out in the midday sun | 4

July 20, 2016July 20, 2016 | andy townend

To the complaint, ‘There are no people in these photographs,’ I respond, There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer
― Ansel Adams

2016_07_20_26043

This post is about my passion for photography.

It is also about the process of learning. In a recent post in this (rather sporadic) series, I featured a photo which I believe was the first that I ever shot. It was of a hovercraft, a futuristic vehicle that like others, including the Concorde, has disappeared into the history books.

That camera was a Kodak Instamatic 25. It was (almost) idiot proof (if not Andy proof). A cassette was inserted in the rear of the camera, a single click captured (most of) what could be seen through the offset viewfinder, the cassette was wound on by a large black plastic wheel and that was it. The cassette was then dropped off at the developers and then the waiting began.
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poetry | 101 | rehab | misty (ambiguity)

Image | July 20, 2016July 20, 2016 | andy townend

Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer

– Rainer Maria Rilke

so no,
or (yet) yes,

anyone’s
guess

in perpetuity
always, (ambiguity)

the clouds and, the
rain
swept, window
pane

conflated with
snow and a (bitter)sweet
scented, candle
flame
that burned

red
and (yet)
(never)
quite
dead

and
the pain
yes,
exhaled
(from)
that, place

lingering
in perpetuity,

in misty,
(ambiguity)

misty (ambiguity)

My prompt for this week’s Poetry 101 Rehab is MISTY (AMBIGUITY), just because

You can link to your post in response to today’s prompt by leaving a comment on my post and you can also tag your post with Poetry 101 Rehab so that it shows up in the WordPress Reader.

Please feel free to copy and paste the badge across to your own post and your own site 🙂

2015_06_19_09504

More information can be found on my poetry | 101 | rehab page.

project 365 | mobile | mono | skies | five

Image | July 17, 2016July 17, 2016 | andy townend

030 | 365

034 | 365

033 |365

032 | 365

031 | 365

029 | 365

028 | 365

I launched my latest Project 365 on Monday 13 June 2016 by posting a single photo each day to my Instagram account and to my Flickr account. I posted my first weekly update (late) on Saturday 25 June 2016. (This post is also late, but at least on the right day, my plan is to post at noon, but hey…)

My favourite here is 030 | 365 I imagine that it is the kind of view one might have in low orbit over a plant like Jupiter, gases swirling beneath with one of its moons in the distance. Or, maybe I need new glasses?

I will post an update each Sunday and you can see them all by clicking here.

Watch the skies!

details

Image | July 15, 2016 | andy townend

I still want to collect my thoughts and – I can’t, and now there are these little details, these little details…
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

2016_07_15_26035

When I saw this challenge,I knew I would be unable to resist, I have been neglecting both my photography and my writing recently. Tempted to find a lazy shot from my archive, I walked outside and took a shot of the first thing I saw. It is far from technically good, it was hand held, and taken too quickly. But hey, it’s Friday afternoon, it’s Summer and I’ve been writing proposals all day and it’s now time for a beer, no?

for wordpress weekly photo challenge – details
*shot with nikon d700 and nikkor af-s 70-200mm f/4 lens at 160mm, 1/250s f/4 and IS 1250, should really go back with a tripod and do this properly but decided to submit this anyway as it’s friday*

poetry | 101 | rehab | road

Image | July 10, 2016July 10, 2016 | andy townend

nunca te entregues ni te apartes
junto al camino, nunca digas
no puedo más y aquí me quedo
– music by paco ibañez, poetry by josé augustín goytisolo

2015_01_31_16953

the road
the road, is long
the road, is long, and the road, is hard
the road, is long, and the road, is hard,
and

full,
of pitfalls,
perils, and
punishment

(for,
the unwary)

and

false,
turns

the road, is long
the road, is long and the road, is hard
the road, is long and the road, is hard
and (yet) it
is

(and,
always will be)

yours,
to

take

road

My prompt for this week’s Poetry 101 Rehab is ROAD and is dedicated to all those who walk their own, road

You can link to your post in response to today’s prompt by leaving a comment on my post and you can also tag your post with Poetry 101 Rehab so that it shows up in the WordPress Reader.

Please feel free to copy and paste the badge across to your own post and your own site 🙂

2015_06_19_09504

More information can be found on my poetry | 101 | rehab page.

project 365 | mobile | mono | skies | four

Image | July 10, 2016July 11, 2016 | andy townend

027 | 365

026 | 365

025 | 365

024 | 365

023 | 365

022 | 365

021 | 365

I launched my latest Project 365 on Monday 13 June 2016 by posting a single photo each day to my Instagram account and to my Flickr account. I posted my first weekly update (late) on Saturday 25 June 2016. (This post is late and should have been published on Sunday, 10 July 2016)

I will post an update each Sunday and you can see them all by clicking here.

Watch the skies!

project 365 | mobile | mono | skies | three

Image | July 3, 2016July 11, 2016 | andy townend

020 | 365

019 | 365

018 | 365

017 | 365

016 | 365

015 | 365

014 | 365

I launched my latest Project 365 on Monday 13 June 2016 by posting a single photo each day to my Instagram account and to my Flickr account. I posted my first weekly update (late) on Saturday 25 June 2016. (This post is late and should have been published on Sunday, 3 July 2016)

I will post an update each Sunday and you can see them all by clicking here.

Watch the skies!

out in the midday sun | 3

Image | June 28, 2016June 28, 2016 | andy townend

You’re an expatriate. You’ve lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed with sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You are an expatriate, see? You hang around cafes.
― Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

2016_06_28_15994

Funny how Hemingway summed up the dreams and aspirations of a group of young teenage boys who set forth on a European adventure. Perfectly.

We didn’t get that drunk, mostly sticking to orange, exotic, Fanta in deliciously heavy brown glass bottles. Oh, and ok, the occasional beer. We were young, I was only thirteen. And being thirteen in the Summer of 1975 was a world away from being so in 2016.

Sex? Well we dreamed of it a lot, fantasised about every girl we had met, and were yet to meet. But sex, as in real, messy, sex. No.
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