And we have lift-off ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first man on the Moon .. seems so long ago, doesn't it? Probably because it is! Fifty three years ago today to be precise. But what exciting times they were, especially to a nearly-nine year old like myself. I was absolutely fascinated by 'Space', forever gluing Airfix Lunar Modules to papier mâché 'moon surfaces' whilst watching James Burke and Patrick Moore explaining the intricacies of forthcoming 'TLI' manoeuvres. I did a lot of reading, too. The Observer Book of Astronomy and the Peter Fairley Space Annual were never far from my side ..

Which brings me to a new book about 'Space', one which I've written myself. I say 'one', but it's actually the first in a series of four adventure books I've created for children and which I'm thrilled to launch today ..

"Swapsies" is my story of The Sun and The Moon and The Earth, and of how The Moon helps The Sun to find all its friends in Space. The books are educational yet funny, and I'm very proud to say I did all the illustrations, too. I'll be reading from Swapsies at a book event this Sunday in our local park, and I hope it's soon filling a space on the bookshelves of many a wide-eyed new young space enthusiast ..

( If you'd like a copy, you can click here to order .. )

Three, two, one .. lift off!

Here comes the sun ..

 Ah, the first day of Spring. Well, it is if you're my pal Simon in New Zealand (Hi, Simes!) but, for us, the equinox marks the day when we officially 'plunge' into Autumn and Winter and, suddenly, the thought of hot summer Weddings seems a long way away ..

Of course, being colder doesn't mean it can be any less sunny .. it's just a 'different' kind of sun. A lower sun, a dazzling and squinty-making sun that casts long, fab shadows across the ground. I've already had cause to 'battle' with it. At last Saturday's Wedding it was so bright and sunny that I could see it causing flare in the lens as I shot my group photographs. I moved the camera position, of course, but it's funny how fashions change. Flare is now 'in' and, after years of avoiding it like the plague, I'll quite happily point my lens straight at it for a dreamy, romantic shot like this .. 

The good thing of course, is that as the nights draw in, the 'golden hour' for this kind of shot gets earlier and earlier, so there's always more possibility of shooting it at Winter Weddings. A bit of a sunnier outlook, you might say ..

It gets on my t*ts ..

Rather amused by all the Page Three hoo-ha that's going on at the moment. If you're not from the UK, this revolves around one of our national newspapers - The Sun - which, after 44 years, looks like it's finally stopped printing photographs of topless girls on its third page. Basically, you opened the 'paper every day and there, right in front of you, was a pair of hooters and an inane caption telling you how Stacey was 19 and wanted to travel the world and save hedgehogs. I'm not getting into the ins and outs of the argument - I never bought the 'paper and I've never shot topless women (Well, once .. and that was to show how much space there was in the sleeping compartment of a new truck .. I kid you not!) but I know it worked for some people and drove other people crazy. You have to admit it was a British institution but hey, everything has its day. I mean, I can see far steamier stuff right here on this screen with a couple of clicks of my mouse .. er, apparently! It just reminded me of this old cartoon - I've had it in my collection for absolutely ages and, by the way, thanks are due to whoever drew this all those years ago. It seems that, even now, if you mention to someone new that you are a photographer they'll more often than not assume you photograph topless women. No, folks, I don't, and I don't get asked to, so thank you very much and goodbye! The funny thing to my mind yesterday was the TV interviews with the Anti-Page Three campaigner, who was delighting in her apparent victory over the mighty press. She had a big slogan splashed right across her t-shirt. I had no option but to look at her t*ts...