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Better than tidying up.

The reason for taking three days off work this week was actually to do a bit of clearing out. All those old bits of hardware that seem to fill my office floor, desk, table etc. Cables galore! All those cardboard boxes that are kept, just in case. Screws, pieces of wood, paint pots and bits of wire that gather around my workbench in abundance. These three days were meticulously planned, a new broom would sweep through my cellar leaving it clean and clutter free!

Well…. I’m delighted to tell you I did make a start. If the truth be told, it was a somewhat half hearted start, but a start it was!

Unfortunately the weather was not on my side – OK, a feeble excuse I’ll agree, but it did make a difference. My plan did allow for a certain amount of ‘quality time’ of course, but with sunny days bringing out the spring in me, it was difficult to adhere to my original strict time schedule. So, after a quick removal of surface junk I ventured forth into the great outdoors and enjoyed myself.

Today Merlin and I took the post bus to the next village and meandered home through the early spring sunshine.



The marking posts will soon be removed I expect (marking the path for the snowplough) but March is always a bit unpredictable.

Still quite chilly, I couldn’t get much closer without getting my shoes full of icy water.  Merlin peering into the picture top right.

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A Thursday in March

Is there really such a thing as a typical day? I suppose my normal working day could be described as typical for me; Waking at six, eating, a train journey, working, eating, working…… I suppose my typical day, compared with some of society’s better known, may seem a little mundane. But you see, I like train journeys , I enjoy eating too and I certainly can’t complain about work, so my typical day is really very enjoyable.

Today, however, was not typical. It was the second of three days off. Time to potter about in the cellar and dispose of some junk, time to go for a good brisk walk with the dog and time even to take a photo or two. Perhaps not typical but most enjoyable nevertheless!

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Contrast

A monochrome theme seems to be predominating the blog at the moment, so I decided to ‘develop’ one of today’s photos as a high contrast image…… remember the experiments with fast film and hard paper all those years ago?

To add a splash of colour, the second photo was taken through grape vines, still appearing quite lifeless at this time of the year of course.

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Saturday Lunchtime

Inserting a short photo session in between doing the shopping and cooking a fondue for guests this evening didn’t really leave me much time to develop my full photographic potential.

A walk with the dog was spent plodding along well trodden, muddy paths in my favourite wellies. The day was cool, grey and misty and I found nothing in particular to inspire me at all.

Not very surprising I suppose because this was, after all, my usual Saturday jaunt. The quite commonplace landscape views were obscured by the weather, and anything else which may be considered just a little interesting simply appeared quite ordinary, but I was determined to take a picture of something.

At last a photo. The small, cosy pillar of smoke rising from a chimney in a neighbouring village caught me eye, and what little colour there was in the picture seemed almost an intrusion.

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The Torn Arms

This post’s title may sound a bit like an English pub name, but it isn’t… let me explain: Running up and down those cellar stairs all weekend, past the coat pegs, in search of coffee and nourishment, I couldn’t help but notice the somewhat sad state of my favourite outdoor wear. Close inspection reveals one delapidated sleeve of my well worn, traditional wax jacket hanging shamefully among the more respectable garments.

What am I saying? The more ‘respectable’ garments may be whole, but they lack character, they are not at all interesting, I can’t identify with them.

My old wax jacket (which to be honest isn’t all that old) has many holes, it has tears too, and even leaks! but it’s still a great jacket!

There’s no doubt, despite the flood of super waterproof, breathable, high end technology materials that keep you warm and dry, I’m going to have to buy another traditional wax jacket one day!  A glutton for punishment perhaps?

The two photos were taken last weekend in an inspirational moment caused, I’m sure, by the hive of activity in the 365Project.

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Below Stairs

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe in days of yore maids, butlers and other serving folk used to live below stairs. Now I’m not implying that I actually live in the cellar (nor indeed am I a servant) but the cellar is where my office, study, creative area, call it what you will, is located. This is the scene which greets me many times a day when I surface for coffee.

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Motivation is the Key

The Blog is back, up and running and raring to go! But what on earth shall I photograph? What has become of all these fantastic, original photographic ideas? This is after all a sort of photo blog, and it should be bulging with pictures!

As far as I can glean from other blogs, the lack of motivation, the failing urge to do, seems to impede even the most perspicacious projects and place them lazily onto some virtual shelf.

It’s nice to know that a remedy for the missing ‘oomph’ is near at hand! Take a look at Wouter Brandsma Photography for example. He posts not only loads of really good photos, but writes an abundance of useful tips and advice on photo related subjects.

Recently I’ve been introduced to http://365project.org too.  A very lively ‘picture a day’ project and although I’m not a member, I seem to be spending considerable time soaking up the pictures and getting inspired.

This set of evening shots was taken yesterday evening on the way home – you see, I’ve been inspired!

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Eager Beaver II

Not wishing to glorify the past, but I thought it somehow appropriate to begin the new blog with the essence of an old entry.  The last posting written at the very end of 2010 saw me lamenting over my idleness. Telling the world that I spent the Christmas holidays eating, drinking and laying about doing very little. Well, nothing has really changed. I was out and about early yesterday morning to capture the beaver’s activities once again, but that didn’t really produce very startling pictures… in fact they appear very similar to those in that famous ‘last post’.   Still, it’s a start, and I’m sure motivation will increase rapidly!

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I’m back

Those who occasionally take a peek at Vic’s Blog may well have noticed that I’ve been off the air for a couple of weeks. Keen readers may even notice that all the old postings have vanished.    Well, the reasons are thus:

About two weeks ago, very regular readers (if there are indeed those who can be classed as such), will have probably been more than a little surprised to have accessed Vic’s Blog, full of excitement and anticipation, only to be greeted with an advert. Not my style at all. Nothing against advertisements generally, but certainly not on my Blog!!

Let me say at this point that I had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with that advert in any way!

Well, to cut a long story short, I tried hard to remove the unwanted advertisement to no avail so I decided to reinstall the whole blog. No big deal really… simply a matter of a few minutes. However, although the postings were all OK, the associated photos were, for reasons known well to myself, sort of missing. Not actually missing, but in the wrong place, meaning that a few minutes could turn into a few hours.

After much fiddling, I could have re-linked all the photos by hand, but decided it was a bit of a waste of my time,  and so, I’ll greet the New Year with a nice clean blog.