Writing Here:

duckrabbit
David White
Ciara Leeming
John Macpherson
Peter
Sara Trula
Carl Pendle
Joni Karanka
Mike Lusmore
Madeleine Corcoran

What a web we weave

The web © John MacPherson

“Yo pider! Thats a fine web.”

I told the orb-web-spider as I clambered up onto the kitchen sink at 11pm one night. My one leg in the sink, the other stretched across the large second storey window, and jammed against a wall.

A day of frantic pider effort had [...]

Half a story

I like stories.

And the web is an amazing place for storytelling. Stuff goes up, and stays there, floating about waiting to be discovered by someone and run with. Maybe to inspire something else, or something similar.

But sometimes what goes up is only partly finished. The web, you see, is fertile ground too, it [...]

Supermarket

I’ve been threatened with ejection from my local supermarket several times. You may guess which one by the red ‘s’.

They don’t like cameras. Not inside. Nor outside. Especially ones with big long white conspicuous lenses.

Shame really, because I just keep seeing things I want to record. Interesting things.

Like the crow, in their [...]

Water. Magic.

Water. © John MacPherson

I like water. Water is amazing stuff.

I stood on this beach, a gentle slope, and watched fresh water from a little stream fan out across the sand.

To help it show me it’s tricks I stood in the water, facing the sun, letting sheen and glare polish its act.

[...]

Short back and slides

Fallen angel © John MacPherson

Sign I spotted on the door of a women’s hairdressing salon in rural Wales.

I wondered what Helen, the hairdresser, was doing on the roof.

Unless it wasn’t her roof.

Maybe it was different roof.

On a thatched cottage?

 

  [...]

The art of the boatman

Boat art © John MacPherson

 

Did Jackson Pollock like boats?

He was born a long way from the sea, in Wyoming.

But if he did have a boat…. ….just supposing for a moment that he might have had one…

Would it’s hull be any more artfully damaged than any other boat’s hull? Rocktearscrapepullgrindscratchmarked?

[...]

In praise of crows

Crow business © John MacPherson

 

I like the cleverness of corvids.

Smart birds.

I watched this crow lift whelk shells on the seashore and drop them to smash them open, revealing the tasty morsel inside.

Clever.

I watched (and filmed) two crows trick an otter out of a crab one day. One crow [...]

They smell like wet dogs.

 

Bear? What bear? © John MacPherson

 

In a Scottish supermarket on a wintery day………

“They smell like wet dogs, they do” said the supermarket checkout man to me, as I pushed my shopping onto the conveyor for scanning.

“Eh?” I asked, puzzled.

“Wet dogs. Thats what they smell like” he repeated.

“Wet [...]

Art? A ponzi scheme? Perhaps.

“I believe we need more Art, not less. More people out there making cool shit, pushing their brains sideways, and hopefully eliciting interesting questions from the people who look at it. More public support for the Arts will lead to more monkeys typing away, which of course will lead to a more intelligent society. [...]

The forgotten sausage.

I was touched by the many responses to my post ‘The last month turned’. Thank you everyone who tweeted and commented, and a particular thank you to those of you who also took the time to send me personal messages and observations. The web may be a somewhat anonymous and distant meeting place, but the [...]

Look at my face

Can you see a face? © John MacPherson

 

What is this? I ask people.

Some say, “it’s a piece of exotic stone, polished. Probably from Burma.”

Others, “it’s a red cabbage, sliced, sharply, by a good knife.”

A few reliably inform me “it’s petrified wood, from Arizona.”

One asked “is it a strange [...]

Visual myths and bad edits

“As you can imagined I am in a state of shock. I feel ashamed and humiliated for trusting CNN. I am stunned that they would take my work out of context. I spent a long time looking at their website before agreeing to show my work and in no way did I see any indication [...]

Do you know who I am?

Given all the recent sage advice for students I thought you might appreciate this:

A friend was invigilator at a large exam in a college. Supervising hundreds of students sitting scribbling. Time passed. Then ended. “That’s it” he called “Time’s up, pens down”.

The pens descended.

“Bring your papers to the front, pile them on [...]

Photojournalism not photography

“I won’t ever know if there is a link between my child’s developmental problems and the flame retardants or the baby bottles, but these stories make me want to throttle someone. I can’t throttle a corporation, even though it’s supposedly a person, but I want to anyway. People who know me know that I’m a [...]

The last month turned

My mum had been confused for a year or two, but had coped well enough with some friend and family support.

But she fell and broke her hip a couple of Christmases past.

The ambulance men took her to hospital. It became obvious that she was suffering badly from dementia, and it only required the [...]

Why telling stories matters

If any of you out there are reading duckrabbit and are perhaps mulling over some experience you had that moved you, and are wondering whether it’s worth your while telling the story………………..well read on…………………………

I wrote this some time ago: The Decisive Moment

Then followed it up some time later with this: The Gift [...]

Fire. Power.

Fire. Power.

 

From the Anarchist News

“Photographers were continually confronted throughout the demo. These vultures not only put people at very serious legal risk by shooting their faces, but physically interfered with the march’s movement and the capacity for people, masked or not, to act…………..”

“………………….Such actions taken towards photographers demonstrate our intent [...]

Hitler, islands and a story.

(John Macpherson will be joining us as a speaker at this months Hinterlands Photofilm Workshop suitable for anyone who wants a holiday with a twist in the wilds of Devon, whilst picking up some kick ass photofilm training)

If you’ve read some of my previous posts you’ll know I like stories and I like meeting [...]

Pilgrimage

Pilgrims journeying to Iona. © John MacPherson

I enjoy the chance encounters with people that sometimes occur.

I met these three ladies on Mull, at Fionnphort, where the small ferry to the Isle of Iona departs. This is a busy ferry, taking an estimated 130,000 people to Iona each year.

“We came from [...]

Battlefield

Culloden. © John MacPherson

 

Culloden Battlefield is just behind my house. Culloden holds an important place in British history.

We took a walk there with William on Saturday (he is almost 4, but not quite). He wanted to take his long bubble wand. The generator of GIANT bubbles. Big wobbly long-lasting bubbles that [...]