a low ebb

December 31, 2021

2020 had its challenges, but I’m not going to lie. For me, personally, 2021 was a bitch.

I’m not going to expend more energy expanding upon that topic in this post.

I’ve tried to stop giving oxygen to elements in my life that proved to be unhealthy this year. Possibly for the first time in my whole life, that involved cutting ties with an ex-partner.

While this year has been a hard one for many reasons, there have been definite highlights.

And, especially when I was sick with Covid-19 back in July, I was overwhelmingly reminded of the brilliant global support network I have. I’m still gobsmacked by that. To those of you part of that network, both family and friends (and I’m sure you know who you are), I send you my love, and I’m forever grateful for you.

Before things went a bit more than pear-shaped this year, I managed to complete another 100 Day Project starting on 31 January 2021. I had a proper go at sketching every day. And, while I don’t profess to be a master illustrator, even after those 100 days, I created some not so terrible drawings.

The 100 Day Project for the coming year will start on 13 February 2022. I’ve had a few ideas of what I’d like to do, but we’ll see which one I settle upon.

Through my Patreon, I shared writings from my attempts at NaNoWriMo in 2009 and 2016. These are still rough second drafts and are currently only available to patrons.

I shared curated series from my sepulchre work, mushroom photographs, and travel photography.

I started my series of love letters to london, which I’d hoped to complete in 2021, but I will continue into 2022.

This year I took self-portraits for the first time since mid-2018 and have shared some that continue my interior/exterior series or fall into my new wallflowers series. I already have images from the latter to share in the new year.

I won’t bore you with my plant progress this year but suffice to say, my indoor plants fared better than the garden.

And I wrote actual handwritten letters for the first time in decades, inspired (or guilted?) by my friend Phil.

The things I let fall by the wayside this year were reading (beyond news articles of varying lengths) and language studies. Both I want to get back into in 2022.

In May, I unexpectedly found myself confronted by what is believed to be the oldest tree in London. A beautiful yew, she may be 2,000 years old.

She was more impressive up close than from a distance. I’ll share more close-ups of her beautiful contours in the new year, though I shared one previously.

In May, there was also a pleasant day out in Hertford. Exploring the source of the New River and wandering along the River Lea. Though there was also a bull charging me for photographing him!

In October, Scott and I explored the section of the New River (not new, not a river) between Hornsey and Finsbury Park.

At the end of 2020, I wasn’t overly hopeful for much travel this year. I would have settled for a weekend away somewhere within the UK.

Thanks to one of my longest-suffering friends, Phil, I visited Chichester and Bosham (first image in this post),

Itchenor

and Arundel.

And thanks to a cat-sitting gig for Jo and Becky, I was able to visit Minera,

Coedpoeth

and Wrexham.

However, the most unexpected and surprisingly fulfilling element of 2021 for me was becoming a cat-sitter.

Growing up and into my 20s and beyond, I was always a dog person. I couldn’t fathom cats. I would have said honestly at one point that I hated cats. So cat-sitting was not even close to being on my bingo card for 2021.

But really, in retrospect, I think it was more that I didn’t understand cats.

A chance pub quiz with friends led to me becoming a cat-sitter for the first time this year, and it’s something I hope to continue into 2022 and beyond.

There are side bonuses, like exploring new areas of London and beyond and locations for shooting self-portraits. And going “on holiday” but being paid for it.

But I’m not going to lie that the kitteh snuggles are lovely, and winning over an anxious or difficult kitteh brings a particular buzz with it. (Though I would be all good with less claw-to-skin action in demonstrations of affection…)

So, in order of appearance, here are the cool cats I’ve met this year (apologies for the photo quality with some. I hope to get better photos of them in future!)

Shiloh

Susie

Bao

Paczi

Meg

Mog

Sammy

Lily

Poppy

I’m not going to chance my hand predicting what 2022 will hold. But I have credit for travel that will hopefully take me back to Wales and Scotland, so that’s a positive start.

Anything else is a bonus.

I hope your 2022 is better than 2021.

untitled #176

January 26, 2021

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 19 January 2021].}

So, I'm trying to be a bit more planned and less haphazard with what and how I share my work with my patrons this year.

Although there'll still be plenty of room for me to be spontaneous, I thought it would be helpful for me to have a bit of a pattern/routine in sharing some of my photography.

With that in mind, the past two Sundays I've shared early-access posts featuring newly edited images from my sepulchre series.

I'd been weighing up how to work these into a weekly programme. Having a hashtag-worthy concept without sounding too flippant, morbid, or offensive.

I'd started weighing up #CemeterySunday (I couldn't bring myself to alliterate to the point of #SematarySunday) but, being the semantic stickler I am, I couldn't settle on that. Some images would be from churchyards, graveyards or other burial places, not all would be taken in cemeteries.

I'll likely use #CemeterySunday appropriately on social media depending upon the subject. But, for Patreon, I'm thinking of this collection as #SepulchralSunday, falling back to the (now glaringly obvious) use of my overall series name for the alliterative and catchy collective term for these images.

#SepulchralSunday images will include those from my stained glass series, season's grievings curated series and any new curated series. As well as one-off photographs appropriate to the theme.

