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Originally uploaded by gwpics

You may think your company van is well sign written, and will sell your business, but how about this very graphic example from the northern French town of Amiens. Simply the fun of it all would make me want to try the restaurant!

Taking a punt ...

For me the beauty of Monets Garden has always been exploring the small hidden areas. A fellow photographer commented to me whilst I was walking around that there were thousands of people there looking, and none were seeing. So here is a little of my seeing, two punts tucked under a tree in the midst of everything yet probably unnoticed by most people there looking. One of the biggest attributes a photographer can have is the ability to see whereas others merely look. As it says on the heading of my web pages "your world, my vision."

Enjoying the Gardens

One of my greatest pleasures is to photograph in black and white, and for some reason the results are very often (in my opinion) humorous. Edward Steichen, the great American photographer, once said "The mission of photography is to explain man to man, and each to himself". I am not sure what this explains, but I found humour in the fact that these four visitors, whilst totally surrounded by the colour and beauty of Monets Garden, seem totally indifferent to all that is around them. You can view the rest of my black and white images, including the French policeman with a Band-Aid on his tyre, here.

Simon Smith and his amazing ....

sand sculptures (no, not his dancing bear for a change). Le Touquet in north eastern France is renowned for its beautiful beaches and gardens, but a less well known feature every year is its festival of the art of sand sculpture created by the British sand artist Simon Smith and a team of fellow artists from all over the world. This year the theme is the Kings of France. Starting with a pile of sand of mind-boggling proportions, the team create works of art to rival any stone sculptor with the certain knowledge that there work will cease to make it into any art gallery, or even last until the end of the summer. - and yet they travel all over the world bringing joy to seasides in every continent. When I met Simon he was about to depart for Poland to work in the Russian Embassy! The work shown in my photograph is maybe 8 meters high and is surrounded by countless others around the 2 meter size, so these are no bucket and spade jobs! If you get chance it is worth the trip to Le Touquet just for the appreciation of a very unusual art. You can view my images of the sculptures on my French gallery.

Money and Monet

Well, as stated in my last blog, here I am in sunny (or as it has been, not so sunny) France, and thought I ought to keep you up to date with what I have been doing before I get back tomorrow night and sort out the various photos that I have been taking. We have had a reasonable trip although we have been astonished how expensive France now seems with the weakness of the pound. Believe me, £3.50 comes as a bit of a shock for a cup of tea, as does a lunch bill approaching £40 for something very modest! But we have visited Giverny again and found it just as beautiful as ever despite the ever-increasing hordes of tourists and school children, and despite the rain. Whilst writing, I can thoroughly recommend the wonderful Chambre d'Hote of Stephanie and Gerard and their eclectic mix of animals including wallabies and ostriches. Situated within walking distance of Monets garden, this old mill is a great place to stay. We also stumbled by accident across celebrations of the national day for firefighters (we did this before in eastern France) and got some great shots of firemen with their shiny helmets (that will get my daughter excited!)

I have posted one image here to whet your appetite, but as I am doing this on my laptop I cannot guarantee the quality. You will have to wait a few days for the next post and a link to the gallery I am afraid.

It's Over!

It has been a long but very enjoyable time, and finally I have completed by gallery of work at the Salisbury International Arts Festival. I have photographed serious philosophers and bhangra bands, jazz players from New Orleans and just about every other point of the compass, and now you can see my best efforts on my web site in my Festival gallery. On to the next shoot, and I am off to France for a few days to help increase my French stock images. This time I am concentrating on a fairly small area of Normandy and the Pas de Calais. See you when I get back!

Chosen as Featured Photographer

Again this month Photoshelter, who host the work of 40,000 great photographers including Art Wolff and Amy Vitale, have featured one of my images on their home page and in their blog. They also feature my web site design. This is not the first time I have been honoured in this way, and I am both delighted and honoured. You can view the image here. Last time they featured me it was for one of my music images - a shot of Isaac Hayes.