I thought i’d give a glimpse of something I’m working on at the moment. It’s coming to the time of year when people get dressed up and dance around a brightly coloured pole – a Maypole. It’s usually a very popular event and hopefully there will be some acceptable British bank holiday weather – a tall order i know but it could happen!

Next Monday i’ll going along to the Mayday celebrations to photograph the festivities and try and capture some of the atmosphere. The Maypole featured in the photo above is a permanent iconic structure on the local village green, unlike many other village Maypoles that are put up and taken down when required. Most of the year it just stands waiting, waiting patiently for May to arrive when it will become the focus of attention.

The history of the Maypole is fascinating with the practice falling in and out of favour with the ‘authorities’ on many occasions. Probably one of the more amusing descriptions comes from the Long Parliament ordinance of 1644 describing maypoles as “a Heathenish vanity, generally abused to superstition and wickedness.” Plenty to photograph then!

It’s old world clashing into the new, although it could be strongly argued that most village Maypole usage these days has more to do with tourism than any olde world beliefs. One visitor to the local celebrations where i am, is apparently coming all the way from Atlanta!

Look out for a Maypole gallery coming to  the main photography website soon

The last couple of days have been among of the most painful I’ve ever experienced. Strangely, Grandma’s funeral last Thursday wasn’t the worst part – the emptying of the bungalow she called home the following day takes that honour. Something felt very wrong. It was all very surreal and immensely sad as the furniture was carried away. One of the more common sentiments among many of the village residents present at the funeral and afterwards, was that it was the end of an era for the village community. It certainly felt like the end of something you never thought would end.

I had packed a couple of cameras with me and i’m glad i had them. The day of the funeral started as a bright but foggy morning – perfect for getting some moody, atmospheric shots among the trees and around Thorpe Malsor. To be honest, it was great to have a distraction, but the photography also served a deeper purpose of recording the village that had been part of Flint family life for so long. That relationship, that physical connection, has finally gone. Was the photography a form of therapy? Undoubtedly i’d have to say yes.

I took film cameras rather than the DSLR. I did pack the digital camera but then decided to stick with a 35mm SLR and the 6×6. Later it seemed right to be shooting these final (?) images of the village using film. After all, as a teenager, I’d had great fun going around Thorpe looking for images, armed with my trusty Miranda MS2 (my first SLR camera) loaded with Boots film. Fortunately the light was great during my final stay. I’ll be publishing the 35mm and 6×6 images on the blog very soon.

Finally i come to the image above. My iPhone developed major battery problems so that it could only be used if plugged into a power socket. I would have liked to have posted some images, audioboos and tweeted more as i walked around, but it wasn’t to be. Instead i took this image, using my Nokia, of the snowdrops in the churchyard at Thorpe Malsor. For many years, my Grandparents lived in the house opposite. The proximity of the church, combined with living in a fabulous old country house, made it feel very olde world England. The snowdrops in the photo add a feeling of new life. Renewal. A new start.

It was dark when i left the village. Will i return? Well i prefer to use an au revoir rather than a definite goodbye. If I’m nearby, I’ll stop to remember some childhood memories. When it comes down to it though, the Thorpe Malsor residents were right – it is the end of an era.

I’m currently reinstalling everything back onto my laptop. Great fun! After around 18 months of flawless use, the laptop finally started freezing on me in critical situations, so i decided to do a factory reset. A drastic move, i know, but it means a fresh, clean laptop ready to go soon. It’ll just take me several days to put all the software back on it.

Fortunately there was nothing on the hard drive of great value. I backup to DVD-ROM and memory stick, and now DropBox, as often as i can, but it never seems quite enough. The fear of losing digital content has increased each year as i realise how much I rely on files just being there. To complicate matters, the laptop DVD-RW would no longer burn discs due to a software issue. The factory reset has removed this problem too. Phew!

Just recently I started using an online service called CodeGuard after i realised how much blood, sweat, tears and man hours had gone into the main website redesign. The idea of someone wrecking all that work with a hack [shiver] terrified me! CodeGuard simply backup your website (all the files on your server) so you have a fall-back (or several!) should the worse happen. So far it looks like a great service.

I’m about to start on another photography book release via blurb.com that should take me most of the winter to put together. This is going to be a big project and an important landmark book (at least for me!) that completes the first phase of the Norfolk project.

Ten years ago, i decided that i needed a long term photographic project. What began as a loose kind of photography exercise in Norfolk, ended up gathering pace and direction. After ten years, it’s time for a break and some contemplation of where to take it next. I have lots of options open, plenty left to photograph in the county, and after a year or two i’ll return.

Over the next few months I’ll be putting all of the photography  together, around 80 images or possibly more, to make a retrospective book that , I think, will be the perfect way to present the first ten years of work. The majority of the photographs that have been released online have focussed on the landscape side of the project, however, the book will stay true to the original idea with a broad mix of landscape and documentary photography. I aim to release the book on March 21st 2012.

Sigh. This week i really need to sort out my 35mm lens. It’s not a serious issue (at least i don’t think it is), just a rattly rear element that needs securing, but it bugs me because it is my favourite lens. I love that lens. Hopefully it will be easy enough to sort out.

It’s been a week of checking out cameras and prices. I have a few ideas coming together for 5×4 gear and a new digital camera i aim to get later this year. I’m especially looking forward to getting down to a bit of refined and relaxed image making with a 5×4.

An anchored yacht at Beaumaris, Anglesey in North Wales.

