[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 25 November 2025].
he died of a broken arm
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 1 October 2024].
While reviewing photos to edit and share with you from my wander through the Bishop's Stortford Old Cemetery while sitting Betsy and Dudley a month ago, a new writing project idea struck.
Inspired by a combination of some of the inscriptions in the cemetery, personal memories and a conversation with a friend this evening about death. Specifically, euthanasia.
The words gently edging towards my fingertips aren't all about death, let alone euthanasia.
The ideas gently swirling aren't perhaps as melancholy as what I've written above may suggest (and how can you write about death without writing about life?)
But I'm probably feeling a bit too raw and tired (emotionally and physically) to pour those thoughts out in the wee hours of this particular morning.
So, instead, here's a photo I took of a grave I found paired with an irreverent title to lighten the mood.
Unrelated (maybe): have you heard the new single from The Cure, Alone?
I've listened to it a lot since it came out, but I only just properly listened while watching the lyric video (as I went to find the link for you) and took in the words and the visuals they've chosen, and I teared up for so many reasons.
And then the comments.
mamma
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 1 July 2024].
angelic youth
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 9 June 2024].
leo/poldo ii
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 19 April 2024].
I captured these photographs of the equestrian statue of Leopold II in Place du Trône in Brussels during my visit to Belgium with my parents and then-partner, Kyle, in September 2014.
According to Wikipedia, Leopold II was the second King of the Belgians. Although he still holds the title of the longest-reigning Belgian monarch, by all accounts, Leopold II was a nasty piece of work.
See, in particular, his reign over the Congo Free State (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
I won't use the words 'founder' and 'owner', as we know there were already people there when he claimed those titles who had more right to claim ownership than he did.
I usually avoid capturing people in my photographs of monuments, architecture, street scenes, etc., but I quite like the moment I captured with these particular folks in the second image.
coaxing life from death
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 26 February 2024].
strapped in
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 23 February 2024].
crucifixion
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 7 April 2023].
On a rainy day in late September 2021, I was returning from a few days away in West Sussex with my friend and fellow photographer, Phil.
That day, I was scheduled to return to finish my first cat-sitting with the kittehs I'm currently sitting.
Shiloh is nestled in my lap as I type this, despite my semi-regularly lifting her off my lap to go to the fridge or the bathroom during the past few hours of photo editing. When I do that, she gives me a Marge Simpson-like sound of disapproval.
I had an off-peak return ticket to London from Chichester, which meant I could take any train on any permitted route to get back to London within a month of the original booking.
Arundel was on the route back, so we drove there and wandered through the drizzle. Visiting a bookstore. Visiting Arundel Cathedral and the nearby St Nicholas' Church and its churchyard. And having food in a local cafe before Phil dropped me at the station for the next train.
Coincidentally, the train I had planned to be on was cancelled. But I digress.
In the churchyard of St Nicholas' Church, we experienced drizzle, rain, the beautiful after-rain sunlight and the saturated hues post-rain brings to stonemasonry, plant life and... well, everything.
In the churchyard, we also found this elaborate crucifixion scene.
At the time, I presumed it was a monument for someone with a lot of money. Perhaps with a name in the local community.
But, in retrospect, I presume it was installed by the church. Though I can't find anything online to confirm or deny that.
Since I took these photos, I've been keen to share them, but I knew I had to share them as a series, not as individual photographs. And, obviously, Easter is a timely point to share them.
I didn't capture a long shot showing all the participants in this act of mourning together. But, from the individual photographs and the photographs of Christ and the two women, I'm sure you get a sense of the scene.
I presume (with my limited atheist knowledge) the two women closest to Christ are his mother, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. A quick Google search tells me the man is unlikely to have been Christ's father, Joseph.
Earlier today, I tried calibrating the monitor I'm working on, but I'm unsure how successful I've been. Hopefully, successful enough that I don't have to redo the edits on these photographs over the coming days.
Happy Easter to those who celebrate it.
god is love
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 25 September 2022].
the sacred heart of balmoral
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 16 September 2022].
saint richard
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 5 July 2022].
As soon as I saw this fellow on the grounds of Chichester Cathedral back in September last year, I was immediately reminded of Nosferatu.
You know, ignoring the fact he was out and about in sunlight bright enough to create lens flare...
But I only read up on him as I edited these photographs, and he's quite an interesting fellow.
Here are some of the tidbits from the Wikipedia entry on Saint Richard of Chichester that caught my eye:
He's often depicted as a bishop with a chalice on its side at his feet because he once dropped the chalice during a Mass and nothing spilled from it. That's my kind of guy: no "alcohol abuse" (i.e. spilling wine)! Okay, okay, so he also doesn't spill "blood", so he's still my kind of guy.
However, he had a statute that the wine should be mixed with water. That could constitute alcohol abuse in some circles.
He also had a statute that practices such as gambling at baptisms and marriages is strictly forbidden. I guess that statute rules out the possibility of a wager on how long the marriage would last or who the baptised's father was.
Another of his statutes was that the clergy were not allowed to wear their hair long or have romantic entanglements. Spoilsport.
He kept his diet simple and rigorously excluded animal flesh; having been a vegetarian since his days at Oxford. He was well ahead of his time. This dude died in 1253.
After dedicating St Edmund's Chapel at Dover, he died aged 56 at the Maison Dieu, Dover at midnight on 3 April 1253, where the Pope had ordered him to preach a crusade. His internal organs were removed and placed in that chapel's altar. That's an odd choice of donation to the collection plate, but sure...