Another genre within my work 'upvoted' in my recent polls on Patreon (which are still open until the end of the month!) was my travel photography. So I'm going to default to social media type and declare this the first of my #TravelTuesday posts. It seems particularly appropriate to focus on these one day a week while most of us can't travel far from home.

As these are two genres strongly represented in much of my photography, it seems like an incentive to gradually work through editing images long overdue to see the light.

Without any particular catchy hashtag to accompany them, I'm hoping to share a more in-depth post with you each Friday. A small series of images focussing on a specific place or subject, likely accompanied by a bit more writing than I might offer on other days.

With these new plans, sepulchre and travel images won't be restricted to Sundays and Tuesdays*. But I hope they'll become regular features my patrons come to eagerly anticipate in their inbox.

Along with my new Love letters to London series, I'm hoping to write a new instalment of my postcards from another's life series to share with my patrons each month.

I have more plans for this year, but let's start with these.

And let's start with a view of Bruges taken in 2014.

*I realise that depending upon your location, these may actually be #SepulchralMonday and #TravelWednesday since I have a tendency to post in my evenings ;)

untitled #1 [city of london, london, england, united kingdom, 2014]

love letters to london

January 18, 2021

Today I celebrated my tenth Londonversary!

And I've decided to commemorate my ten (consecutive) years of living in London by sharing a series of 'Love letters to London' with you during 2021.

The series will cover a selection of things I love about London. Each post will focus on a different aspect and will, of course, feature previously unedited and unpublished photographs to illustrate it.

For now, I'm thinking twelve instalments - one a month - but let's see how we go. There might be a monthly broad-themed post with a smattering of bonus posts throughout the year focussing on a particular place, for example.

Whatever the case, I'll be sharing them to my Patreon first, early access for patrons. I'll share them here and elsewhere around the web about a week later when the post becomes public on Patreon.

I'm hoping to share the first one with my patrons later this week, so now's a good time to become a patron!

lean into it

December 19, 2020

Are you looking to treat yourself as a reward for making it through 2020?

To bring some art and colour to your new year?

Now's a good time to become a patron then!

See the best of my new and newly-edited work up to a week before the rest of the world.

Enjoy new photos from my season's grievings mini-series two days early (there's some more to come!)

Read new instalments of my postcards from another's life series a week before I share them here and on my blog.

Catch up on all my posts from the past year and a half, including exclusive patron-only posts.

If you become a patron before the end of 2020, there's also the opportunity to influence what comes in 2021! You can let me know your expectations, what you're enjoying, what you want to see over the next year, and feedback on rewards through a few quick patron-only polls.

Are you worried about the 18+ warning when visiting my profile? Don't be. My Patreon is not an OnlyFans profile (I know, you're disappointed ;) )

On occasion, my artwork might be NSFW or include nudity, so I've flagged my profile as containing adult content to abide by Patreon's TOS.

At least for now, I'm keeping images containing nudity to patron-only at 'the perfect 10' tier and above. That allows those who want to follow my profile or only want early access to new work to avoid content they may not be comfortable viewing.

Not sure if you want to become a patron yet? You can sign up to Patreon and follow me to see new work as it becomes public.

The Patreon mobile app is a quick and easy way to see new work from me and other creators you might choose to follow, whether you're a patron or not.

So what are you waiting for? Become a patron.

untitled #24 [wilverley plain, new forest, england, united kingdom]

pony up* [or, thank you for your patronage]

April 25, 2019

Just over four years ago I set up a Patreon profile but, for various reasons, didn't go ahead and launch it at that time.

Over the weekend I finally launched it, and I’ve started sharing previously unseen work and new work there.

I now feel there's enough of a beginning to go ahead and share it here in case you want to become a patron and support my photography and other artistic and writing endeavours.

To begin with I’m going to be sharing:

Previously unpublished images I’ve shortlisted for my interior/exterior book as patron-only, with the posts only becoming public when the book is published, or earlier if I decide the specific image won’t be included in it before publication.
The best of my new images or newly-edited images as early access - usually a week ahead of the posts becoming public and the images being posted to my other profiles. These may be self-portraits, landscapes, portraits, photos from my travels, or images of my various favourite things (see: graveyards, gasometers, pigeons, dead creatures, etc.). These images may be accompanied by a post discussing the image, my thoughts about creating it, information about what inspired it, or no text beyond the title.
New instalments of my postcards from another’s life project. These were originally being created as part of my 100 Days Project in 2018 and being posted to Instagram first, but I’m now making these available as early access posts for patrons only as I create them, seven days before publishing them to Instagram and my other profiles.

As I go along, more projects will likely appear as early access or patron-only. This is just the beginning.

Access to patron-only posts - some patron-only indefinitely, others early access - starts at US$1.50 a month, so it won't break the bank if you’d like to get the inside scoop.

There are more tiers if you want further benefits like print discounts, a postcard, the opportunity to be part of my creative process, or loyalty rewards for being a patron for at least three months. The current tiers are my first thoughts on what folk might appreciate, but I’m open to suggestion on how to improve them.

Thank you if you do decide to become a patron. And thank you for following my work if you don’t.

*Those who know me will know I like a good pun and/or play on words. The title of my post isn't supposed to be presumptuous or make you feel under duress to become a patron, I promise.