Capital Interest October 2015

CAPITAL INTEREST OCTOBER 2015 / VOLUME 1 / NUMBER 9 / WW.RPS.ORG

IMAGE © NORMAN SMITH LRPS

WELCOME FROM DEL

Having hi-jacked the London Blog spot, I’m now hi-jacking the editorial of Capital Interest. But I think this month I’m entitled to do so. I just wanted to say a big thank-you to all the London (and, of course, non-London) members, who voted for me in the recent election for Council and to congratulate my fellow councillors and the members of the advisory board on their election.

I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of Walter’s team and think that the next two years are going to be very exciting indeed.

Meanwhile, we have an info-packed issue for you again this month and if you have anything to share with us for next month or beyond, do let us know via london-news@rps.org.

BOOKWORM CORNER

Peter Parker

Delighted with my recent purchase from Hoxton Mini Press I decided to donate to the Kickstarter project for their new publication “Makers of East London” This is a departure for Hoxton Mini Press as they usually produce “mini” books – slim volumes for the coffee table that are a joy to behold. This is a more ambitious and much less “mini”.

This book is over 300 pages of images and narrative (mostly images) that take an intimate look at the people behind the craft, their studios and their practices to see what it takes to be a maker in a world of increasing mass production.

The book is printed on gorgeous matt paper and features ceramicists, bike builders, sign painters, globe makers, weavers, furniture designers, spoon carvers, shoe makers and my personal favorite – the Violin makers as well as many more makers.

As the blurb says, East London is the creative hub of one of the world’s most dynamic cities and is seeing a resurgence of craftspeople breathing life back into traditional practices.

It’s great that this reflects a global interest in a return to handmade products created with individual passion. This book is a great way to connect with that ethos and to enjoy true craftsmanship in an all too throwaway society.

CONTENTS LONDON, INTERVIEW ONE - REBECCA MILLER

3-7

LONDON, INTERVIEW TWO - MIKE TSANG

8-13

LUMAS: ON CAREFUL CURATION AND FINDING NEW TALENT

14-17

LONDON, STREET - FROM VENICE TO BROADWAY - NORMAN SMITH LRPS

18-19

A LONDONER ABROAD - THE CITY OF LANTERNS - DEL BARRETT ARPS

20-23

DAVES DIARY - WE’RE ALL GOING ON A SUMMER HOLIDAY - DAVE HARRIS LRPS

24-25

LONDON INTERVIEW ONE REBECCA MILLER

Rebecca Miller is a London based photographer and The London Media Blogger managed to catch up with her just before she left for New York.

Born in Northern California, Rebecca moved to San Francisco to study photography at the Academy of Art University. After graduating she moved to London where she lives and works today.

There’s a playfulness to her imagery: musicians Pete and The Pirates surrounded by origami sailboats, or singer Paloma Faith caught balancing books on her head in a wood panelled library.

Such is Rebecca’s desire to create an arresting image.

I came across her work when it was widely promoted for an advertising campaign for Wedgwood.

www.rebeccamiller.co.uk facebook.com/rebeccamillerphotographer instagram.com/rebeccamiller99 IMAGE © REBECCA MILLER

REBECCA MILLER AND HER PHOTOGRAPHY

By The London Media Blogger

Capital Interest (CI): How do you describe yourself?

Rebecca Miller (RM): That depends on the day. Hardworking/driven/happy/creative/curious And sometimes I’m none of that. Sometimes all I can muster is coffee and a day at the cinema by myself.

CI: What does photography mean to you?

RM: I find photography a great way to get out the things I want to say but can’t. I wanted to be a writer when I was a child; I won an award at the state fair about the day in the life of a penny when I was 8. Sadly the words don’t make their way out in the right way anymore but the stories are still there.

CI: What do you want to say with your photographs?

RM: Different things each time but I’m always trying to tell a story, or at least part of a story. I try my best not to just take pretty pictures of pretty girls. I always want there to be something happening just under the surface that’s a bit unexplainable.

CI: How do you get what’s in your mind onto the photograph in just the way you want?

RM: It rarely comes out exactly as imagined. What’s in my mind is like a dream sequence that’s missing a few parts. I usually have the idea 90% there and on the day it’s my team and the subject that really complete the idea. Sometimes it changes quite a bit from the original idea. You have to be more fluid on the day of the shoot and see what happens. I love working with a creative team.

CI: What do you think makes a memorable photograph?

RM: I think there are some basic things that people respond to when looking at a photograph.

