One Man's Notes

The Halesworth ducks like to explore. This chap was in the car park, a fair way from the river.

Stolen from Melinda

To Halesworth, and the annual cream teas in aid of the local Community Nursing Care Fund. In the past, this has been a big family occasion, but this time, for various reasons, it was just me and Mum.

The appeal of the event is pretty obvious: fresh-picked strawberries and rich local cream; cheap plants grown locally; a tombola and raffle. All clearly appealing things. But the real draw, and the real mystery to me, is bric-a-brac.

They were waiting, you see. They were lurking outside, gathered furtively at the gate while the unloading and setting up and organising was going on. They knew what time it started. And they knew where they wanted to go.

At the stroke of 3pm, they were in. Past the strawberries they went, and past the tombola. They didn't divert to the plants or the raffle. No. They were the bric-a-brac hordes, and nothing would stop them. A bounty of china Christmas trees, bed warmers, stringless guitars and old plates awaited, and they would plunder.

Us? We had tea and scones. Mmmm.

Another recovery scan - and this one has proved to be rather more tricky to get the colour right. Dad, Mark and Mum are standing in what I think is the courtyard of Castle Campbell in Dollar, where I grew up.

I've no idea who the random kid on the left is. However, he adds a slightly creepy touch to the image and, with the square composition and the large empty space above (not to mention the slightly odd colours), this looks a bit like an LP cover.

Which is cool.

Here's another one from the same set:

I've been having fun with the scanner again.

This is one of the oldest photos I've ever taken. My models are my great auntie Joan and great uncle Jim, and my brother Mark. I'd guess that this was taken around 1978 or 1979, and is in a Scottish historic building of some sort. I wonder if Mum will remember where.

This is the best the picture has ever looked. The film was left in the camera for waaaay too long, and was badly colour-shifted when it was developed.

Now, through the wonders of modern technology, and a little work, it looks somewhat like it should have looked in the first place.

While the humble mobile phone has all but replaced my digital compact camera for taking snaps on the go, once in a while I get frustrated by its limitations.

There was that pic of a field of rape a few months back. And I've just found this snap left on my phone. It was meant to be of the wonderfully warm, rich, orange light I could see one evening from my office window.

And it looks, well, mundane.

Maybe I should start carrying my digital SLR with me everywhere,