Making the most of dull

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Guthlac

anglo-saxon-cross-sproxton eaton-church eaton

I knew a photographer who apparently liked the flat dull light of a grey day, I can’t say I do.   It makes things so much more difficult.  When I was young I used to devour articles about the wonder and beauty of using Kodachrome 25, the deep saturated colours just made everything look wonderful – Paul Simon even wrote a song about the film stock!   The reality was somewhat different here in the cold and grey of wintery Britain a world away from the sun and warmth of Kodachrome’s natural habitat.  Here working with such limitation really made everything so much harder.

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Of course today such limits are a thing of the past.  I found myself inside a very gloomy church – no problem I’ll just switch to 2000 ISO and go on shooting.  (Actually to my great surprise the quality wasn’t that bad- see above)   As the church interior shows even with all the technological advances you are still facing the same problem – how to make an interesting image in none too inviting conditions?   I’ll leave you to decide whether I came close to succeeding but it was very hard work trying to get anything in the dull cold of a winter’s day in north east Leicestershire.   I am not sure there were any Kodachrome moments.

So this will be the last of the Ironstone Benefice images for a while as the creative behind this project, David Manley, is still trying to finish off the paintings inspired by the previous project Playground of the Midlands.  It does give me time to reflect and hopefully when we venture forth into north east Leicestershire the light might be a bit more rewarding and it won’t be so bloody cold!

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Winter is wearing

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Guthlac

anglo-saxon-cross croxton-kerrial snowdrops

Another cold day in east Leicestershire, not cold as in the Russian Steppes cold (although the wind is blowing from that direction).   No this was cold that just seemed to seep slowly but surely through the layers of clothes I was wearing until I just felt cold.

Along with the cold there was an overbearing grey.  Not a grey of foreboding but rather a grey of when will this winter ever end?   Of course it will and do you want to know why?   Well because the snowdrops are coming out and the days are now getting noticeably longer.   We are already into the second week of February so  we haven’t got too long now..sometimes I just wish it would hurry up but that would be wishing my life away and that really isn’t a good thing.

Oh the joys of making photographs on a cold and dull day in east Leicestershire.

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Through old men’s eyes

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Guthlac

through-old-mans-eyes

It is a curse of human existence but old men write histories.   Gone are the excesses of youth, the vigor and recklessness.  Instead they are replaced by suspicion. caution and fear.  Great wisdom might sometime sit behind those eyes but most of the time they are the same people as before but with all their frailties and faults magnified.   The only difference now is that being old is a moving feast.  Not too long ago being 60 was considered to be old, now women are still giving birth into their 60’s and for many being in their 60’s is really just later middle aged.  We are fitter, more vital and wanting more than before.  Yet the spectre of old age is still there and one day he or she will be seen in the eyes of the once youthful.   Then it is time to write the history of your life because old men write the history.

saddness

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Why let the truth get in the way of a good story

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Guthlac

kellyanne

It has been pointed out that my last post might not be as accurate as I might have hoped for.   In fact the whole basis of the post, that the EU paid for the city of culture is in fact WRONG.   This is a UK initiative rather than EU.   It kinda destroys the whole story in fact so in keeping with our new world I have decided that the facts I used in the post were, in fact, alternative facts and therefore just as valid because they support my  narrative.

Here’s another alternative fact – have you noticed how Kellyanne Conway, President Trump’s chief councillor for TV chat shows looks like a much older Alanis Morissette...now I have never seen the two women in the same room together so???  How about that for a Jagged Little Pill of an alternative fact.

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Another day in a Hanseatic Port – Welcome to the Ironic Cultural Capital of Europe

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Guthlac

holy-trinity-church posterngate queen-victoria-and-a-wind-turbine-blade tesco-shopping-trolly wind-turbine-blade-and-people wind-turbine-blade

WARNING:-  This post contains Alternative Facts.

Welcome to the 2017 European City of Culture (An European Union (EU) sponsored event) – Kingston upon Hull.  I visited the city yesterday with my good friend David Manley and found a city not really ready to host the year long festival.   All around there are things being built or renovated.  I suspect that the main events of the year will take place during the summer months and public holidays.  Yesterday just seemed to be just another day in Kingston upon Hull.

Yet the irony of the city holding this title whilst heavily voting to Leave the EU  is set deep into the DNA of the city.   The town itself is a medieval newtown created by Edward 1st, initially to support his campaigns against the scots but very quickly becoming very rich on trade with the Hanseatic League.   In every sense of the word Kingston upon Hull is a product of trade with Europe – yet the vote to leave.

The most ironic display of all , The Blade, sits large and proud in Queen Victoria Square.  This is a blade from a marine wind turbine produced in the city by the engineering company Siemens.   Siemens of course is a proud German engineering company based at the heart of the Holy Roman Empire, Nuremberg and the drive towards renewable energy is something that has been  very much a European Union priority.   The good people of the city have benefited from these European decisions and yet they voted to leave.

