Monthly Archives: April 2018

Brighton

Thursday 26th April 2018.  To Brighton for Hilary’s funeral.  Cold and bright, a stiff breeze whipping up the sea; a luminous day for sad goodbyes.   Walk up through Brighton’s endearing mix of shabby elegance and ephemeral tackiness to the stern … Continue reading

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U3AC Photo Forum 19 – View of Britain

The View of Britain session was an opportunity for members of the Forum to share their photographs of this country, looking at things that are typically British.  Subjects could include landscapes, towns, villages, buildings, pastimes and traditional events, indeed anything they thought … Continue reading

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Fen Display

‘The Fen Display demonstrates the transition in the vegetation from deep open water with waterlilies through reedbed and wet margins to woodland (fen carr) consisting mainly of birches and willows. This range of habitats from deep-water to drier margins supports … Continue reading

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U3AC Photo Forum 18 – A Sense of Movement

Alan and Tim set the brief for this session: ‘Friday’s theme [is] “a sense of movement”. The obvious shots would be: wildlife, birds in flight or animals running; sport of all kinds; sailing, aeroplanes etc. More creatively, anything you interpret … Continue reading

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Totem

A totem pole is carved and painted log, mounted vertically, constructed by the native people of the north-western coast of the US and Canada. They come in seven main kinds: memorial poles; grave markers; house posts; portal poles; welcoming poles; … Continue reading

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Why Blue Rope?

I had a moment of realisation in the Botanic Garden of Wednesday (actually one of many revelations that morning, but they are part of another story).  Asked to explain why I took photographs of the ubiquitous bright blue rope, for … Continue reading

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U3AC Photo Forum 17 – Photojournalism: Brian Harris

Brian Harris explored his world of photojournalism through the 18 months spent in Eastern Europe documenting the collapse of communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.  Photographs of smoggy streets, people going about their daily lives, night … Continue reading

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Prayer Flags

These warning tapes flapping in the breeze are reminiscent of Buddhist prayer flags.  Yellow symbolises the element earth and the east; horizontal flags, are called Lung Dar.  Prayer flags should always be still and it is considered disrespectful if they … Continue reading

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Falun Gong

‘The Falun Gong 24-hour peaceful protest has continued for almost 13 years outside the Chinese Embassy in [Portland Place] London.  July will see the 13th year after the Communist Party of China (CPC) enforced the Falun Gong ban in July 2009.  CPC also initiated a … Continue reading

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Banking

I went to an informal coffee and cake morning today at which Philip Augar spoke about ‘Writing for a Living – Financial Times and Others’.  An ex-banker himself, he was among the first to note in the mid-2000s the pickle … Continue reading

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Newton

Newton, sometimes known as Newton after Blake, is a sculpture by the Eduardo Paolozzi in the piazza outside the British Library.  It is based on William Blake’s 1795 print of Newton: Personification of Man Limited by Reason, which shows Isaac … Continue reading

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Einstein in Sheringham

Seeing this mural in Sheringham induces a double take: is it really Albert Einstein or some old crab fisher with an uncanny likeness to the great scientist?  And if it is him, what’s he doing here?  It is indeed Einstein, … Continue reading

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The Knowledge

The writer Patrick Leigh Fermor believed passionately in having well-stocked shelves of reference books close to hand, ‘…and they must be near the dinner table where arguments spring up which have to be settled then or never.’  The knowledge is … Continue reading

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Pubs and Children

My sister and I were lucky as children: when we were on holiday and Mum and Dad fancied a drink we were not parked outside the pub alone with a packet of crisps and a bottle of pop, they sat … Continue reading

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