References to God in the Street & Encounters with Religious Iconography

It’s the beginning of autumn and also the season for a sequence of Jewish holidays – the new year aka Rosh HaShana, followed by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and Sukkot, a harvest festival. These holidays are sometimes represented by symbols, such as apple and honey for the new year, or a citrus fruit … Read more

Googly Eyes & Eyebombing – A Photographic Collection of my Favourite Encounters

On a recent visit to Tel Aviv whilst walking through the Carmel Market area one evening I came across a sign at a construction site: The Hebrew text states it is compulsory to wear protective glasses. Seeing this well-worn sign with its additional shiny googly eyes was a decisive moment and I felt it was … Read more

Signs of the Times

I’ve gathered a selection of signs and messages that I’ve encountered during the past month. They date from 20 March, 2020, several days before London lockdown was announced to images taken this week. Some are official, some intimate, some are signs of gratitude and hope. They range from examples of orders and restrictions created by … Read more

Seeing Via Wing & Rear View Mirrors

Yesterday on my way home I saw a leafy tree reflected in a scooter’s wing mirror.  I liked the surreal, abstract quality of this image of my neighbourhood street so I stopped to try and capture what I saw with my iPhone: I started recalling other images I’d taken involving vehicle mirrors and remembered a … 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

Some Images from Venice Carnival 2018

I’ve just returned from spending five days in Venice at the tail end of the Carnival season. It’s great that my husband loves Venice as much as I do; we both feel it’s our second home and that the five days just flew by. Upon arriving at Marco Polo Airport I saw a charismatic guy … Read more

Purim 1984 in Hendon

I’ve been sorting through boxes of old photographs and came across a series of images I took back in 1984 when I was in my 20s. I had decided to revisit my old primary school, Hasmonean on Shirehall Lane, Hendon. It was and still is a small Jewish primary school, established in 1947. My purpose … 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

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

Purim, ritual and ancestry

Out of all the Jewish festival and holidays, Purim, which begins this evening, is one which resonates with me fondly. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, the original story of Purim took place in Ancient Persia, apparently in the 4th Century BC.  My family originally hailed from Mashhad in Iran, so there is a … Read more