I love the misty mountain of Snowdonia that feature in the background of this photo. To wake up on your yacht to that view must be fantastic. I would own a yacht if i could afford one. I adore the freedom you have to move around that a yacht offers. One day maybe…

At the time of writing, I’m packing to go down to Cornwall. When this post appears on the blog, i will be boarding the train for an eight hour journey down to the South West of England. So keep an eye on this blog, the main photoblog and the other websites over the next few days for tweets, photos, audioboos, podcasts, blogposts and more.

Three people enjoying the atmosphere of a harbour. Here is the first of the Agfapan 25 i promised… oh so long ago. It was taken along the harbour front at Conwy, North Wales in 1994. Slow 25 ISO film wasn’t exactly the best choice of film for street photography, but i managed to get away with it.

Holme beach, Norfolk, UK  

It’s hard to believe but the Darker Skies blog has been online for a year. My initial idea for the blog’s role turned out to be a non-starter. Originally i had planned the blog to be more like my main photo blog. I just didn’t see the point of doubling up on websites though. Each must have its own distinct role and Darker Skies certainly has developed an important role for itself over the last year.

Really the blog acts as a satellite for my other online photographic endeavours and as my own photo blog. The podcast has its own page here and there are plans to expand the site even further. The page design changed again earlier this month and… finally i’m happy with the way the blog looks. It’s been quiet here so far this month, very little in the way of photo postings, but i ‘ll be adding an image everyday this week starting tomorrow.

Here’s to another year of Darker Skies.

Wicker artwork on Salthouse beach, Norfolk, UK

As you may have noticed, I’ve altered the look of the Darker Skies blog. There are a few improvements in the works that will be added over the summer. More details about that coming up in the April podcast due for release in the next week.

Sadly, there is no visit to Norfolk this year, however, i do intend to visit again next year. I do have a trip planned for this year to a rather lovely part of Britain… it’s just when I’ll do it that needs to be sorted out.

100th Bomb Group memorial museum control tower - Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk, UK

I was recently ‘tagged’ by my friend Kat to take part in a little photo game where you pick the tenth photofile and talk about it. Here is my contribution taken from the Norfolk collection that has been sat on my computer for years… literally. 

The tenth photograph was taken at the 100th Bomb Group museum at Thorpe Abbotts on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. In the late 1970′s , a team of enthusiasts decided to renovate the old airfield tower and turn it into a memorial museum dedicated to those 100th Bomb group aircrews who were killed in action. The museum is run by local volunteers who tell the story of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) at Thorpe Abbotts. It is a place to remember. 

The photograph above was taken on the top of the control tower looking out over where the runway used to be. Although agriculture has gradually crept back onto the old airfield, the tell tale signs that this place was a hive of activity seventy years ago are still visible. Maintenance areas can still be seen and a  large section of the old concrete runway still exists, so it’s not hard to imagine the roar of aircraft taking off to attack targets in Europe. The airfield would have been a noisy place back then, but now it’s one of the the most peaceful places i know.

The overall feel of the place is ghostly. The only sound is the wind, with maybe some birdsong in the background. A star spangled banner flutters and flaps on a flagpole, as a permanent salute to those long gone. The very young faces of the lost aircrews stare out at you from the photos in the museum’s beautiful chapel. Their youth is overwhelmingly obvious as they stand proudly in front of their B-17s. The photos reflect lives cut short a long way from home, sacrificed for a better world free of Nazism.  I can’t think of a more fitting memorial than the actual control tower that many crews would have looked at as they taxied for takeoff. I love the museum, the atmosphere, the history and the old airfield. For me, this photograph captures all of that.

 Mooring post – Blakeney, Norfolk, UK

 Winter in the fields – North Yorkshire, UK

I have so many ideas abot my new podcast that it’s hard to work out where to go with it. The first one will be audio but i’m really tempted to alternate between audio and video making six of each. Although i could do these video episodes using a phone, i think my life would be made far easier by investing in a small camcorder. The one i have my eye on is around £95 and would be perfect for recording video podcasts, after all i’m not making Gone with the Wind.

Speaking of video, very soon i may be returning to an old college of mine. The college has a certain technical suite that we would like to use to complete the vampire film ‘Christian’. To say that technology has moved on from when myself and the film’s director Matt were there would be an massive understatement. Just the ability to distribute work onto the internet is a massive leap forward. Back in our day, distribution relied on how many VHS tape copies you could produce.  It involved a lot of hard work, time and the visual quality was questionable at best. VHS video and reel-to-reel audio tape seem so last century now. I think it’s going to be a strange experience going back.

I envy what students have to work with now. If anything, technology has only helped to increase creativity. It’ll be interesting to see what they do produce.

 I wish everyone a happy and prosperous  New Year 2010 ! 

Going across the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northern England

I’m about to start writing my own personal ‘end of year review’, something that i always do for the last post of the year on my main photoblog. It’s a post where i reflect on how i’ve done creatively regarding work and photographic ouput over the year. Have i produced photographs that i like? Have i improved on last year’s work? So far, after a couple of strong creative years with 2007 and 2008, the jury is out for this year. I do expect a fair judgement when it comes though. 2009 wasn’t too bad, but i do intend to make 2010 a more outgoing and vibrant year photographically. More on that in the last post….

The month of November has been a month of waiting. Waiting for payments and waiting for refunds. As if making a living from photography isn’t hard enough, clients can have the tendency to forgot all about paying you. They scream for the photographs to be delivered, but when it comes to coughing up the money…. they slow to a crawl.  Ahh the fun you can have combining the arts of photography and trying to earn a living.