blogging community

poppies and other (dry) things

Image | | andy townend

People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

I have neglected my photography (and writing), and you my readers (those who may still be here) for a while.

So, on a hot (thirty degrees) late Spring day, I took off along the local track that always has a story to tell, each season offering a new and different tale.

Today that tale was of desiccated vegetation, and poppies, just past their prime.

*all images made with Nikon D850 and AF-S Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8E ED VR lens*

JINGLE BELL ROCK / SALAMANCA MIX

Image | | andy townend 
dancin' and prancin' in jingle bell square
   in the frosty air
      giddy-up jingle horse,

   pick up your feet

- lyrics from jingle bell rock, tarja


the incredible shrunken man…

…catch a falling star

choices…

…standing man

…cervantes

imposition…

…got my eyes on you

pa-e-lla…

shelling out for christmas…

…pointing man

reach for the sky

cherche la grenouille

rapunzel’s bad hair day

hemmed in

men in hats (lazy)

another imposition

I spy an eye

framed

ho ho, ho

now, let’s go over that again…

crossed out

christmas cell

jingle bell rock

…the morning after

*all images made with Nikon D850 and AF-S Nikkor 35mm f1.4 G lens, plus a dash of humour*

summer’s almost (but not quite) gone

Image | | andy townend

Give me a land of boughs in leaf
A land of trees that stand
Where trees are fallen there is grief
I love no leafless land
― A.E. Housman

At this time of year, I tend to drop my vinyl copy of The Doors’ Waiting for The Sun on the platter and listen to Summer’s Almost Gone.

It is 7 October, after all.

Except, on this specific 7 October, it was 31C, in the afternoon. Not particularly autumnal.

There are some signs, in the photos (below), of the change in season. Some.

In other news, I have signed up for NaNoWriMo, so, from 1 November, and until 30 November, I will be attempting to write 50,000 words, and hoping at least some of them will make sense we will see what we will see…

If you are interested, I have tried writing here before…

Musings, very sporadically, out in the midday sun.

Random thoughts (or poems if you stretch a point) from lockdown in Accra in April 2020, am thinking of publishing these.

My first sustained attempt to write anything, Dark Side Thursday.

WordPress Writing 101 back in April 2015.

Be seeing you…

*Images made with Nikon D850 and AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8E FL ED lens*

out (again) in the midday sun

Image | | andy townend

You always own the option of having no opinion.
There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can’t control.
These things are not asking to be judged by you.
Leave them alone

– Meditations, Marcus Aurelius

It has been a long time since I posted here actively, or at all, and I do keep promising to remedy that.

For several years these pages, and others, have sustained and inspired me through difficult times.

So, with no promises, I’m back for a moment, perhaps longer.

The images which follow were captured on a walk on Saturday, 30 September. The skies were a deep blue, the temperature was around 33C and some, who saw my related posts on Facebook, asked where I was. The answer was not Australia, or somewhere in Africa, as some reasonably surmised. No, I was a short walk away from home in the province of Salamanca, on the last day in September. The dusty red paths a testament to the reality of climate change.

There is no particular theme or message in my photos.

They are simply what caught me attention (again) on a well trodden path…

  • There are, of course some (unintended) themes, notably barbed wire, and an impaled coke can which seems to have developed a life of its own.

It is good to write and shoot again.

Be seeing you.

*all images made with my fujifilm x100f and its fixed 23mm f/2 lens, minimally edited in Lightroom with Fujifilm’s luscious velvia profile*

about Christmas…

Image | | andy townend 
about christmas
        russian shell(s)
        ukraine hell(s)
about christmas 
        freezing cold
        forgotten old
about christmas
        homeless (not) hopeless
        clueless politician, regardless
about christmas
        behind closed doors
lie (closed) minds
about christmas
        how much, is enough
               for you
                   for them
                       for us
let's talk... about christmas

exposed

spotted

spirit (me away)

not just for christmas

not the pandemic 

do you feel lucky?

palmed off

face off

caged dreams

lack of intimacy

you looking at me?

where are all the little people?

no, on reflection

closed (for christmas)

*images made with Fujifilm X100F with fixed 23mm f/2 lens*

macro meanderings

Image | | andy townend

A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in –
what more could he ask?
A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

*All images made with Nikon D700 (well hello again, old friend) and AF Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 lens (an old, new friend)*

and yet, and yet…

Image | | andy townend

tsuyu no yo wa
tsuyu no yo nagara
sari nagara
– Kobayashi Issa

*All images made with Nikon D850 and AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8E FL ED lens*

Micro Flora and some critters

Image | | andy townend

be in love with your life, every detail of it
― Jack Kerouac

A series of images made in the garden with poor technique and a glass of wine (or two).

A tripod would have been advisable, but hey, sometimes it is what it is.

Also, some critters were involved, although none were harmed in the making of this post.

Continue reading →

lockdown | discover | thirty poems

Image | | andy townend

Throughout April, Ben Huberman and the WordPress Discover team team hosted Discover Prompts.

My daily response involved an impromptu poem and a photo made (with one exception) in Accra where I am ‘locked down’  accompanied by an occasional quote or snatched lyric from a song.

You can read all my poems here.

Stay safe and well and let’s fight this thing together, and make sure we don’t forget the lessons we learn when we reach the other side.

now I been out in the desert, just doin’ my time
searchin’ through the dust, lookin’ for a sign

– lyrics from further on (up the road), bruce springsteen