May 2026 Updates, Mary's Summer Garden, Ivory Flame return and and we still have not moved !!!

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Welcome back to my little piece of the web. Thanks for returning.

This month I am very proud to share with you all a very charming lady's wonderful garden, she and her husband tend to James to me all the way to the outskirts of Derby to see and capture Mary’s Summer Garden, and I am happy to show you the results today.

Miss Ivory Flame came back to the studio this month for her second shoot with the team and I with a David Bowie inspired space woman shoot. Take a look. Due to the hot weather we have been having it has taken me twice as long to edit these and Mary’s Gardens pictures. It was unbearable in the computer room with sweat pouring off me. I took my time and in short doses.

And we still have not moved. Its like an endless game of backwards and forwards between my landlady and the Council. Due to the law changing at the start of May, the landlady has had to grant us another four months grace to move on. So that takes us up to September And I doubt the council will do anything in a hurry as that is the way of things with a country in a housing crisis. Oh well …. Watch this space.

Its Amy and I'thirty eighth wedding anniversary this June. We have been together a long time. She looks after me and I love her. I could not be without her. Leave it at that. Just thank you Amy for all you have put up with.

So enjoy the blog this month and see you again soon

x

The Garden – Mary's Summer Garden

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My friend and studio owner Phil Lynam arranged it for me to come and photograph his in-laws house and garden. So on a bright day in mid May we set off the a small village outside of Derby to capture what we find there. We were greeted by a very warm and friendly Mary who was tending the garden as the taxi arrived. She was very welcoming and happy for me to wander around her spacious garden, taking as many shots as I may. It was great. A day well spent and a journey worth the time. I only hope my pictures do the garden justice and would wish to thank Mary and her husband for letting me in to their property. Thanks also to Phil for arranging the shoot and James for taking me there and back so efficiently and in comfort.

For The Other Site

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This might stir up some controversy. These images are for the other site and will be out on a new page called Porcelain Gods. The pictures are of a polystyrene head with the bag still on it that it came wrapped in. The moody lighting is simply my front room tungsten lights give it an eerie feel. Amy says they look like someone who has committed suicide, but that's not the intention and should never be taken as.

What do you think?

Still Life

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Red apples and a hesyan sack on a wooden top is the view captues here. Edited in Photoshop to hopefully give an antique finish to them.

Ivory Flame – Second Shoot

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Ivory Flame returned for a second shoot and it was another off the wall, creative day again. I had long wanted to recreate (in the style of) a closing scene in the Ashes To Ashes music video by David Bowie. To make it work we needed the right model and lots of coiled black conduit which we purchased from Amazon. And it worked. Yes it does not exactly look the same, but it is the style of which is close enough. Also there are some images inspired by a Joker Doll I liked the look of on a Batman comic. In some of the variations you can see kitchen units attach to the pictures.

Why?

The idea is to get the viewer to look twice at the pictures and kitchen units are the opposite to the freaky portraits. A bit of a sublime to the ridicules if you follow.

There is also a stand alone image called Temptation where Ivory Flame is stuck in the middle of a good version of her and a bad version of her. Both whispering into her ear.

I hope you like them.

Thanks then go to model Ivory Flame, to Shadrine at Kavour Beauty. Phil Lynam at The Boardroom Studio in Derby and my dear wife Amy for all their hard work.

Projects Update – Abstract

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Just a few abstracts of some bicycle stands at my local hospital and some taken of a cut out house I made over thirty years ago when it was in a magazine, I have kept it ever since … funny how we get attached to some things and never get rid of,

The Poppys

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Amy came home recently and told me about some poppies that had been growing out of the pavement cracks near the RSPCA Charity shop. So the next day we set off down there and took some snaps. I like poppies. I like especially the delicateness of them. It was a windy and sunny day, but with a faster shutter speed and using Amy as a wind shield, I think we got some good stuff.

I have used the pictures here in several sections including I.C.M. , still life, flowers update and a few others.

May Flower Updates

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We obtained some great flowers again from the florist, one of them being this big one whose name I cannot remember, that has a large white, delicate head on it. I like photographing it from below as that is just as interesting than the above view. There are also a few poppy ones thrown in for good measure as I mentioned before thanks as always to Chris and the ladies at he Bramblesrist and Flowers to yours and Amy for her arranging and help.

That is it again for this month, be sure to come back and see something new again soon at the end of this month.

Bye xx

April 2026 Update, Still have not moved, but a sad goodbye to Nina

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Welcome back to my little piece of the web. Thanks for returning.

