Monday 28 July 2008

I Love Swanage


It's a funny thing, living in a holiday resort. People come from all over the country to spend their valuable holiday time in the place we think of as home, and yet some of the people that live here all year round just don't realise how very lucky they are! The downside is that when you work for yourself, as I do, you have to keep remembering that you're not on holiday and you have things to do...
What makes me think this right now is that the weather outside is frightfully nice, as hot as you'd expect in the med, the sea is warm(ish) and inviting, and the town is full of carnival fun. Oh, and the kids are at home, sat beside me right now watching TV. We have a summer of beach, beach, beach, fireworks every weekend, stunning landscape to walk in and then pubs and cafes to spend my hard earned cash in... which I'm not earning because I'm enjoying myself too much! Eek!
Anyhoo, I wanted to put this picture up that I took a couple of weeks ago. Soft sand and blue skies. Youthful love expressed in an idyllic location. Ok, it's not the Bahamas, but come on... it's pretty damn good here!

Monday 14 July 2008

Parental Guidance Needed on This One!


Only last week I'd been thinking how suprised I was that I'd never found any rude and lude 'I loves' - so when I found this while walking along Swanage beach I was, it must be said, extremely chuffed! The grafitti - sprayed on soft sandstone of the cliff, and amongst other tags and pretty poor pictures - was also directly above this broken canoe. I'm not sure it's an official euphamism for anything, but I'm sure a 'broken canoe' could mean something...
Rule number 1 in my book is to find a landscape or an element of the surroundings in which I find the heart, and so often sernedipity plays its part. Sometimes there's a 'Bob loves Sue' and nearby there'll be two bins stood next to each other, which looked at in a certain way look as though they're nestling together, or two bikes leant against each other, or two happy looking windows in a wall, and here we have an 'I love cock' directly above a phallic object. Clearly, if God exists, she loves me.

Wednesday 2 July 2008

Cut Out Hearts



Here's a different take on grafitti, and one that is possibly just pure vandalism, but very nicely done. We had just arrived by train in Florence and just outside the station was a three sided fabric advertising display for a movie, and in each side was cut a perfect heart.

As the rain fell, I took these images, and I'm pleased with the results - I hope that on screen they have the same effect as they do in print. The cut-away heart feels like an overlay rather than a hole, and the picture plays with the sense of space. I spent some time while taking them moving slowly around the display, watching the way the inside of the structure moved within the heart, and as I moved the heart on the far side allowed a glimpse through to the tourists and commuters behind the screen.
I must have looked very odd. Happily my children aren't old enough to be embarrassed by me yet, and after all these years, Vick has got used to it.