Personal

out in the midday sun | 4

| 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

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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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out in the midday sun | 3

Image | | 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

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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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pure

Image | | andy townend

I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet
― Mahatma Gandhi

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for wordpress weekly photo challenge – pure

strawberry fields

| andy townend

Nothing I write here could say any more than the lyrics. Obviously.

So, I won’t.

andy townend's avatarsalamancastreets

living is easy with eyes closed
misunderstanding all you see

– lyrics from strawberry fields forever, the beatles

The third in a series of photographic posts featuring a group of friends hiking in the beautiful countryside in the province of Salamanca, Spain.

El tercero de una serie de publicaciones fotográficas que ofrecen un grupo de amigos en excursiones en el hermoso campo en la provincia de Salamanca, España.

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Hike

senderismo,la fiesta de la fresa en linares de riofrio, 5junio de 2016
*images taken with nikon d700, nikkor afs 16-35mm f/4 G andafs50mm f/1.4 G lenses*

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face me (!)

Image | | andy townend

Fighting for peace, is like f***ing for chastity
― Stephen King, Hearts in Atlantis

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I took this shot today during a photo shoot in Salamanca which I think will give me material for two more posts – featuring pianos and the work of Henry Moore.

But, for now, take a look at that face!

for wordpress weekly photo challenge – face

*shot with nikon d700 and nikkor 70-200mm af-s f/4G lens, no edits*

out in the midday sun | 2

Image | | andy townend

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The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.

How could a weekly blog post about the life of an Englishman living in Spain not include a reference to those words spoken by Audrey Hepburn paying the part of Eliza Doolittle in the movie My Fair Lady which in turn was based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion?

Often misquoted as ‘the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain’, or is it just me that constantly misquotes it? Probably. So much for that expensive private education and my success in English Literature examinations which included, as it happens, studying Pygmalion. But, as I said in my opening essay, I like to think my education taught me to think, not to remember things. So there you are.

Anyway, I think it is a reasonably well established fact that English people, at home and abroad, like to talk about the weather. A lot.

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(another) face

Image | | andy townend

I know faces, because I look through the fabric my own eye weaves, and behold the reality beneath
― Kahlil Gibran, The Madman

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I took this shot yesterday during a hike with a group of friends in the beautiful countryside surrounding Ciudad Rodrigo, España. You can see more on my new photo-reportage site salamancastreets.

I thought this one apposite for the weekly photo challenge too!

for wordpress weekly photo challenge – face

*shot with nikon d700 and nikkor 70-200mm af-s f/4G lens, no edits*

no aparcar

| andy townend

A layered post on my latest photo-reportage site
Ale, ale, alerta

andy townend's avatarsalamancastreets

Tienen prisa por hacer que me calle
Pero yo canto lo que quiero y lo que siento
Alerta – Amaral

mi localmi local

comercio del dolorel comercio del dolor

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chicos locoschicos locos

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rock and rollrock and roll

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no aparcar
no aparcar

Ale, ale
Ale, ale, alerta

*shot with nikon d700 and nikkor af-s 50mm lens, edited inlLightroom CC and analog efex pro 2, wet plate filter #9, ale, ale *

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face

Image | | andy townend

Every face, every shop, bedroom window, public-house, and dark square is a picture feverishly turned

Virginia Woolf

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I took this shot yesterday during a photoshoot for my (relatively) new photo-reportage site salamancastreets.

My post no aparcar (which features a lot more graffiti) from that shoot has now been posted, and I chose not to include this shot, but it fits this challenge perfectly?

for wordpress weekly photo challenge – face

*shot with nikon d700 and nikkor 50mm af-s f/1.4G lens, no edits*