Backgammon

So recently I have done quite a bit of travelling within the Near East and as a result am pretty exhausted, so this is a kind of random filler story about backgammon rather than any kind of update...

 One day I was downtown, camera in hand, without much to do so I went for a walk around to see what there was to see and more importantly photograph. The area was quite dull, generic architecture, traffic, Starbucks - it could have been any city in the world. That was until I stumbled upon the game of backgammon...

I don't know about where you are from but in the UK it is not an everyday occurrence that you see a sizable group of 40-50 somethings gathered around a board-game on the side of a busy street in the middle of the working week. Here it actually seems perfectly ordinary, in fact men sitting around generally doing nothing in the middle of the week is ordinary here. Of course the sight of this group got my 'interesting photo opportunity' sense tingling. I would love to say that I made a beeline for the group, quickly introduced myself and began an impormptu photoshoot.

The truth however is possibly mildly more amusing and certainly paints me in a less glorious and more accurate light... The men were sitting on the pavement on the side of a roundabout. I saw the group when I was about 1/3 of the way round the roundabout which is when my interest was spiked. As I got to where they were sitting I realised that I could barely speak a word of Arabic and was clearly a tourist, waltzing around with an expensive DSLR over my shoulder.

I chickened out. I passed calmly on by with an air of determination as though I was actually headed somewhere just around the corner and not at all interested in taking pictures of what was clearly the most mundane activity imaginable - a group of oldies playing a board game. Seriously my life is just one big adventure ...

So anyway after I had passed them by I looked back over my shoulder and winced slightly as I watched a perfect photo moment slip by because I was too afraid to capture it. I continued walking all the way around the roundabout and back down the street I had approached from. The internal dialogue at this point was something along the lines of ...

'Seriously?! What is the worst that could possibly happen, they say no? They start speaking in Arabic and waving their arms about as you take photos? Would they really chase you away? ... Seriously man up and just go take some photos!'

This is not a game of backgammon but I did see this on the way.

After about 5 minutes of walking the wrong direction I decided to throw caution to the wind! ... I crossed the street and headed back to the roundabout.

As a brief aside this whole experience involved crossing the road a lot of times and it was on one of these times I realised that they don't have zebra crossings here. Instead crossing the road is similar to photo opportunities, you pretty much just have to put yourself out there and hope that you don't die.

I arrived at the backgammon game which still lived on - it seemed they were not planning on going anywhere too soon. I walked over and stood looking over the shoulder of a guy observing the game and tried to do my best 'This is a genuinely enthralling game' face, despite not knowing the first thing about the game of backgammon.

After a few minutes one of the guys spotted my camera and saw straight through my paper thin guise of watching the game for interest, he started speaking in Arabic and motioning with his arms. Fortunately it was not as I had feared, he was not shouting and waving menacingly but rather giving the gesture for taking pictures.

I took the opportunity, muttered something in English and quickly retreated behind my camera and just started taking photos. It turns out the group of guys was pretty friendly, one of them had lived in Germany for 20 years and spoke some English, I spent about 30 minutes trying to scratch together a conversation with him and intermittently taking pictures. They were all taxi drivers who were passing their time at a slow point in the day.

My conversation with this one guy was actually quite sad, he was asking where in the city I had been and was quick to advise me where in the City not to go, he pointed over my shoulder down one of the roads and frowned. I asked him why I shouldn't go there. He explained that it was not safe, or clean there because it was the Muslim quarter. I was shocked at his casual prejudice as he continued to explain that he was Catholic and that this whole area, including the group of backgammon players were catholic. (It explained the rosary beads that they were carrying) As the conversation continued he explained the different catholic areas that I could go to and what they were good for, being a taxi driver he was of course trying to offer me a lift to these places. 

Interestingly the prices he was quoting me were excess of triple the going rate, no doubt seeking to take advantage of the naive tourist. To me this was a very interesting insight, outwardly people here are usually extremely friendly and polite but the truth is that they trust you as far as they can throw you and do not care to be trusted by others as far as I can see.

What is sad for me is that the Catholic community is this nations perception of what it means to be Christian and it is a poor display. The struggle to promote Christ in a predominantly Muslim region is made that much harder by those who misrepresent him. 

Title font used: 'Cubic'

Blue Skies, Kites and Sunshine

O.k it's been a long old while since the last post - been super busy photography wise with the exhibition preparation which is well under way with the prints ordered there are now not too many things left to do.

Anyway last week (?) I took a little trip to the downs and because Barney has not been photographed a little old while I bought my camera along.

