FALLING SOMEWHERE AS RAIN

I saw an advert for the 1970’s futurist magazine Omni, many years ago and it consisted primarily of a statement, which read thus: “The Past is gone. The Present, lost as it arrives. There is only Tomorrow” These words stuck with me, for a number of reasons, as I do enjoy the futuristic and science-fiction view of things, but also, like the Roman god Janus, I also revere the past. One face forever turned forward, but another perpetually looking back.  For this reason, the phrase from Omni magazine at once excited, but also saddened me and feels even more profound as I have aged myself, beyond the midpoint, where I have much more life behind me than I can possibly hope to look forward to. It's said that Times' Arrow flies in one direction only, forward into the future, so, without hope or chance of practical time travel, how can we look back at the past? We can extrapolate as to how the future may develop, but the past is already formed and laid out behind us like an invisible fr...

Its so often said that the best camera is the one you have in your pocket. I learned this some time ago after laboriously packing several bags full of kit to take on a short family holiday, much to the annoyance of said family. Although it might seem ideal to have a good camera, a favourite lens, tripod, flash, lens hood, the full works - but in reality, practicality and most often, speed are much more important. Watering Hole As much as I love the idea of 'street photography', I really haven't got the brass cohones to point any kind of camera at a stranger, or indeed to pointedly photograph a situation in public. Add to this, my preference for manual analogue lenses, so that capturing the elusive 'decisive moment' comes down to how fast I can manhandle a fifty year old lens into focus, handheld, on a busy street. For me, its never going to work. The principle and ideal are great in theory, but really difficult to apply in practice. Cubism So my analogue lenses real...