Gondola gondola

My old man was a Venetian. I love the place and have been lucky enough to have visited a couple of times, including in 2005.

These shots were all taken on the same trip as my posts from Paris and Chipping Campden.

I can't help wanting to make reference to the travelogue done by Monty Python ... "and more f#@!*ng gondolas" ...

They really are everywhere in the city and gondoliers are very active in their approach to drumming up business. It is not unusual to be approached any number of times by gents in striped shirts and straw hats saying "gondola, gondola - special price for you today ...", particularly when it is about to rain ... (om4, fuji superia 100/400, various lenses)

More Chipping Campden flowers

Well, it is a beautiful Saturday outside and I am getting ready for work ... 

... am happy to admit that I would prefer to be sitting among the blooms in Chipping Campden ...

These shots were taken at the same time as those in "One garden". (OM4, Tamron 90mm f2.5 macro, Fuji 100 Superia)

One garden

Continuing my "I'd rather be ..." series, these shots were all taken on the same trip as the Paris images. These, however, were all taken in a garden in Chipping Campden.

We were lucky enough to stay in a B&B with a wonderful couple who took great pride in their house and garden. Unfortunately, shortly after we stayed there was terrible flooding in the area and this garden was ruined.

Friends who have subsequently visited the town dropped in to see them and discovered that their pride and joy is slowly coming together again. Maybe one day we will get back there to visit and sit among the blooms.

All of these shots were taken hand-held with my trusty OM4, Tamron f2.5 90mm lens and Fuji Superia 100.

... and still on Paris ...

What also astounds me about the city of Paris is the visual feast that seems to be at every turn.

Churches have the most amazing sculptured facades that I would not even begin to claim to have captured even a small part of them visually, let alone being able to describe them verbally.

And then there are the galleries like the Louvre ... what could one say ... I am sure that I will post more ... 

What sticks in my memory almost as vividly as the art and architecture was the crowd ... like being in a shopping mall during the Christmas rush ... but different ...

I'd rather be in ... Paris ...

One of the nice things about having a blog is that you can be completely indulgent ...

So, from time to time I will present images that are more about where I would prefer to be ... not that I don't mind where I am, but I suspect that being permanently on holidays sometimes seems quite attractive ...

These images are a small selection of frames shot in Paris during September 2005. My wife and I were lucky enough to travel to London, Paris and Venice for about eight weeks. Leaving the kids and travelling was very unusual, but we got used to it after about the first 12 hours ...

Like any holiday snaps, they probably mean more to me than anyone else ... but if you need any motivation to go to Paris at any time, maybe these give a glimpse of the beauty that this city gives up at every turn and in every light. (OM4, selection of lenses, Fuji Superia 400)

Warwick cemetery

This series of shots was taken at the same time as "In the memory of Charles" using my Mamiya pro/Sekor 45mm combination with Ilford FP4. I used perceptol at 1+1 when developing the film to try and minimise grain while maintaining the finer details across a wide range of tones.

I am looking forward to getting into the darkroom to wet print each of these images because lower key tones always seem to print better than my scanner treats the negatives. I am sure that it is not the scanner (Canon 8800f) but a fault with the user ...

It might not be such a good start to a blog for the opening series of images to be quite so funereal. Perhaps the next images will need to be colour and a little lighter in mood ...

In the memory of Charles ...

I wasn't sure about the first post to make to this new site.

It may seem a little unusual to find oneself in a cemetery whilst on a long weekend away. I did have a reason to visit Warwick cemetery: My wife's grandmother is buried there ... so off to Warwick I went with my youngest to visit Honey's grave ...

It rained, we had no umbrella and couldn't find the grave in the amount of time we gave ourselves ... perhaps next time ...

I was drawn to the older plots near where we were looking and the very bleak weather made the scene quite compelling. Many of the headstones are tilting precariously or have fallen already. I took this in relatively light drizzle, just before it started raining quite heavily. (Mamiya 645, sekor 45mm, fp4 @ 125 developed in perceptol 1+1)