Armchair Photography...

I like taking pictures. I occasionally like having my picture taken, but not often. This is a snap I took on the Isle of Mull a few weeks ago. I was there for a wedding. I didn't realise it at the time, but apparently these boats are famous. Three derelicts nestled on the shore between Craignure and Tobermory. Quite stunning, as was most of the island, though it was somewhat difficult to get a decent lunch on a Sunday afternoon.

Going back to the photography, it's only recently that I've tried to take good pictures. It coincides somewhat with getting a very good digital camera this last Christmas. In fact, it's inspired me to root out an old SLR that I was given 15 years ago. That's taking me time to get the hang of. It's 100% manual. And being used to a 512Mb smart card, it's taking time to restrict myself to 36 exposures. I'm learning to be sparing.

The shot here was taken digitally though, and I did convert it to Black & White in Photoshop. I don't think that's cheating too much.

I've developed an almost deer-in-headlights appreciation for the scenery surrounding me, so I tend to go for landscapes. I've been told this is the most difficult and frequently disappointing subject matter, with the added risk of being really boring to the viewer. For me, I have a desire to express the amazement I have for the world around me, to pass it on to others. I suppose that's a bit arrogant. It assumes that nobody else appreciates it the way I do. But that's not what I mean; you might appreciate as much as I do, but you don't see it the way I do, because we all see differently. And my contacts aren't fitting so well, so I have to see it through a great deal of blinking.

Always take the weather with you...

This was going to be a gripe about the weather in St Andrews, which has been pretty dreadful for the past week. But with 37 inches of rain falling on Mumbai in about 6 hours, bitching about the weather seems somewhat base and childish. And even though those are two of my finest or character traits, I think I'll put it on hold. The weather bitching that is; I'll continue to be base and childish for the rest of my life, I'm sure.

So what to write about? Well, I had an idea the other day. It's an odd one, but bear with me.

I have 4 serious writing projects on the go at the moment. And by serious I mean they are projects I want to see through to publication and production in their respective mediums. I rarely get time to work on them as my full time job is time consuming.

So this is my idea: I want to rent a cottage on the island of Raasay and write for 6-8 weeks. I figure that's what it will take to complete the first and largest of the projects (a novel) and allow me to flesh out the other projects.

So, that's it. I plan to quit my job and become a hermit. It's quite a lifestyle change. But it's more than that, it's doing what I want to do, what I feel I ought to be doing.

There's a song by Barenaked Ladies, on their Maroon album, called Never Do Anything. It's about the ultimate archair loudmouth who can do nothing but stare at the TV, movies, books, business and say I could do that, and do it better, if I wanted but I can't be bothered. I don't want to be that guy. Even if I'm wrong, and the novel sucks, and my other ideas are dreadful, I'll know. I'll know that I wasn't meant to be doing that and go back to something like the wine trade or mediaeval (that's how we spell it in St Andrews) history. Neither of which is a bad place to be.

It's not going to happen tomorrow. But this is where news will be posted.

If it is a success... well then all of you can tell everyone how you read my blog back in the day. And will hopefully keep reading it.

If not - well, I'll start boring you about wine.

Dreadful realisation...

I'm a terrible blogger. And I apologise to the few people kind enough to pop by and check it out. It's been three months since my last post and even that one was a total cop out.

Well... I resolve to change that. I've been inspired by someone else who has taken on this blog thing and in 3 short days been able to create something quite groovy, with photos and everything. So I feel guilty. Incidentally this is the same person who pointed out the shortage of Paul Simon on my iPod. Her name's Jo and she's ace. Check her blog out at http://squidgirl.blogspot.com/

So let the chronicles begin, be it a rant, rave, poetry or nonsense, I shall be frequent. There may even be pics.