Light, color, composition and texture. I feel like this is the base of a good photograph, and then you build on top of that with a storyline.

CI: How do you get yourself inspired for a photoshoot ?

RM: This has changed through the years. I used to spend all my money on books and magazines but a lot of what I used to do can be done on the internet now. I used to spend hours putting mood boards together but now there is pinterest. Far less paper cuts with pinterest! I still buy books and magazines, I go to exhibitions, I spend countless hours watching films. I do my homework.

CI: When you are shooting, how much of it is instinct vs planned ?

RM: Like I said quite a fair bit is planned out beforehand. I like to storyboard everything so the shot is nearly finished before it was taken. But there is always some missing element that you can’t plan out. Something that happens on the day that you didn’t expect. That is what I love about photography.

CI: Do you have any unfulfilled photographic ambitions?

RM: Yes of course! I’m still doing it! As long as I’m still doing it I have unfulfilled photographic ambitions. I have a hit list of publications that I would love to work with. People that I would love to work with. Most of all I want my work to progress and to deepen. I need it to.

CI: What’s been your most challenging assignment?

RM: I will not name names or companies but I had a very challenging assignment a few years ago.

I was commissioned to shoot a young musician. I was hired to do my thing, shoot in the way I do

ALL IMAGES © REBECCA MILLER

but halfway through the shoot the head of the company turned up and decided that we needed to shoot on a white background with bright punchy lighting. He put the young girl I was shooting in short shorts and turned up the dance music. I was expected to keep shooting. I felt very much like the hired help. It was my worst nightmare shooting experience come to life.

I think over the years I have learned not to take every job that comes my way. I need to make sure I am being hired to be Rebecca Miller and not just a photographer. Its important to have a good relationship with the client, you have to be on the same page and understand each other.

Otherwise you’ll end up with a 16-year-old girl twerking on a white background with bad lighting.

CI: What do you think the future looks like for photography and photographers?

RM: Well its all changing now. A photograph isn’t a tangible thing anymore. We are shooting megabytes now. I feel very lucky as I was in art school learning traditional methods of photography.

I started with film and then shifted to digital. Although I do mostly shoot digitally now I am still working with the same ideas that I started with.

But it is exciting now that photography isn’t this specialist thing anymore. It’s made it possible to include everyone. It does make it harder for actual photographers because in a way everyone is a photographer now. I think that is why it’s very important to figure out what you are saying. You need to have a style that is recognizable otherwise why are people going to pay you when they can get their cousin with a digital slr to do the job. You have to know a lot more than just how to operate the camera.

CI: Is there life outside photography for you?

RM: Right now I am missing photography! I have taken a few months off to facilitate quite a big life change. My partner and I have bought a property in London and moved to NYC all in the space of two months.

Under normal circumstances my life is very photo heavy. My favorite thing to do on a day off is go see a photography exhibition or go see films. Photography isn’t just a job for me, I don’t feel the need to switch if off.

www.rebeccamiller.co.uk facebook.com/rebeccamillerphotographer instagram.com/rebeccamiller99

ALL IMAGES © REBECCA MILLER

LONDON INTERVIEW TWO MIKE TSANG

SOUTH BANK STORIES EXHIBITION INTERVIEW WITH MIKE TSANG BY STUART SMITH

What is your Background?

I’m not a professional photographer. This project [South Bank Stories] came about because 2 or 3 years ago I took the entire year off to do a personal project. That was a documentary project about British Chinese heritage and the journey of the people to the UK. I am British Chinese myself, so that was my personal interest. I have a full-time job but I’ve always been interested in Photography. Even quite a few years ago, when I was doing more commercial photography than I do now.

What kind of Photographer are you?

I guess you would say ‘Documentary’ but I am not a ‘Fine Art’ Photographer. Where I lie is in the section between Art and Heritage because I do Heritage projects. This project and other projects get archived, for example, in the London Metropolitan Archives. So it stays as a part of London’s history going forward. It’s slightly Academic and Anthropological as well.

Where I really have a passion is to make those kind of projects accessible. Because I’ve seen so many great projects that have so much good history and heritage information but they kind of just fall into a hole, where only people who are actually already interested in the first place look at it. A lot of it is being able to tell the nugget of that person’s story without it just being reams of text.

ALL IMAGES © MIKE TSANG

What is the central concept of South Bank Stories?

