DOLLY

December 15, 2024

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 13 December 2024].}

crocosmia

August 30, 2024

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 27 August 2024].}

It's been a hectic couple of months.

I've barely been home since the afternoon of Thursday, 4 July.

I pulled an all-nighter with a friend of over 24 years and a friend of fewer than 12 hours to watch the Tories finally thrown out of government after 14 years.

The following day, I went to sit my regulars in Bromley.

On the afternoon of 9 July, I went home for a night, with some back and forth and final prep for a sitting with new clients, Crikey (Cockapoo), Lottie (Staffy Shitzu cross), Dexter (tuxedo cat), Sammy (tabby cat) and Rebecca (fish) starting the following afternoon.

They were a delight, as was Julia's garden, where I photographed this crocosmia.

I managed to give myself food poisoning from eating black beans too long after opening, which wiped me out for a good nine hours or so the night before the sitting ended. I haven't had stomach cramps that bad since I was a tween, and I hope I never do again.

I had two nights at home before spending about a week and a half with my arch nemesis, Mia (tabby cat), in Crofton Park. She's mellowed somewhat with age (she's three now), but she's still very standoffish and swipey with everyone except her cat-mother.

I finally managed to ogle and photograph the exterior of houses at Segal Close and Walters Way, though I'm sorry to find that homes in Walters Way will be open this year as part of Open House London on a day I'm not in London.

I had another couple of nights at home before sitting my favourite, very good boy, Frank (Cockapoo), for about a week and a half.

Whilst sitting him, I managed to completely miss a step with my foot between the bedroom and bathroom and take two steps simultaneously with my lower left back, just above my hip, and my left shoulder.

Thankfully, applying ice and going back to bed for a couple of hours with Frank as my nursemaid, followed by a dose of ibuprofen, meant I minimised the bruising, and we could still go out for our morning walk.

The next day was less successful, as I woke with a sore neck, bruised shoulder and a dull headache and couldn't take Frank out. We did manage a sedate afternoon walk once the painkillers had taken the edge off and allowed me to move my left arm more freely.

The following day - a previously planned day of annual leave - my injuries had improved, and I could take Frank with me to meet Scott at the Railway Fields Nature Reserve by Harringay Green Lanes Overground Station as planned.

Frank was ecstatic to have a short bus journey, make a new friend, explore a new green space (albeit on a lead), take a short train journey, and spend a little time at the Great Northern Railway Tavern whilst Scott and I had a couple of pints and a long natter, some of which about the Welsh language I've been learning.

I went straight from sitting Frank to my regulars plus one.

The new addition, a hamster called Karl-Heinz (Charlie, for short), is very cute and amicable but keen on chewing at the bars of his cage. As he's nocturnal (like me), and his cage is quite close to where I sit to work and do creative things while I sit my regulars, I found this quite stressful, but his hamster-mother is pursuing avenues to make him more comfortable in his home (or rather, mansion).

I had another night at home before heading up to Bishop's Stortford, where I am now, to sit Betsy (Cockapoo) and Dudley (Maltipoo). Both are very good-natured and sweet puppers, but Dudley was a lockdown pup and has related issues, which means he's very reactive to other dogs and...well, everything.

But we've managed two weeks together and have another to go, and I love the snuggles we have, the fact they love sleep as much as I do (when I finally do go to bed), and their little quirks (just maybe with less barking ;) ).

My friend, Khanisa, also enjoyed meeting them, and we managed an enjoyable in-person catch-up on Saturday despite the persistent rain. I had a positive virtual catch-up with Dad in the wee hours yesterday morning and a good telephone catch-up with Phil yesterday evening.

This afternoon, on our last Bank Holiday before Christmas and after almost two weeks in the town, I managed to get out and about with my camera for a photo walk from where I'm sitting the pups, down along the town's edge to Castle Park (the remains of Waytemore Castle), along the Stort Navigation (the canalised section of the River Stort that runs through town), then back through town via the supermarket.

I'll share at least one photo from my walk with you in the next couple of days; all going to plan.

I head home next Tuesday. I have three nights at home before I head down to stay with my regulars.

Then, I'll have two nights at home before heading to the Isle of Portland in Dorset for a long weekend of photography with Phil. We've found a lovely Airbnb on the island to use as a base, and it promises to be a great place to explore with our cameras.

Dad and Cheryl arrive the following week, so I'll be playing tour guide with them and sightseeing around London.

I have a week of 'downtime' (or at least time without sittings or visitors) at the end of September, then three sittings in October before things quiet down a bit more in the lead-up to Christmas.

In amongst all that, I have to do a thorough clean of my flat (with my current flatmate's help), try to downsize my stuff (in progress and tougher than it seems), find a new flatmate, and try to catch up on photo editing and other creative outputs (I had hoped the bank holiday weekend would have helped with the latter, but I had to prioritise cleaning dog puke out of bedding and some other bits yesterday).

On the positive side, the first Friday I was with Frank, a neighbour offered an early 2015 Macbook Air for free to anyone who might want it and could reinstall the OS to make use of it. I saw the post immediately after shared and nabbed it for myself.

