They say it's all about the children

Whilst I am away I am going to share a little Christmas love.
Inside this tiny little envelope came this.... Leyla's Christmas promises. I will translate.

• I'll help Baba garden in Cyprus
• I won't quarrel with Kitty
• I won't ruin the holiday by moaning.

How sweet are they? Baba is Turkish for Daddy and we are going to the house primarily to finish landscaping the land and to plant more trees.
Leyla argues NON STOP with Kitty so that will last oh, about a day
I thought the last one was sooo sweet. She promises this every year but half way through that'll bite the dust two. Although this year we do have her aunt and cousin staying so maybe the extra entertainment factor will help.

Kitty gave me this lovely watercolour last week. She had even made the envelope knowing me very well when it comes to reusing materials. I love the detail. I have always loved her drawings and since Cornwall she has become fluent at watercolour too.

Christmas through the window

Or living my life vicariously

The English are private and rather reserved race, but come Christmas they throw caution to the wind and push back the curtains...well almost in some cases, and allow us a little peek inside.

I have written before about a journey home from my gran's where I gazed longingly into the lives of others as they too left the curtains open.

We currently live on an estate of houses built in 1905. It is mostly intact apart from a few pock marked gaps with newer flats built after the air raids during the second world war.

I have always preferred Edwardian houses to Victorian because of the squarer layout. Our house is no exception. The estate was built buy a Scottish monied landowner, it is teetotal (no cute pubs) but was specifically built around the station.

The houses are very varied in style and size. There are smaller terraced houses, semi's like ours, then double fronts and finally the great big detached villas over looking the park. If our postcode was SW instead of SE they would cost considerably more. Yet tucked away in an unfashionable suburb of London we struck lucky.

Now we have a dog I thought it would give me the perfect cover to take photographs. The dog was however a two edged sword really, great for stopping and starting, not so great when just as I was about to depress the shutter he would give the lead a good sharp tug. I of course gave him a good sharp tug back and cursed him under my breath. he then gave me one of 'those' looks. You know the one? "Oi bitch this is my walk not yours, put the camera back in the pocket and move it!"

Trust me he can say all of that and more with just one glance back.

This was just one obstacle I faced to put this set together, (the rest are on Flickr although be warned there are a whopping 60 of them and that is with a lot of culling).

I noticed that the fake trees went up first, I swear I saw at least two people naked whilst lining up a shot! A tripod would have helped as keeping a steady hand is not easy in the freezing cold low lit night, yet I quite liked the whole 'hit & run' feel to the images. I loved it that some houses threw all the curtains back to reveal the whole tree whilst other, more allowed just a tiny peek, a compromise between natural reserve and a need to show the street that they too were joining in.

At least half the houses have trees in the window, some of the double fronts have one in each. A lot had a tree half way between the knocked through rooms and so were less easy to capture. There was an amazing array of sizes and decorations as for the lights... interestingly quite a few had no lights at all in a bid to be eco friendly maybe. Others had all flickering all dancing lights that are really hard to photograph as by the time the camera has measured the light they have moved on! It is astonishing when you think, this set is just from the few roads around where I live. I stuck to only our estate but was spoilt for choice after the last weekend when the bulk of them went up. It is curiously addictive and it will feel strange to walk the dog without the need to stand and stare.

Next year I would really like to do a corporate series, I saw a few last night and I was suprised at how corporate/conventional they looked despite the money available. So you know me, if I say it I will eventually get it done.

P.S you may have gathered I have finally learnt how to post date my posts, so to speak, hence a couple will pop up whilst I am away.

Have a really sparkly Christmas

I will return in the new year.

If I have guessed correctly this post is my.......wait for it......1000th

Can you believe it? Doesn't time fly and all that crapola.

I guess it's appropriate to thank you both for reading this blog, just writing it has proved amazingly cathartic, especially over the last few weeks.

By the time you read this I will be packing for my trip to the land of goats & peasants wielding my Pentax, to bring you the story of life in the village.

Oh I have sinned.....again

OK, hear me out. I went up town after work to buy some Converse low rise pumps and bought this cardie too. It was in the sale reduced to £20, keep in mind I will not be taking a coat to Cyprus and so this looks perfect for the plane plus the chilly nights. So far so good.

I could not decide between blue or green Converse, and so went for blue. i wanted both, in fact I rather wanted the amazing glitzy zebra print ones too. I asked to try the blue ones on and was told they did not have my size. The assistant pointed to some identical ones and said they had my size in that style. being rather old and not 'on trend' I asked what the difference was. It was it appeared a silver strip along the base. Nope I did not get it either.
So I have my converse sans silver strip. I figured they would be more use for clambering around whilst taking photographs. Birkenstock's are great for the urban environment but I now need to alert you to the fact that the village has snakes.... I once encountered a cockroach whilst taking a shower, my scream pierced the night setting the dogs off. I got out of the shower got dressed and marched through the village in the pitch black to rant at Emin (who was down at his aunts house) for leaving me to suffer at the hands of these evil flying machines. When I arrived at the aunts house, shampoo dripping from my wet hair the women all threw their hands in the air and laughed, how could I be scared of a little bug and not be afraid of snakes? Well I'm not, although I probably should be! plus I had not realised they were so prevalent. I was however a little wary of the 2 six footers mating at his other aunts.
So that justifies these beauties does it not?




Ok, the cashmere was on sale...it is an investment I tell you..... honestly I needed it....it's COLD..The damage? One really awesome quality black +J cardie and.. well I don't need to say it, suffice it to say it is sooooo lovely and cosy and will be something to look forward to on my return. Whereupon I will check in to a rehab clinic for those addicted to grey knitwear. I promise.

Vivian Maier

Click here to visit the amazing blog

Click here to read lots more about her and the blog

The latter image really reminds me of some of my photographs, as I too love the whole reflection thing.

I love this woman's style and the enigma surrounding her photographs this is an awesome body of work and a little sad that her achievement is recognised so late. No doubt a screenplay is being written as we speak with Renee Zellweger and Kate Winslet cat fighting over the part!

Phil Bergerson

I found these amazing images
here

I love the compositions, my next digital camera will absolutely have a 1:1 format

I am currently putting together PowerPoints for the A Level exams which start at the end of January. I love this part of the job but it is all consuming so no time for drawing or painting.

I have nearly completed my new project which I am quietly pleased about.

It is now snowing!

Influential photographer Larry Sultan dies

More here

It may seem like stating the obvious but where he led others followed, beautifully composed images with that rich light we can only dream of over here. I only realised he'd had died whilst researching him for an A Level project today. He was so young.