Illustrating how the area has changed over the last 30 years, possibly more than any other area in London. Historically it is so big and built on the backs of individuals, such as, independent traders, artists or artisans etc.. Over the last 30 years, but especially the last five or 10 years, you do get a lot more monolithic organisations or buildings, for example, The Shard, or even Southbank. Huge, extremely worthy, but massive Arts organisations. So the heritage of that area has really changed drastically. It’s about exploring that change through personal testimonies of people who have lived in that area for the last 30 years or worked in it.

It’s been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (with thanks). The previous project I did was called between “East and West” on British Chinese heritage. South Bank Stories came off the back of that. A local primary school, the educational creative coordinators, approached me and said, “This is a fantastic project and we do a lot of projects with our local primary school children, which is essentially learning by doing. Where you learn skills by actually doing a project, not just doing a task. We would love to be able to do something in the area.” That was the germination of the idea. I thoughtl I really would love to formalise this and learn more about the South Bank now, it has changed so much. Looking back on my past, as a London boy, I could really see that change.

The primary school was strongly involved at the start. We trained the children to be able to take photos and use heritage recording devices, such as audio recorders. (The project has a lot of audio too). But at a certain point we needed to have certain qualities of oral histories, so we did that ourselves.

There was a hope, at one point, that we could get the children to reach that level. But it didn’t happen. It also started a debate about whether we should expect such ‘high standards’ of quality that it means that only a certain few ‘gatekeepers’ could do those recordings.

The children have been fantastic. There is a small booklet for sale and in the centre pages there are also portraits of other South Bank or Southwark employees, that the children have taken and they are very good. They are not quite exhibition quality, but in-terms of getting a rapport with the subject, they are very good. As children they have advantages of being able to disarm people and you can see that in the interviewing style as well. They are absolutely not afraid to ask a question. What they do, maybe, struggle with is linking questions in a natural manner.

What challenges did you face?

With these kind of projects it is quite tricky, because you have a certain number of people that you are going to have to portray and interview. You need each one of those stories to be interesting and compelling but you also need for it to work as cohesive whole. Then you’ve also got to be able to exercise some sort of editorial direction because you want that group to be pretty much representative of the wider South Bank and Southwark employees group.

In my previous project, Between East and West I found that you would get a lot of men who wanted to be part of the project. Perhaps they are bit more interested in telling their own story, as a kind of self-promotion. So, we had to work a little bit harder to find women who definitely had great stories but need convincing about their own interestingness.

Technically, all the pictures are environmental portraits. So I took them in the place of the subjects employment. One of the gentlemen has a river boat company, he is a waterman, or another is of a carpenter in his workshop,. So it’s about working in that environment. The challenge was always lighting versus quality. You, obviously, need it well lit enough so that it will stand up as an exhibition print.

I add light in a very naturalistic manner, I want to be able to keep the ambience that is naturally there. It means adding lights in certain spots, in a very careful manner. I always shoot tethered to my laptop just so that you can really see what the effect of added lighting is compared to other shots.

However, I also like to travel quite lightly. I’m working by myself, there was no assistant on this project. If I am travelling by myself I don’t want to be carrying so much equipment, that I can’t respond and listen to the subject and be able to read their reaction and then hone the portrait accordingly.

I’ve got a formula that works but I am always wondering, more or less gear? The advantages of a bigger bag of ‘tricks’ versus responding less to the situation.

I shoot full-frame and I carry about 3 lenses with me. For lighting, I’ve an Elinchrom Ranger Quadra kit, which I’ve used for quite a few years and is great. I will also bring something like a portable softbox and a beauty dish with a honeycomb on it, as well as other bare bulb stuff. Also, I will have gels with me to enable me to match the ambience of the environment. Sometimes I will have to put flashguns that are radio triggered in certain areas that are gelled to match the existing lights in that area.

I also have to bring audio equipment as well. I will interview, the subject, for an hour first and then switch over to do the portraits afterwards. This can be a bit jarring at times but doing the audio first helps create a rapport.

What is the legacy of South Bank Stories?

The Legacy exists in two forms. Like any exhibition, the people who can actually be there and who can enjoy it. But we also have the book (http://southbankstories.bigcartel.com/product/lucysheen-editioned-print-flush-mounted-on-aluminium), which can be posted anywhere in the world.

There is also the website. The last project on British Chinese, there was something like 50 different countries visiting the website. It was fantastic to see the reach out there.

But beyond that, because it will be archived, probably in the London Metropolitan Archives. It will stay as part of London’s history forever. It will be anthropological evidence going forwards. That for me, is a privilege to be part of that.

