Category Archives: Portrait

A mask of smoke

Friday 16th August 2024, 6.35pm (day 4,740)

Smoke mask, 16/8/24

I used to smoke tobacco, but quit in 2008 (it remains the only one of my addictions which I can claim to have truly quit). Still, I couldn’t care less whether others still want to use the stuff, and it does sometimes look good. This is, of course, an optical illusion, but an effective one.

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Asleep on my return

Thursday 15th August 2024, 12.25am (day 4,739)

Clare's feet, 15/8/24

One of those rare ‘post-midnight’ shots for a given day: I didn’t get back from Wales until after 12 on Wednesday night, or was it Thursday morning. By the time I did, the wife had dozed off, so she didn’t particularly complain when I got off one final shot (so to speak). And no, she doesn’t have an ankle-bracelet tattoo; it’s insect repellent, I believe. Postscript: C did insist I add an observation that she gave me permission to use the shot…

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The online conference experience

Tuesday 13th August 2024, 6.55pm (day 4,737)

Digital Pedagogy Institute, 13/8/24

If you ask me, ‘hybrid’ meetings and conferences are a disaster, certainly if you’re one of the online participants. But online-only gigs work well enough, particularly when most of the others in the ‘room’ are located in Canada. So let’s proclaim from the upstairs office, instead: from where we get to look at the little details of other people’s offices.

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Bridge Gate collage

Monday 12th August 2024, 9.20pm (day 4,736)

Outside Shoulder, 12/8/24

For some reason this looks and feels like a collage. The streak of the bus in the background and the overlay of the reflected lettering on the guy’s head are what make it, I think. The whole thing seems to sum up my Monday night, anyway.

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Doris disdains the cigarette

Monday 29th July 2024, 7.00pm (day 4,722)

Doris the dog, 29/7/24

Well, that’s what it looks like. In truth we were all, Doris the dog included, enjoying the sunshine; there’s not been that much of it to be seen in northern England this year so far but summer does appear to have broken out over the last few days, at least.

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Nightjar window

Sunday 21st July 2024, 7.15pm (day 4,714)

Nightjar window, 21/7/24

I seem to have a lot of pictures of people’s backs today, but at leats this one brings in the face of the guy in yellow so offers a touch more intimacy. They’re all still depicted through glass, however: which is perhaps meaningful, perhaps not. We were having a drink before going to the cinema, which stands directly above this bar, but the less said about the movie, the better.

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The dugout

Saturday 20th July 2024, 3.10pm (day 4,713)

Stafford Rangers dugout, 20/7/24

The substitutes of Stafford Rangers FC ponder the fact that, about ten minutes into their game with a team from a lower division, they are already 1-0 down and are going to go on to lose 4-0. OK, it might have been a pre-season friendly but it’s not a great omen for the season to come. And none of these people were even in the starting XI.

I do wonder what the guy on the left of the shot has seen to distract him: assuming all the others are watching the current action on the pitch, he’s certainly not.

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Two-tone

Friday 19th July 2024, 5.00pm (day 4,712)

The sun comes out, and with it, various bits of English skin that have not had much opportunity for solar exposure in recent months. And it shows. Clare, who has never been one for tanning much, decides to display possibly the whitest legs in Europe as we enjoy an end-of-week beer or three. They’ve some catching up to do on the arms, for sure.

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King Tony

Friday 12th July 2024, 4.55pm (day 4,705)

King Tony, 12/7/24

This is, very much, a picture chosen because it is a person I know looking very much themselves, and in exactly the right context, too. All he needs is the bike in the background, and it really wasn’t far away.

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The Three Degrees?

Tuesday 9th July 2024, 3.50pm (day 4,702)

Graduation posers, 9/7/24

Not that I’ve had anything to do with the preliminaries since completing my marking duties in January, but graduation season is here. Congratulations to all. Although I’d take these three more seriously if any one of them looked a bit happier about it.

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