Its been great being back in Scotland for the holidays. The snow has started to thaw today, so my sister & I walked her two dogs on St Andrews beach in glorious crisp sunshine. The beach is where the running sequence of chariots of fire was filmed - a long sweep of sand - now crunchy with a snow crust - that's lapped by dark grey atlantic rollers. The ancient towers & turrets of the University caught the sunlight in the distance & the light was almost orange from the low winter sun. Magic.
The pups loved it, happily panting big clouds of breath in the cold air. Toby (the short barrel of a boarder terrier, with overshot jaw and mutley-teeth) got a ball-lobber for christmas... you wouldn't imagine such a round dog could move so fast or get so excited, tiny legs flying out from under him in pursuit of precious ball. Lottie (the lyth, bouncy fluffy-faced one - half long-haired jack russel, half boarder terrier) leapt great salmon-leaps of sheer joy, and ran huge rings round Toby, ears flapping, then turning on a sixpence, stole his ball to make him chase her!
I just wish I hadn't forgotten my camera!
I'm afraid I've been a bit slack on the competition front - it's really hard to keep up momentum all the time; and being back at my parents home - so out of my own adult reality - makes me just want to be seven years old again. Fortunately the technical side runs itself, and despite my neglect of promoting it, there has been a flurry of entries recently (if anyone is interested in seeing the photos entered so far, they are all up in the gallery at
www.renaissancephotography.org ) There are some really interesting ones. I'm thinking of adding a few lines of organiser's comments when we exhibit them - for example one of the entries in the Reflections category is a photo of a boat succumbing to rising waters in Venice - I'd like to add the comment that the image contained both literal and metaphorical reflections, as the sinking boat itself could be seen as a reflection of climate change. But maybe art shouldn't be spoonfed to its audience? Maybe half the fun of an exhibition is discussing it?
Heading back down south to England tomorrow, so will be able to do a bit more for Renaissance when I'm home.