I alway feel a bit lost without a camera in my hand; the glamorous new world of the ‘saturday job’ provided my first one – even before shoes and bags – and although I’m no photographer I do like to capture the things that appeal to the moment. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve wanted to stop in the middle of the road for this sunset, or that lorry side, or this cloud formation, or that landscape, and the sudden pull-ins and turn arounds that we’ve done… all for the sake of that unique image and inspiration.
A friend once said, in a rather bemused way, that I took photos of things he’d never even seen. I guess that’s just it really – we have to look and keep looking, building a memory bank that’s just there, waiting, for when we need it. At the time I’d noticed a group of fellow ‘lunchees’ standing around an outside bar in Portugal – every one of them was wearing black and white in one form or another, but what had caught my eye was that each of them unconsciously sported some little snippet of orange – a belt, or a strip on trainers, or a bag, or a hair clip, or a badge… The mixes of stripes, patterns and solids that we wear offers complete individuality, but also perfect crowd camouflage and disguise. It happens more often that you’d think and I saw the same thing in London recently, whilst standing in Trafalgar Square waiting for someone…..a disconnected group of peoples that were also hanging around dressed all in black and white – this time each with some sort of blue green accent.
Anyway, the point is that inspiration is everywhere and it’s the connections that are so exciting, always new, often surprising.
So, I thought I’d share some of the images that were around when we chose this window seat cushion…
This guy is over 90 years old and has been mixing indigo for more than 70 of them ! And yes, he is blue.
