It’s time for a new Mass Observation Project post and it would be great to get you, dear viewers, involved! With everything going on in the world at the moment, the next theme is going to be ISOLATION.
The idea, as with previous MO posts is to:
Take a photograph based on the theme of ISOLATION, however you want to interpret it.
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com by Wednesday 1st April 2020.
Images should be a maximum of 650 pixels wide.
Include your name, website/blog address and a short note about the image, including where it was taken.
Come back and see the results on Sunday 5th April!
As with much of the UK, Somerset has had a pretty damp start to the year (in fact, it’s chucking it down yet again as I type). But, grey clouds notwithstanding, there are signs that spring is on the horizon, and so for my second ode to my new home, I thought I would post some budding new photographs.
(Click on an image to see a larger version and scroll to the bottom for some information about a new post!)
Even on the darkest of days there is a hint of brighter things to come, and he knew this gave him an advantage he would be able to press home. He could show her that things had changed, that he had changed.
He knew that the temptation he had given into has been ill-advised – no, more than that, it had been the stupidest thing he had ever done! – but she had hinted that there was the slightest of opportunities, the tiniest glimmer of hope that he would be able to rectify the damage he had done.
The “slip” – that was what they had taken to calling it – had happened last autumn, and this new spring gave him the hope, the push to start putting things back together again…
It’s time for a new Mass Observation Project post too! With everything going on in the world at the moment, the next theme is going to be ISOLATION.
The idea, as with previous MO posts is to:
Take a photograph based on the theme, however you want to interpret it.
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com by Wednesday 1st April 2020.
Include your name, website/blog address and a short note about the image.
Come back and see the results on Sunday 5th April!
(The first in a series of posts about my new home town!)
Elestial
Forgive me if, over the coming weeks, you get a little inundated by photographs from my new home town of Glastonbury in Somerset!
As mentioned previously, it’s only direct connection with the music festival is its name, and it was never this that drew me to Somerset.
The town is very open to people of different faiths, beliefs, and lifestyles, and the residents – myself included – are often drawn to live here by way of some unknown, unfathomable force.
For the uninitiated, the small market town is extremely Bohemian and accepting of most things. You can happily wander down the High Street and pass people wearing steampunk clothing, or fairy wings, or flowery headbands, or kaftans, or tie dye, or Hunter boots and wax jackets, or all of the above. Tourists are often a little stunned by this diversity; you can tell the locals by the fact they are totally nonplussed by this.
The shops in the town are just as diverse as the people who frequent them (and this, in fact, has helped Glastonbury retail stay afloat while other High Streets have suffered a downturn over the last decade or so).
My first post dedicated to the town, therefore, highlights these retail establishments, in all their diversity and colour.
This theme resonated a lot with me; over the last six months or so I have experienced a lot of changes – familial heath issues, moving home (and county) and going from full time employment in a job I’ve done for more than a decade to semi-retirement – and it seemed apt!
Note: Street art has the capacity to change our experience of the ‘everyday’ and to lift it from the mundane into something more cheery or thought-provoking. With it’s unapologetically bold, challenging and provocative faux official statement about social and political change this piece of billboard art does just that.
Change by CKPonderingsToo
Name: CKPonderingsToo
Location: Burnham-on-Sea
Note: Once I had set the theme for this month’s Mass Observation post, I began to appreciate how wide-ranging an idea ‘Change’ actually was. I’ve not taken a lot of images of late, so with camera in hand I went out exploring. While I was photographing without the theme in mind, when I reviewed the images, this shot leapt out at me. It sadly represents a lot of society at the moment – endings, closures, etc. – and highlights that not all changes are for the better.
Change by Doctor Ken, Gin Sop
Name:Doctor Ken, Gin Sop
Location: Glastonbury
Note: Walking along Glastonbury High Street one afternoon, I noticed this heart-shaped stone. It was only as I looked more closely that I saw it had been broken, and had been propped up next to where it originally lay (you can see the shadow it left on the pavement to the right). Anyone who has had their heart broken knows it is a huge wrench, a massive change that, often, we have had no control over.
Change by Cap Does Craft
Name:Cap Does Craft
Location: Desktop!
Note: With the theme of change I considered many images. One that I thought of was the ‘change your batteries’ pop up that appears occasionally on my desk top computer but thought it may not actually appear before the submissions were due. Then of course it did appear, because computers know what we are thinking! I had my little pocket camera to hand and took this shot. I thought it was a light-hearted way to interpret the theme and then I changed the batteries!
For the past two decades I have been drawn to the sleep Somerset market town of Glastonbury.
This lure has nothing to do with the celebrated music festival (which actually takes place seven or eight miles away on a farm near the village of Pilton, but just happens to take its name from the closest town), but there is an ingrained history about the place that I love.
It’s a Bohemian place, but that only adds to the draw of the town – in Glastonbury you can be who you want to be, wear what you want to wear, follow what beliefs you want to follow and nobody bats an eyelid.
I moved to Somerset from West Sussex, just along the coast from Brighton. This is a city that badges itself as welcoming and warm, open and kooky, but, while I like the coastal resort, I have always found that Brighton tries to be Bohemian, while Glastonbury just is.
The Avalon town has a spirituality about it that supersedes the mythical visit of Joseph of Arimathea (the uncle of Jesus) a few thousand years ago. There is an undefinable connection to something about the place, something I’ve never been able to put my finger on, but which I have felt, certainly over the last ten years or so.
