Party 2

Here is Danielle at the party last week.

140 not out

Friends Robert and Julia had their joint 140th birthday party in Harrogate at the weekend. I took some photos for them, here is one of speeches in progress. It was an afternoon tea party on a beautiful summer's day.

Room With A View

This is the view from Rowan's window. No words necessary.

Interned

I took Rowan down to London on Saturday. She is starting her internship at Blackrock in the city. The mother of a colleague of Danielle's kindly offered her a room in her flat at Blackfriars overlooking the river. A bit different from my first flat in London.

Towton

I went a walk at Towton, scene of the bloodiest battle on English soil in 1461. A beautiful sunny day, very different to the freezing hell that the soldiers endured.

Rowan

Rowan is back for a few days. I took some photos of her for her summer internship at Black Rock in the City. The smiley one is the one I like; not going on the LinkedIn page though! 

  

Meeting of minds

I met up with local Booker nominee Fiona Mozley last week. Her book Elmet is the best I have read for years, and brilliantly captured the essence of the area of Elmet which does not really exist but which I know well and have been trying to photograph. It was really good to talk to her about it. Inspiring.

This shot from Ferrybridge is one of my Elmet series.

Back from Lem

I drove down to collect Rowan at the end of Year 2 at Warwick. I was glad to see that her student house had all the things you would expect. High quality outdoor area, empty beer cans, comedy collapsible chairs, a purloined road sign.
Great to have her back for a few days.

Every Four Years

Watching the World Cup with Mark and Rob is a bit of an institution. One of these photos is from 1982, one is from Monday. 

We watched the England match at the Century Club in Soho whilst Rob was playing poker; bizarre but a great day to see the old fellows.

Canal 2

The water was beautiful and clear in the canal, with these flowers abundant.

Pocklington Canal

We went a walk on the first part of the Pocklington Canal. A lovely day and good to walk

Family

Here is Danielle's cousin Darrell with his wife Bianca and baby Bella. Her gaze looked very familiar so I dug out an old picture of Rowan at the same age. I'd call that look a mix of interest and suspicion.

Launch Completed

The launch at Pocklington went well yesterday. The Arts Centre is a great little place. I sold a first copy of this shot of a dry valley twisting up to Huggate Dykes, one of the most impressive bronze age monuments in the area.
Afterwards we went to the next door Italian with Sue and Eddy and had a great meal. The restaurant, Pane e Vino is run by a Sardinian family.

Pond Life

The lilies are flowering in the pond. Milo is sniffing the scent.

The Show at Pock

Here is how some of the exhibition will look. This is the largest print I do, and it works well on a good wall like this.

Set Up

Today I set up my Wolds show at Pocklington Arts Centre. It is a good space and I had the caretaker assist me with the hanging which is a welcome help and luxury. Hanging always takes longer than you think, but it went well today and the reaction is good so far.
Mind you, being out in a small town in a rural area did remind me why I like to live in the city: I was only there two hours but heard two people start sentences with "I'm not racist but ... " The reply should nearly always be "You are."

I am showing a small print of this shot of Well Dale for the first time. See if it gets any reaction.

Tourists

Thought I'd better make the most of us looking smart. Here is the tourist shot. We stayed at a hotel at St Katherine's dock looking across the Thames.

St Pancras

St Pancras is a great place for photos, light space, strange tourists. This is an American Football team tired after travel.

Charity Awards

We were down in London for the Annual Charity Awards for which Danielle is a judge. It is always good fun, the host this time was Richard Coles who is on Radio 4 all the time and used to be in the Communards back in the day. The whole went well with a worthy overall winner
https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/who-cares-scotland-wins-overall-award-at-the-charity-awards-2018.html.
It is the one time of the year that the suit comes out, so here is a picture.

Book Covers

We went to a lecture on Book Covers 1920 - 1970 which was a lot better than it perhaps sounds. Really interesting in fact. It was part of the York Festival of Ideas which is always good. Next lecture we go to is on the history of House Music.

The photo is of a group of women walkers having their lunch at Fairburn nature reserve near Castleford. I asked if they minded me taking a photo, then begged them not to turn round. Came out well  I think.

Canals Again

We did another Canal Walk. Train to Todmorden then down the beautiful Calder Valley on the Rochdale Canal to Hebden Bridge. Being Hebden bridge there was a very right-on cafe on the towpath that met our vegetarian needs with ease.

Mine Time

Visited another disused mine last week, with my faithful distopian hound. This is a lighting cluster in an overgrown car park.

Clematis

The clematis are having a good year; I never knew that if you picked a flower and put it in a vase it will last for over a week. So our AirB&B guests get one now; we just had Susan from Tuscon Arizona staying for four nights which was great.

Coffee Stop

Dropped in on Dave and Emma last week. They are one of Milo's foster families, so he was happy to be there too.

Salad

The garden is producing! These salad leaves are from the trug at the back of the house. They taste good.

Cycling

Danielle at the lunch stop on our Wolds ride last week