All shots this week taken down by the waterfront in Hastings. The boardwalk, the amusement park, the beach..all the things you’d expect to find by the seaside. People go to coastal towns on holiday and think how lovely it would be to live there. We all indulge this little fantasy in situ but then trundle back home and soon forget it like the fleeting dream it is.

They always say (not sure exactly who they are but just go with it) if you really want to know what it would really be like to live by the sea, go in the winter. And I have to say I have been in Hastings in the dead of winter. Dark brooding skies, pelting rain and wind gales so strong it’s like walking into a wall. It’s basically the weather you get at sea on land. Cos its just right there innit? And maybe that ‘s turning you off but I have to say I kinda love the dramatic weather. You really feel like you’re in the elements. It’s utterly invigorating and yes occasionally terrifying. The howling wind in the trees does sound deeply ominous and does conjure up images of mass ritual sacrifice wicker man style on the heath but to be fair I have seen too many horror films.

And it’s also not always like that. When the sun does poke its head out its glorious, the heavenly rays reflecting off the tide bathes you in a nourishing light that enriches your soul. And staring at the sea never gets old. The question is though..what would you do there if you did move there? Work is what binds us to where we need to live. So if you don’t need to work that makes it a ton easier which is why a lot of people in their 60s/70s have retired down there and that’s all well and dandy for them but if you still need to earn a wedge there are obviously minimal opportunities. I know people do the commute to London and back but I think if I was going to make the move I would want to go all in. In the meantime it’s just a lovely place to visit. And I know I haven’t depicted its unique picturesque charm but please google image it you wanna see that sort of thing.

I am as always more focussed on capturing random, touching and occasionally poignant moments in the lives of the inhabitants of wherever I am. Like this one above. In case you can’t read that, it says “Don’t do wifey shit for a fuck boy” which is difficult to argue with. The girl looked about 13 so not quite sure how she got so hardened to the realities of the gender wars at such a young age but maybe it was an over-protective parent who makes her wear it.

I will leave you with some enigmatic figures traversing the pebbled beach and a boat who’s name sums up how I feel whenever I am there….

Got one more week in Hastings to go and then we’ll be back to the big smoke..have a joyous weekend!

this was supppsed to go out yesterday..soz, forgot to hit PUBLISH. doh!

Army training: conceal yourself wherever possible. You never know when the enemy will strike

Anyone in need?

Just a few street portraits this week. No theme as such. And not much chat either. You may have noticed a distinct lack of words from me of late..well, just to say I have been deep in the hole most of this year (will fill you in on the gory details at some point no doubt) so it’s been a bit of a skeleton service for a while and been letting the pictures speak for themselves as I haven’t quite been up to the task. But its not like I ain’t spouted a ton of verbals over the years so you are probably enjoying the respite…

I see this guy around a lot. he always dresses like that. Like he watched the life aquatic and went..yep, that’s gonna be my style from now on. I’m gonna go for that old fashioned deep sea diver on his day off look…people love that shit. And i have to say he looks great..

Soz folks..just as I had resumed activity my hard drive has just blown up with all my photos on it. Have pix backed up tank fuck but need to rebuild entire catalogue which is gonna take some time…

apologies for this continued patchy service..I promise I will get back on track as soon as I have this sorted…

(p.s here is a random shot of my nephew, the living projector screen as was all I could get me mitts on)

Accidentally fired off today’s post yesterday (soz, bit rusty after break) and figured as it was a short week thought i would chuck this extra one today…apparently some old dude is getting some shiny metal hat stuck on his bonce this weekend which will give him the right to large it up on our cash and like behead people and shit..fun times in the U.K.

sorry, had a take a lil leave of absence there..normal service has been resumed.

This week’s theme was pretty easy to work out..a collection of the backs of people’s heads. The all important question is why? Well there is nothing more alluring to the human brain than something it can’t quite see. It hates missing pieces of a puzzle. It has to know the whole picture.

How many times have you cranked your neck trying to listen to someone else’s conversation at a nearby table when you are out? You’re only getting bits n pieces and it drives you crazy. And bear in mind this is not a particularly interesting conversation. In fact if the same conversation were right in front of you, chances are you would probably drift.

So what happens when the brain is met with a gap? A hole in the informational picture? It fills it in. With our imagination. If it doesn’t have all the facts in front of it, it will just make shit up. Our compulsive need to understand everything led to the evolution of our creative minds. It gave us the capacity to make up stories. This is a beautiful thing.

And so this is why there is nothing more compelling than the back of someone’s head. Because that is where the facts end and a story starts…and when they do eventually swing round it’s always a disappointment because no face is more interesting than our imaginations. I’m not saying people should wear masks but actually saying that when they did, our minds soared with the possibilities of what was under there..

Short week this week..Happy Easter! ( now there’s a story ;)

Some people see dead people (well haley joel osment mainly) I see stories in the discarded objects I discover on the street. A splattered ice cream, matching abandoned sunglasses, a lost boot, a spliff munchie street party, a cryptic message etched on the pavement itself ..what or who was behind all of these things? 

Let’s take the ice-cream. I see a middle aged unfit guy called Dean who’s been made to go on a healthy diet regime by his wife. Not because she cares but beacuse she’s punishing him for a prior indiscretion. She’s forced him out of the house to go jogging and in an act of defiance he stops at the corner shop and buys himself an ice-cream. Just as he is about to dive in he stops himself just before it touches his lips. No, fuck it, he’s gonna get fit for him, not her then when he’s  ripped he’s gonna leave her, quit his job and become a scuba diving instructor. And so hurles he the ice cream to the floor. All caught up.

Yes I got all that from a dropped ice-cream. I have an insane amount of time on my hands at the moment. My body and brain don’t function correctly but somehow my imagination is still running on all cylinders.

But this is a game you can play at home too. Look at what you see in any of the pictures this week and imagine everything that happened to get them to that point. Answers in the comments. Best one gets an ice-cream. 

I chose this week’s images at random or so I thought but when I looked back at them today I realised there was a theme of mirroring running through them. These reflections in symmetry floated under the radar of my intended purpose which was to have no intended purpose. And yet I now see a correlation between them. It always baffles me that even when I have no intention to group photos together my brain is sub-consciously ordering them, connecting them to each other, finding design in chaos. So who am I to get in the way?

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”

(As I haven’t much chat in me at mo thought I would let Albert Camus do the talking. Thanks to my mum for introducing me to this quote..it is her favourite and she manages to get it into a surprising amount of conversations and now it is a mantra of mine)

Hope you all had a good break and are having a joyous start to 2023 so far. ..

Some random observations to ease us into the year. No theme. Just moments in time. And plan to continue along these lines for a while so going to cut back on the chat for a bit too as still finding my feet (those damn elusive feet).

I am still more observer than participant in life so not much to report (apart from my condition and think we’ve all heard enough about that for a while) but I can still show you what I can see. And that way you can also come to your own conclusions about what you are looking at rather than have me banging on about it all the time. Sure that will be not only more mentally invigorating but a relief for all concerned…