Category: Project 365 2026

14/02/26: A quiet, relaxing Valentine’s Day spent at home; celebrating with some very good Champagne.

12/02/26: (yet) Another dank, mizzling day; which means still-life. Again. Full disclosure: I am a fan of the genre so being forced into it does not bother me. I would rather have more options, of course, but until brighter weather arrives I’ll manage. The downside is finding suitably interesting objects about the place, worthy of an image.

So; as the afternoon went on I was thinking about potential arrangements of objects. I had two ideas. As it turned-out I didn’t need either: my wife was cooking, and her neat arrangement of ingredients and utensils chose itself. I can enthusiastically report that the Sausage and Ditali Pasta Soup (Italian style) was most toothsome.

11/02/26: This was taken while walking along a river in the area where I live. There are a few small bridges connecting the pathway on one side to some houses and another quiet street on the other. Very exclusive. Until a few years ago, a lovely cat named Barney lived in one of the riverside cottages. He was well-known in the area on account of his appearance; he had lost tissue from both ears as a result of a skin cancer and had small ‘stumps’ rather than a cat’s traditionally pointy ears. Appearance aside he was a very happy animal who made friends with anyone who passed his house, and he would regularly sun himself on the bridge in this picture. After he passed away in 2021, several hundred local people petitioned the council to rename the bridge – and it happened. A heartwarming story of a great cat, and of some real community spirit.

10/02/26: “when there’s no obvious subject, look for texture.” Someone wiser than me said that about photography, I can’t remember who. But it’s a fair point, so when there was a momentary thinning of the perpetual overcast I noticed a line of bushy shrubs against a wooden fence, and grabbed this shot.

09/02/26: One again there was negligible light to be had today. (Aside: it was the first time for months that it was light when I arrived at work – or at least something which passes for daylight here in early February. Which is something, but little help with this project.) So this miserable shot, taken at the end of my day, was all I managed. I was hoping for better definition of the led cells within the relatively dim car lights; but ISO on this strange little camera is, at times, strange. It behaves differently when working in black-and-white to colour. The auto-ISO definitely makes odd decisions as regards the Exposure Triangle when in b&w. That said, I remain determined to avoid shooting in colour and then converting to monochrome, (desaturation) and I’m sure these exposures will improve as and when the weather does. That could be as early as 2028, yay.

08/02/26: My love of cats in general – and black cats in particular – is well-understood by anyone who knows me. This cat is Pickle, my wife’s Familiar. She is a rescue who chose us 8 years ago and changed us. To be fair; all cats change us and know things, but this particular creature has depths of understanding which are both beautiful and disarming. We love her.

07/02/26: Our home has many luminaires dotted about the place. The diminutive mirrorball makes me think of a tiny planet or Death Star. At least it is an available-light image. (I really dislike flash) Can you tell it rained all day again?

06/02/26: To quote the BBC news website today: “Flood warnings in effect across UK as relentless rain continues”. This says it all just now in Great Britain, and so another challenging day. Indoor/still life again, but this could have been worse. After all, whose bathroom doesn’t have the following amongst its’ typical accoutrements:

a) a mosaic pot, b) a small chrome cat for hanging jewellery upon, c) a clock slaved by radio to the UK master clock at the National Physical Laboratory, and d) some carved wooden fish?

05/02/26: Once again it rained all day; solid overcast and a general lack of useful light. Aside: a cursory look at a long-range weather forecast this afternoon told me that not only has it rained – to a greater or lesser degree – ever day so far this year; but it will continue to do so until the end of time. Which sucks. So: when this happens we resort to Still Life. Determined to avoid using flash at all costs I found the ‘best’ electric light available in my home is in the hallway. Fairly diffuse, it meant the shiny finish on the object did not bleach-out completely, which helped. A curious house-panther came to see what was happening, but quickly became bored and withdrew.

04/02/26: My wife makes marmalade. That’s not all she does, of course; it is just one of many craft-y things she is good at. She makes marmalade very well indeed, and to be clear: this batch of orange and lemon with brandy is outstanding.

This morning the light is way better with much less overcast than recently. So once I had the idea for it, I needed about a minute to bank the shot, before midday. (for a change.) Well that was easy.