Learning to Blink

Bell’s Palsy is supposed to be a diagnosis of exclusion but reading this trumpeter’s description convinced me.

I’m finding it quite disconcerting to look in a mirror, attempt to raise both eyebrows and see only one of them move. The numbness on one side of my mouth is similar to the way it feels when a dental anesthetic is wearing off, so annoying when drinking. I can only manage half a smile. The worse thing is having to protect my right eye. It’s not blinking so I have to remember to do some “manual” closing to stop it drying out.

It’s making me think about all the stuff I do automatically. I like to think that I often take photographs without thinking too much but it’s nowhere near as unthinking as blinking.

Unlikely to be Found

I try to avoid repetition but it’s hard to resist sometimes. People place all sorts of things on the button boxes at pedestrian crossings. I’ve previously taken pictures of apple cores and other discarded food, bottles, drinks cans, that sort of thing.

I suppose what I have to avoid is displaying them as a set or making a book with this one as the cover.

Cool Dog on the Bus

>Just read a thought provoking article (People, Places, Things) by Kevin Bjorke. I’m not sure why it made me post this dog picture but I’m not about to start captioning pictures with type of camera and other technical details. Kevin will know that this is a digital shot. I managed to get 6 pictures but the bus was moving more than the dog.

Open Wide

I do get excited sometimes. While my kids have annoyed me by buying themselves 15GB iPods, I have been lifted by the arrival of a piece of 40 year-old technology. I’d like an iPod but a Brooks-Plaubel Veriwide 100 has a lens which is equivalent to 18mm on a 35mm camera and makes 92×56mm negatives. This is one of the first pictures from it and I’ll post a gallery with more soon but overall, yes, I’m excited.