ALL IMAGES © MARK TSANG

What’s next?

Ideally, I will always be running these projects that have a half to one year application cycle and then a one to one and half year production and exhibition cycle. I’ve tried before to be planning the next project, whilst I am on the previous one but it takes up so much of your creative energy that you usually need a break so you can think ‘well what’s the next interesting thing?’. I’ve always had ideas that I wanted to do but they didn’t really come to fruition. For example, I started a really interesting project about the Jewish heritage around Brick Lane. I used to live there for about three or four years. Now it’s a predominately Muslim area. It’s always been associated with migration but even 30, 40, 50 years ago it was a very Jewish area, now there’s only about three or four synagogues in, pretty much, the whole East End. You can go for walks on guided tours and see Stars of David on buildings but it’s a been long time since they were a Jewish building. That is a project I really want to do. I have even shot a portraits of wardens in synagogues. Beautiful buildings, but with dwindling congregations.

I am really interested in migration and change. Those with personal histories and a story to tell. I come from a migrant background. My parents are Chinese Mauritian and I would be interested in doing something in that area at some point.

ALL IMAGES © MARK TSANG

LONDON, INTERVIEW

TWO

KEITH HOUGHTON LRPS

Cardenas y Cienfuegos, Havana © Luigi Visconti

LUMAS

ON CAREFUL CURATION AND FINDING NEW TALENT

BY HEIKE DANDER http://uk.lumas.com/ LUMAS is a highly successful fine art photography brand, with 40 galleries worldwide and an online sales platform that showcases the entire portfolio of over 1,800 works by 200 established and emerging photographers.

LUMAS’ Executive Curator Heike Dander shares her thoughts on finding new photography talent, top tips for buying new works this Autumn, and how to curate exhibitions from such a large portfolio across so many international galleries: We champion emerging artists at LUMAS and are always on the look out for new talent to join our portfolio. A crucial factor in spotting an artist is whether they have a certain style that is evident throughout their entire series of works. Any photograph, whether hanging in a gallery or in a private home, should sit well as an individual work of art, removed from any other context. So we look for photographers that demonstrate a certain standard or style across a body of work.

A first port of call for approaching new artists is often through other galleries or at art fairs, so our curatorial team can be found out and about for much of the time. We grant gifted young artists from major universities and academies the same consideration as established international artists. Our portfolio is markedly diverse. While we specialise in photography, we also feature illustration and painting as well as collages and photo montages.

However, while exhibitions and art fairs are important to get your work noticed, we are increasingly finding that a strong internet presence is extremely useful for us and for artists these days. We also scour photography blogs, popular magazines, and of course social media networks. For an artist, visibility is key!

Visibility is also where we come into play. Being part of the LUMAS portfolio means exhibiting in 17 countries and over 40 galleries. Suddenly, the artist has a presence in Berlin, London, New York, Basel, Vienna, Dubai, and Vancouver all at the same time. That is enormously important for many of our artists especially those who are building their profile. Recently, one of our American artists, Clay Lipsky, was on a tour of Europe and came across his own work in our gallery in Salzburg and immediately shared with us his excitement at such an unexpected surprise. Certainly the international aspect of the LUMAS brand is a big part of our, and our artists, success.

Our final main consideration for building up our portfolio is diversity. That means we’re dedicated

Flamingo Kids 1 © Sebastian Mader

Flamingo Kids 2 © Sebastian Mader

to showcasing a collection of new artists whom we’ve just brought into the portfolio alongside artists whose work has been with LUMAS for perhaps eight or nine years. We place a lot of value in working together over the long term, and you can see that in our exhibitions as well. For some time now, our portfolio has also been open to other genres as well, meaning you are equally likely to find graphic art and illustrations as paintings and digital art.

We are very proud to have so many notable artists from these fields, such as Nam June Paik, Yue Minjun, and Raymond Pettibon. Starting this Autumn, we will also have new works by Joseph Beuys and Georg Baselitz. Ultimately, we want our exhibitions to grant visitors a well-rounded look into the contemporary art and design scene.

As well as researching and recruiting new artists to join our portfolio, we also curate exhibitions and gallery spaces around the world. This takes a lot of work and requires a full team to compliment the work of each individual gallery director. Our curators need a unique set of skills. It’s one part instinct and one part talent for looking at works aesthetically. Of course there is also an element of developing curatorial skills through experience and education – workshops and training sessions.

