⊗⊕ smile please

yesterday we travelled up the M1 motorway

to the Format International Photography 

festival in Derby:

'Right Here, Right Now'

exposures from the public realm

explores street photography:

short walks take you from

space to space

set around Derby's City centre:

lots to see, even on a Sunday:

from here to there by Ljudmilla Socci:

images taken from a train window:

a journey of shifting landscapes:

pyramid by Raoul Gatepin:

flaked suburbia after Wall St financial messes:

modern architecture looms hazily

over victorian semi's:

we were shadows watching shadows:

stereoscopic photographs that track a journey 

from the hoover dam to the 

roof of the world trade centre:

by Robert Covington:

peep through the glasses as the photos

merge and animate:

all is not what it seems:

nature enshrouds the traces of war:

but some things remain beneath:

minescape by Brett van Ortt:

tactile surfaces of bomb shelters:

personalised not disguised:

public domain by Orit Ishay:

best in show for me was 

concrete island by Peter Ainsworth:

marks left by inhabitants on walls

that support a motorway flyover:

painterly, abstract, layered:

there was an eclectic mix of both

photographs, styles and venues:

just like the city

old, sits comfortably, next to new:

our final exhibition of the day

and the biggest interaction:

Al had taken images on his phone during 

our visit:

bluetoothed to pogo:

printed: tagged:

attached:

photographic points around the city:

a visually changing map:

street photography is a vast topic:

there is always the debate

'is it street?'

everything shifts as you move:

different things come into focus at

different points in your life

and you try to articulate that:

Format continues until 3rd April 2011:

☼☾ sun & the moon

the garden is waking up:

single flowers on the camellias:

 I grabbed my tools and set to work:

wigwams for beans and peas:

a big full moon was on it's way:

 planting onions where the worms

like to live:

and garlic and potatoes:

all in a row:

leaving some for later ....

the moon was stunning that night:

I planted some more in her light:

we will see what it brings:

꒺꒺ dancedance

last weekend a feast for the eyes:

twirling ringing jingling:

tribally inspired

an evening dedicated to the art of 

american tribal style belly dancing:

sister studios:

elegant slow moves:

shoulders, arms undulate:

waists, hips and feet follow:

it's mesmerising:

Lianne danced with Egyptian beats:

Angela Noble with Gypsy roots:

Maryam danced with her eyes:

making elegant shadows

in the harsh light:

the queen of Tribal Style:

Carolena Nericcio:

perfect poise, gestures:

with Tribal Unity:

it was magical:

I want to dress up:

I want to boomboomching with zills:

and now I have serious tassel envy:

☼⩈ how will my garden grow?

last year {or was it the year before}

the back of our garden was cleared 

of huge old gnarly shrubs

and a few conifers that had seen 

better days: 

the birds didn't panic as there are still 

lots of places for them:

under the forest of bramble we discovered

another 4 metres of garden

all within two raised beds:

so we covered it with plastic and left it 

till yesterday:

my friend Abigail came over and dug in

the wheels I'd collected:

a row of recycling:

now we have to decide what to plant

and where:

we will definitely plant these:

they are borlotti beans:

I picked them for the last time

at my late friend Nicola's allotment:

she'll be laughing at me, up there,

wherever she is

as I rake to a tilth and hoe:

⸡⸠ we are only visitors, here to marvel