It's a little slow, can't run the latest versions of everything, can't run InDesign, and it's only a 13" model. But it can run most things to the level I need when away, and most importantly, it can connect with my primary external drive, so it's been perfect for three weeks away from home where it's completely impractical (specifically, due to expense) to bring my iMac.

Hopefully, it'll serve my purpose for six to twelve months. And I think it's demonstrated to me so far that - as long as I'm just looking for a portable machine, not a replacement for my iMac - a MacBook Air (vs a Macbook Pro) is a practical option to take away alongside my work laptop.

Thanks, as always, for sticking around through this slow period here (because of my busy period outside Patreon) x

to a beloved | qui riposa

June 23, 2024

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 18 June 2024].}

untitled #186

January 21, 2024

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 14 January 2024].}

something fishy this way comes

January 5, 2024

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 30 December 2023].}

Sometimes, my pet-sitting includes fishies.

untitled #53 [london road cemetery, bromley, london, england, 2023]

fly agaric

December 15, 2023

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 8 December 2023].}

untitled #56 [london road cemetery, bromley, london, england, 2023]

untitled #57 [london road cemetery, bromley, london, england, 2023]

untitled #54 [london road cemetery, bromley, london, england, 2023]

untitled #51 [london road cemetery, bromley, london, england, 2023]

untitled #55 [london road cemetery, bromley, london, england, 2023]

untitled #50 [london road cemetery, bromley, london, england, 2023]

untitled #52 [london road cemetery, bromley, london, england, 2023]

untitled #58 [london road cemetery, bromley, london, england, 2023]

untitled #894 [pondwicks meadow, amersham, buckinghamshire, england, 2020]

firethorn

December 1, 2023

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 26 November 2023].}

I'm mixing things up a bit with a new Friday* series, fruitful, a series of photographs I've taken of fruit that complement two of my other series: a floral tribute and the fungus among us.

untitled #896 [pondwicks meadow, amersham, buckinghamshire, england, 2020]

These berries are on the Pyracantha plant, commonly known as firethorn, and I photographed them overhanging the back fence of a home that backed onto Pondwicks Meadow in Amersham Old Town.

According to Wikipedia, the English have used firethorn to cover unsightly walls since the late 18th century.

untitled #895 [pondwicks meadow, amersham, buckinghamshire, england, 2020]

Its thorns also make it an attractive and organic form of home security.

*I try to share photos from these series on Fridays, but sometimes they're belated. But I usually share them on social media the following Friday as part of #FloralFriday or #FungiFriday. This new series will fit the #FruityFriday theme.

the heart of the birmingham waterways

November 14, 2023

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 10 November 2023].}

Phil - my friend and fellow photographer - and I have been plotting and planning a photo walk along the Birmingham canals for the last two summers. For various reasons, we didn't manage it.

We came close in mid-June last year, but the day I'd booked a train to head up there, rain was forecast, so we cancelled the day before. The forecast showed heavy rain on the day, so we'd made a good call.

But last weekend, we finally made good on our plans.

We coordinated to meet on the train at Warwick Parkway at about 10:43. However, that meant me waking at 06:00, getting out of bed at 06:30 and leaving my flat at 07:30. I arrived at Marylebone Station at 08:10, about 50 minutes before my train was due to depart, which was even earlier than I'd been aiming for.

We set out from Birmingham Moor Street at about 11:20 and walked along the canals from Livery Street Bridge to Spaghetti Junction (the M6/A38 junction), finishing shooting under the bridges at about 15:00.

We walked back to Aston Station, arriving there in time to get out of the rain that had just started and to catch the train back to Birmingham New Street to seek out some food for Phil and a pint for me.

Despite the rain at the tail end of the walk, we had perfect weather and a pleasant and creative day. Phil had technical issues with his camera but managed to work around them to a large extent. I had a minor anxiety attack in the last half hour, heading back from Spaghetti Junction to Aston Station, but it was an otherwise stress-free day as far as my body was concerned.

I shared my iPhone photos from the day on my Instagram on the day and over the following days.

These are just two of the over 300 photographs I took with my D700 in Birmingham.

Thanks to Phil for suggesting the walk and the wide-ranging and engaging conversation throughout.

We'll return in the spring (hopefully!) with some other friends of Phil's to revisit Spaghetti Junction and complete the ambitious circuit he'd set out for us that we didn't manage on Sunday.

darwin’s barberry

October 20, 2023

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 16 October 2023].}

I took this photograph of Berberis darwinii a few streets from where I sit my "regulars" on my birthday this year.

This plant is a perfect example of my argument that "weeds are just plants in the wrong place".

From Wikipedia: It is a popular garden and hedging shrub in the British Isles. The Royal Horticultural Society has given the species its Award of Garden Merit.

and

Berberis darwinii is regarded as an invasive plant pest in New Zealand that escaped from gardens into indigenous plant communities via its bird-dispersed seeds. It is considered a serious threat to indigenous ecosystems throughout New Zealand and is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord.