In which I take a photo every day that I'm 50, and post it here on this blog, with a bit of related blurb.
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| serenity |
We decided to go for a walk in spite of not having to for the first time in years, so as to not break the routine...then we walked miles more than usual, in order to break the routine...
Go figure!
It's been a difficult, flat, sad day, and we felt the need to get out into nature and try to find some peace out there in the warm evening sun.
Resisting the temptation to look back every minute or so to see how Jazz was doing, we ended up walking all the way down to the bottom of the lane, quietly remembering him, and pondering the pros and cons of getting another dog.
Idly snapping as we strolled, we caught a few interesting sights, like this balloon peacefully wandering the skies.
By odd coincidence, we got another shot of a juvenile Green Woodpecker, a mile down the lane from where the last one was...
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| woody |
As we got to the bottom of the valley, we came to the little river that Jazz and Bluez liked to cool off in, back in the days when they could walk that far (a couple of years ago probably)..
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| no jazz |
It was very overgrown, and very hard to focus, but it brought good memories of my boys splashing about, happy as labradors in cold water!
One photo I would never have captured if Jazz had been with me was this healthy looking rabbit...
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| jack |
As we started back up the lane, I caught this nice shot of a buzzard alighting on top of a tree...
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| big ol' buzzard |
I'd been remonstrating with Anna for not getting me a photo of a deer when I gave her the camera for two minutes...and then spotted this lovely young buck Roe, who remarkably hadn't noticed us as he strolled across the field.
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| oh deer |
Handsome young chap, isn't he?
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| yes deer |
I've been wanting a photo of a deer for ages...Muntjac next - we have those around here too.
Well there you are, made it through a whole post without getting too upset about Jazz, even though we're missing him painfully...
Going back to nature definitely helped, as always.
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| ease your mind |
Lovely day out in the Peak District today where, amongst other things, we came across this lovely little bridge at the head of the Burbage Valley.
We set off from home in rain, but hoping that the forecast of clearing skies would be correct...as we neared the Peak, it looked dubious for a while, but as we arrived and parked up the sun was shining, and that set the tone for the day.
The valley was looking vibrant in the sunshine, with the bracken tall, green and lush.
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| beautiful burbage |
We mostly just bouldered along the bottom of the crag, even though I was carrying full rack and rope all the way...both Anna and I had a couple of good successes, which I won't bore you with...except I will post this photo of Anna to prove we were there, and climbing:
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| Anna standing on nothing |
On the way back, we encountered this fine, furry fellow:
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| dougal? |
He's an Oak Eggar caterpillar, and will be a large moth once he metamorphoses...
Here's a full profile:
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| not dougal |
He's a interesting little chap, and one of the most interesting things about him is his size...you don't think he looks so big?
Check this out:
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| finger size |
He's more or less the length and thickness of Anna's forefinger!
Funnily enough, the last time we came across one of these was when we were climbing on the Pembrokeshire coast last summer...do they like the rock too?
I think they'll climb better than me...insects always do, thanks to their tiny size.
When I was climbing the steep slab that Anna is on above (coincidentally known as Tiny Slab), precariously balanced on the tips of my toes and no hand holds, struggling (and completely failing) to get any upward motion, I noticed a tiny ant a few inches in front of my face, casually and effortlessly jogging up the wall...
I don't think he was mocking me, but he could quite reasonably have been...
B-/
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| see-through when wet |
I suppose it couldn't last forever. Since late March I've been really pleased with the photo's I've gathered...the promise of Spring was reflected in the proliferation of fresh new growth green through my blog...and all riddled with a liberal sprinkling of adventure.
But the last few days the weather has turned cold and grey, I've felt tired, and all of this, too, is reflected in the dull tones of more recent pages.
My 50@50 challenge is less than 10 days away, and whilst in some ways I feel ready, in other ways I'm starting to feel out of shape. Since going to Spain in early March, my general activity levels have gradually dropped off, and I'm starting to feel the effects.
So I need to pick up the pace, get myself up and running for a week on Friday...perhaps I'll do a little exercise tomorrow night, then I'll need to climb this weekend. I'd prefer to climb outdoors, but the forecast isn't good, so we may end up climbing indoors again. Whatever, at this point I'm getting withdrawal symptoms, so bring it on!
None of which has anything to do with tonight's photo, of course...
With the forthcoming arrival of our new camera, I'm trying to practice with Anna's bridge camera more often.
Tonight, it was gone 7.30pm by the time I was ready to go looking for a photo. When I looked outside I realised it was grey, raining, and the light was just beginning to fade.
So I decided to play with the zoom on the camera, and try to get an interesting shot of the rainwater on the glass-topped table out on the decking. I didn't want to get Anna's camera wet, so I wondered what sort of interesting shot I could get from the shelter of the little porch over the front door.
