From 'La Mole' to Penge

I haven't finished posting about our trip to Le Marche but I've had a very busy week.
I spent every night mounting... photos for the exhibition at our local cafe'/garden centre and also some very time consuming floral photo collages to sell at the Spring Fair at the Garden Museum in a couple of weeks' time (together with our cards).
I'm not quite sure when the exhibition (entitled "Hold That Pose!") will take place (probably in late May?) but it's good to be ready.

I've decided to go for the tongue-in-cheek approach for the exhibition, for a variety of reasons: the venue (it's not a gallery but a cafe'), the audience (I'm pretty sure it will appeal to the British sense of humour), the work itself (the photos are quite a mix and some of them should make people smile) and well... myself.

So here's the short introduction:

"Pablo Bizarro is a local resident, an aspiring polymath, a bon vivant and a recluse. He was last seen in polite society a couple of years ago when he was involved with a performance of the Porcupine Players.

He achieved a City & Guild qualification in photography, and he often wonders around Europe holding staring contests and silent conversations with statues who eventually acquiesce to pose for him.

In this exhibition Pablo explores a number of themes: the capture of the familiar from an unusual point of view, the use of accidental props to transform the obvious and pepper it with irony, his fascination with the morbid and the macabre, and his never-ending quest for blue skies.

He believes that art should be for everyone, hence the very attractive pricing. Buy today a unique piece of art, lovingly mounted by Pablo himself!"

The weather has been very mild in the last few days and it's great to see signs of spring in the garden. 



Some tulips already have large, bulging heads



And of course some flowers are in bloom already.







There's insect life too


Some early bees are enjoying the sun and the hellebores







and the crocuses/croci







For me, nothing represents the hope of spring better than the simple yet stylish snowdrop

 

Don't you just love spring?









 

Dear Italy,

Many thanks for another wonderful holiday.

You never fail to entertain and suprise us, even though we have known each other for a very long time.

Your rugged good looks


(Manarola, Cinque Terre, Liguria)

are a match for your artistic temperament and passion.


(San Michele in Foro, Lucca, Tuscany)

You didn't have to put 'make up' on


(Snow in Lunigiana, Tuscany)


(Campo dei Miracoli, Pisa, Tuscany)

to make us fall in love with you all over again.

And thank you also for all the superb food and wine. You always like to spoil us!

We'll be back to visit you very soon.

Lots of love,
Franco (and Adrian)
xoxo

This evening, partly inspired by an article about Lomography that Miranda sent me last week and partly by the "Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera" exhibition at Tate Modern, I decided to walk from the office to Victoria station holding my compact camera at waist level and taking random pictures.

I clicked when I saw anything that caused a reaction in me without slowing down at all. 
I ended up with over 200 photos and I quite like the randomness, the strangle angles and how blurry some are. 
Plus I enjoyed the immediateness and the freedom of taking pictures of people without them being aware or posing (well if you are lucky enough to frame the subject). 

Here's a small selection of my favourites: 



( Click here for more )

 

The slideshow includes pictures of the Queen's Hotel, Leeds Town Hall, Civic Hall, Leeds Art Gallery and the Victorian copies of Italian belfries in Holbeck.

I still haven't posted the bulk of the pictures taken in in Leeds the week-end before last. 
I'm planning to do so this week.

I'm starting with Leeds Corn Exchange:
 


an amazing building now mainly empty apart from the restaurant in the basement:

Even on the grey day of our visit, it was surprisingly light inside.

These pictures are almost 2 weeks old.
Since then, we've had the "big thaw"  and now everything is clean (as much as it can be in London, of course) and public transport is back to normal.

Still, as it was the first time I saw the lake in St. James' Park frozen over, and it was bitterly cold that morning, I thought it was worth posting them.

About 18 months ago, I bought a compact camera so that I could take pictures while walking around London.

When I walk from the train station to the office and vice-versa, I frequently see curious/interesting/odd/beautiful sights that deserve to be immortalised but more often than not, I'm too lazy to get the camera out of my bag.

Well, I'm going to make more of an effort! (I'm not going to say that I'm posting one picture every day, you'll be pleased to hear! lol)

I've started this morning with this picture taken in Lincoln's Inn.