2008

My 50th birthday present from my Mother.

1998

Ten years on and Rowan has just arrived. The rest is history.

1988

Ten years on, I was running the day centre in Islington just about to move into policy. The gentleman on my right is Wilfred from Goa.

1978

This is roughly 1978, although I think I had my hair cut in 77, so it could be earlier. Anyway its about 10 years on. A time of great change.

1968

This is me 50 years ago. Jumper and hat knitted by my Granny.

Car Park?

One last shot from the Mine. This is the car park, with nature taking it back over, and quickly.

Mine Craft

Another photo from the disused mine. Took ages for me to get Milo to look menacing and post-apocalyptic; he got there in the end.

The Pool of Birches

I am really pleased with this shot; I a not sure anyone will buy it, but I think it is my best work. Taken whilst trespassing in a disused mine in the Selby coalfield, it is of a deep sump that has, since the closure of the pit, become home to birches growing like ghosts through the still water.

Star Wars

There are many things that I have not done in life that others treat as routine and essential. These include, seeing Star Wars, smoking a cigarette, and [until last night] entering a pub-quiz.

So I was a bit bemused to find myself with Eddy [and minus Patrick who got the day wrong] as a team of two in the Phoenix pub music quiz. When the questions started coming and lots of them were about this year's charts etc our spirits dipped. Everyone else looked younger and in bigger teams, and our strategy of putting Ed Sheeran and Rhianna down for everything seemed unlikely to serve us well. But then some questions seemed a bit better [Ray Charles' real last name for example] and it was quite fun.

When the scores were read out for the 7 teams, we were glad not to be last, then surprised to be in the top three, then speechless to win [the prize was 2 cans of IPA each]. So we left the pub ridiculously pleased with ourselves, against all odds. Good job Patrick didn't make it, we might have lost.

It's Robinson.

The Phoenix is just near Dick Turpin's Grave

Deer Deer

Milo saw some deer, ran full tilt, stopped, had a think, was relieved to see them prancing off into the woods, left them to it.

Where to live

York has been named the best place to live in the UK by the Sunday Times

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-43448590 

We went to see the Mary Magdalene movie on Friday; surprisingly good, although the extras looked like they had wandered off the Life of Brian set. 

St Pauls catching the evening sun last week.

Trafalgar Square

Looking down from the same cafe onto Trafalgar Square gave me some good shapes and shadows.

Not This Time

Sometimes a shot just does not come off. I liked the different elements of this, the conversation on the right, the figures on the left, then the strange view of someone walking down the stairs outside the restaurant. Oh well.

London

Danielle and I were in London, staying at the Penn Club [the Quaker hotel in Bloomsbury]. I saw Rob & Cath at 7 Dials, then Victor over in Shoreditch, before meeting Danielle after her meeting by the Gherkin. Wednesday morning we saw the Van Eyck and Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at the National Gallery, where I took this shot of a convex mirror [showing Danielle] and an attendant.

Brayton

In a break in the rain I got out to Brayton Barff, a strange moraineic hill on the plain near Selby. A bit menacing, as I hope this shot gets across.

Gulls

We walked over to The Retreat where Danielle was attending a Quaker meeting with some residents of the old peoples wing. I saw these gulls on the Millennium Bridge.

Redwing

During the brief flurry of snow last week, I walked on the Moor and found this sheltered spot safe from the snow, there is even a little pond in there too.
Today on the RI Football Pitches next to our house there was a flock of 50 or so Redwing on their way back to Scandinavia and Russia. Beautiful birds.

At Last

At last, a good day to cycle in. Sun, dry and not too cold [one day it will be 10 degrees again]. Robert and his friend Chris and I rode to Scarborough via Dalby Forest in the North York Moors. A great ride - hard work though.

The House on The Hill

I promise this is the last shot from Ribblehead. This was our house.

The Wuss From The West

After the Beast from the East, we got the Wuss from the West today.
Snow arrived at 7 in the morning, by Noon it was all gone. That's more like traditional English snow.

Photography News 1

If all goes to plan then a number of my works should finally be on the wall in the Rattle Owl restaurant here in York by the end of the day. They chose a really big version of this image from New Mexico; not a big seller, so I was really pleased that they liked it [is it one of my favourites].

The Station Masters House

The station masters house [where we stayed] is on the left, the station building on the right. Recommended.

Quarry

Next to the station there was an old quarry that is now a nature reserve. It was full of snow and ice, and a good place to walk around. If you squint a bit this could be a desert shot?

Art

The more I saw the viaduct at Ribblehead the more it impressed. We had been watching Kenneth Clarke "Civilisation" this week on iPlayer, and for me this viaduct is as impressive as a cathedral.

Timber

Still no trains so friends who were coming to see us for the day could not make it.

A train with a load of timber heads south off the viaduct and past our bedroom window.

Ingleborough

Yesterday was a storm up here, no trains, metre and a half drifts against the station door, frozen everything. We are still happy, with the heating and wifi working: Maslow would be satisfied.

This is the view across to Ingleborough [which unbelievably used to have an iron age hill fort on its flat top].

Blea Moor

We walked up to Blea Moor Tunnel yesterday. The snow, wind, sunshine all came and went to produce the most changeable of days. We saw a Dipper in the stream and a Peregrine Falcon on the viaduct.