Other items in the entry indicate he was fair and reasonable in some instances:
The townsmen of Lewes violated the right of sanctuary by seizing a criminal in church and lynching him, and Richard made them exhume the body and give it a proper burial in consecrated ground.
But he was still very much of his time:
It was decreed that married clergy should be deprived of their benefices; their concubines were to be denied the privileges of the church during their lives and also after death; they were pronounced incapable of inheriting any property from their husbands, and any such bequests would be donated for the upkeep of the cathedral.
It seems his popularity has continued, with Sussex Day being recognised annually on 16 June since 2007.
yer takin’ the pis
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 16 June 2022].
The Manneken Pis, of course...
Congratulations to whoever managed to get that Space Invaders paste-up there. Apparently, it's been there since around March 2012. I took these photos in September 2014, and the paste-up looked relatively new.
I don't know the symbolism of this particular costume, but apparently, he has many costume changes.
pietà
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 8 March 2022].
sunflowers
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 5 March 2022].
monday mourning
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 6 September 2021].
Last week was another rollercoaster of emotions, for better or worse.
A phantom anniversary. Remarked upon but left uncelebrated.
The fire under emotions briefly rekindled. Absentmindedly stirred and warmed then left forgotten upon the cooling stove once more.
A meeting related to the new assignment I mentioned last week inspired me, excited me and made me at least a little jealous. But at least that jealousy will be assuaged by the opportunity to live and work in a space for a few weeks that I see as hugely inspiring.
Maybe this experience will lead to other similar opportunities. Let's see...
And then, on Friday evening, it seems I found a lovely new flatmate (subject to referencing). All going to plan, she'll move in at the beginning of October.
Between emotional and physical upheavals, September will potentially be looked back upon (and for now, looked forward to) as one of impermanence.
But, mostly, I hope, in a good way.
leader of the free world
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 29 June 2021].
When visiting Budapest with my parents in May 2012, I was a little surprised to find Ronald Reagan memorialised in Szabadság tér and, obviously, had to capture him.
I didn't realise until recently that he'd been in the square for less than a year when I visited. In fact, his likeness was unveiled on this day ten years ago.
The neo-Gothic Országház (translated: House of the Nation, otherwise known as the Hungarian Parliament Building) can be seen in the background.
a cunning linguist
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 12 May 2021].
I'm thankful for the critical thinking and media literacy training I gained in high school.
Being the age I am, I can't thank my schooling for my digital literacy. The internet became "a thing" after I finished high school.
This is a perfect example of where I might have ended up looking like a fool if I'd believed the first link I found online.
Not that the internet was trying to mislead me, but it would have led me to provide at least a title or caption that would have been factually incorrect.
Instead, I thankfully learned more about and wrote more about this fellow, which (as I might have mentioned before) is one of the reasons I love photography.
If you Google "szarvas gabor" - as I did - the first result that appears is a Wikipedia entry for a Hungarian middleweight weightlifter. And while he may be worthy of a statue - I don't know - I mentally questioned whether this was the depiction of a weightlifter, looking at how he was presented.
If the man in this statue was a sportsman, it seemed much more likely he was a toreador (despite being Hungarian) than a weightlifter.
Even ignoring the slightness of the bust, you would imagine a weightlifter would be commemorated in some sort of full-length statue showing off his physique? Or, at least, shirtless displaying his pecs? And um, maybe it shouldn't be armless if he's a weightlifter? Or is that just me?
Thankfully, I didn't take Google's first search result as gospel.
In a new browser tab, I Googled "szarvas gabor statue". A Trip Advisor entry signposted me to another fellow who happened to have the same name.
I returned to my original search results and clicked the next link.
Though in Hungarian, Chrome's translation option (and photos on the page) allowed me to confirm this was the Szarvas Gábor I was seeking.
It did, however, poorly translate the first sentence of the entry to tell me he was not only a linguist but the creator of Hungarian agriculture. Not having been born until 1832, I found that slightly questionable...
It turns out the translation should read "a linguist, the creator of Hungarian language education", which makes far more sense.
The translation of the Wikipedia entry also tells me "he published humorous writings under the pseudonym Pap Rika" and paints him a little like a grammar nazi.
He sounds like my kinda guy!
Even if (or especially because) he's well-known enough for a statue but not enough to be the first result in a Google search.
You win some, you lose some, eh?
contemplation
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 18 April 2021].
Today was the 120th anniversary of my grandfather's birth.
Some days I marvel that I live within walking distance of the house in which he was born.
For many folks I know, this would be unremarkable.
But my grandfather was born in Stoke Newington, London, England. I was born in Garran, Canberra, Australia.
My grandfather is the reason I can live in the UK.
Our birthdays were 76 years less one day apart.
074 angel
Day seventy-four of The 100 Day Project for 2021.
I don't think I have a lot to say about what is now yesterday's sketch. I'm actually pretty happy with, despite various shortcomings (shading is questionable (as usual), proportions are a bit off, detail kept to relatively minimal).
If I let my eyes drift as though I'm looking at one of those magic eye pictures, her locks look more like a two-faced alien in profile. But I'm relatively happy with how I rendered her hair if I focus on the sketch.
I wavered about shading in her back as shown in the source image but decided I would probably be unhappy with the results and wish I hadn't. So I didn't.
Throwback to wandering around the Hong Kong Protestant Cemetery on a hot and humid day, getting bitten like crazy by mosquitoes and only registering the banners on the fences warning of the potential of them carrying Japanese encephalitis on the way out...
The initial sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil. Overdrawn with an HB and a 6B; shading with the 6B.
rent asunder
[I originally posted this image as early access for my Patreon patrons on 28 March 2021].