warm winter sun

The same afternoon as my walk through the fields with Joanna I couldn't resist snapping some landscapes as well. The sun was in the most perfect position and had the warmest light, I had to at least try and take advantage of it.

The little things.

The same creek as from a few shoots ago, I wanted to get a warm colour photo this time around.

A UFO?

Headmasters house. Typical 50s English countryside architecture. Pretty bland in my opinion but it composed a nice frame.

Queen's from one of my teaching mates flats. Average view.

sunday afternoon walk

One of my last weekend's in Taunton was spent taking advantage of the beautiful weather that came out of nowhere. A gem of a day among the rain and snow filled days either side. It was enjoyed with Joanna in the fields of Trull/Taunton.

Such a beautiful place. Such an interesting person. Such a memorable afternoon. One that I'll hold close to me for a long while. All I can say of Joanna is less is more; we could chat all day, but somehow the silence between conversations is as if not more comfortable than the quick and intriguing to and fro we could be having. The silence holds greater value than the words that could be exchanged. Just the thought of saying goodbye when I left Taunton, (even though its only 'see you soon') overwhelmed me.

The route we ran for x-country each week with the younger kids was, as you can see, partially pretty.

It was certainly a challenge trying to get a good, natural portrait of Joanna, but see below :)

This here: why I'll miss Taunton/Somerset so much.

Mao Zedong's sunflower seeds

Featured in the main hall of the Tate Modern, this work was astounding. I watched a video of the making of all the seeds and it's legitimate. You hardly think they'd make it up in any case but its another thing seeing the whole process and all the Chinese people literally bent over tables painting them all. 

Here's the video on the making of the work, its very interesting:
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unileverseries2010/room3.shtm

I recorded a video of me answering a question in the interactive section and will put the link up when it has been uploaded to the Tate website.

snow covered london town

Snow won't stop people, is the theme of these pictures. All taken today on my unexpeted day in London, I wanted to focus on the movement of everyone amongst the cold wintery streets. I was meant to be in beautiful Brighton but didn't want to risk being stuck for my flight home to AUS tomorrow.

Watched these three laugh and cry out as they battled to stay upright on all the ice along here. I almost took a tumble myself as I tried to take the picture!

Tate Modern. Definately cold when even Londoners don't want to sit outside to eat/drink.

I have a connection with pubs called The Anchor Inn. Its the name of the pub in the recent school production Storm Boy. Aside from that, it provided a striking London image.

Camden town. One of my favourite places in London. Amazing vintage markets and a cool but sometimes weird place.

Borough markets. A great discovery by the Thames. One of the most amazing fresh food markets I've come across in all of Europe. 

cupcakes and red wine

Thea and Poppy. Two of my favourites from Queens.

Poppy is now officially my younger sister. We decided the other night she needed an older brother and I'd be honoured to be him. She has this look. When you talk with Poppy and then slip in a subtle joke, she'll look back at you with completely innocent and utter confusion. Beyond that, she's a very smart and inquisitive girl.

Thea. Oh dear, what do I say? You can't take this girl seriously and I hardly think she wants you to. From Germany on exchange, she can play hockey thats for sure. You'll never wipe the smile off her face and she'll always be making others laugh. Thea and I are eccentric friends in arms.

Oh yeah, they made some amazing cupcakes for us as a leaving present which we ate with some nice Argentinean red wine.

bob is from mexico

BOB.
He's from Mexico.

Given to a German man while he was in Denmark.
Then to a German girl before she went to England.
That German girl happens to be the one below. Thea. Thea has been at Queen's for just one term and we've become good enough friends that she's decided to pass BOB onto me. Bob is travelling the world and so far has seen a pretty good portion of it, I think you will agree.

Here's to Bob coming to Australia!

another last day at school

I finished school last year so surely I wouldn't have to go through it all again. But, there I was standing on stage at Queen's Prize Giving Assembly receiving 'honorary' Drama colours. Haha and there was my deja vu. Except I never won Drama colours at my actual school.

Today was horrible though. Awesome but horrible. Just the thought of some of the goodbyes I had to make was overwhelming let alone actually sharing those final words and walking away.

Serin. Amazing voice and mind. Not many people realise the potential she actually has behind the girly exterior. She's pulling off a great act of deception to a lot of peopl in any case. This was her leaving present to me and one I won't forget quickly. A selection of photos from the year taped to our flats front fence, she's in the first one with me on the left.

 Nothing like belting out a few carols. It was a nice note to finish on with some beautiful singing.. from the choir.

A typical English street. A photo that sums up my disposition this final afternoon of mine in Taunton.

Ah Jacob. He's featured before in my Storm Boy albums. His acting talent presents itself on stage in a calm, controlled and professional performance from a boy only just turned 18. Safe to say, one of my best mates over here.

sunday winter sun

Nothing better than the sun surprising you on a winter day and deciding to overule the foreboding clouds. Too bad the reappearing memories and lets say liquids consumed the night previous left my state of my mind in slight tatters. Rendering me not quite useless to enjoy the beauty of a sunday winter sun in Somerset.

Queen's.

an english school

Queen's. There it is! The main building. The heart of the school. What a beautiful building and school it is! This photo was taken for the publication at my old school for an article about my year away.

Then I realised I haven't really shown too many people where I'm working. For all they know it could be in some shack and I could have turned into a hillbilly!

remembering

every year we remember fallen service men and women. but there's plenty of others who have much more frequent dedications.

everyday a portion of the population remembers. their family members. friends. husbands. wives. brothers. sisters. daughters. sons. uncles. grandfathers and even great grandfathers or mothers.

almost a month on from remembrance day and the poppy decorated crosses continue to stand on the front lawn of the school. under the watch of the memorial. they are covered in frost. frost that would have previously hung off soldiers in the Somme.

Cold. Grey. Dark. This cross stands alone, warmed only by its counterparts standing behind it. I've tried to capture the frost, coldness and lonesomeness of the cross and the area.

The sun rises on the field. The sun goes about its daily business. This is the cycle of life of which we are a part of. Nothing special about it.  

on my backdoor

Well 5 minutes walk anyway. I've waited two or three weeks for the right afternoon. On Sunday it finally came. Clear blue sky all day. At 3pm I walked down to the fields 5 min away with a good hour before the sun was well and truly down. Runners on and plenty of layers, I jogged from spot to spot, having already planned out the places I wanted to shoot. The shot locations spanned about 1 and a half km in total.

This is where we run through each week for x-country. Not too shabby hey?

My focus for these photos was to really capture the warmth of the sun and naturally beautiful colours along this creek and fields. I tried to utilise my NikonD60 as best I could to do so. It's a work in progress.

Hopefully you can see why I'll miss Taunton now.