On Travail

Image | December 8, 2018December 9, 2018 | andy townend

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.

St. Augustine

The clue to this post is in the title, which is a clumsy attempt to wrap multiple concepts into a single pithy phrase.

Among my resolutions this year were to write and shoot more. Rather dismally I have failed to respond well to my own resolutions. This does of course make choosing next year’s resolutions so much easier, as I plan to have another go.

However, I am happy to report that I have read a lot this year. And I will write about that also. In due course, the fullness of time, and so on.

I have also travelled a great deal. A very great deal. And, that is also something I intend to write about on the same terms as above.

I am not comfortable with my personal carbon footprint this year. So, trees will need to be planted. Probably enough to stock a decent sized hillside.

What prompted this post was my need to share (other than on my FB page) my journey home.

Continue reading →

high life

Aside | October 16, 2018November 4, 2018 | andy townend

this seat is mine

mine, for the time
it takes
to cross, the
desert
to cross,
from there
to
here,

a part, of me
is no
longer

mine

lost
with all the
other
parts,
along,
the way

lost

by all, those
others, who

said

this seat, is mine

Ethio(pics)

Image | February 28, 2018February 28, 2018 | andy townend

This post features a diminutive lady called Lucy, an emperor by the name of Haile, a few flip-flop wearing parasol bearing clerics, the Red Terror, Sylvia the suffragette, some spicy sauce, and St. George (or at least an eponymous beer).

You have been warned.

This week, Ben Huberman‘s challenge for the WordPress Weekly Photo challenge is ‘out of this world‘.

In framing his challenge Ben suggested that we ‘share a photo that takes a familiar scene — a place you frequent, a face you know well, an activity you engage in regularly — and makes it look and feel like something out of this world’.

I’ve always had a slight problem in answering the (right) question, or at least reading the question and then coming up with an appropriate answer.

In any event, Ben also said ‘Feel free to interpret the theme as loosely as you see fit. I look forward to seeing your photos!’. So, in a lazy moment, characterised by a certain slice of synchronicity, I found a hook for framing a post that I was going to write anyway.

The problem with my world at the moment is that the places I frequent fluctuate with a frenetic and feverish frequency. And the activity that I seem to engage in with the greatest frequency is that of being a frequent flyer.

Which is a rather long-winded way of sharing some snaps from my latest adventure. It’s not ‘out of this world’ but it was a new part of the world for me.

And I think that must count for something?

Continue reading →

waiting

Image | September 9, 2017September 9, 2017 | andy townend

Waiting for you to come along
Waiting for you to hear my song
Waiting for you to come along
Waiting for you to tell me what went wrong

Waiting For The Sun – The Doors

Lizard, waiting, in Akosombo, Ghana, for WP Weekly Photo Challenge – Waiting

I think it is a male West African Rainbow lizard (‘agama agama africana’). If you know more, please do say.

*Shot with Fujufilm X100F and fixed 23mm (35mm full frame equivalent) lens at ISO 200, f/4 and 1/150s*

textures

Image | August 5, 2017August 5, 2017 | andy townend

Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting
– Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance

for WordPress weekly photo challenge – Textures

*Image(s) shot with iPhone 6S and merged with Snapseed*

shard (revisited)

Image | July 21, 2017August 23, 2017 | andy townend

Do you mean to tell me that you’re thinking seriously of building that way, when and if you are an architect?
– Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

Back in August last year, I shared a series of photos of The Shard, shot with my Nikon D700 and Nikkor AF 80-200mm f/2.8 D lens.

Yesterday, equipped with my Fujifilm X100F with its fixed 23mm (35mm full frame equivalent), I made these images.

chewing gum man

Image | July 21, 2017July 22, 2017 | andy townend

But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
– W B Yeats

I like to contribute to the weekly photo challenge hosted by WordPress and must confess I hadn’t quite found inspiration for this week’s prompt, which frankly is quite unusual for me, which seems apposite as this week’s theme was indeed unusual.

vans

Image | July 19, 2017July 22, 2017 | andy townend

Having arrived at Heathrow this morning on a red-eye from Lagos, and finding myself unable to check in to my hotel for several hours, I took to the streets like any other self-respecting homeless person, by which I mean no disrespect to actual homeless persons, it is of course no laughing matter.

I had two main goals, one was to find breakfast (which I did, and I must have looked particularly hungry as an additional slice of bacon was added to my bacon roll and coffee), and the other, that was to walk along the South Bank to the Tate Modern. My plan being to spend six hours or so in quiet artistic contemplation, before the hotel would throw open its portals (or at least activate a smart card) to me and my battered luggage.

I also had the foresight to bring my camera with me, my Fujifilm X100F, which has now has become my constant travelling companion.

Earth

Image | April 21, 2017April 21, 2017 | andy townend

‘This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy’
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I took this shot through a dusty and dirty emergency exit window on a British Airways Boeing 777, en route to Abuja from London, whilst standing in line to use the toilet. The image, taken on my iPhone, is, I believe, of part of the Sahara desert, and does not do justice to the grandeur of the site nor the feeling of isolation the view conveyed.

I read an article in flight on design plans for aircraft without windows, this would apparently save cost as the inclusion of windows requires additional strengthening of the fuselage. The windows would be replaced by cameras and clever screens. I wonder how often, when people look out the window on long haul flights, they reflect on what is passing by so far below. How different that world is, that earth, from the bubble in which we flash across the sky?

Anyway, I thought it worth sharing for this week’s WordPress challenge – Earth

iPhone 6s shot at 4.15mm, 1/1600s, f/2.2 and ISO25

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