A personal celebration
It seems a bit odd posting these photographs after today’s news, but I still believe that Marrakech is a safe destination. The first photograph here was taken ten days ago, in the mirror of the Argana Cafe, where today’s bomb went off, and shows my godson and myself. I’d take him back tomorrow without a second thought.
Anyway, earlier this year I had a “birthday-with-a-nought-on-the-end” and decided to celebrate last week in Marrakech with all the friends and family who could make it over there.
The first two photographs are by me, and the rest are by Nicola Hailstone, Charlotte Hailstone, Tom Kidd and Brian Harris.
Three days of Christmas
My huge family Christmas (in Norfolk) started on Christmas Eve, with my cousin Tom producing some enormous flying lanterns which we launched into the night sky. From then on, tradition followed: charades, excited children opening presents, a huge Christmas lunch, falling asleep on the sofa in front of the TV…..
On Boxing Day we headed to the coast, where at long last (for some!) there was a mobile phone signal!
Sorry about the delay between blogs and the lack of wedding photos……
I must apologise for the delay between blogs and the lack of wedding photos……
For the past two and a half weeks I’ve been in London, taking stills for a film. Don’t get too excited – it’s a DVD to teach English to Italian school kids, and I’m taking the photos that will go in the accompanying text book!
It’s totally different from my normal photography. There’s no individual ‘observational’ photos that I enjoy taking so much. I have a copy of the book, complete with holes on pages where my photos will go and instructions for what each photo should show. But I’ve known the video cameraman, production manager and director for many years, and met most of the rest of the crew three years ago when we worked together on another version of the film and book, so it’s great fun and generally relaxed.
But it’s exhausting to be in London again. I lived here for 20 years before moving to Scotland nearly 10 years ago. And although I’ve been back to visit, it’s still a shock to the system to have to commute on the tube early every morning! Combined with very long hours and having to sort out the photos every evening, it’s like doing a wedding every day of the week. I’ve even perfected the art of falling asleep on the tube on the way into town and to the location of the day (which implies that I have a seat in the morning rush hour – because I’ve got on the tube so early.)
Saturday’s seem to be the time for ‘recovery’ (aka sleeping a lot) but I’ve managed to see some friends on Sundays. Here are a couple of portraits of my friends Nick and Amanda’s two youngest children:
And for maximum embarrassment value, here’s a sneaked shot of their oldest daughter with her boyfriend:
I can’t possibly repeat what her father said would happen if it went further than this!
Finally, I found time to take a new ‘author portrait’ of my novelist friend Sarah Tucker:
