rear garden project. Also showing absurd growth potential is my hair which despite (or maybe because of) having worn it long for many years as I succeeded in failing as a musician, now annoys me intensely whenever I go more that 4 weeks without cutting it. Rest assured it'll be fixed by the next 52 shot - if only because I need to submit a new passport application this week and fully understand the implication of 10 more years with a ridiculous photo.
• Home, England
• Spent this week mainly catching up on sleep and e-mail after my time living out the back of a Land Rover and it has seemed to fly by. I was delighted to see that every single piece of flora in my garden had quadrupled in size whilst I was away which as the World's least enthusiastic gardener potentially presented an issue. My plan however, is to use a combination of hired hands and dangerous machinery to regain control ... that or just tip a gallon of Round-Up over it. A method used to great effect in my Basra inspired rear garden project. Also showing absurd growth potential is my hair which despite (or maybe because of) having worn it long for many years as I succeeded in failing as a musician, now annoys me intensely whenever I go more that 4 weeks without cutting it. Rest assured it'll be fixed by the next 52 shot - if only because I need to submit a new passport application this week and fully understand the implication of 10 more years with a ridiculous photo.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
24//52
Twenty four // June 15
• Le Mans, France
• This year's pilgrimage to the World's greatest motor race was a little different from recent times as due to reasons of budget, priorities or work commitments our 8 man party was reduced to just 3. To help our reduced team spirit and with recent photos of the camp site under feet of water fresh in my mind I took perhaps the first mature decision of my adult life and left the yellow car at home so that the three of us could travel together. Whilst this was obviously a huge personal sacrifice, my feelings were eased somewhat when the hugely opulent new Land Rover we were travelling in revealed itself to have armchairs for front seats, a boomin' HK hi-fi upgrade and a fridge full of beer installed in the centre console. Seriously, 4x4s are not my kind of car but if there's an more comfortable way to cruise in traffic I haven't found it. In this picture the time is 5:25am and the rain clouds are reducing the near spiritual Le Mans dawn moment to a dull process of "getting less dark" and I am also wearing, without exaggeration, every item of outdoor clothing I brought with me. The other guys both being outdoors experts were wearing some kind of thin NASA stylée coats and warm as toast - nevertheless in my mind this was clear vindication of my "t-shirt per day" packing method!
• Le Mans, France
• This year's pilgrimage to the World's greatest motor race was a little different from recent times as due to reasons of budget, priorities or work commitments our 8 man party was reduced to just 3. To help our reduced team spirit and with recent photos of the camp site under feet of water fresh in my mind I took perhaps the first mature decision of my adult life and left the yellow car at home so that the three of us could travel together. Whilst this was obviously a huge personal sacrifice, my feelings were eased somewhat when the hugely opulent new Land Rover we were travelling in revealed itself to have armchairs for front seats, a boomin' HK hi-fi upgrade and a fridge full of beer installed in the centre console. Seriously, 4x4s are not my kind of car but if there's an more comfortable way to cruise in traffic I haven't found it. In this picture the time is 5:25am and the rain clouds are reducing the near spiritual Le Mans dawn moment to a dull process of "getting less dark" and I am also wearing, without exaggeration, every item of outdoor clothing I brought with me. The other guys both being outdoors experts were wearing some kind of thin NASA stylée coats and warm as toast - nevertheless in my mind this was clear vindication of my "t-shirt per day" packing method!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
22//52
Twenty two // June 1
• Home, England
• I spent what felt like an age setting up a movie watching shot for this week because I've recently joined an on-line rental company. They let me borrow an unlimited number of films, two at a time, with free postage all for the price of 2 Blockbuster flicks and a small bag of popcorn. The first task was to make up my rental wish-list and this started easily with all the Blu-Ray stuff I can't seem to find anywhere else before moving effortlessly on to the latest DVD releases that I'd missed in the cinema. Then what? The remaining rentals after that are essentially free so I was interested to find myself hunting out the films I've seen a hundred times but suddenly wanted to watch properly. Ted Demme's "Beautiful Girls", the original 1960 version of H.G.Wells' "Time Machine" and "Almost Famous" from Cameron Crowe all made it straight on to the list, as did "Tom And Jerry - Collector's Edition" which unbelievably the on-line reviews tell me has had to be censored before release! Tonight however was going to be the German Language movie "The Counterfeiters" of which I'd read great things ... obviously having spent most of the evening pointing cameras, tweaking lightroom and writing these words it's now half past ten and too late to start watching it. Just as well really, I didn't have any popcorn anyway.
