9 SEPTEMBER 2018 AT 12:24 PM (MALMESBURY, ENGLAND)

BY KEVIN MULLINS

Sunday's are always peculiar to me.  If I've shot a wedding on Saturday, I feel like Sunday is my Saturday and as such I'm a bit discombobulated by them.

This weekend, I should have been in China, but the trip was cancelled so yesterday was also affecting my mind.  I spent the day in Bristol with the family shopping and constantly worrying that at any moment I would get a call from a groom asking me where the heck I was! 

The stresses of a wedding photographer, I tell you.

And therein we arrive on Sunday.  This whole Chronicle journey for me has been about openness and I know that on some days, the mediocre bubbles to the top but it's mediocre that interests me in other people's lives.

I'm a photographic voyeur and it's that reason why I love photojournalism with integrity and it's also that reason that Gemma, my wife, is always asking me to deal with the many photo-books I have scattered around the house.

And I have a fairly substantial collection now, I reckon over 300.  I've been meaning to inventory them for a long time and today, that has started.

My Sunday is gorgeous today.  I took a run, had a bit of a struggle with the new puppy (he didn't seem bothered), and started to inventory the books.

Kind of.

Actually, what happened, in reality, was, I pulled some of them off the shelf and started looking at them again.  They are back where they came from now, on the shelf.  Not inventoried and Gemma is giving me one of "those looks".

I think photography is such an important factor in my life. 

I'm not an artist, at least I don't see it that way, I like to just think of myself as a collector of memories (and I hope that doesn't sound pompous).  I photograph and I print.  Our house is full of those captured memories and in a very short period of time, we are having substantial work done on our house.

I'm already thinking about new frames and pictures.  I'd love to have all the walls floor to ceiling with pictures in old frames I find at junk sales.  I feel the frames themselves have memories too.  I can see my books in a big wall to wall shelf at one end of the room.  Maybe with a set of steps on wheels.  A nice tray of Scotch and some glasses at the bottom with a lovely leather armchair and lamp. 

Gemma, does not have the same vision.

PS - All images from the Fujifilm X-T3 Out of Camera JPEGs.

8 SEPTEMBER 2018 AT 9:02 AM (HOLSBEEK, BELGIUM)

BY BERT STEPHANI

Sometimes I wonder, is the forest an escape or is it home?

7 septembre 2018 à 9h42

Accompagné aujourd'hui encore du 80mm pour une petite excursion dans le jardin. Prémisses automnales, parfums de fin de saison, teintes délicieuses... 

Images réalisées avec le boitier Fujifilm x-pro2 + Fujinon 80mm.
Post traitement Velvia.

6 September 2018 at 3:40 pm (Surry Hills, Australia)

6 September 2018 at 3:40 pm (Surry Hills, Australia)

Sometimes, it's just the lines.

The intersections & collisions. The mix of new and old, of sun and shade, of hand-painted and computer-created - and, once in a while, a burst of something organic.

I guess because I've been away recently, the lines of Sydney are fresh to me again…

September 5, 2018 at 06:55 pm (Maarslet, Denmark)

Photography by Jonas Rask

“Duality

WHO gave thee such a ruby flaming heart
And such a pure cold spirit? Side by side
I know these must eternally abide
In intimate war, and each to each impart
Life from its pain, in every joy a dart
To wound with grief or death the self allied.
Red life within the spirit crucified,
The eyes eternal pity thee: thou art
Fated with deathless powers at war to be,
Not less the martyr of the world than he
Whose thorn-crowned brow usurps the due of tears
We would pay to thee, ever ruddy life,
Whose passionate peace is still to be at strife,
O’erthrown but in the unconflicting spheres.”
— George William Russell

September 4, 2018 at 9:29 AM (Otterburn Park, Canada)

By Patrick La Roque

It’s so hard to believe September’s here already.  When the season began I couldn’t wait to slide my kayak into those Richelieu waters...and now here we are. As the famous Doctor Who once said: whatever you do, don’t blink.

Much more majestic in person...

Much more majestic in person...