The hardest part of curating an exhibition Is the selection of, and interplay between, the individual pieces. Limiting everything to the essential and nevertheless creating an experience that captures the character of the theme in all its diversity. And last but not least, to convince the visitors of the idea and concept in the end. I don’t think it’s very different curating photography from curating other forms of art; photography is such an essential component of contemporary art but also historical photo artists can be seamlessly inserted into curatorial concepts.

At LUMAS, unlike many galleries, we don’t have a set exhibition programme as we rotate the works of our portfolio throughout our gallery spaces. At any one time you’ll find a number of different artists and works on show. However, we do occasionally curate a group of works by a particular theme. For example our most recent exhibition entitled Viva Cuba!

Paseo del Prado, Havana © Luigi Visconti

San Miguel y Aguila © Werner Pawlok

The photographs from Werner Pawlok, Luigi Visconti and Larry Yust, while very different, unite in showing us that Cuba is at a really exciting turning point. Not only is it interesting on a political level, it’s also fascinating to see what is happening there culturally and how this period of change affects the architecture, the living conditions and the every day life of Havana. As a result, we decided to stage a full group exhibition giving due attention to the works rather than diluting them amongst the rest of our collection. Pawlok in particular has been photographing Cuba since the early 1970s.

His photographs were being filed away in his archives until one day I came across them and saw such great potential in his work. His Cuba – Expired series has been a bestseller ever since and his new series was created exclusively for LUMAS; a very promising sign of the developing relationship between artists and LUMAS.

House of Chino © Werner Pawlok

LONDON, STREET FROM VENICE TO BROADWAY OR, ‘HIRSUTE IN HACKNEY’ Report of his latest London, Street walk by Norman Smith LRPS

For our second ‘bash’ at Hackney in as many outings we chose a walk to the Broadway Market, near London Fields, starting from Hackney Central Overground Station. Thankfully, the poor weather forecast didn’t put people off and we were very well attended with 14 participants coming from far and wide for the experience. As the sky cleared we set off and a touch of misty rain hinted of what might have been. Not as international as the title suggests, we started affairs at the Venice Café with introductions and tutorial before heading off along Mare Street.

We usually stumble on something odd with these walks and, right on cue, outside the Hackney Town Hall, we had a refugee demo at the same time as an arriving wedding party which led to some odd juxtapositions and which proved to be quite a diversion.

Continuing along Mare Street was a little quieter – not such rich pickings – but then the main feature was the Broadway Market which we all arrived at quite soon.

Supported by Olympus Cameras

Broadway Market dates back to the mid 19th century when it earned a reputation for providing fresh meat and poultry. It’s now a thriving weekly market with fabulous restaurants making a name for itself as ‘chic’ with its diverse range of fine foods, designer clothing, organic fair trade products, health product and crafts.

Massively popular, the market area is full interesting characters and fashion statements. It is a young and lively environment with the regulation attire seeming to be the full growth beard (fortunately, just for the men) so, I thought I might fit in. However, my own lazy shaving was pathetic by comparison and it was obvious I wasn’t going to join this club without a miraculous additional 10” of beard!

The Market is ‘foodie heaven’ with artisan stalls providing olives, cheeses and meats alongside cafes, restaurants and pubs, which all proved irresistible. Adding to the mix we had very tasteful street entertainment lending a chilled out atmosphere to the day, which had improved greatly with warm sunshine.

We did a small amount of ‘chilling’ ourselves, feeling the need for a beverage, after which we emerged to the intense afternoon sun - I had started off with raincoat but was going home with a suntan.

Such is the wonder of our unique climate and part of the pleasure of getting out with the Street group.

Join us next time for another slice of British life!

Click here to see more images from our Flickr Group and click here for the latest Olympus Online Magazine ALL IMAGES © NORMAN SMITH LRPS

A LONDONER ABROAD THE CITY OF LANTERNS

by Del Barrett ARPS

Český Krumlov (CK) is a chocolate box, magical, medieval city in the Czech Republic, and I must admit, I’d never heard of it until it popped up in a newspaper article. A UNESCO world heritage site, there are two sides to CK and I’m curious to know which way it will eventually tip. On the one side, the city is a tourist magnet – it was almost impossible to move through the main square given the number of coaches that had just deposited their loads of Japanese tourists, complete with selfie-sticks. Furthermore, there is no shortage of souvenir shops selling the same “genuine” plastic kitsch that can be found in tourist destinations the world over. Notwithstanding, CK has retained much of its dignity and, for a photographer, it is the most delightful place to spend some time.

