china rose (white)

February 7, 2025

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 1 February 2025].}

A very belated Happy New Year to you, my dear patrons.

I'm sorry (once again) for the radio silence.

The end of 2024 was voraciously consumed with move-related activity and kittehs, leaving me no time to assemble my usual end-of-year wrap-up blog.

I still intend to write and share one, but I have many photos to edit to bring it together, and January has somehow already disappeared into the rearview. How is that possible?

I hope 2025 will be a better one for me. And for you, if 2024 was hard.

The state of the world worries me deeply. In case you haven't heard, the Doomsday Clock ticked one second closer to midnight with the swearing-in of Drumpf as the 47th US President, the ongoing wars around this globe we call Earth, and the continued inaction of many world leaders in tackling climate change.

I'll be honest: it's hard to have hope some days.

But I do have hope. And plans. And I continue to see the beauty in the world and the people in my life despite everything.

I hope you do, too.

I would tell you all about the plans and inspiration whirling around my head. But I feel like, every time I mention my creative plans, I must push them aside while I fight another personal metaphorical fire.

So, instead, I will simply promise to share as much as I can when I can and hope you'll stay with me.

In the meantime, hopefully, these photographs of China roses I found in the front garden of a home in Grove Park last June will remind you of the beauty in the world.

When it all feels overwhelming, stop, take a deep breath and smell the roses.

dog daisy afternoon

October 4, 2024

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 28 September 2024].}

I promise you, I've been taking more photos than you can poke a stick at.

However, I haven't had a chance to edit anything for weeks, so I'm sharing this photograph from the same client's garden I shared my last two from, edited about 20 days ago.

As I highlighted in a previous post, I had a weekend with my regulars from 6-10 September.

I had a delightful three-night stay (and lots of cheese with ash and flowers!) (that doesn't sound so appetising when I type it out) from 12-15 September on the Isle of Portland in Dorset with my fellow photographer and friend, Phil.

And I spent the better part of last week playing tour guide to Dad and Cheryl while they were in London.

I can't complain about any of it.

That's not to say - for reasons I won't go into here and now - that it's all been smooth sailing and that I'm not physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted. I am.

Between Dad and Cheryl's continuing travels, trying to find a new flatmate and three sittings in October, I don't think my stress levels will drop much.

Despite that, I hope to share photos that aren't flowers with you from my recent travels very soon, some other creative outputs, and maybe even catch up on some sleep.

We'll see.

I hope you're all staying well, hugging those you love and doing what you love as much as possible.

These beauties are Leucanthemum vulgare, also known as ox-eye daisy, dog daisy and marguerite.

As with many of the flowers I've been drawn to photograph, dog daisies are deemed an invasive species in many places, including my native country.

However, ox-eye daisies are widely recognised as the national flower in Denmark, and apparently, "the unopened flower buds can be marinated and used in a similar way to capers". Mmm... capers.

Cows don't fancy eating them, though. And those that do "produce milk with an undesirable flavour".

singapore graveyard flower

December 8, 2023

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 1 December 2023].}

Whilst staying with my uncle and his partner in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, shortly after arriving in Australia in June, I ventured out to purchase various devices I lacked.

I had never needed a UK-to-Australian adaptor outside my Apple travel kit, but I relied on a Windows laptop from my day job on this visit. I also needed a replacement cable for my iPhone to feed into my Apple adaptor as my existing cable was lightning to lightning, not lightning to USB, and the adaptor was many years old.

All that is beside the point, really.

The point is that I walked from my uncle's to one of the three plus shopping centres "nearby" (all were at least a 20-minute walk) to get such items, and I took my camera, foreseeing that I could capture something of the local area.

frangipani [dunphy street park, sunnybank hills, queensland, australia, 2023]

My uncle was somewhat sceptical of what I might find to photograph along the way. Which was, in fairness, understandable. Except my idea of photogenic is often not the same as others’.

