All Heart and No Liver

The heart symbol is everywhere, especially now as we approach Valentine’s Day. But even once Valentine’s Day has passed, I will still inevitably interact with a heart symbol daily and possibly scores of times as I scroll through Instagram, ‘liking’ photographs and comments, or occasionally on Facebook if I particularly appreciate a post. Heart emojis … Read more

Reach Out and Touch

In this post I’m featuring a selection of images on the theme of touch with a focus on holding holds and linking arms rather intimate embrace. I’ve been reading about touch deprivation and how this affects our mental health. Since the onset of the Pandemic nearly two years ago the way we communicate socially has … Read more

Images of Intimacy, Passion and Affection in the Age of #MeToo

It’s coming up to Valentine’s Day and in the past week I’ve been looking through my photo catalogue for images I’ve taken on the theme of love, passion and romance. I recently encountered an interesting article in The Washington Post written by Monica Hesse. She discusses an iconic photograph dating from the end of WW2. … Read more

George Michael’s Memorial Garden in Winter

December 25, 2017 – Christmas Day – marks one year since singer George Michael died. A few days ago I went to visit his memorial garden in Highgate which is in a small green outside his former home. I had visited this garden at the height of autumn and was curious to see it in … Read more

George Michael: George’s Garden in Autumn

I walked through Highgate the other day and spent some time in the memorial garden for the late George Michael who died on December 25 of last year. The garden is in the small green bordering his home on The Grove. Here are some photographs I took at George’s Garden, which is lovingly tended by … Read more

Handwriting and Nostalgia

Yesterday I was buying some art supplies and somehow got into a conversation with the store assistant (or possible manager) about the lost art of handwriting and calligraphy. I was saying that my handwriting is now pretty illegible, and has been so for at least a couple of decades, even though I stillI handwrite on … Read more

Graffiti and (multilingual) exclamations of love

This time last year I wrote a Valentine’s Day themed piece on Seeing hearts everywhere  illustrated with a variety of images that either contain or suggest the heart motif. This post is about graffiti and exclamations and expressions of love, and features  a selection of digital photographs I’ve taken from 2005 to the present. Back in 2004 … Read more

Light and Love: a personal take on decorative lights

Today is the last day of the Jewish festival of light, Chanukah, (sometimes spelled Hannukah) which lasts 8 days and which this year coincided with Christmas. The Hebrew calendar is based on lunar cycles, so the dates of festivals vary slightly each year against the Gregorian calendar. The picture below is a scanned photograph of … Read more

Seeing hearts everywhere

A couple of years ago I wrote a short blog piece here called Valentine Shmalentine! which I thought I’d revisit today, not only as it is Valentine’s Day but because of the passage of time.  Since that entry Francino, the old man in the rainbow hat in the Bar Italia image, has died . Dini the … Read more