Driving to Glastonbury from Sussex, when I get my first glimpse of the Tor from the outskirts of Shepton Mallet, my shoulders have relaxed and I have felt like I a coming home.
Not everybody feel it, I know, and, while we get that sense of home from somewhere in the world, I appreciate that Glastonbury is not going to be it for everybody. But for me, that love, that peace, that security is what drew me to make the move down here last month.
All I would encourage you to do is to find that place, find your space, find your home and connect with it as often as you can, in any way that you can.
A second post of fauna, from Europe, America and Africa. Animals provide a connection between us and Mother Nature; getting out into the country, away from the city, enables us to relax, unwind, and have that direct link with the world around us.
It’s time to get those cameras ready for this month’s Mass Observation Project on CKPonderingsToo!
The theme for March is Change and you are free to interpret that theme photographically in any way you like.
It’s really simple to take part. If you’re interested, just:
Take a photo that represents the Change to you
Photos should be a maximum of 650 pixels in height and/or width
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com
Include your name and location and a short note about the photograph
First in a potential series, delving back into the CKPonderings Archives…
Pretty sure I have not shared these in a blog before, but here are some images from a trip to Kenya over a decade ago, and some of the fauna we came across while ‘on safari’.
While I was preparing this post, I realise it has been ages since I last looked at these images. That’s the downside of photos being stored online nowadays, I guess! There are some I am particularly proud of (ones which, because of that, I have posted before, and so have not included here), but I am happy with all of these. They show not only the beautiful creatures we can encounter in this world, but also their natural habitat.
It’s time to get those cameras ready for this month’s Mass Observation Project on CKPonderingsToo!
The theme for March is Change and you are free to interpret that theme photographically in any way you like.
It’s really simple to take part. If you’re interested, just:
Take a photo that represents the Change to you
Photos should be a maximum of 650 pixels in height and/or width
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com
Include your name and location and a short note about the photograph
For the second post on CKPonderingsToo, I am going back in time.
A few years ago, I set myself a project; to take a photo of my back garden every week for a year and see the seasons come and go.
I set myself a couple of aims with the project:
Take a shot at around the same time every Sunday morning (or as soon after, if I wasn’t around on the Sunday).
Take the photo from the same place.
No post-production was allowed – what you see it what you get.
At the time, this was a great project. The only downside was that, after a year of photographing the garden, I was a little fed up with it, so the images never got to see the light of day.
Until now!
We start with a slideshow of the year; below are the 52 clickable images.
4th Janaury
11th January
18th January
25th January
1st February
8th February
15th February
22nd February
1st March
8th March
15th March
22nd March
30th March
5th April
12th April
19th April
26th April
5th May
10th May
17th May
24th May
31st May
7th June
14th June
21st June
28th June
6th July
12th July
19th July
26th July
2nd August
9th August
16th August
23rd August
30th August
6th September
13th September
19th September
27th September
4th October
11th October
18th October
25th October
31st October
8th November
13th November
22nd November
29th November
7th December
13th December
20th December
27th December
4th Janaury
11th January
18th January
25th January
1st February
8th February
15th February
22nd February
1st March
8th March
15th March
22nd March
30th March
5th April
12th April
19th April
26th April
5th May
10th May
17th May
24th May
31st May
7th June
14th June
21st June
28th June
6th July
12th July
19th July
26th July
2nd August
9th August
16th August
23rd August
30th August
6th September
13th September
19th September
27th September
4th October
11th October
18th October
25th October
31st October
8th November
13th November
22nd November
29th November
7th December
13th December
20th December
27th December
The first Mass Observation post got some positive feedback… A new one for February is coming soon, so keep an eye out on CKPonderingsToo to take part!
Welcome to CKPonderingsToo and the first of what I hope will be a wealth of shared and project-based photographic journeys!
For this first post, I asked for people’s interpretations of the phrase “January Blues”. Many thanks to everyone who had submitted a photograph – here are the results!
Location: Photograph taken from the tow path of the Sheffield canal
Note: I spent a weekend taking photographs inspired by and exploring the theme of the project. It came down to two photographs but unexpectedly it was this one I kept coming back to. It was the last photograph from my walk along the canal. At the time of taking it I wasn’t entirely convinced it would work but it won me over to become my contribution to the project. The colour palette, simplicity and composition make it an undemanding image that I find satisfyingly easy on the eye.
January Blues by CKPonderingsToo
Name: CKPonderingsToo
Location: St Mary’s Island, Chatham.
Note: I was at a bit of a loss when it came to taking my own photo for the project. There was a lot going on and, if I am honest, I hadn’t really considered what I was going to do for the project I was supposed to be curating! But, during an hour getting away from what life was throwing at me, I spent some time wandering along the river in Chatham. What had once been a seething mass of dockyards was now being transformed into high quality ‘affordable’ housing for the masses. Chatham is not a town to forget its naval heritage, and so disused machinery has become art installations. This crane, which has long since lost its ships and cargo, stood proud against the January sky and its greeny-blue colour matched the backdrop completely.
Note: This photograph was taken on the Fylde Coast of Lancashire, north-west England. It was only mid-afternoon but the cloud was obscuring the sun, making it feel like a premature day’s end, so typical for a long January. The coastscape was sufficiently maudlin and bleak to add to this feeling.
More collaborations will be on the way, so watch this space!!!
CKPonderingsToo 