Spring: on the horizon
Why do we live in shadow-landed enclaves
and where do those sharp-edged narratives come from?
Don’t you know, sunshine?
It’s the indifferent breeze of bitter fruits
that bears this chill of unforsaken lands
Pretend healing as it wages pain
Oh, so much pain.
Cadences of conflict
A deliverance of weary rites of passage
Awaiting much-missed voices of accord
Choirfuls of melodious sound
Flowing through the fading light
of lengthening spring evenings
bathed in quiet expectation
Offering hope, healing, harmony
Shadows soften, serene spring sunshine soothing us.
An extract from my diary – Spring 2013, Flight To Enchantment
I was walking along Riding House Street in London's West End towards All Souls Church Langham Place, very close to the BBC and the old/new Broadcasting House. It was a little before 2.30 on this sunny afternoon and I had my reliable analogue film camera with me, loaded up ready for action. This piece of kit dates from the 1950s and it has served as a favoured means of both taking and making pictures. When I’m with my camera, I feel my creative self complete.
People often ask what prompts the moment to take a picture? How long do you have? In this case, the brief answer: as I was meandering along this thoroughfare that links the bustling grandeur of Regent Street with some fascinating back roads leading to Goodge Street and Tottenham Court Road, where an exciting assortment of restaurants, cafés and shops await discovery, I found myself stood between three sets of high verticals, and yet all these buildings were very different to each other: an archetype 1960s office block to my left with glass predominant, on the right-hand-side hints of the baroque with this grand edifice of an early 20th-century pedigree and then straight ahead the tell-tale steeple of All Souls Church, designed by John Nash in the early 19th century, and a miraculous survivor from the enemy
aerial bombing of the Second World War. Instinctively I felt that this might make an
interesting picture – such is the eternal optimism of us photographers. So, I stopped in my tracks and carefully aimed my camera, trying to capture this trio of verticals, whilst ensuring everything was spirit-level acceptable – i.e. I had a straight and level horizon. I pressed the shutter and it clicked comfortingly. More about the finished image in a moment.
This area of London has a special resonance for me, as just around the corner from All Souls is that evergreen media institution: the BBC and, back in the early summer of 1985, I had the privilege of attending a radio production/presentation course there. It was an excellent training ground in radio, and it opened up my eyes to the true magic of the spoken word on the airwaves. I learnt, for example, that the best pictures exist on radio. Think about it.
Shortly after this course, during that same summer, there was a very happy event in our family when my dear wife gave birth to our first son. So, I suppose you could say that I came of age, as a fledgling father and as a novice broadcaster, at around the same time 28 years ago. Later, I went on to make good use of these newly acquired media skills as a freelancer whilst working overseas.
Oh, and before I forget – that bird flying majestically through the image at the top of the article is a complete fluke I promise you – no photoshop or AI image manipulation, honest guv. Every so often as a photographer, you get these lucky breaks. For me, this image has come to convey a sense of timelessness within what is normally a busy metropolitan setting, and yet it is also something extra - a memory or glimpse of remembered happiness with a hint of movement, of life. A flight to enchantment perhaps? That’s spring for you, in the mind of an eternal optimist.
By the river on a spring morning
spring
scented sound vivid
joyful
embracing all
and my peacefulness
streetdawn
greyness
yields
to the river-sunrise
and my dreams
sun-waved
waterway
flows
divining harmony
and my salvation
nature
regorgeoused
flourishes
by the thames
and inside my soul
fluid
palette of delight
re-energises
this haven
and my universe
river birdsong
hymn-like, with depth
sounding out
hope for all those in need
and my existence.
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