But sometimes, like this chap, we can’t and we have to make the best of the here and now. It’s like a game we occasionally play where we sit outside a city cafe with our expresso, our backs to the road and pretend there’s a harbour behind us. A way to survive the city.
I see other people finding their own ways of creating a bit of personal space, on the trains and tubes. Mostly this seems to involve iPods, phones and newspapers.
I like this chap. I’m not really sure what he’s doing there, just sunbathing, maybe saving a parking space? Who knows? All I know is that there he sat, in the sun, relaxing and he made me smile.

The other thing I know is that if I hadn’t had my camera with me I would never have seen him. It was only because I was casting around for something to photograph that I saw him at all.
So there he is - a slice of city life. Did he make you smile too?

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I’m following my twitter friend Amy’s series on photography with great interest. Amy is always a great source of inspiration and I really love the way she mixes words and images. Her first couple of posts on the theme have made me think hard about why I’m not taking many photos these day and I think I’ve worked it out.

Mostly I have always photographed scenery, nature, flowers, things I think of as beautiful. I make an exception for Paris because though it is undoubtedly a city to me it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. However, the city I now live in does not look beautiful to me.

Now I’m prepared to believe that this is just me, that the beauty is there if only I could find it. So that what I’m going to try to do for the next few weeks. I’m going to take my camera everywhere with me and try to find some beauty here every day.

The trouble with this image is, I fear, I’m looking at the sky and the river, listening to the quiet, and filtering out the city. Generally not what I’m trying for but it’s a start.

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