The Beginning Of The End Of Summer

7th August 2018

Did someone blink and miss it. Already the farmers in the UK are working hard gathering up there crops, fruits and vegetables ready for the start of Autumn and in preparation for what might turn out to be a long winter ahead and it only seems like yesterday that I watched all of this happen but it was in fact 12 months ago and as is the rule, nothing stands still forever.

I was out and about yesterday with my Camera and had a stroke of good luck as a gap appeared in the clouds and lit up a wheat field as if a beam of light was sent from the heavens and right on cue. However, this is a photographers dream but a sign of what is to come for farmers as it signifies a change in the weather and I am assured that all the hot weather will have vanished by the weekend and replaced by heavy rain to which is required for the crops but will be less than welcomed by anyone taking holidays in the UK this year. Such is life that we don't get to pick and choose what we get in regards to the weather of I feel sure it will cause even more debate as to who get's hot and who gets cold.

 There is a kind of beauty in the before and after stage of the harvesting time in the UK and for me, it is camera at the ready and be prepared for every opportunity wherever it may be as the colours and beauty is in abundance and the creative spirit is all around, all it takes is the will and energy and an eye for the artistic impression and away we go. I do try and avoid the comparison between art and photography in my own world but as I am no artist, I would struggle to express myself with pain or pencil but with a camera, I am able to declare myself at least able to capture a moment and image of how I see life and the world that we all share and whilst I am not an artist, I am assured that it is a form of art and to than end, who am I to argue. To the right is my interpretation of a field of gold and I decided to include a single tree in the background and allow the wheat to be the focus of attention in the foreground and I noticed there were some other grasses growing among the wheat but I confess, I have no idea what they are except to say that it is totally natural and expected among a field of wheat at the end of summer. I have to say that whilst I was out taking these images, I drew an audience from the most unlikely of interested parties to which brought a smile to my face as it just shows that whilst I thought I was alone, I was never alone for more than a minuet as you will see by the audience I drew.

The thing that made me laugh about these guys is that if I wanted an audience, I would never get one but the moment I wanted peace and quiet, I had the pleasure of these guys who entertained me so much with there curiosity and inquisitive nature and it was at best amusing to watch. I couldn't help but think they probably knew more about photography than I did and were probably laughing at me inside but hey ho, who cares. The amazing thing about photography is that these opportunities come along with no predictions or planning and for me, that forms part of the magic and the memory that lasts a lifetime in my memory bank. If I had set out and planned this moment, it simply would not have happened but the fact that it was so spontaneous in itself is a little piece of magic.

There is always one Guy no matter where we go that stands out from the rest, and for me, it was this fella who really seemed to be embraced in the moment that someone he didn't know from a place he had not heard of, turn up to take pictures of the place where he lived. He was silent throughout the time I was there and never made so much as a Moo but as if he was judging the photographic competition for 2018, he studied every movement that I made and with such intensity that I felt duty bound not to make a mistake for fear of being criticised from the other side of the wall.  If ever there was a moment of apprehension and nerves, it was right now as I was being judged by the judge of all judges as to the content of my pictures, the shutter speed, the angle and ultimately the subject to which was being captured forever. Before I departed from this place, I set my camera on a tripod and set the shutter on a timer to capture the moment when I drove away and left my bag and equipment behind and as you will see below, that moment was pure magical and the bulls in the field looked as if they were about to shout to me and say "You Left Your Things Behind" and I hope you enjoy that moment with me as it certainly made me smile.

14th August 2018

So, here we are at almost halfway through August and despite the changes in weather, changes in life are always slow at best if at all. However, life is for living and not for moaning and as such, we pick up and carry on despite everything. This week last week was an interesting one in the political arena as the debate has been kicked off with comments from Boris Johnson that appears to have offended a minority of the country but despite it only being a very small minority to whom claim that he offended them, the support for his comments by the majority including a significant figure of the Church who is a Bishop, the media circle try hard to make it worse than it really is. The hunt for Boris by the press goes on but as I understand it, he has returned from a summer break and is now back at home and ready for the political battle ahead which is far more interesting than his comments. The safe betting is that he will pressure the PM Mrs Theresa May to leave number 10 by resigning or by a vote of no confidence and a new leader appointed by October.

So, what else took place in my life that you might find of interest.......well...Nothing really except for gossip but sometimes gossip is good to distract us from our own madness and problems and what I did hear which turned out to be true was an old associate of mine from the past had died in Sierra Leone in Africa of a heart attack which is the official version but as I know how this person lives his life, I would suspect a Doctor might have been paid to say that and this person met a more sinister end by virtue of his debtors catching him up. I personally know or many people he owed money to in both the UK and South Africa to which he wasted both there money and time on wasted ideas and I notice it is always there money as it was mine and there time as it was mine. Mr Paul Randle-Jolliffe from the Isle of Wight is well known as the lazy person who stays in bed until 2.00pm and smoking drugs of a variety of types all of which either the tax payer paid for (unemployment money) or investors paid for on wild schemes that do not exist. He was a complete dreamer and idiot. All I can say is the world is a better place now that this guy is no longer with us and I know I speak for many and not the few.

17th September 2018

So, for those who care about where I have been or what I have been doing, I can safely inform you that the last seven days have been about as stressful as I need right now in my life. My partner who is a Doctor was in Manilla in the Philippines when we were suddenly notified of the "Super Tornado" about to hit Manilla directly and to which given advanced notice allowed them to move north 6 hours away from Manilla to what on the face of it appeared to be a much safer place to be. "How Wrong We Were" on that decision. No sooner that my partner arrived, the storm turned North and on a direct path to where they were. The next 96 hours were like torture and being some 8000 miles away and no contact, does not help.

When the news finally came through that they were safe, I can tell you now that the relief was the best news ever and whilst I don't do a lot of celebrating, on this occasion I broke ranks and and defied nature by enjoying some quality time with an old girlfriend of mine called "Stella" and the feeling of love was instant. It was only by watching the step by step news reports on both TV and internet that I could fully appreciate just how my life is so much easier than many others around the world and the difficulties they encounter just to survive and get through life that I take for granted. If you are wondering just what I have been doing since I last updated you all, it is simple. I forgot due to the emergency of trying to fight every single obstacle to get ahead of the storm and maintain contact with people whom are so close to my heart and world and yet so close to death for so many reasons. It was the worst week of my life for so many reasons and I feel I do not need to justify that for any reason to man or beast. However, I did get regular satellite images from the weather stations and just to provide you with a scale of how big this thing was, here was the last image provided before the storm hit the islands and Im sure you will agree, it was a big one in every respect and broke the world record for all previous storms of this type.