It was tricky getting focussed (I really struggle to focus with the bridge camera), and challenging to remain steady enough to get a clear photo. I took plenty of photo's, but really this is the only one with something about it at all.
It's not really focussed anywhere, although it appears to be from a distance, in the middle...but I like that you can see the rattan through the large clear puddle in the middle of the shot.
It makes me think of a clean, structured interior, masked by a chaotic exterior. The opposite of a swan, with its typical cool, calm serenity on the surface, masking a riot of activity below.
Kind of the opposite of lots of people, don't you think?
I like to think that I'm more like this tabletop...getting a little rough, wrinkled and worn on the outside, but calm, peaceful and rational on the inside.
I said I like to think that I'm like that...it's more of an aspiration!
Generally I feel as though I'm doing fairly well...but then sometimes, I wonder whether there's a difference between a tranquil, meditative inner state, and a psychologically anaesthetised coma...and would I be able to tell the difference?!
Well, on that cheery note, I will bid you, good folks, bon soir...
I'll be back with more fun times tomorrow...
B-)
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| be water, my friend |
It's been very wet lately. The rain seems endless, and whilst we don't have the horrendous flooding that some parts of the country have had, there are lots of minor localised floods.
This is a tiny one in the field down the lane. Yep, this is a field, normally used to graze sheep or to cultivate hay (if you can call "leaving the grass until it gets really very long indeed" cultivation)...
You can see some curiously blue sky in the reflection on this over-achieving puddle...the sun was shining sporadically from behind, here...although somewhat predictably, not when I had my phone in camera mode.
I took a dozen or so shots here, but the light was bright, so I couldn't see the screen very well...and holding the camera low, it was challenging to frame. This is the first one, and was the best of a sorry bunch.
It's remarkable how often the first photo I take is the best. I don't know why I bother with the rest, although I still do...but what does it say about consciously framing the shots, if the harder I try, the less acceptable I find the finished product?
This is starting to sound a little Zen, and I'm reminded, somewhat surreally, of the philosophy of both Bruce Lee, and Yoda (what a match up - my money's on Bruce).
Of course, there's the oft-repeated Jedi wisdom:
"Try not! Do or do not, there is no try..."
This classic line says to me that one should quieten ones mind and let doing flow, unimpeded by mental, emotional or psychological obstruction.
Bruce Lee expressed this same idea slightly differently, with the equally iconic line from Enter the Dragon:
"Don't think, feel..."
Which flows nicely into his most famous philosophy, and also leads me neatly back to my picture:
"Empty your mind; be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."
This is not an analogy for fighting, although it works in that context. As with everything he said and did, it was about life itself.
Align yourself with your environment, rather than fighting it. Bend to accommodate life, rather than stiffly resisting it. Flow smoothly around obstacles, rather than pushing through them.
Be water, my friends...
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| under the bridge |
Day 50...a nice little milestone! A seventh of the way through this particular challenge...apparently I'm 50 years and 50 days old, now.
I'm really pleased to have made it this far, despite this blog being much more demanding than anticipated.
Although it's fair to say that it's been much more rewarding that I imagined, too, which does help motivate me to keep it up, day by day (by day).
Chatting with my daughter Kim about my blog earlier, she asked whether it made me do different things, things I normally wouldn't do.
Well, it certainly does! 30 minutes earlier I had been in my wellies, in the stream that edges our garden, looking for interesting perspectives...not my usual chilly Sunday afternoon haunt, it has to be said!
I think the best photography tip I've had was from Anna, who often recommends taking photo's from the perspective of the subject. Most frequently, this means getting to a low position, whether I'm photographing Jazz, or one of the cats, or some fungi on the woodland floor.
Or a stream...
I've been using the voice control on my phone to help take stable pictures in physically awkward positions. In this case I was crouched on the bank, one foot ankle deep in the stream. Holding the phone an inch or so above the water, looking upstream towards the culvert under the little bridge we drive over to access our car park, it would have been difficult to touch the digital shutter release button without knocking the framing out.
But simply saying smile is easy and works very well, and enables me to get some interesting shots.
The voice commands available to direct the camera to take a photo are;
Capture, Cheese, Shoot, and Smile.
It's curious to note that without conscious decision, it seems I have settled on Smile as my command of choice.
Capture and Shoot sound so confrontational and hostile, whereas Cheese just sounds....well, cheesy (normally this would be amazing, I grant you - but only when referring to actual cheese).
Smile is a much more pleasant and positive way to interact, even if it is with an inanimate object. But the point is, it's more pleasant and positive for me to make an encouraging request, rather than barking an order or saying a random word.
I think it's a deliberate choice in the sense that I naturally gravitate towards a more open, inclusive way of being, and the word Smile represents a more affectionate way of approaching the world.
Smile, everyone! :-)
