Three Things To Improve Your … Number Three Will Blow Your Mind…

Posted on August 2, 2026 by Guthlac

Am I the only one who has watched almost endless videos about how to improve your photography? The less reputable ones usually have a title like the above. (Sorry if you have clicked on this expecting tips on how to improve your photographs – you may well end up disappointed.)

The only tip I would have for any photographer who wants to improve their photographs is simple: Go to your local art gallery and look at the paintings. Composition is everything. Train your brain to see the world in a way that you find interesting. After that it is very simple.

Keep taking photographs. Review what you have taken. Repeat.

If you want to be inspired by great photography forget all the ‘Do this and you’ll be brilliant‘ websites and YouTube videos. Instead visit reputable photo libraries such as:

Magnum Photos or

Getty Images

Again Look, Compare, Repeat.

Kit doesn’t really matter nowadays. A smartphone is more than capable of capturing interesting photos.

The above image was captured with an ancient iPhone using a now defunct photo app. The image is still strong enough to overcome those shortcomings. (You might not agree and that is good. The thing you should do is try to understand why the image is good or bad and then use that knowledge to improve what you take.)

Well blow me down. This has turned into a ‘…How to …‘ post after all. Interesting??

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When We Were Young …

Posted on August 1, 2026 by Guthlac

When we were young we …

We can all complete the sentence above. I suspect the older we get the answer might change. I also suspect that when ‘young’ was might change. At twenty being thirty is almost a lifetime away. Yet looking back on the wrong side of sixty … well.

Such are vagueries of all our lives.

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When Will It Rain Again?…

Posted on July 26, 2026 by Guthlac

We had some rain overnight which was good but we could do with much more. I read an article this morning about why our local water company hasn’t needed to impose a hose pipe band in a long time. It would seem that it has rain where the reservoirs are and we mostly sit on a sandstone bedrock. The sandstone is particularly good at storing water compared to the south of England and their chalk. So three cheers for the Triassic. And of course we prolls in the provinces

Nonetheless a nice bit of rain wouldn’t hurt. Oh hum.

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Removal of Blockage…

Posted on July 25, 2026 by Guthlac

Not at all sure what this means but shortly after writing my last post I suddenly got an urge to create some new remastered images from photographs captured on this day. The two groups here are from 2009 (above) and 2019 (below). Has this purged my consternation or constipation only time will tell.

I enjoyed the experiance – how was it for you? (haha??)

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Flat Spot…

Posted on July 25, 2026 by Guthlac

12 Days! This is all I have produced in 12 days. A dying butterfly caught against a window. Something is very wrong.

Flat spots happen. I guess the older you get the more you wise up to such barren periods. All this wisdom of age doesn’t make things any better. I have had a number of ideas for a post but all have come to nothing. I am sure it will pass. I blame the latest el Nino.

I am serious.

We have experienced a prolonged drought up here in so called rain sodden England. We have had a couple of heat waves mixed into this. These have been as a result of the current El Nino weather phenomenon in the central Pacific influence. Climate who knew it was so complex?!? Add in a good old dollop of global warming and you get an exceptionally hot summers. (As I write this I have just got a news notification about European Wildfires so guess that can also be added to the list.) I’m so glad all this global warming/climate change is just a hoax.

Anyway the point of all this is that I hate hot weather. I don’t mind a normal English summer where ‘rain stopped play‘ is a well worn phrase. Now as normality appears to have shifted to a much hotter norm I hate it. My body hates it. I just hide away. I suspect this has had a major influence on my funk. I guess it can be summed up as:

Heat stopped play

I know this is a passing phase. How do I know? I captured this the day before the flunk started.

We live in hope.

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That was unexpected…

Posted on July 7, 2026 by Guthlac

So Nigel Farage is going to face the voters of Clacton on Sea. We can all argue about the real reasons he is doing this. But the one thing you cannot argue is that it is NOT a brave move. This is very much in same way that Andy Burnham’s recent by election success was brave.

Now I am not a fan of Farage and I certainly do not want him to win. If he wins I expect we will never stop hearing how brave he was. How he decided to forgo the parliamentary process and the voters of Clacton re elected him despite the best efforts of the ‘establishment‘ and so on. Most of it will be nonsense or half truths which is his usual fare.

Your move Rupert Lowe.

“…Cry Havoc and let slip the dogs of war…“

Julius Caesar

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Interesting Times…

Posted on July 6, 2026 by Guthlac

Bliss it was to be alive…

Wordsworth

So England marches on. An incredible victory in Mexico. Next stop the VIKINGS! With the goalmeister himself Erling Haaland. Of course he is playing for the wrong team. He was born in Leeds so is actually a Yorkshire Tyke. A lucky man which ever way you look at things.

Talking of lucky men what about Andy Burnham? He is getting to take a victory lap before the first shot has even been fired in his presumptive Premiership. Now I have no idea what type of Prime Minister he will be. None. What I have seen so far is that he appears to have the ability to talk to people in a way that Sir Keir Starmer never could. This probably explains why he has got the boot because if was able to show a bit of personality then he might have been able sell the strong set of achievements the Labour Government has delivered. All against a backdrop of one of the biggest piles shit left by any government.

Which brings me to the talking heads. Boy have they been talking. And tutting. And Substacking. And casting grave fortunes. It would seem that they have decided that everything that Burnham might want to do is wrong. Just wrong.

Or maybe they have decided to follow the Daily Mail’s screaming headlines about how Burnham is leading a ‘ left wing coup’. Many are the same people, may I add, that were singing the praises of the election of Liz Truss. They know nothing.

And I know nothing other than if the presumptive Prime Minister does become the next actual Prime Minister then he will make mistakes. He will have to make U turns, cock ups and I suspect will have to break manifesto commitments. All Prime Ministers do. He may actually turn out to be good at the job. Or so so. Given the crop of leaders of the current parliamentary political parties he is better than the rest. (You can decide whether that is saying something about our political class)

Now that might be damning with faint praise. The one thing he will need is a lot of luck. Maybe his first might be England winning the world cup on the day before he becomes Prime Minister. If that were to happen then you can forget D:ream’s ‘ Things can only get better”. We’ll all be singing “Three Lions”. (Well unless you live in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)

We can all dream just a little. I’m sure Andy Burnham is.

Foot Note

Both of the songs mentioned come from the mid 90’s. What omen does that foretell?

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Jules Rimet still gleaming … Is it comin’ home?…

Posted on July 3, 2026 by Guthlac

Is it? Is it really coming home? This time…really?

Only time will tell.

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Tick Tock…

Posted on June 29, 2026 by Guthlac

Nothing fucks you harder than time

Ser Davos Seaworth

Deep down we all know the clock is ticking. As younger people we hardly hear the steady tick tick tick. However, the older one gets the louder it becomes.

I say this as I am currently laid up with another chronic medical condition. Nothing too serious but it does mean I have to rest my leg. Gives me some time to catch with a bit of art admin.

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What Happens Now??….

Posted on June 19, 2026 by Guthlac

What indeed happens now? I guess that depends on what Sir Keir Starmer does next. Does he fight or does he go? Or perhaps there is a cabinet coup whereby we have a repeat of the downfall of Boris Johnson.

We just don’t know.

The one thing we do know is Burnham’s result at Makerfield means he really is …

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