“No worries” I said in my best Australian accent.

As it turns out my very good friend Kelly also had last minute change of plans that evening and asked for a catchup so I told her to meet me at my mate’s house (with his permission of course). So at 7pm I settled down with a DVD of Eddie Izzard’s “Sexy” running in the background of my laptop, a cup of tea and got down to work. Kelly pops round half an hour later; we haven’t caught up in ages so all work stopped while we nattered plus she had some technical problems which I gladly helped her with. A short while after that the South African couple turned up; every Wednesday my mate hosts Kinship (a small group who gather to talk about God) but no one had told them it had been cancelled today.

Kristen and Duncan really are the nicest, down-to-earth people you could ever meet and since they were moving out of the area very soon it was great to know them a bit better.

It is nothing I can I describe, but when you meet some people you instantly click and it’s just a great thing. It is a rare thing to happen; I would say it has only happened twice in recent years with mixed results but a awesome journey nonetheless!

Anyway, ever the photography and keeper of memories I took a photo of us.

Many years ago I wanted to research more about the Berlin wall for an Art project. My brilliant art teacher (Mrs Potter), suggested the best source of information and reference would be from a German museum. I was not expecting to get a reply but dutifully I wrote a letter and some time later I received a package.

At that time, I was too young to fully appreciate what treasures I had and I was only in my infancy for my passion for photography.

In the post, I recieved these magnificent photos. The images are so vivid and most of all they told a story. I wanted to share some of those photos on this blog. I hope you can appreciate them as much as I have.

I worked hard to get the shots I wanted, I’m happy with the results.

Caught up with my friends who are in a up and coming local band. It was great to photograph people who obviously like the camera with the possible exception of Joe who is the drummer. Because he’s natural a vocal person, it’s interesting to capture him through the lens. His personality and demeanor goes completely neutral and subdued. However, as a photographer his photos came out the most natural.

Just in case the lads are thinking he’s the most photogenic, that’s not the case (and I’m staying out of that argument), but he does give me almost a blank canvas which I can manipulate through the camera. His face tells the most interesting story…

There are so many vivid postcard moments that I want to photograph and experience. In my mind I want to see Disney’s Lion King come to life through my lens. I want to see the real people of Africa, the old, the young, the hungry and the desperate.

A dozen photographers from the website travelphotographers.net gathered in London to take shots that we may not normally take. Having worked in London for many years, I still don’t know it anywhere near as well as I’d like to, so this had great potential to photograph environments I had never been before.

We went to a busy market, the name escapes me, walked along the river, took abstracts and of course took photos of the people around us. Most people were ok with us taking pictures, but some clearly didn’t like it. A member of the group was apparently “told off” for taking her picture and it ruined her day a bit. I’ll discuss “Guerrilla Photography” in another post.

I strongly recommend taking photos with someone else, like most things life is something best when shared (and Boooo to those who say otherwise). Trouble is, very few of my friends are as fanatical about photography as I am!!