A new year, a new project, and getting back to blogging

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Rachael

The arrival in my mailbox of WordPress’s Year in Review prompted me to reflect on what has been a very patchy year of blogging. When I first started Focused Moments, back in April 2012, I wrote a new post every day, and kept that up for the best part of a year. But, during 2014, the flow of posts somehow dwindled, and dwindled… 2014 was a year with challenges, but that’s no excuse. There’s no point in promising to do better; you’ve heard it all before. I should just get on and do it; less talk more action! After all, WordPress is a great platform, and some recent enquiries and sales have reminded me that it is also one that does every well in search rankings. So, time to get back on that horse.
To start with, I am beginning a project 365. After I completed the usual one-new-image-a-day project back in 2009, I swore I’d never do it again. But this is going to be different. I don’t need motivation to go out and take new images; I can hardly help myself. But I have a massive, sadly disorganised and neglected back catalogue. So I am going to post a ‘this day x years ago’ image every day this year, and it has to be a new edit or an image never before shared. Not only will I be forced to trawl through those forgotten pictures, I will also be forced to log in and do something on Focused Moments. And, once I’m here, I might as well post new stuff too. We’ll see.

Dartmoor National Park 365/1

Anyway, here’s image 365/1, from a bracing New Year’s Day 2013 spent exploring Dartmoor National Park. I’d love to spend more time in this atmospheric location. I have a couple of windows of opportunity for exploring more of the UK this year and Dartmoor, with its windy tors and lonely, tortured trees, is definitely on the shortlist.

Autumn in the vineyard

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Rachael

I spent a very happy couple of hours this Tuesday at Denbies Wine Estate.

The harvest was mostly over but the vines still glowed in the late Autumn light.

People don’t tend to think of England as a wine-producing country but Denbies, one of our largest wine producers, has had considerable success, including an International Gold for its Noble Harvest Dessert wine.

I may be spending more time on the estate next year. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this selection from Tuesday’s images.

Autumn in the garden

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Rachael

I love gardens in Autumn after rain. There’s something about the smell of wet earth and decay that is unique to this season. Colours are more vibrant, washed clean, and overblown late summer flowers droop under the weight of droplets. I think of the Autumn garden as rather like a dowager fallen on hard times, still making a show of things but a little shabby at the edges.

“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting
and autumn a mosaic of them all.”
– Stanley Horowitz

Where land meets sea

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Rachael

The last few weeks have been hard and blogging has been far from my mind. But I wanted to share this slideshow, which I made for a talk I gave in the summer at the Shed Gallery’s ‘Muse’ exhibition in Lyme Regis. It features a few of my own pictures, but mostly inspirational images by other photographers that I selected from the Gallery, on the theme of my talk, coastal photography. Being a very proud Mummy, I must add that my favourite thing about it is the music, an original score composed and recorded for the talk by my very talented daughter, Maggie Talibart. Not too shabby for thirteen!

Beautiful resting place

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Rachael

St. Martha’s on the Hill, Chilworth, Surrey.

Life is eternal, and love is immortal,
and death is only a horizon;
and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.
~Rossiter Worthington Raymond

White knuckle fishing

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Rachael

I had to admire this hardy fisherman on Portugal’s windswept southwestern coast. I hope he was rewarded with a good supper.

Spectra over London

Posted on August 10, 2014 by Rachael

Spectra, by Rioji Ikeda, is one of several art installations in London at present to commemorate the centenary of the start of WW1. Certainly an imposing sight. You don’t have to go into London to see it as it is visible for many miles around. However, if you do want to see it for yourself, you will have to be quick – tonight’s the last night.

A century later

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Rachael

A century ago today, a state of war was declared between the UK and Germany. WW1 would claim 16 million lives in just over four years. I could hardly resist sharing one more poppy field tonight.

Turbulence

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Rachael

200mm, f4.5, 0.6″

I am currently working on a presentation that I have agreed to give at a group exhibition in Lyme Regis later this month. The topic is the coast. I thought I might share ideas here as I go. I have always had an ambivalent relationship with the sea. I was brought up in a seafaring family and a large chunk of the first eleven years of my life was spent at sea. Unfortunately, I never got over my chronic sea sickness. Without wanting to labour the point, this meant that I spent quite a lot of time staring over the side of the boat! I have found the sea’s motion fascinating ever since (but I still prefer to observe it from the shore).

200mm, f/16, 1/40

‘Dark-heaving – boundless, endless, and sublime,

The image of eternity.’

– Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

Portuguese wanderings

Posted on July 30, 2014 by Rachael

We are back from our summer travels. This year we chose Portugal. We used to holiday in the Algrave often, when the children were small, but hadn’t been back in 11 years. I was afraid we’d find it much changed. Certainly, the Algrave is very much discovered. It already was back in 2002 and the spread of tourism that was marching inexorably West from Faro has reached a little further now. But the extreme South Western tip, at Sagres, still retains its off-beat, surfing vibe, and the wild West coast beaches are just as glorious as I remembered. This is one of my favourite sunset spots, Praia do Castelejo.