These and other flowers I photographed in parkland near my uncle's home were more traditionally photogenic. But, had I not had my camera with me, I wouldn't have captured them (well, I would have, with my phone, as I did, but not at the same quality).

The odd thing, though, has been coming back to these photos months later, knowing they are frangipanis and having Wikipedia tell me that Australia recognises a different tree as a frangipani.

This genus is the only frangipani I know as someone who grew up in Canberra, Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne, country Victoria, and later in life lived on the Gold Coast, and I photographed these in a park in Sunnybank Hills, Brisbane.

We had what I believe to be a plumeria obtusa on the nature strip at the front of the house we rented in Darwin. I remember the fragrant flowers and climbing into its branches to lounge whilst listening to Madonna's album, Like a Virgin, playing from the cassette player I'd fed out my bedroom window onto the table on the balcony.

I looked up where our house used to be in Rapid Creek (or Nightcliff, as we knew it to be at the time), and though the house is long gone (I already knew this from previous searches of former homes), I'm pleased to say the frangipani tree was still standing in 2021.

moth orchid (magenta)

September 23, 2022

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 20 September 2022].}

amber treasures

August 26, 2022

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 19 August 2022].}

The last of my Gazania photographs from St Kilda Cemetery from my visit in 2007.

untitled #166 [st kilda cemetery, st kilda, victoria, australia, 2007]

untitled #160 [st kilda cemetery, st kilda, victoria, australia, 2007]

untitled #163 [st kilda cemetery, st kilda, victoria, australia, 2007]

untitled #161 [st kilda cemetery, st kilda, victoria, australia, 2007]

striped treasures

August 19, 2022

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 16 August 2022].}

More Gazania from the St Kilda Cemetery.

untitled #72 [st kilda cemetery, st kilda, victoria, australia, 2007]

hidden treasures

August 5, 2022

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 3 August 2022].}

Gazania.

untitled #76 [st kilda cemetery, st kilda, victoria, australia, 2007]

untitled #77 [st kilda cemetery, st kilda, victoria, australia, 2007]

untitled #104 [st kilda cemetery, st kilda, victoria, australia, 2007]

storksbills in the cemetery

July 29, 2022

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 27 July 2022].}

Hello, my lovelies.

It's been far too quiet around these parts. For that, I offer my sincerest apologies.

I've been trying to get back on track, but I've been thrown a little off-kilter the past few weeks. And, in some respects, the past few months.

untitled #60 [st kilda cemetery, st kilda, victoria, australia, 2007]

My last post here was pre-scheduled. Which was handy, given I was sequestered (willingly!) in a friend's flat with her kitteh, Mia, and the slowest iMac known to woman (the last bit, not willingly!).

Unfortunately, that weekend also marked the beginning of a heatwave here in London.

Had I been home, the temperatures would have been higher than I'd have liked but manageable. However, in a first-floor flat with a curious kitteh, the windows could only be opened a small amount. When Mia wasn't hiding from the heat in a drawer under the bed, she was perched on the window openings cooling her tush.

Consequently, I spent most of the weekend lounging under a 10cm fan and keeping Mia company in her hatred of the heat.

The sun's emanations were too much for me to endure to see through my plan to visit some distinctive housing in the nearby neighbourhoods. Or to visit the Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery, as I had planned. Next time, Gadget, next time.

untitled #15 [st kilda cemetery, st kilda, victoria, australia, 2007]

A busy but part-time week of work followed 'hot' on the heels of that.

I managed to sneak in some socialising outside my flat on Friday despite my ongoing health issues. Followed by a weekend of socialising inside my flat and hiding as much as possible from the heat.

The hottest day on record in the UK and the day preceding it blew out any plans I had for productivity outside my day job the following week.

It took most of the week to get my bedroom back down below 30 degrees, even at night. When it finally cooled almost enough, I celebrated by creating a Spotify playlist.

