Into the Woods

So, my little Welsh trip in one word? Wet. In three slightly Irish words? Very feckin' wet. So, very few photos to show for myself, but I suppose on the plus side I did finally work out how to correctly pronounce "Betws-y-Coed"...



Trees seem to haunting me lately. I've been listening to Jimmy Scott sing "Sycamore Trees" on the Twin Peaks soundtrack - something you can see in situ about 4 minutes into this clip. That whole final episode genuinely scared me when I first saw it many years ago, and I still find it incredibly perturbing in a way that simultaneously makes perfect sense and no sense whatsoever...

It also looks like one of my photos might be used for a book cover with a tree connection - but I'll post more about that later when it's all confirmed.

Song of the week: the aforementioned Sycamore Trees. Album of the week: The Marble Index by Nico. A record that doesn't work at all when the sun is in the sky.

Broken Face

[See this picture at a larger size in the Dead Things section of the gallery.]

Sorry for the lack of posting lately - it's just been one of those periods when things haven't been working out quite as well as they might as far as new work goes. 2007 also seems to be establishing itself as a year for me to stumble from one catastrophe to another in my personal life, which tends to slow things down a bit. Aaanyway, this ain't Livejournal, so I'll leave the whinging there!

A bit of a lifesaver recently has been discovering the archives of In Our Time, which has managed to keep my brain from totally seizing up during recent lengthy bouts of scanning and photoshop time. I love how old-fashioned the format is - a topic is announced (Wittgenstein, black holes, the siege of Constantinople), some experts are introduced, and then they just have an erudite discussion about it until time runs out. Enough to make me forgive Radio 4 for The Archers ... just ...

And, while we're talking brain fodder, can I just recommend (a bit belatedly) David Lynch's new film Inland Empire - I'm still thinking it through now, several weeks after seeing it, which must be a sign of something in it beyond simple mentalness. Oh, and it has talking bunnies in it too.

Right, well I'm off to beautiful Snowdonia for a few days now. I'll try to step things up a gear blogwise once I get back ... and maybe think of some things actually connected to photography to talk about too!

Song (and I use the term loosely) of the week: New Puritan by The Fall.

So It Goes

“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’ ”

Kurt Vonnegut, RIP.