Shape #2 Another spiral

Just a quick one cause I have 0 time right now ... its another spiral

Oh and as a POI that is Niagara falls in the background -plenty more to come on that later.

Spirals and Palms

So as I am still undecided as to where these series is going - here are some more photos from both the hand and shape categories...

 This would be an appropriate time to mention the watermark designed for me by my brother who has a flair for these kind of things.

Yes just to be annoying I had 2 pictures in each category leaving me annoying balanced between the two.

Though now that I look at them I am already slightly bored of the hands ...

O.K it's decided - here comes a series on shape! this posts' shape: spiral

Also big news on the photography front - I have an exhibition coming up! so for all of you in Bristol from  the 3rd - 10th of July come and pay me a visit in Room 212 Gloucester Road (next door to sage) and check out some of my photos as I launch into the commercial market.

The main event (which is genuinely worth a visit if I say so my self) will be on the Friday Night/Saturday day 8/9th featuring live music, free drinks and maybe even a BBQ.

This will be a joint effort - I am joined by a work colleague Matt Crawford who will be laying down his talent in the form of travel photography. Unfortunately we both have to keep up the day job so the shop will not be open during the day (though we may make the effort at lunch times) so early evening will be your best bet to catch us if you can't make the weekend.

Stay tuned for more info - Oh and you can now 'like' my photography on Facebook down at the bottom left of this page, while your there if you could take the time to like Matts photography that would help as it turns out a minimum number of fans is required before Facebook will allow you to have a reasonable domain name. Enjoy!

Shapely Hands

I'm thinking of doing a series on shapes or hands - haven't made my mind up yet. Hands are apparently one of the hardest things to draw realistically, I think they can be quite tricky to compose well in a picture as well - It's  hard to get an accurate sense of shape.
Alternatively shape is quite a loose definition for a series, everything has shape. though I have a fair Idea of what I mean when I say shape- the series would probably be an ongoing definition of 'shape according to Ben'
Then again I could perhaps combine the two - or even run them side by side. I guess you and I will both just have to wait and see.

Anyway here is the self-made inspiration for the idea of doing something with shape/hands

I'm still not sure which of these I prefer ...

Love Oxford

I love Oxford. The weather only threatens to be bad but never follows through, the architecture is antiquated and full of character, the scenery is stunning, everything is 20 minuets walk away from everything. Some of the greatest philosophers, artists writers and creative thinkers of the last century have launched from there and it currently houses some of the loveliest people I know.

I was In Oxford again this weekend for the annual Love Oxford meeting during which all of the churches in Oxford meet together. It was also the first time I had seen my brand new sister in law in the UK which was a lot of fun. For most of the day I was too busy to be taking photos and for the rest it was quick snap shots - I had no time for visual excellence this weekend but fear not - this weekend did also mark the returning of my camera so I will be making up for the lack of activity as best I can before I shoot off to Canada this coming Friday! Busy, busy, busy!

Sleepy Oxford

Largely sleepy because my brother (the reason for whom I was in Oxford) was asleep at the time that he was meant to meet us. Anyway, Oxford is becoming a more and more familiar place to me now - to the extent that I successfully managed to lead the way from the car park to the river for a walk along its lazy banks as we waited for my brother to rouse from his slumber. Every time I visit Oxford I notice just how much more attractive it is than my home town of Bristol with its old school architecture (every other building seems to be owned by the university)  and the meandering river running through it and where there is beauty to be captured there is a camera to do just that...

 When taking this picture I thought - This would look slammin' with a wide angle lens.

My brother did eventually wake up and then we headed out for a late lunch and all was well with the world - mainly because lunch was super tasty.
All in all a lovely day.

my view on the way home - light hitting the occasional raindrop on the car window...

Also seeing as I'm making a post - here are some pictures from the day previous when a bunch of busy bees decided to grace my mothers garden.

O.K This has been a very bitty long winded sort of post so I think Ill just let it wind to an appropriately elongated sort of rolling end (and I just reminded my self of this blog) So on the off chance that anyone is actually bothering to read this tediously slow ending hope you enjoyed the post - come again soon!

Hidcote

Hidcote is a house and gardens owned by the National Trust, and is apparently where the National Trust 'learned to garden' weather this is true I do not know but it does have stunning gardens. Fortunately my mother is a member of the National Trust and so when she went I tagged along for the ride. I distinctly remember visiting Hidcote about 2 years ago and frantically running around trying to take pictures of all the amazing flowers though at the time I did not own a camera of my own and so used my mums - this time of course my 550D came along for the trip. I was like a kid in a candy store ...