The other day, looking at Blogger Dashboard, the place from where I begin each new offering, I noticed that the post count had reached 1,498. It's a wonder that I spotted the approach of the milestone of 1,500 posts because 1,000 sailed by unseen. What, I wondered, could I present on this auspicious occasion? The answer came to me in a flash - multiple raspberries!
Not, I hasten to add, the sort produced by sticking your tongue a short way out and vibrating it noisily with your bottom lip. I'm not SO rude. No, the first real picking of the season's fruit had appeared from our garden, and I thought they could be the subject. As I write the raspberries in my photograph have been eaten with a little sugar and a generous dollop of crème fraîche, and my mind is set on covering the strawberries to protect them from the birds because the first few are starting to show faint blushes of red. There's something satisfying about producing and eating food that you grow yourself, a satisfaction that is only increased when it can be turned into the subject matter for a photograph. Carefully arranging some of these unco-operative raspberries into concentric circles I reflected that I'd be a hopeless food photographer. I simply haven't got the patience for it. But, it seems, I do have staying power.
At the time I began this blog in December 2005 I had no idea that I'd still be doing it six and a half years later. I didn't envisage producing more than 1,500 photographs, still less that number of written "reflections". So I suppose, yes, I must have staying power. It's either that or a mixture of madness and monomania! The other thought that I had as the raspberries rolled in every direction but the one I wanted was this: as long as PhotoReflect continues to provide me with a little regular entertainment, interest, challenge - call it what you will - and offers an outlet for my photography, I'll carry on presenting my idiosyncratic thoughts and images from my small corner of the world.
photograph and text © Tony Boughen
Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 100mm macro
F No: f10
Shutter Speed: 1/5 sec
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On
