Skull and Cross

In the undergrowth surrounding the church of St John the Baptist, Old Lakenham.

The World Outside

On the coach down to the capital, snapping these at random from the window. Somewhere outside Thetford.

Scar Crow

Spotted whilst walking around a gorgeous Norwich allotment one evening a few weekends back.

I love scarecrow imagery. Frightening, rustic, homemade.  This one is a particular beaut as it reminds me of the horrifying, button-eyed, masked killer in 'Nightbreed.'

A scarecrow can only be improved when a crow is spotted nonchalantly sitting on its shoulder...

Window Photography:

More iPhone photography taken from moving vehicles. These were all taken during a train journey from Norwich to Doncaster a few weeks back, all somewhere between Thetford and Peterborough.

I posted a similar entry back in May, entitled 'Maybe Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back.' It was named after a line in a Springsteen song, from his album 'Nebraska,' because vehicle-window photography (there has to be an easier term...) often reminds me of the terrific, understated cover of that record. And some of these to me do seem weirdly evocative of lonely desert landscapes: ridiculous, considering the actual locations, but still.

I was messing around with a black and white photography app called Hueless, as well as the inevitable Instagram filters.

A Slice of (Haunted) Birthday Cake

Late by a few days - I should really have posted this on the 1st - but hey. Happy 150th birthday, MR James. I have mentioned James elsewhere in this blog, so shall try not to repeat myself, but James is one of the most celebrated writers of the traditional ghost story. As many of his works (including two of his most famous stories: 'Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad, and 'A Warning to the Curious') are set in bleak and lonely stretches of East Anglia, his writings have a particular power over me. Whether successful or not, most of the pictures on this blog do attempt something inherently Jamesian: to hint at the ghosts and forgotten fragments beneath the region's surface.

"I Have to Return Some Videotapes"

God bless the VHS. The Golden Age of the video shop, the illicit thrill in finally getting one's mitts on pirated copy of something illicit (which, back in the '80s and most of the '90s, was the kind of horror that these days gets a '15' certificate rating), taping stuff off the telly, video box artwork... I must have spent a small fortune collecting movies back in my teenage years. Never took to DVD: I own maybe 2 dozen (I had hundreds of movies on tape). The realization that, to collect movies, you'll need to update every ten years or so with the latest technology, turned me off the whole 'need to own' in a big way. (Well, to an extent: I probably buy more books than is healthy).

Anyway. Videos. In this charity shop, 10p each, 15 for a quid. 'Danny Baker's Own Goals and gaffs,' anyone?

Cemetery Cat pt 2: Tomb Kitty

A companion to last November's 'Cemetery Cat.' On a tomb in the graveyard of St Augusine's Church, Norwich.

"Maybe Everything That Dies Some Day Comes Back:" Pictures Through the Windows

Ironic, considering I don't drive, and am not in cars or buses all that often, but I do enjoy those raw, blurry landscape photographs taken through the windows of moving vehicles. Think of the cover of Springsteen's 'Nebraska:' lo-fi, slightly on the huh, artless, for some reason almost unbearably sad.

Beeston Bleakness: Cold Cliffs

Just a few shots taken on my iPhone from the Beeston Bump. This was a cold, blowy, mist-shrouded November afternoon, on which it felt like night was falling at about 2pm. From the top of the hill you could see the mist creeping slowly over Sheringham like a malevolent spectre. It was a good afternoon to be indoors, in the warmth, beneath a blanket or two.

April Showers Day 30

Day Thirty: Dawntilldusk



Final day of April, final entry in the April Showers series. I enjoyed doing these, giving me an excuse to snap and use images that otherwise wouldn't necessarily have fit elsewhere. It also reinforced my utter love for my iPhone camera. Even without my Fujifilm in my bag, knowing my phone is capable of such imagery means I'm constantly on the look-out for potential shots. There's a book of (far superior) iPhone photography by a chap called Chase Jarvis with a title I fully appreciate: 'The Best Camera is the One That's with You.'

April Showers Day 29

Day Twenty Nine: Bankholidaytraffic

April Showers Day 28

Day Twenty Eight: Spaceinvader

April Showers Day 27

Day Twenty Seven: Threadbare

April Showers Day 26

Day Twenty Six: Throughthetrees

April Showers Day 25

Day Twenty Five: Milestone

April Showers Day 24

Day Twenty Four: Holewall

April Showers Day 23

Day Twenty Three: Homebrew

April Showers Day 22

Day Twenty Two: Duck

April Showers Day 20

Day Twenty: Stepfenceshadow

April Showers Day 19

Day Nineteen: Lamp