Four decades behind the lens. Six years of sharing the journey.
Welcome. I’m Ian — photographer, horn player, and writer living in the Vendée, near the Loire-Atlantique border. This blog has been running since 2019 and shows no sign of stopping.
You’ll find black and white film work, travel essays, orchestra photography, philosophical digressions about why any of us bother pressing the shutter, and the occasional camera review written by someone with strong opinions and a perhaps unreasonable attachment to grain. No algorithms chose what appears here. No agency wrote it. Just forty years of looking, and six of writing it down.
Start anywhere. Stay as long as you like.
Latest from the Field
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Marianne en Concert
I have a friend who sings, and who really sings well. She plays the guitar too. She also happens to be Australian but we won’t hold that against her! Tonight is her first concert in the pub where she works. She’s a nervous as heck, but the first song went off really well, and she’ll… Read more
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Sainte Anne, and the Grue
This weekend I haven’t taken any photos, but as they say so well in Blue Peter, here’s one I made earlier. These photos are now two weeks old. They were taken from different sides of the Loire. The first were taken in the Hangar à Bananes on the Saturday when I was with my daughter,… Read more
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Happy birthday Gilet Jaunes
I’m writing this in a theatre before the tune up begins in about half an hour’s time. I was thinking back to yesterday and going out to Nantes to take a couple of photos. I was in a foul mood on Friday; a colleague who was a nice bloke and all round good egg has… Read more
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Mass in the Cathedral
If you’ve read the Lourdes article then you’ll know that I am a practicing Catholic, and after a break away from the Church I’m trying to get back to Mother Church. It was Sunday, and well, I hadn’t been in the morning as I could see the clock turning. I remembered a friend telling me… Read more
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Nantes in Novembre
Halloween has come and gone and the countdown to Christmas has begun, but no trees until at the earliest the beginning of Advent or at the latest St Nicholas’ Day. The weather is now officially miserable and rainy. And with the hour having gone back the nights seem to be staring earlier. The rain is… Read more
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À la recherche du temps perdu…
The writer expresses a longing for past experiences and memories, triggered by sensory cues like smells and tastes. Nostalgia evokes moments from boarding school, tensions with parents, and youthful dreams. A sense of wonder and loss permeates the reflection, as the writer contemplates the divergence of their past aspirations from their present reality. Read more
Featured Projects
- The UK Chronicles
Light, minimalism, and preparation.
Shot entirely on the Fujifilm X100F during a recent solo journey through Britain — a deliberate exercise in traveling light, seeing deeply, and preparing for the sensory overload of China. - The Film Archives
Memory in monochrome.
A vault unlocked: black and white film photographs from Nantes, Clisson, and beyond — captured long before this blog existed. Grain, patience, and timeless moments. - Photography Philosophy
Why do we do this?
Not a tutorial. Not a gear guide. A quiet exploration of purpose — the “why” behind the viewfinder. For those who photograph not to post, but to feel. - The Orchestra Visit to China
Culture, chaos, and concert halls.
A visual symphony from the road with the orchestra — temples, trains, backstage glances, and the electric silence before the first note.
About the Photographer
I am not an influencer. I am not a brand.
I am a photographer, ever so slightly stubborn, analogue at heart, digital when needed, and fiercely independent. I’ve been developing my own film since the 1980s. I built this blog in 2019, not for followers, but for focus.
I do not outsource my editing. I do not chase trends. I shoot what moves me, and I hope, sometimes, it moves you too.
“Commercial editing offers and unsolicited partnerships will not be published or replied to. This space is sacred; for art, not advertising.”
A Note from a Reader
“j’adore… il y a des jours avec, et les jours sans….”
— A kind visitor, September 2025
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j’adore
il y a des jours avec, et les jours sans….