Familiar patterns

The levitating man

An education (of sorts)

A friend of mine has recently started on a photography course, and asked me a few weeks ago if we could go for a camera walk on Hampstead Heath. She wanted me to show her how I take pictures, and it was such an interesting experience. To try and verbalise how I do something I don't actually think about and do intuitively was really fun. I'm not saying that I'm a teacher or that I know it all, but I pointed out that there are certain things to look for if you want to make a picture more interesting. In a nutshell: light, shadows, the negative space, scale, angles (get down on the ground!) and one of my all time faves: silhouettes - the one that my friend was most excited by. They turned out to be a revelation! Next time I'm taking her to the Barbican, which is my favourite place in the whole of London to take pictures. Can't wait to see what she makes of it.

A dose of culture

What do you know... I'm behind with blogging again. Groundhog day anyone? I find that I just don't want to park myself in front of the computer these days, but as it's raining and pretty horrible today, I might as well sit myself down and get on with it. A few weekends ago we met up with friends and went to Tate Britain, which we all really enjoyed. When visiting museums or galleries with children it always feels like you're in there on borrowed time, and that at any point they could get bored and want to leave, way before you yourself would want to (which is why I sometimes go twice to an exhibition). Most places cater towards kids and will offer art trails and packs that turns your visit into more of a game or an art hunt. This time I realised that it takes away from the experience and that you quickly walk around the exhibits, ticking stuff of a list instead of properly looking and talking about what you see and what it makes you feel. From now on I'm going to try and ignore those trails and enjoy hearing the kids interpretations, as they're so much more fun and interesting!

Goodbye Little Mo

Last week we had to say goodbye to our dear cat Little Mo. She hadn't been in great shape for a while, but she still made it past 19. What a trooper. We hadn't thought of what do to with her after being put down, but Oomoo was adamant that he wanted to her to be buried in our garden, and that she wasn't to be cremated. Dear friends came by for moral support, and what had started as a chilly day turned in to a gloriously sunny afternoon, and we buried her in the flower bed and held a little impromptu ceremony. It couldn't have been more beautiful. I took it really bad, and even though I was fed up with cleaning up her wee on the floor everyday, I now really miss her. I still keep expecting to find her lying on the bed in a patch of sun, or come sauntering to the front door when we come home. Rest in peace Little Mo, you were one of a kind.