Yesterday—Labour Day—felt like the very last opportunity to get out there, so I did. I drove a few kilometres further up the river this time and found a bay—shallow waters for the most part so no motorboats. As I left the shore, I noticed two huge birds standing next to each other on a small sandbank...American Bald Eagles. I wasn’t aware it was even possible and had to double check when I returned home: they’re extremely rare in our zone but not unheard of. One of them flew away but I managed a crappy phone shot (through a waterproof enclosure), to show the kids. I could’ve paddled closer but didn’t—call it the respect of the invader.

I stopped in a creek further off, grabbed a few images to act as markers (with my older X100T), had a drink of water...then storm clouds moved in.
Curtain call.

September 3, 2018 at 21:40 pm (Motherwell, Scotland)

By Derek Clark

My friend Steven needed to go to Glasgow today to film some B-roll for a project he's working on. So I tagged along and shot some street while he grabbed some footage. It wasn't intentional, but when I started to look at the photos in Lightroom tonight, There was more than a few people lost in their phones.

The world is a beautiful place!
Life is far too short!
These things are worse than the crack pipe!

SEPTEMBER 2, 2018 AT 15:53PM (MALMESBURY, ENGLAND)

BY KEVIN MULLINS

I'm back in the UK after five weeks in Spain and I'm back with the proverbial 'bump'.

I had a wedding to shoot in the heart of the Lake District on Saturday and knowing that a nearly four-hour drive was too much before the wedding, I headed off on Friday morning.  

I expected a leisurely four hour tootle up the motorway but my luck was well and truly out.  That four-hour journey turned into just over ten hours.  Broken Britain.

My mind meandered endlessly back to Spain, the sunshine, the fun, the relaxation but I guess this is the fuel that allows that dream to fire each Summer.

After the wedding, the journey kept on track.  Just around four hours.  I'd gone from 32-degree relaxation conditions to rain, wind and motorway service stations at 2 am in the space of 48 hours.

When I get back I meet our new rescue puppy for the first time.  His name is Monty.  So far, he doesn't seem to like me.  Nor does our Whippet seem to like him.  

As I stare at myself at 3:30 am in the mirror before I hit the sack I ponder, over this cliche image, how things change so suddenly and so dramatically.

I make my way to my bed, to find Albie comfortably hogging my space.  A sigh.  But I can't wake him.

Today, Sunday, we take the puppy for a walk and try and get the pooches to bond a little.  I'm not sure it's working.  Yet.

I love our hilltop town of Malmesbury.  I feel very lucky to be bringing our family up here.  But it's not quite the same as the valley of Mizala in Adalucia.  

Everywhere I look there are memories of our time in Spain.  Rosa is heading off on a school residential for a week tomorrow.  As she checks her notes, she is still basking in the tan, the bangles and the hair braids from the beach.

We'll all miss Rosa when she goes for the week.  She's never been away from us that long.  Gemma and I are fairly anxious.  Rosa, it seems, can't wait.

And the pooches.  There seems to be a bit of a standoff.

I'm sure it will be fine.  Right?

September 1, 2018 at 10:05pm (Bruges, Belgium)

BY BERT STEPHANI

A long busy day doing some demos for Fujifilm Belgium at the open doors of a photography school. But it was also a lot fun of to meet a ton of very driven people. Big bonus: Maya came along and we got to spend some father-daughter quality time. 

31 août 2018 à 10h35 (Toulouse, France)

Livraison attendue avec impatience aujourd'hui, un nouveau cailloux assez brillant, le 80mm. Aussitôt déballé, phase test pour ses deux sujets de prédilections, le portrait et la macro. Un petit temps d'adaptation pour apprivoiser la bête et comprendre rapidement que le 56mm qui l'a précédé était plutôt du genre poids plume. Stabilisation bienvenue. Côté fabrication et performances, Fuji a bien bossé. Reste l'essentiel, que faire de ces performances ? Pas grand chose sans ces indispensables notions que sont l'observation, l'écoute, la sensibilité, le cadrage, l'editing, le post traitement...