Away from the politics the Ferens Art Gallery was a wonderful example of what a regional art gallery should be.   It was well stocked with paintings really well displayed.  Of course it is impossible on just one visit to separate those paintings and images that are there permanently and those on loan for the year long festival.  However,  this is what regional art galleries should be like full of interesting imagery in any case with many images displayed from the national collection away from the greedy institutions of London.   OK that last sentence did seem to be loaded with political malice so I guess I’m not going to be able free myself from the politics of it all!   Ferens is well worth a visit.

Actually Kingston itself is well worth a visit.  It is a strange amalgam of medieval old town and imperial bombast.  The trip to Kingston is worth making on its own just to view the magnificent late Victorian Guildhall with some of the most over the top sculptures sitting on proud display on the roof.  The old town itself does retain quite an interesting feel, similar to that I found in those other two great Hanseatic League ports of Boston and King’s Lynn.  The only difference is that Kingston upon Hull was much larger!

So they you have it the new European City of Culture 2017.  A place that is well worth the visit if only to discover that England at the end of the line is just as fascinating as the gobbling monster at its centre.  I found a wonderful openness to the place and I am sure that once all the work has been completed it will really benefit from all the European Union investment just in time to wave goodbye to the chief benefactor.   Who said the people of Hull don’t have a sense of humour?

PS – According to the Kingston upon Hull entry in Wikipedia the port of Kingston upon Hull was responsible for the distribution of a new form of STD to the rest of Europe in the 17th century.   The STD had come from the new British colonies in the Americas.  Who said history doesn’t repeat itself?

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What if Donald Trump works?

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Guthlac

president-trump

Over the past few days I have read an awful lot of outpouring of hate towards the new President of the United States.   Many people have compared him to the second coming of Hitler (this is only slightly exaggerated for effect) others still can’t accept that such a man is now the President of the United States.   I think anyone who has read my blog over the past 12 months will realise that I don’t feel any love for Donald Trump but I don’t count as I am not an American citizen and so don’t get a vote.   On this point it is not worth pretending that Hillary Clinton won the election – she didn’t.   The President of the United States isn’t elected by the voters but by the electoral college where he had a clear majority.   If this argument was applied to British politics there wouldn’t have been a legitimate government since the 1950’s.

But the question still stands – what if Trump is a success?  What then?   This thought went through my head this morning when an American Facebook friend posted something that said that Trump was only doing what he said he would do during the election and that it was refreshing  that a politician was keeping his promises.   Leaving aside whether this is true or not it is worth considering.   What if away from the big cities of America most of the voters don’t think that what Trump has done so far is wrong?   What if they agree with his actions?   What then for American politics and America?

If this is correct then first people who are going to really suffer are the Democratic politicians.   It is worth remembering that the voters of America not only rejected the thought of Clinton presidency they also rejected the Democratic party as a whole in the House and Senate elections.   I suspect nothing so far has changed their views  which is a really big problem for the Democrats.   The one state of the Union I do know a little is Florida and during the election this was supposed to be a cert for Hillary Clinton given its ever increasing hispanic  community but it voted for Trump despite his anti Mexican rhetoric.   If Trump can win there then  how do the Democrats answer this?   It is clear that the late night shows that take great pleasure attacking Donald Trump don’t provide any answer for the Democrats.  They all hated Trump before the election yet he still won Florida.  Perhaps the things that Trump says resonates with the American voter far more than anything that the Democrats have said.   Perhaps it is really time for the Democrats to start reaching out for parts of America that were once theirs but now are Trump republicans (whatever that might be?).

Of course it is really early days and I still think that the Trump Presidency will collapse under the weight of it’s own contradictions but equally it may not.  It may prove to be a success with the people who only really matter in an American presidential election the voters.  If that is the case – then what?

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Naive or cynical – your choice

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Guthlac

jester-hat

So we’ve had just over a week of President Trump – what lessons can be learnt from this experience?   Firstly, it is far too early to draw any hard conclusions – all new presidencies make mistakes based on incorrect assumptions about their political potency.  They all have honeymoon periods and they all seem to want to try and govern for all the people rather than those who voted for them.  None of these appear to apply to the Trump presidency at the moment.   They are ruling as they ran with little or no real appreciation of how things will play in the real world.  For them it would seem that the base is the only thing that matters and you have to say that that is a reasonable way forward.  Without their base they wouldn’t be sitting there in the White House.  But a President is more than just a cheerleader  for his voters rather he is supposed to be the leader of the whole country – which clearly Trump isn’t at the moment.   Perhaps he will learn this lesson – perhaps not.