• Home, England
• I spent what felt like an age setting up a movie watching shot for this week because I've recently joined an on-line rental company. They let me borrow an unlimited number of films, two at a time, with free postage all for the price of 2 Blockbuster flicks and a small bag of popcorn. The first task was to make up my rental wish-list and this started easily with all the Blu-Ray stuff I can't seem to find anywhere else before moving effortlessly on to the latest DVD releases that I'd missed in the cinema. Then what? The remaining rentals after that are essentially free so I was interested to find myself hunting out the films I've seen a hundred times but suddenly wanted to watch properly. Ted Demme's "Beautiful Girls", the original 1960 version of H.G.Wells' "Time Machine" and "Almost Famous" from Cameron Crowe all made it straight on to the list, as did "Tom And Jerry - Collector's Edition" which unbelievably the on-line reviews tell me has had to be censored before release! Tonight however was going to be the German Language movie "The Counterfeiters" of which I'd read great things ... obviously having spent most of the evening pointing cameras, tweaking lightroom and writing these words it's now half past ten and too late to start watching it. Just as well really, I didn't have any popcorn anyway.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
21//52
Twenty one // May 25
• Birmingham, England
• We had a couple of days where it actually did not rain this week. I know that sounds incredible but it's true. I even wore shorts at one point but thankfully the combined efforts of an English climate and the fashion police were on hand to get me back into something warmer in time for the bank holiday weekend. Faced with needing to entertain house guests in this meteorological lottery I went with the old favourites: movies, pubs, camera stores and rooftop photo locations. It probably wouldn't work for everyone though so to avoid disappointment I'd suggest you need to find your own formula.
• Birmingham, England
• We had a couple of days where it actually did not rain this week. I know that sounds incredible but it's true. I even wore shorts at one point but thankfully the combined efforts of an English climate and the fashion police were on hand to get me back into something warmer in time for the bank holiday weekend. Faced with needing to entertain house guests in this meteorological lottery I went with the old favourites: movies, pubs, camera stores and rooftop photo locations. It probably wouldn't work for everyone though so to avoid disappointment I'd suggest you need to find your own formula.
Monday, May 19, 2008
20//52
Twenty // May 19
• Home, England
• I really need to start planning my weekend nights out better. Now that many of my friends are scattered around the country and the globe, the 4pm Friday afternoon just doesn't cut it any more. Did it ever? I spent the resultant evenings watching movies from my fabulous new on-line rental place, drinking Spanish beer and eating pizza ... at least I didn't waste them right? Then on Sunday I helped to empty the contents of my Mother's garage into a large metal skip and amongst the incredible quantity of "oddments" that my hoarding Grandfather and his equally hoarding son had left for us was a small cloth case. It had my father's name written on the inside in blue ink in the kind of hand writing that only Grandmothers can perfect and inside was a Bakelite Kodak Brownie 127 camera. I remembered it immediately as the one she would make me stand statue still and upright in front of on special birthday and Christmas occasions. Occasionally she would let me take a photo but not too often because as she explained, film was expensive. Despite dating back to the mid-50s it looks literally just a couple of years old. Now I need to find out where to buy 127 film and how the devil to get it processed. That's why in this photo I look proud and confused in equal measures. Either way, I'm sure that my Nan would not have approved of my posture.
• Home, England
• I really need to start planning my weekend nights out better. Now that many of my friends are scattered around the country and the globe, the 4pm Friday afternoon just doesn't cut it any more. Did it ever? I spent the resultant evenings watching movies from my fabulous new on-line rental place, drinking Spanish beer and eating pizza ... at least I didn't waste them right? Then on Sunday I helped to empty the contents of my Mother's garage into a large metal skip and amongst the incredible quantity of "oddments" that my hoarding Grandfather and his equally hoarding son had left for us was a small cloth case. It had my father's name written on the inside in blue ink in the kind of hand writing that only Grandmothers can perfect and inside was a Bakelite Kodak Brownie 127 camera. I remembered it immediately as the one she would make me stand statue still and upright in front of on special birthday and Christmas occasions. Occasionally she would let me take a photo but not too often because as she explained, film was expensive. Despite dating back to the mid-50s it looks literally just a couple of years old. Now I need to find out where to buy 127 film and how the devil to get it processed. That's why in this photo I look proud and confused in equal measures. Either way, I'm sure that my Nan would not have approved of my posture.
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