Monday 28 June 2010

Ferreting in the Virtual Fridge

juan_jo_ _ouali_a_vie

Trawling back through old shots again, I’m finding hundreds that I’ve never put together – some dating back four or five years! My folders of photos are the digital equivalent of rolls of film in the fridge. To get to them I need to reach past some cans of lager and a really old cheese… oh, and a really old animated gif too. Used to love those.

This was from Barcelona in 2008. That’s a tree root on a cliff in the park near the big gallery with the fancy lighty-uppy fountains. That’s not its official name. It was magical at night though. I’m hoping to be in Spain again later in the summer…

It was roughly here, or hereabouts.

 

 

love | landscape

Tuesday 1 June 2010

Ben-Day Dots and the Free School

 jodie_quinn_2009

I felt like making one of the pictures from Paris last October, so here it is: Jodie Quinn 2009. I do like photographing photographs of people and I do like the big Ben-Day Dots you get in large scale prints like this one. It was taken up the Eiffel Tower, so no map required.

I’m in a funny position at the moment, and not just because I've hurt my back. I’ve been opposed to Conservative politics since the first time I thought for myself about it, yet the Coalition Government  is pushing forward with the plan to allow groups of parents, teachers etc to establish schools where the local authority doesn’t recognise the need for one. As our Conservative local authority has completely failed Swanage in its bid to make our town completely family unfriendly this is now our opportunity to create a school of our own.

This afternoon I found myself discussing this on national radio for half an hour (1hr 6mins in - this link will self destruct in 7 days) and I’ve also been on local radio this week to talk about it.

It’s a frightening prospect - the work that may be involved, not the school – and we don’t yet know what the legislation will involve us in, but if the people who are supposed to educate our children are so utterly hopeless that we have to do it ourselves, then I think that this is a strong enough community to do it. My personal dream is of a Co-operative Trust, set up to be run by the community for the community…

If you want to find out more, have a look at the Education Swanage website at www.educationswanage.co.uk where we once tried hard to educate the LA Education Officers and where now we are beginning to present information about the Free School model.

 

love | landscape