Life's a Picture

Art and artists make the world a nicer place. I love the works of the famous English painters like Turner, and Constable’s wonderful scenes of the Suffolk landscapes. Then of course the French impressionists, Renoir and Monet. The masters of photography are of course close to my heart; Ansel Adams, Bill Brandt, and a real oldie, William Henry Fox Talbot. I wish I could climb into Talbot's landmark picture, The Haystack. And more recent greats like Terry O’Neil. O’Neil's portfolio of iconic images is unbelievable. Whilst I would never dare to rank myself amongst such artists, I can state my love and passion as equal. Taking photographs is not work, it gives me too much pleasure.

I got my first camera when I was really young. I took it straight from the shop to a place called Osterley Park, an old stately manor house in England, there I had my first adventure through the lens. I was seeing for the first time a magical world of small moments in time, encapsulated in tiny framed scenes. Nothing ever looked plain again. I realised then that beauty and mystery was all around me, all the time, and with my camera I could climb inside and explore.

I loved the prettiness of England, the countryside, small quaint villages, the woods and rivers and secret places that the camera searched out. But also people, life and things that go on around us each and every day. My camera stayed with me through all the times and events that were milestones in my life: lazy Sunday summer evenings at the Crawdaddy Club watching the Stones jangle before they were famous; Eel Pie Island in the bitterness of winter listening to Rod Stewart rasping through Gasoline Alley; the beautiful people parading up Carnaby Street during its heyday and later down Chelsea's Kings Road, where everybody was so frantic to be seen, and so many more happy Flower Power moments of the 60s, 70s revolution.

I am lucky to have traveled widely and lived in so many places. Great memories: I remember China in the late 70s, truly another world, and one that just is so far from the China of today. I walked on the Great Wall and visited the Forbidden City and felt like I was the only one there. Bali, when Kuta was a dirt town and ducks roamed the main street, and Mama’s Place still existed on the beach front and where suckling pig was the meal to die for. Days when you could actually enjoy walking in Jakarta and Bandung without getting run down. The Philippines with its crazy Cocabanana club and when the night curfew was still in force. The old Singapore and Sunday reistaffel at the German Club, tiffin at the original Raffles. And on and on through and across Asia, and all the time my camera was at my side, accept when it was nicked from a hotel room in Bangkok.

So with my camera still by my side I spend my days doing what has kept me sane through life, taking photographs. Who knows what is tomorrow, just embrace it when it arrives.

Regrets? Only the pictures I didn't take.

Peace and Love,