Simon's Blog

You have to admire Gordon Brown for his tenacity – certainly far more than I ever will be.  I have been listening to the Clive Anderson tapes podcasts – which are now two years old – we find that Gordon Brown is still as unpopular then as he is now – this is the continuity.  However, when the podcast was recorded Barack Obama was not even the democratic candidate.  It seemed a very strange world which I suppose shows how much Obama has changed the world – whether it is for better or worse really depends on your political point of view.  

One interesting thing is that the experts interviewed on the programme were really hopeless at predicting the future which make’s you wonder why these people are paid so much.  Still I suppose I should have known this yet we still hear that dyer warnings from experts today that this or that is going to happen and if we don’t do something about it the country will be ruined.   There is no doubt some truth in what they say but surely we have reached a point where we should be very sceptical about any prediction as the truth is we really don’t know what the future will hold.  This is not an argument for denying global warming or that the fiscal deficit is not important it is just that things do not work out as predicted.   “…Events, my dear boy events…“
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

I have started to really think about what my ARPS submission is going to be about.   I keep a close eye on what other people have submitted and it is a very broad church – how many of them submission seem to go for more exotic locations and creatures.  I understand that this adds certain problems to a submission as a series of lions captured in a game reserve in Kenya is so ‘easy’ as to devalue the submission.  However, there does seem to be an emphasis towards the unusual.

I am going the other way.  I want the capture the ordinary, common, everyday bird as I feel they are passed over by many photographers as they search for the rarer creature.  It also has the advantage of easy access so that you can overcome any problems you might have encountered in any previous shoot.  Now this leads to a second problem.  Currently I have nearly 400 images to choose from – this is just the last year – and I will no doubt be adding to these over the next few months.  However, this does have the advantage of creating a series that is just right, similar exposures, composition etc.   Who said ordinary would be boring?
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

I am at a total loss – just how do you photograph a daffodil?   I know this is a bit of daft question and one I have tried to address before with no real answer.   There are always plenty of clich??d shots – brilliant yellow flow against a blue background but is this the best I can do?   I really don’t know and anyway I haven’t found any locations this year where I can make such photographs.   

 
The overpowering effect of a daffodil is that of yellow.  There are other shades and colours but they are never satisfactory – a daffodil is yellow – ask any Welshman.   To date I have produced some shots but I am not happy with any of them.  It is so frustrating but this is how we develop – have, what seems like, an impossible task and slowly but surely chip away at it.  Of course there is another problem with daffodils – they are seasonal and so very shortly the problem will go away for another year.   I suspect I will be writing about this issue next and the next and so on.  They are so frustrating!

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

So I didn’t make it to Bempton after all.  After writing that I was going I sat down and discussed this with Mandy and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t worth the effort.   The killer argument was that I had more than enough good quality photographs from Bempton  already for the ARPS submission.

So instead I got up an hour or so later and went out to Swithland reservoir.   I am just uploading the results as I write this so here’s hoping.

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Well I have been mulling over in my mind whether I should go to Bempton Cliffs tomorrow.  As I write this I have decided to go but that doesn’t mean I will.

So why the ambivalence? Well I have visited Bempton for two years in a row and the photographs I have produced have been much the same at each season.  The question is will a third season produce anything radically different?  This is the main reason I have decided to go again tomorrow.  The photographs will be used for the final submission for my ARPS so more of the same isn’t going to make that much of a difference.  The downside of going to Bempton is that it is almost a 300 miles round trip and I have to get up at 3:30am – the reason for this is because it is a very popular site and by lunch time the place is full with other photographers jostling for the same shots.   

So I’m going to go but I am not sure whether it will be worth all the effort – however there is only one way of finding out.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Has it only been 2 days?  Today was the last Prime Minsters question time and guess what blah blah blah.  Tish poo you suck well I think that was what was said I blanked out after 30 seconds.   I know it is an election but really do we have to go through the pretence that everything one party says is brilliant and everything the other says is insane. (Insert party name as applicable)

I learnt one interesting thing last night watching Newsnight – I am not alone.   It would seem that few people want Gordon brown as prime Minister but there is far less enthusiasm for the alternatives.   Why don’t they both grow up and tell us the truth – forget the ‘efficiency savings’ and admit that there will be serious cuts in services.  Everyone knows this apart from the one people who are going to have to implement them – the politicians.   Perhaps one day they might treat we simple folks, the voters, as adults.  Perhaps not.

Anyway having given this some thought I think my manifesto for the next parliament would read:

• Proportional representation;
• Fixed Term Parliaments;
• Reform the House of Lords – make it a fully elected two term limited;
• Become fully integrated into the European Union;
• Act as a medium sized rich country not a pretend super power;
• Increase scrutiny of the executive by Parliament;
• Somehow make the politicians pass less laws and those they do make them better thought through;
• Give freedom a chance – we do not need to live in the encroaching nanny/busybody state we have become;

I have no idea if any of these ideas would ever work or be accepted but this is what I feel would be the way forward.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Well it is now official, after all the days, weeks, months and probably years the election has been called.  So why am I so underwhelmed by the whole process?  

I suspect I feel so indifferent because I cannot get excited about the bunch of people who are standing.   I live in the new South Leicestershire constituency, formally Blaby, and well this is a rotten borough.   The Conservatives have always held this seat with a huge 8000+ majority at the last election.   I know who will be the next MP for my constituency and so the whole election charabanc  will mainly pass me by.   This does lead to a feeling of canon fodder.

On a national level the only thing I want to see is Gordon Brown thrown out of No 10.  This doesn’t mean that I am in anyway favouring the Conservatives its just that I don’t think that Gordon Brown has been a very good prime minister.   He may have saved the nation’s economy during the credit crunch but he got us into this mess in the first place – something he seems only too quick to forget – remember the ‘ end of boom and bust‘ boast.

So if not Gordon then who?   Well at the moment no one.  The Conservatives don’t seem to me to have demonstrated any real quality in their leadership team and you always get the suspicion of Tory grandee slowly appearing with his duck house and moat.  What relevance have they to today’s problems?

The Lib Dems always seem like a reasonable party but of course this is because they will never form a government and so can seem non threatening.  It is much harder when people think you may be in power in four weeks time to appear nice.  Of course they may well have a big say in the forming of the new government and then we’ll see how ‘nice‘ they are when hard decisions have to be made.

So I don’t know who to vote for but living where I do it doesn’t really matter – the Tories will win.  Perhaps the only glimmer of interest I have at the moment is that the is that the Lib Dems have a candidate called Aladdin, however this is from Wikipedia so who knows if it is true – the Lib Dem website is unclear who the candidate is.  I suspect that sums up the whole process where I live .

I’m already bored and it has on been 12 hours….
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

A wonderful spring morning greeted us at Calke Abbey.  It was a little overcast but warm with lovely fresh breeze – perfection.   

The first port of call was the lambing.  Calke Abbey is a huge tract of land which has a sheep roaming.  The sheep are brought together to have their lambs  and this is now a popular attraction for the people, especially young children at Easter time.   We got there first thing in the morning so there were no crowds.  There is something endearing about young lambs – they embody everything that is innocent and cute.   You know they grow up into some of the most dimwitted creatures on God’s green earth but when they are lambs you can forgive them this.

After cooing over the lambs we walked through the parkland to the house and gardens.   we were looking mainly at the ways that the gardeners had pruned their wisteria – even here there were sheep looking after their new born lambs.   After walking through the shop we slowly walked back to the car through the park and lunch.  A really wonderful way to spend a spring morning.

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini