out (again) in the midday sun

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*

green new deal?

And now we welcome the new year
full of things that have never been
― Rainer Maria Rilke


New trees, new hope, a pair of robins, a family of blackbirds and assorted wagtails have made their new home amidst the olive grove (well, there are now two such trees). Nature has shown that even a brief respite from the toxic side products of human endeavour pays (green) dividends.

Let’s hope ‘we the people’ can now renew and heal as we transition to a new year, working together to heal differences and put aside toxic divisions.

(newly planted) olive tree: 1/200s, f/8.0, ISO 64

(newly planted) magnolia: 1/200s, f8.0, ISO 64

(precocious) prunus: 1/200s f/8.0, ISO 64

(ready for new residents) White House 1/200s f/8.0, ISO 64


*All images made with Nikon D850 and AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8E VR lens with limited edits in Lightroom*

shades of salamanca

It comes to this: like all of us who have not yet died of plague he fully realizes that his freedom and his life may be snatched from him at any moment”
Albert Camus


The streets of Salamanca stay muted as Covid-19 shows little sign of receding – although even in the darkest shadows light can be found.

A brief snapshot of the streets of Salamanca in September as the summer slides slowly towards the autumn. The outcome of my latest experimentation with the settings on my Nikon D850 and AF-S Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 E VR lens.

More to follow.

Wherever you are, stay safe and look for the light in the shadows…


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

coquilla

i’ll be there as soon as I can
but I’m busy mending broken
pieces of the life I had before

– unintended, muse

in a tight corner

do they toll for thee?

they also serve who only perch and wait

bound and confined

reach for the sky

will you still love me?

fleeting romance

stacked

haunted


*all images made with nikon d700 with nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 and 50mm f/1.4 lenses, developed in lightroom cc*