Secondly, it is very very easy to sign pieces of paper in the White House and think job done.   It is very much more difficult to try and implement what you have just signed.  This weekend’s mess of the travelling ban is a case in point.   I have not read any reason why President Trump thought it necessary to rush through the measures that he did.   It is reported that the Department of Homeland Security wasn’t even consulted about the matter until just before pen was being put to paper.   If that is correct then perhaps the ensuing mess might teach the President and his team that these things do have consequences.   I believe the current position is that travellers from the 6 countries who have valid visas or other rights to stay are now being allowed into the country that they thought was their home until President said otherwise – however I may well be wrong.   Again it has to be said that it is a very legitimate thing for the President of the United States to try and protect the country and the people who live there.   What is not clear is why these six countries and why now?   In matters like this it really isn’t good enough to say it was a campaign pledge there does need to be more evidence given of an imminent threat to the country posed by travellers from these countries.

Thirdly, the politics of this last week don’t seem to add up either.  The first weekend saw an outpouring off opposition against the new President but then things started to settle down just a little.   Perhaps the more politically savvy thing to do would be to let things calm down before doing something to reenergise the opposition – playing to your base doesn’t really provide an answer either for anything other than a short term gain.   Very shortly President Trump will face a hell of a decision over healthcare and the likelihood that many of the people who voted for him might lose some or all of the health care coverage they gained under the Affordable Care Act provisions.   I don’t understand the mess the American’s appear to get themselves into over healthcare but what I do understand are the problems caused by messing around with the coverage and he could very quickly be consumed by them if he and the Republican controlled congress mess things up.   Based on the last week the odds of that happening are increasing significantly.

So there we have it – my thoughts on week 1 of President Trump.   I personally think the most charitable assessment would be that it was very mixed.  They will probably do better as the weeks and months of experience start to shape how the White House runs or then again they could not.  I really am not sure which way it would go and that is perhaps the most worrying thing about the whole thing given the real challenges ahead.

woman-with-flaming-hair

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Oh Gideon

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Guthlac

gideon

Yesterday I wrote about how the women have taken over the British political landscape.  Today it is all about one of the scoundrels that has been ousted by the the people’s coup – George Osborne.  Over the past few days it has become known that since he was turfed out of office he has earnt over £600k in the last 6 months from speaking engagements – making him the highest earning MP.   On top of that he has also taken a part time senior position at some City institution which is going to also pay handsomely.  It has been suggested that he has earnt more since he returned to the back benches than his whole period as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Now I have nothing against people earning money and if anyone has the opportunity to earn that amount of money most people would take it.   What I do object to is the fact that he is still entitled to all of his pay and entitlements as an MP which pale into insignificance to his earnings potential.   Perhaps there should be some form of sliding scale introduced whereby MPs are entitled to earn money beyond their role but over a certain figure they start to loose the expenses.  I would suggest that the figure should be set at a generous figure such as £250k which would mean that a back bench MP could earn nearly £400k in total before losing their allowances.   It will never happen because MPs would have to vote to introducing such a scheme and turkeys voting for Christmas comes to mind.   Of course you could suggest that it is morally wrong but morality and politics are very odd bed fellows. Clearly not everyone is in it together.

One final thought.  Like her or loathe her I don’t think that Theresa May would do something like this – only time will tell if I am being politically naive.

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It’s a woman’s world

Posted on January 29, 2017 by Guthlac

the-women-who-run-britain

In Britain at the moment we have the unusual position that the two most powerful politicians in the Isles are women and surprise surprise they are both, in their own ways, making a good job of the pretty rubbish hand they have been dealt.   This doesn’t mean that either will ultimately succeed, but then again few male politician do that either, it just means that slowly but surely women are getting more and more breaks that they didn’t in the past.   Again please don’t take this as saying that things are perfect for women in this country, there is still a long way to go, but we should feel pride that gender is less of a bar to high office that it used to be.  If you don’t believe me then compare and contrast this to the new administration in the land of the free.

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Making the most of what is at hand

Posted on January 28, 2017 by Guthlac

winter-frost-knossingtonwinter-hedgerow-thorpe-shachville avenue-of-trees-gaddesby the-last-leaf against-a-wall-somerby smoke-and-house-ashby-folville telephone-box-cold-newton winter-hills-thorpe-satchville

Yesterday saw the English winter at its most normal that is a bit of this and that but nothing too extreme.   I understand that recently it has been 20 plus degrees celsius below in eastern Germany, which by any standards is cold. by means of a contrast east Leicestershire yesterday sunk to minus 2 or 3 which isn ‘t really cold at all.  Well I say that it felt cold enough and I found myself scuttling back to warmth of the car  quick enough and saw us quickly retired the cavernous restaurant at the  Gates Garden Centre – very nice cakes BTW.

So that was day two of the Painting the Town Red project (I have decided to call my project the Ironstone Benefice)  I am working on with my good friend David Manley and  seem to be rattling off the villages and yesterday found us in the true ironstone countryside of the far east of Leicestershire.   Next time?  Well I’ll just have to wait and see.

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