What a difference a day makes:

The problem with the washing machine was nothing more than the waste pipe coming away from the piping that takes the water down to the drain.

I went to the dentist first thing in the morning and had the tooth taken out, unbelievably I never experienced any pain at all, I was expecting an ache when the effect of the anaesthetic subsided but again not in the slightest.

and once again the pictures are formatting correct as you can see from this picture from the New Photography On Screen exhibion


Solihull College Fine Art Degree Show 2008 Birmingham Institute of Art and Design BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree Show

Its that time of the year when every night there's a degree show of some kind on first I went to the show at Solihull, I graduated here and its good to see friends who have passed through the college. I was very impressed with the work this year it showed a great deal of thought in the concepts. Very good.

I'm fascinated by the way students work develops over the three years of study painters show installations or sculpture and of course there is no better example of this change or evolution of an art practise than myself because when I joined I came from a background in watercolours and pencil drawing and came out the other end as a photographer.

So then onto the City of Birmingham show: This is massive in comparison to Solihull you realise this first as you have to fight your way through the masses congregated on the street outside then inside there are so many students and artwork on every wall and in every space its great fun but little chance to speak to the artist.


I'm not going to change and go looking for burnt out caravans

walking my 3 dogs through the park on Wednesday morning I got very excited when I saw black smoke coming from Slade Lane but it was something of a false alarm as it was only a caravan that had been set alight. The fire had only just been started and at that stage the flames had engulfed the van making it so hot that you couldn't pass it on the road. For once I didn't have my camera with me, I'm always taking shots in the park and nature reserve in particular I look out for a heron on the lake at the other end of the park but I recently gave up trying to get any decent shots because at the moment he is hiding behind the heavy summer coverage of leaves. I was in no rush to get the camera because caravans are made of fibre glass, wood, a very small amount of aluminium and a steel chassis that is generally covered in so much ash and therefore there is nothing worth taking a photo off.


When I returned with the camera I hoped there might be the odd markings amongst the mess perhaps the aluminium would produce a different angle on the metal but there was nothing really exciting to report, this was the first time that I had taken photos while the vehicle is still burning and its not a great experience with the smoke getting in your eyes.


Slade Lane has produced a few burnt cars for me as its an ideal dumping area. Its about 200 yards from any houses and separates the park and nature reserve from the waste ground fields. It used to be a short cut off the beaten track between Priory Road in Yardley Wood and Baldwins Lane in the Hall Green district of Birmingham, there's a ford across a stream of a river. The road was closed off to traffic a few years ago creating a dead end which attracts people dumping anything from building rubbish, furniture and thankfully the odd car.