First of all, there are endless photo opportunities. The architecture is staggeringly beautiful. CK has been lucky in that in its 700 year history, it has never been destroyed by fire or war, so the buildings are actually authentic. There are any number of quaint cobbled streets, quaint shops and quaint wooden bridges. Cafes hug the banks of the River Moldau and with a picturesque castle dominating the backdrop, a weir in the foreground and churches galore in the middle distance, there really is something for everyone.

Secondly, CK offers a wealth of art exhibitions – a surprising number for a town with a population of only 14,000. The most famous (or rather infamous) artist was the controversial Egon Schiele. A figurative painter, Schiele left Vienna to take up residence in CK, much to the delight of the local denizens. Their delight, however, soon dissipated when they realised exactly what the artist was doing with the teenage girls clamouring to model for him. But with time, comes forgiveness and the main exhibition centre has now been named in his honour.

The city’s native artistic superstar was Josef Seidel (a portrait and landscape photographer of the early 20th Century) whose collection of 140,000 glass negatives has provided scholars with an invaluable socio-historic record of the Bohemian people and land. His house, now a museum, is well worth a visit, where his dark-room and studio – not to mention all those negatives in the attic – are just as they were 100 years ago.

If vintage photography’s not your bag, then a trip to the Dom Fotohaus is recommended. The gallery houses a permanent collection by Czech artist Jan Saudek. There is no doubt that he is an absolute master of hand-colouring, which gives his images an exceptional vibrancy and I was seriously impressed by the way he’s pushed boundaries with regard to nudity, but I’m afraid the semi-naked children posing in rather grown-up positions left me feeling distinctly uncomfortable and slightly sad.

But at least CK has a good cure for sadness in the form of the trdelník. And I reckon we found the best one in town. A trdelník is a very light dough that is dusted with spicy sugar and then toasted – not only was it indulgently delicious to eat, but its preparation, as it was wound around the toasting rod, provided yet more photo opps.

I plan to make a return visit to CK one day as I’m curious to see whether the town’s artistic heritage survives or whether it becomes suffocated by “Monty Python” tourism where the shops end up selling 3D photos of the Pope, over-priced Manchester United shirts and mass-produced, over-saturated paintings of places that aren’t even in the Czech Republic. At the moment, CK is teetering on the brink.

ALL IMAGES © DEL BARRETT ARPS

ALL IMAGES © DEL BARRETT ARPS

DAVE’S DIARY WE’RE ALL GOING ON A SUMMER HOLIDAY

by Dave Harris LRPS

It’s all booked.

Two weeks cycling across France on a mountain bike. Just me and the missus.

Two bikes, two tiny rucksacks and us. Mad? Perhaps? Definitely!

We don’t use roads. Too easy (??) We’re off-road. Even lighter rucksacks.

The night before. All packed. No room for the camera. My full-frame Nikon is too bulky and heavy. I pack my small Olympus.

Squashed into the top corner. Accessible.

Just.

We coach down through France. Overnight. Arrive rather tired. But onto the bikes and off into the metaphorical sunset.

The usual dilemma of holiday and photography pops up. The Missus is good. She doesn’t mind me stopping to get out my camera. Up to a point. I’m not the fastest snapper. I like to take my time. Walk around. Find the best viewpoint. Let that cloud pass. Wait for the right light. Even I get fed up with myself.

And we’ve many miles to cover. I need to prioritise. Am I cycling? Or am I photographing?

I choose the cycling. Let’s get to our destination, shower and change, and wait for the golden hour.

The weather is good. The legs less so. After the shower, dinner. And after dinner, I’m too tired to go out! Tomorrow. There’s always tomorrow. No doubt the wine helped with the decision.

We arrive on top of a mountain. Us and most of Southern France. Busy, busy. But the sun goes down. And everyone leaves. It’s just us. On top of this fantastic mountain. The views are stunning. The light is divine. Even Bacchus can’t stop me tonight.

We cross the deserted plains of the Cevennes. Like the badlands of South Dakota, but with better food. Rivers flow. Horses roam. The towns are old and sleepy. The locals too.

And us.

The days pass. We close in on the Mediterranean coast. The sun beats down. The air heats up. The sky remains blue-blue. Beautiful blue. A photographer’s dream.

The end arrives. The lovely French town of Sete. Hugs and kisses. We’ve done it.

We stable the bikes for a two day ‘holiday’ in Montpellier. The camera is on my shoulder all day. At last.

ALL IMAGES © DAVE HARRIS LRPS

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