Health issues scuppered plans to walk the remaining section of the New River between Harringay Green Lanes Overground Station and Manor House/Finsbury Park with Scott and our cameras last Friday. At least we managed a pleasant afternoon of beers, ciders and conversation in place of that (with a detour to my GP's office).

untitled #105 [st kilda cemetery, st kilda, victoria, australia, 2007]

On the positive side, at least I found out that day that the fatigue I've been feeling the past month or so wasn't just my imagination and or me being lazy. I'm vitamin D deficient and have low levels of vitamin B12 again. The former is being managed with some heavy-duty supplements. The latter requires retesting in six weeks. If still low, it will mean injections as I had back in 2007. Between now and then, I need to see if I can improve things from a dietary perspective to pump them back up a bit.

My other ongoing health issue hasn't been 100% diagnosed yet. I've been referred for further testing, but I have a new medication I started yesterday. That will hopefully manage the issues and get me back to photo walks and day trips soon enough. Fingers crossed.

Though, between dreams about the medication and my new bite guard, I've not had the best sleep the past few nights!

This is the first night I've managed to keep being creative after midnight for weeks. For someone who's a night owl and for whom this time is usually my most productive time, that has been beyond frustrating. I suspect this is because I took a long lunch today to nap for an hour and a half.

I hope to share more posts later in the day. And schedule new work for the weekend as I'll be away from home cat-sitting Lily, Sammy and Poppy from Thursday evening to Monday evening.

I'm also still working on my chapbook and other creative things. They're just taking far longer than I would have liked.

Thank you for your patience through all this.

crown imperial

July 1, 2022

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 24 June 2022].}

a korean rose in brussels

June 24, 2022

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 17 June 2022].}

I'm a little hesitant about the identification of these flowers. My plant identifying app said it was a Korean rose for every photo I checked, though, so I'll go with it.

untitled #232 [palais royal de bruxelles, bruxelles, belgium, europe]

And they seem to match - to my untrained eye - photos in the Wikipedia entry for the Hibiscus syriacus.

untitled #230 [palais royal de bruxelles, bruxelles, belgium, europe]

I find flowers past their prime or weather-worn as beautiful as the most perfect specimen, just in a different way.

untitled #233 [palais royal de bruxelles, bruxelles, belgium, europe]

Having said that, when I photographed these, it did strike me as odd that the flowers in the front garden of the Palais Royal de Bruxelles should look so unkempt... I might have been quietly judgmental.

common sowthistle

March 25, 2022

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 20 March 2022].}

I photographed this "weed" in my backyard in Brunswick East the day I got my (then) brand new Nikon D50.

It's a perfect example of how all plants can be weeds if in the "wrong" location. The common sowthistle is deemed an invasive weed in Australia and other countries.

But one of its common names is sowthistle because of its "attractiveness to pigs, and the similarity of the leaf to younger thistle plants". It's also commonly referred to as hare's colwort because of its "purported beneficial effects on hares and rabbits".

Native Americans, Chinese and Māori people are believed to have used (and perhaps still do) the leaves as part of their diet and/or herbal remedies.

Whatever your thoughts on these plants, they made a good study for me to try out my new camera back in 2005.

For whatever reason, I didn't edit these at the time, but I enjoy the buds at various stages of blooming and the greens in these images.

And maybe there's a message here about how each of us can have value in particular environments but be unwelcome pests in others.

031 fuchsia buds

March 2, 2021

Day thirty-one of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

I feel like I phoned it in today, and it shows.

Just feeling tired and stressed and too much on my mind tonight after I finished my work for the day. And too much still to do before I rest tonight. And things to tackle tomorrow that are stressing me out more.

So I foolishly used a 6B for the darker tones on the top of the buds, not thinking ahead that it would leave me nowhere to go with the shadows around the buds. They had to be 5B instead, which I hadn't used before, so the lines are too harsh in the shadows.

I drew the outline initially with the 4H again. Created the darker pinks with the 6B. Went heavier over the bits in between with an HB, then added the shadows.

That's all she wrote.

Will do better tomorrow, hopefully.