Crystalised

Crystaline towers arise from the frozen floor,
frozen white in a frozen world.
Once productive, reproductive -
now dead.
Ice forming on cold seed heads.

There is no wind.
No movement in the scene,
save blackbirds, thrushes and robins
squabbling over fallen seed,
cast by a caring hand.
They race fluttering by until-
at once, they land.

The trees are stalwart in the face of the coldest hours.
Only stars and stones could seem more lasting.

The whole garden is a crystal construct.
Ice refrozen over a half dozen days.
I feel one step onto the sheet,
and the whole land will shatter.

Thoughts on a Winter's night

The soft whisper of silence wraps itself around me.
A lonely calling from the cold trees.
The white snow, crisp through dark windows,
reminds me of happy mornings.

Frost has settled outside, and in my chest.
I shiver in it's embrace.
The last left to me.

My face is mirrored in the glass.
I have dealt with my woes -
only the broken pieces remain to fix
the bitter draught is drank.

I take a lasting drag of rum and mint,
mixed to keep the chill without and in.
It dulls the demon lurking -
somewhere behind a sardonic smile.

If you were to see me now - I am smiles,
small talk and polite chit chat.
A graceful nod or the tipping of a hat.
All an act.

We give our lovers, sisters, brothers -
other men, such power.
They unthinking change in us
what we change through thinking.


Thinking too much.

The sparrow has no such trouble.
Food and fight and flight
are all it needs.
Save a mate.

We are perhaps not so diferent.

Winter Photography

Winter is a mixed time for photography. On one hand you have spectacular weather conditions (snow, crisp cold days, storms) to shoot and a different colour to the natural light, as well as interesting subjects. However there is one glaring drawback; there's less light to play with and those inclement weather conditions mean photo hikes can be troublesome.

In my own photography I've noticed a steep fall off in quality and quantity of my shooting since the start of December. Sadly this is because I either stay up late to work (which means you miss most of the day's light in the early morning the next day) or I get up early and work for the day. Work either way is getting in the way.

Another issue is claustrophobia. I don't have a car and in Winter it's much harder to convince friends or family to go on long walks, especially in odd weather. As I live in the countryside I have been relying on walks in the locality for much of my photography, but I'm beggining to feel that I've exhausted the photographic potential of my immediate surroundings.

Even with the problem identified it's hard to work a way out of this gutter. I can sacrifice sleep and work to get shots earlier in the day, but this will impact on me financially (and I'll be a cranky bastard). I could use public transport to go further a field, but irish transport networks are poor and this means I'd get mainly urban shots. Travelling by bus also means a loss of a whole day and will cost me money the further a field I go.

In the end I've turned to doing more Macro shots and will probably for the next while begin exploring sets and perhaps portraits under artificial light. This isn't ideal but for the time being it's all I can do.