the best is yet to come.....

A Royal Mint

I spent a morning at the Royal Mint in Wales today as it began production of the Royal Wedding commemorative coin featuring of course William and Catherine. The skills of master toolmaker Richard Hughes are the final step in the long process from artists conception to the finished article. With the aid of hand made tools and 30 years of experience he delicately fine tunes the impression of the final die that will be used to strike the coins as they go into production. There is no room for error. One slip of an over sensitive hammer strike as he fashions Catherine's smile, and its back to the drawing board. Literally.

 

 

the late great joe morello.....

 

The jazz afficionados amongst you will surely remember one of the finest musicians ever to have graced a drum set. My earliest memories of hearing the Dave Brubeck Quartet play Take Five, Blue Rondo A La Turk and Unsquare Dance for the first time left me feeling helpless in trying to understand all Joe Morello's polyrhythms, and at the same time inspired to try and emulate them.

Morello's sense of timing, grace, swing and technique is peerless. A true great.

take five solo

the future of photojournalism

burnett and jarecke

Click on the link above to hear two real photojournalists discussing the future of their craft. Both of these men were highly instrumental in my decision to become a photographer and it's fascinating to hear their views on how things stand at the moment.

Royal Wootton Bassett

The body of soldier Lance Corporal Liam Tasker, who died along with his sniffer dog Theo in Afghanistan last week, returned to RAF Lyneham today. Trying to find a picture that reflected some of the emotion in this story wasn't going to be easy, but when I saw this lady standing waiting for the repatriation cortege with her dog in her shop window on Wootton Bassett High Street, it pretty much summed it up for me.

 

live long and prosper..........

It was a trip out of London to Wiltshire yesterday for a group of Chelsea pensioners. They were visiting the last remaining fully operational Vulcan bomber at RAF Lyneham. The aircraft itself is operated by the charity Vulcan To The Sky Trust. Trying to find revenue to keep this amazing aircraft in the sky is tough in these economic times, but the 'Vulcan Effect' is undeniable as an appearance at an airshow can boost attendance by as much as 20%, effectively 10,000 people. This generates substantial additional revenue for the airshow and its trade customers, and so allows the charity to be much more business- like in their decisions on where to display.

Suffice to say the Chelsea pensioners enjoyed their brief visit, most of them managing to climb the steps and squeeze into the tiny cockpit.

The Gibbon mascot (above) in the glass bubble beneath the cock pit has collected more air miles than all the members of the Vulcan flight crews put together.