2012 In Pictures

Posted By Mark on Jan 1, 2013

Well, I’m starting off 2013 without a functioning camera (not strictly true; I can still use the old 350D) because my 5D Mark II has developed a shutter problem (the infamous “Err 30”) and will need to get sent off to an authorised repairer. This is one of two camera-related disasters of 2012 (*). Still, it’s a new year and I’ve updated the colour theme and logo on the site and need to keep the content flowing so why not take a look back at 2012 and pick out a photo I’ve taken every month with a little blurb for filler? There are many reasons why not but I’m just going to go ahead anyway. January It was my oldest friend (in terms of how long I’ve known him as opposed to person of greatest age) Matthew’s fortieth birthday so a family and friends gathering took place at Portchester Castle. It was quite cold. Well, it was January. Pictured is Matthew’s dad and his son playing on the old walls. February My love affair with street photography continued and every now and then I took a nice shot too. This is one I particularly liked, featuring a girl on the phone down an alleyway just off East Street in Chichester. I got myself close to the wall so that I could get nice lines down the brickwork. March The days were getting longer in March – it’s my understanding this is a common occurrence – which meant the evenings as I left work were occasionally visited by interesting-looking sunsets or weak suns. This shot is taken from the roof of the multi-storey car park where I (big surprise!) park my car. April Our annual trip up north to watch Wakefield in the Super League took place in April in 2012. To mix things up we went a different route from normal and ended up popping in to Matlock Bath on the way. Very nice it was too. Pictured is a shot of a bridge over the river Derwent and snow on the hills in the background. May A friend from the states, Michelle, popped over to London on business in May and since she’d been kind enough to show us around Washington D.C. the year before we returned the favour and took her on a walking tour of our capital city. This photo was during a lunch break that we took in Covent Garden where you have to accept that you’ll be sharing your food with winged pests. June In June my dad took my wife and I, my brother and his wife, and my sister-in-law’s two kids to...

Fun Without Sex

Posted By Mark on Dec 29, 2012

The Pie Piper

Posted By Mark on Dec 26, 2012

Once upon a time, in the city of Chichester which sat in West Sussex not far from the Hampshire border, there was a plague. It was not a plague such as where you might find your neighbours coughing up blood and falling down dead in the street, oh no! This was a plague of the feathered variety; pigeons, to be precise. Pigeons were everywhere. On the ground, in the trees, in the buildings, even in people's homes. And the people of Chichester were not best pleased. "We are not best pleased," they agreed at a meeting to decide how to deal with the pigeons but that was all they could initially agree upon. Some people suggested eating the pigeons but others argued that to do so would be to eat everything that the pigeons ate too and this quite turned a number of stomachs present. Some people suggested shooting the pigeons but guns and bows and arrows were in short supply as Chichester was a civilised place and hitherto had suffered no need of such barbaric instruments. As the meeting drew to a close with no resolution in sight the people of Chichester were more glum than they had been before and they stared forlornly at the doors of the meeting hall, dreading the infestation of pigeons into which they would need to venture. Just then, the doors swung open and in stepped a woman with long, blonde hair, dressed in black, and wearing a bag across her body. "I can rid your city of pigeons," she declared. "But it will cost you!" "Anything!" the people cried. The woman nodded and walked away. From her bag she started removing miniature Cornish pasties and discarding them on the ground and everyone saw that the pigeons flocked to fight over whatever tasty morsels they could wrestle. The blonde woman wandered through the city and continued to drop food for the vermin and in this manner she led all the pigeons outside Chichester's walls and down to the canal. The people followed from a distance, hardly daring to believe their eyes. One by one each and every pigeon hopped, flew, and fought its way into the canal waters desperate to get every last crumb of the pasties that floated on its surface. And every pigeon was attacked and killed by the rats that lived nearby. "I have rid you of your pigeons," said the blonde woman. "Now I wish to set up a store selling cheap scarves in your main street." The people of Chichester were aghast. "Cheap scarves!" they cried. "That's far too common for Chichester! We won't do it!" And...

Composition

Posted By Mark on Dec 21, 2012

Sometimes when I'm shooting I pay very particular attention to the composition of the shot. Is there a diagonal I can get into the frame somehow (I do so like a nice diagonal)? Can I get a colour match or clash between foreground and background objects? If I take this shot will I get arrested? That sort of thing. I say sometimes. I mean practically never of course. I'm just not that thoughtful when it comes to photography. This picture is a case in point: did I line up the shot so that the pavement ran from one corner to the other? Like hell I did! Did I notice that the umbrella colours matched the tiles on the road and the advertising board in the rear? You bet your sweet ass I didn't give it a second's thought! Did I wonder if the old woman would hear my shutter firing, turn around, attempt to strike me with the tip of her brolly, force me to defend myself with lethal force, and lead to the spending of the Christmas period answering probing questions in a police station? Briefly, admittedly, but that's true of almost every shot I take. Google+: View post on...

Smart Lunch

Posted By Mark on Dec 12, 2012

There's an art in picking out lunch. It's got to be tasty, not too filling that the afternoon becomes a struggle, not too little that time until home seems to slow just to spite your grumbling stomach. There's luck in finding a place away from the crowds to eat. Somewhere that you won't attract the birds, somewhere that you won't get bumped by the bustlers, and fate is smiling on you. And there's being smart. You make yourself a small target, you hunch over a little bit, you position yourself so you're not easy to reach, and you realise that you can't be looking everywhere at once so you get out your smartphone and keep an eye on it while you eat. And relax. Because now you're safe. He's trying to look innocent as he sidles up behind you but the Sarnie Thief is being monitored and he's in for a 200 decibel shock if he dares to make a move. Protect your egg and cress lunch with the No! That's My Sandwich! app available on Windows Phone and Android. #StreetPics   Google+: View post on...

Moments To Live

Posted By Mark on Dec 11, 2012

He shouldn't have stopped. He shouldn't have let the adrenalin cascade through his system; the pounding, pounding, pounding in his ears that muffled the sounds around him and left him so much more isolated. He shouldn't have started sweating but no amount of willpower could prevent it. He should have kept moving calmly, breathing normally, looking straight ahead, and just, simply got out of there but he did none of those things. Their nostrils picked up the scent. Some animal sixth sense detected the wrongness nearby. And one-by-one they turned towards the centre, stalking, circling, hunting the prey fixed with fear. He didn't stand a chance. Google+: View post on...