Fire Hydrant

When I was a child and had just arrived in Norway from England, I used to go for walks of discovery close to where our we first stayed. As I was young and in a new country, everything was an adventure, and even the most mundane things took on an exotic hue simply because they looked different to what I had known before. Once I came across an old fire-hydrant that very oddly was placed in the middle of a lawn, almost as if had grown there like some metal toadstool. I remembered it as being colourful too, and rather handsomely designed. This was 35 years ago. A short while ago, being in the vicinity of where I had stayed then, sheer curiosity led me to follow the old path from my childhood to see if it was still there –and to my delight, it was! Very little had changed in the area; there were still the same old farm buildings and greenhouses, and the landscape was just as I remembered it. The paint on the fire-hydrant had perhaps faded a little, flaked off here and there, but it still seemed to grow out of the ground and be both out of place and perfectly placed. It’s surprisingly uplifting to re-discover such odd icons from one’s childhood; of course this time I had to photograph it. Location: Valler, Norway

Underpass 5.25pm

One day last year the band of my wristwatch broke suddenly. It could, I’m sure, be fixed and one day I shall get round to it, but since that day I have not worn a watch at all but relied on other means of learning the time. And it is amazing how accomodating the world is to the "watchless" among us! Everywhere I look now I seem to spot a clock of some kind, whereas before (when I had my own watch) I hardly gave them a second glance. We observe only what we need to so much of the time, or rather: when we need something we start to see it all around us, as if our brain is actively seeking it out. With photography it is the right or appealing motive that we seek. Here, I think it was the clock that initially attracted me, but I then became fascinated by the light and shadows and the reflections and lines I also was intrigued with the position of the clock –at the end of an underpass; a sort of goal for those walking towards it, or a last, quick reminder of the time for those entering from the opposite direction; perhaps an incentive to hurry up? I also found the urban orderliness pictured here rather pleasing. Location: Nuremberg, Germany

Empty Car-Park

Places that are empty hold a strange fascination for me. I would never dream of taking a photograph of a car-park when it is full, and I try to avoid them as much as possible because I really don't like cars much, but over Christmas while out walking in my old home town in Norfolk I found the emptiness here to be rather magical. It had rained the night before (if course it had, this is England, after all!) so there were lots of puddles about, and because the surface of the car-park wasn't entirely flat there was something interesting going on, the water and reflected light on the large open area creating an almost alien surface that was at odds with the mundanity of the perfectly ordinary car-park. I thought it interesting enough to photograph, rendering it black and white to add to the mysterious quality. Location: Norfolk, England

ShakesYear!

Today I have launched a new blog to chronicle a year-long project I have long wanted to do, but which seems especially apt this year; namely revisiting the comlete works of William Shakespeare and reading through each play chronologically. There's a link to this new blog on the sidebar here, and plenty more about the project in my first post there. That will be a more text-based blog, but with appropriate pictures too, and needing a good photograph to launch the new blog I chose this one –a fine bust of the bard, taken in the Shakespeare room of Birmingham Central Library –home of the magnificent Shakespeare collection. I took it a little from below because I wanted to capture more of the books in the glass case behind, and the angle reflects Shakespeare's position as someone to look up to while at the same time not being so lofty and grand as to lose eye-contact with! I've always wanted one of these busts myself, but they're strangely difficult to get hold of –at least compared to busts of other notables like Beethoven, Socrates or Darth Vador. They're also extremely heavy so there was no chance I was going to steal this one! I was quite pleased with the picture though, so that's something at least. Do check out the new blog if you're interested, and don't worry, I won't be neglecting this blog just because I have another one! Location: Birmingham, England

Goal for the Year

I'm kicking off the new year with a picture that expresses my wish for the new year. I was walking about in London one afternoon in a rather gloomy sort of mood, thinking about this and that with my eyes cast a little more down than usual, when I suddenly came across this –"A sign!" I said to myself, dramatically (being an actor) and I was immediately put in a better frame of mind. Sometimes it is the most mundane things that may be the most profound. A simple instruction painted on the street, but with the arrow and direction there is an emphasis that I find uplifting -there is forever a road before us stretching out, and on it bravely we fare! Have a great year, everybody. Location: London, England