It is good to be back taking pictures of the flowers again, but tinged with a bit of sadness. At the florists that provide me with the beautiful flowers each month has lost a member of the staff. Her name is Nina and she always managed to greet me with a warm smile and polite, welcoming hello. Sadly Nina passed away a few weeks ago unexpected, leaving behind a husband and family. She will be missed by them and her colleagues at the Brambles Florist. She was good people. Life can often be cruel and arbitrary at times.

Sleep well Nina. X

We still have not moved house yet and last time I checked it was still all up in the air. I wish it would be over as we need to do it and move on with our lives. We have been here over eighteen years, but we are resolved to the fact that we must go. Its just all the waiting that gets me down.

There is a shoot coming up at the studio in May with model Ivory Flame based on a style of weird images I drew suspiration from the David Bowie video Ashes to Ashes. I am really looking forward to this as it pushes the envelope a bit further for me creatively.

Thats it for this month. Short and sweet this time. Please enjoy this monthes blog and come back next Month.

For Nina.

X

Art for the other site

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I photographed a small porcelain doll with no arms and legs just with available room light. The images were taken in mind for a fashion shoot I have planned in early May time with model Ivory Flame. So more of that next month. I liked the outcome of these snaps and so decided to use them for some off the wall, creepy pictures set for the other site.

Fine Art / Hush Abstractism update

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In what would have been another quiet month we got around to doing some more I.C.M. Images for the Hush gallery. I love making these abstract pieces of art, but they take a lot of images to find the best ones. I do hope we got this months pictures right?

Yoo Yoo Third fashion shoot

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Welcome back for her third fashion shoot with us is London based, Chinese national and brilliant model Yoo Yoo. She is one of those models you only have to point the camera at and she goes straight into poses. It makes life so easy and a joy to work with.

Thanks as always to Phil at the Boardroom Studio in Derby and Shadrine at Kavour Beauty on the makeup. Thanks also to Amy and Yoo Yoo.

April Flower Updates

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Good to be back taking pictures of flowers again after last months hiatus. Thanks as always to Chris and the ladies at he Bramblesrist and Flowers to yours and Amy for her arranging and help.

That is it for this month.

Be sure to come back next month.

Bye x

Remembering Nina x

March 2026 Update and sorry no flowers but for a few.

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Welcome back to my little piece of the web. Thanks for returning.

As metaphorical Rome burns and Donald the proxy Emperor Nero scratches out a self congratulatory tune on his fiddle for threatening genocide on one and all. The Chinese curse 'May you be blessed to live in interesting times' flatters his every word.

But still life goes on and I would like you to put my lovely friend Sue Kersey in your thoughts and prayer as she begins to pick up the pieces after her struggle with a stroke. It was also my Fathers 88th birthday at the end of March. So happy belated birthday Dad.

It is with a big apology for the blogs lateness this month. We have been tired from packing up stuff for our move home that should have happened two weeks ago. I have been trying to get through to the local council, but its a bit like pulling teeth. And after listening to the same tune down the phone for an hour, I give up in dis-pear.

Due to the upheavals going on I did not think it wise to get any flowers this month as I normally would. It would put an unnecessary strain on Amy, which would not be fair.

So it is a bit of a short one this month. We will be back next month with something new I hope, that is if Donald Trump (has anyone noticed how troublingly those around him are talking about him like he is the second coming of Christ?) has not started World War III as he just might do.

Please enjoy this months slim offerings

x

The Garden

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Well not so much from a garden, but rather St. Johns Church in town. These snaps are from the shrubs that border this Church and make the place look welcoming. Such a shame then that sadly every time I used the path in the Church to cut through to the Doctors I often come across a posse of drugged up space cadets (Junkies) ripped to their tits on methamphetamine and weed, There is a soup kitchen run by the church for the homeless and destitute. Which is a grand idea, its just that sadly it gets abused by some of the people who use it. Still the shrubs are nice to photograph.

Still Life

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Some of what you see here this month might look confusing but I hope you can see what it is. Especially the first three. They are some abstracts I took of a park bench against a black wall with some lemons on the ground (I was feeling arty farty at the time). It might be clear to you, but it looks reasonably interesting. The other images are of red tulips with a bit of an I.C.M. Touch. I thought about putting them in the I.C,M, gallery, but I thought they looked out of place. So they are in the Still Life gallery instead.

Still Life Minimalism

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These minimalist images or a fence, a road sign and some branches of a tree were taken out and about in St Johns Church. Also there is two captures of a box of eggs and an old Swanvesta Match box. All taken at their bare minimal.