Unknown but Familiar Faces: Old Photos in Cafés & Bars

One of the things I miss most during the extended London lockdowns is sitting down at a café and people watching, writing my journal or reading. I miss both this solitary experience and the regular meet ups with my sons, partner and close friends. Sitting in cafés is an entrenched ritual that feels very much … Read more

Visuals of Sad Faces and Downturned Mouths

I was in Venice last week for my birthday, staying on the Lido. On a visit to the mainland I photographed a section of a shop window that caught my eye: On the left, the mask has a downturned mouth. On the right the face has big bushy white eyebrows and deep grooves chiselled in … Read more

Old Family Photographs – posing with vintage cars and other wheels

I’ve gathered together some old family photographs that all, with the exception of the final image, predate my birth. In these photographs the cars and other forms of transport are integral to the photograph, they are not just part of the background. My parents and relatives wanted these objects to feature and be recorded. The … Read more

Fish in the City

Last week I was in New York for a few days staying on the Lower East Side. The weather was quite unsettled – muggy and rainy.  One grey morning I saw a guy walking towards me in sandals and socks. These were not the frowned-upon socks and sandals combination formerly attributed to unstylish men with … Read more

On Reading

In my last post on the Venice Carnival I included a photograph I’d taken of a masked man in a bookshop perusing a book on the Hebrew language. This got me thinking about other images I’ve taken of people reading as well as the representation of books and reading matter in family photographs in my … Read more

Vapour trails and smoky images

I’ve recently returned from a brief visit to Paris where I witnessed the final hours of the Tour de France. At one point some jet planes flew past, too fast for me to see but leaving a trail of blue, white and red vapour. I am assuming these are the colours of the French flag … Read more

Ghostly mannequins

I took some pictures in Camden recently of reflected facades and shadowy figures which were actually mannequins, though I like the ambiguity of not quite knowing whether the shadows are of humans or not: I started thinking about another image I’d taken in New York, a  store in the process of being decorated had mannequins in … Read more

Let it all hang out: observations on washing & identity

I take a lot of pictures of building facades and over the years some of these have been because of the juxtaposition of the architecture with the personal  artefacts displayed. On a recent trip to Venice my eye was drawn to what seemed a quite surreal combination of an old weather-beaten apartment and professional, ultra-modern … 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

hamsa and the representation of hands in graffiti

Over the years I’ve photographed representations of hands in graffiti. I often associate the icon of a hand with the hamsa – the middle eastern symbol of protection, usually represented as an open palm with and expended middle finger, with the thumb and little finger sometimes curving outwards, Both Judaism and Islam uses this icon … Read more