"my doggy consciousness" Right now I have two photographers inside me - Scooter Shooter, my alter ego who rides a scooter photographing life on the streets, and a more considered photographer who attempts to create photos more mindfully. Sometimes Scooter Shooter also remembers to be mindful, but I have to admit he'll often shoot first and... Continue Reading →
During 2017 I had two successful exhibitions and gave a talk as part of "Rewired", an event at the Royal Geographical Society in London. I helped raise several thousand pounds for neurological charities and was featured in newspapers, a magazine and local radio. I also got divorced and lost a lot of money to solicitors.... Continue Reading →
Its been a hectic time recently. This week I was at the House of Lords for the launch of a book that I contributed to. I've also been selecting and printing photos for a London exhibition in September and there are a couple of other exhibitions in the pipeline too. The writing was a personal reflection... Continue Reading →
From years back, when I was still wearing the soles of my shoes out on street photo walks, I've found the idea of anonymising people and merging them into the urban landscape intriguing. I have some sympathy with people who question whether it's right to take photos of people without asking first. As much as I think candid... Continue Reading →
If you contemplate the miracle we call sight, what we actually see is light reflecting off "stuff" that is received by the sensory organs of the eyes and processed by the brain for the mind to make sense of. So, in a way, our mind is a house of mirrors from which we create meaning, our "lives" and... Continue Reading →
It's funny how you can take a photograph and something that you might think of as being detrimental ends up adding an unexpected new dimension to the image. I took this photograph of a lovely lady feeding pigeons a month or so ago. I was in my mobility scooter at the time and by the time I'd got... Continue Reading →
It's been wet. It's been really wet, mild, windy, occasionally cold, but mostly just wet. We are not supposed to have a monsoon season in the UK, but this January was very like one - albeit cooler. All that dampness condenses on glass and makes for interesting opportunities for image making. A new glass bus stop has... Continue Reading →
"There is a crack in everything - that's how the light gets in" Leonard Cohen, ANTHEM In August 2013 darkness threatened to seep through the cracks in my life. . I'd spent 10 days in hospital to find the cause of what, for over a year, doctors had told me was a bad back (I was... Continue Reading →
I saw this street art and thought "how cute" but then wondered how on earth they made the babies feet so perfect without putting it to some discomfort! Hopefully stencils were involved. Sometimes I feel a slight a dilemma about whether to process images to black and white or colour. I know many photo blogs... Continue Reading →
I've been taking "street" photographs from a mobility scooter recently using my little Ricoh GR compact. It's a funny thing, but what they say about people not noticing you if you are disabled and in a scooter or a wheelchair is quite frequently true and it makes for great candids! The way I look at it, if I... Continue Reading →
As I was getting dressed this morning I listened to the CD "Popular Problems" by Leonard Cohen that I'd borrowed off my dad. The album artwork makes great use of shadows and that and Cohen's inevitably deep and melancholy lyrics got me thinking about how we all have a shadow side. my shadow side I'm not embarrassed to... Continue Reading →
As I can't trudge the streets looking for interesting subjects to photograph anymore, I wait for them to come to me. It's again the tough inner zen master of my MND making me stop looking for life elsewhere and start noticing that it's available right here, right now - all we have to do is stop. Sometimes being forced to... Continue Reading →
Despite having MND I can still manage a short walk occasionally, just so long as my crutches take the strain. I'll normally start off confidently but gradually, at around ten steps in, will experience the start of increasing pain as my already tight muscles contract and say "no, slow down" - That's my inner zen master telling me not to... Continue Reading →
Have you ever been to an event and found the audience more interesting than the performance? "oooohh missis" If so, you probably love people photography. It's what normally happens to me when I have a camera in my hand. Even on the rare occasions I'm without one, I find myself imagining the shots I could... Continue Reading →
After feeling like we have been living in a squat for the last few weeks since moving house, we are now almost organised. I'm having to work from an ancient and tiny laptop though and it's giving me many opportunities to mindfully watch my breathing whilst it slowly completes the simplest of tasks....That's why I... Continue Reading →
We are moving to a new house in a few days and I may not have an internet connection at first. I'll be taking a break from blog posts for a short while as we make the new place shipshape. Until then, here are a few photos from my archives on the theme of "Moving" - These were taken with a Canon 6D and a Samsung EX1 compact,... Continue Reading →
I'm looking forward to taking more photographs from the relative comfort of a scooter after my productive experience at Hay. The other day I drove to a place where I hadn't taken street photos before. When I saw the crowds and the grumpy look on most people's faces, I have to admit, I chickened out.... Continue Reading →
(Apologies if you've received this more than once. I've reposted to see whether the image in the WordPress "blog reader list" makes a huge difference to the amount of readers the post receives.) - To first time viewers welcome and I hope you enjoy! On Saturday evening almost by accident, my family and I experienced some... Continue Reading →
Mindful Photos mindfulness reminder - My most recent posts have involved photographs taken a long way from home in locations that are guaranteed to stimulate the senses. For balance, I thought I'd show some examples of how, with mindfulness and a camera, it's possible to see the most ordinary moments of life as though they are... 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 →
mindful photos 