It's that time of year when we reflect on the past and turn to face the future with a sense of newness. Hopefully, if you have a mindfulness meditation practice, that sense of newness will creep into every moment - after all isn't each moment absolutely and totally brand spanking new? At the turn of... Continue Reading →
When I was travelling through Romania in 1992 with my future wife Ali, we witnessed a tremendous amount of poverty. After seeing news reports at home in England, we had prepared ourselves for crowds of orphaned "street children", but in fact hardly saw any. Instead it was the sheer numbers of disabled people begging for spare... Continue Reading →
As we travelled by train through Romania there were so many photogenic looking towns and villages with stations, we sometimes just got off to explore. Never exactly sure where we were, we felt safe in the knowledge that there'd be another train along soon. These two pictures were taken at a couple of those stops.... Continue Reading →
As promised, here are some prints from my Romania Contact sheets - We had stopped in Brașov, Romania, during our trip by train through eastern Europe in 1992. Not far from the flat where we stayed with a local family who'd befriended us at the station, were what I took to be a group of traditional Romany gypsies. It was... Continue Reading →
Good news! My wife Ali just called to me from the loft with the enticing words "I've found something you might be interested in". I walked onto the landing to find her hand dangling a very tatty looking "Prince Cigarettes" bag from the loft hatch. Inside were my long-lost black and white prints and travel diaries from the... Continue Reading →
Some more personal photographic treasure found in the recesses of our family loft - These photos were taken during a backpacking trip my (then) future wife Ali and I made from Spain around Morocco during August and September 1997. I love the painterly effect this photo of children playing in the blue and white, north Moroccan town of Chefchaouen has... Continue Reading →
For the last few days we've been clearing out our loft before moving to a new bungalow. This morning, squeezed behind a tottering pile of boxes, Ali found a shopping bag full of negatives and prints that I thought were long-lost. They are mostly snappy snaps from a back packing trip to The Gambia fifteen years ago and... Continue Reading →
Mindful Monday Mood Lift: I've added a new page of photographs that I shot on film in Israel and other countries during the early 1990's to Mindful Photos. It's a "select" group of images that I'll be adding to as and when I come across more negatives and prints. Please do take time out to have a look. It's amazing... Continue Reading →
The occasional rainy weather during our Venice trip made for great umbrella pictures! This lady had remarkably found a comfortable spot to dream and contemplate life right next to the San Zaccaria water bus stop. She'd done well, because San Zaccaria is always thronging with tourists on their way to Saint Mark's Square or waiting for a gondola... Continue Reading →
. I'm not sure if this was a Venetian who needed a cigarette after saying a last goodbye or the funeral director on a quiet day. Either way the image seemed to have an ironic message as well as posing unanswered questions. Hope you like it. All photographs © all rights reserved Miles Pilling
It can be hard to get a sense of the "real" Venice in the tourist hot spots surrounded by hundreds of other sightseers. That's why this umbrella, depicting a Venice long gone, being held aloft by a tour guide to keep her flock near by, appealed to my ironic sense of humour. It took several minutes of... Continue Reading →
The sales people for the Olympus camera I was using in Venice make a big deal about its weather sealing. I'm always cynical about marketing claims, so when I found myself by the Ospedale Civile and as Italians (apparently) say it started "piove da morire" (raining to death), I gave this claim a real world test. These are a couple of the... Continue Reading →
At around a hundred Euros for less than an hours ride, we passed on a trip in a gondola. For some it's a "must do" when visiting Venice, but it was never very high on my bucket list though they do make very picturesque images. Water buses are massively cheaper, much more comfortable and a lot easier to get on and off!... Continue Reading →
. Patience pays off. I took this picture in front of German artist Heinz Mack's The Sky Over Nine Columns in Venice after sitting contemplating the beautiful scene for around 20 minutes. Hope you like it. There'll be more pictures from our trip to Venice coming soon, so do pop back for another look. All... Continue Reading →
Please take a look at the "about" page to see the circumstances that have encouraged me to start blogging again. There's a saying: "Instead of trying to coat the world with leather, get yourself a pair of shoes". It comes from the 8th century Indian Buddhist monk Śāntideva who said - “Where would I find enough leather To cover... Continue Reading →
Please take a look at the "about" page to see the circumstances that have encouraged me to start blogging again. Did you know you have a different body to the one you had seven years ago? I don't just mean that you've aged and might have put some weight on; your physical body has been replaced with virtually a completely... Continue Reading →
Please take a look at the "about" page to see the circumstances that have encouraged me to start blogging again. Every evening for a week of the eight week mindfulness course that I've been a part of, I would write a list of ten pleasurable things that I'd noticed during the day. We were encouraged to open up to the subtle, pleasant... Continue Reading →
