Ray's Photos

[Rayge]

Part Two

Deepest Devon in Maytime

The Scent of Almonds


Impersonating Forget-me-nots
Two types of Brunnera in flower


Out Front


South Side


For the Birds


Back in the Groove


Double-Teamed
The Lower Creedy Guys come out to play


"Well, Really!"
Erm...

Busy tomorrow, back on Tuesday

[Rayge]

Part one is mid-Devon in mid-May, and a walk to Shobrooke Park


Gold Standard
I know I've shown several pics of rape fields in this month, but this is the purest colour this time of year


Gone Fishing


Hunting Pose


Can't Quite Reach It...


Oh Dear, That's Embarrassing
Yes, he's fallen in the water. But he was right, there was prey in there – I fished it out for him




Ballfinder General Strikes Again

[Rayge]

Part Two
Back in the 1970s, out and about in Cambridge for a party and then a trip to the East Anglian coast


Party People
Not sure where, or indeed who (apart from Bill, of course, in the Oakland A's cap he brought back from a long trip he made through the US after graduation – his mother was American, he had plenty of relatives out there). Of the other five (never mind the guy who almost isn't there, standing eating an apple on the extremest left), I've got two full names, one fornename and two gaps, but I do like the way the six have composed themselves.


Flintwork
Church at Southwold on the Suffolk coast


Paddling Deadhead
Johnny G gets wet at Southwold


Hippies in Church
Simon A, Jane, Johnny and baby Luke


Flight
The roof at Southwold


Checking In
Back in Cambridge, where John and Jane lived

Back tomorrow

[Rayge]

Part One today is made up of portraits from the mid to late 1970s, found in the print scans folder


Mischief


Apple


Mr Black


Anni


Dreamboat


Mr & Mrs Watson and Booger

...

[Rayge]

Part Two
Deep Devon, mid-May

Lakes and Lodge
Shobrooke Park and beyond


The Manor House
Creedy Park, Sandford


Buttercups and Bugry (shudder)
Lord's Meadow, Crediton


Ladies Match
Crediton Bowling Green


Guardian
The Long Plantation, Fourches Cross


Nothing to See Here...
Millennium Green, Sandford.
Nope, to this day I don't know what's going on.

back tomorrow

[Rayge]

Part one is Devon in mid-May, and rare proof at I do sometimes go out after dark


Morello Lights


Ghost Flowers


LEDs Like Rain


Pond Light


Babel


Lebensraum

Next time, outdoors in daylight, woohoo

[Rayge]

Part Two
Is from print scans of the early to mid-1970s, and features denizens of that decade and their unfortunate clothing and grooming choices (some of these prints were on textured paper, hence the horizontal lines across them. Sorry)


Where's the Beagle?
Aberystwyth


Lucy and Dominic
Children of my erstwhile landlady, Faversham


Roar
Dominic again


For Dog's Sake Man, Get a Grip


An American and a Yorkshireman on The Road
somewhere between Kent and Sheffield


Four Eyes
Jane and Bilbo Baggins give me a damn good looking at. Faversham


Tiptoe Through the Tombstones
Jacques, Canterbury

[Rayge]

In Part One today, more scans of prints from my not so gilded 20s, in the first half of the 1970s


Half-Time
Some people were actually prepared to organize impromptu 11-a-side games of football. Canterbury


Before the Game
Keith and I were mates at school, and both went to Kent, returning home at the weekends for Spurs' home games. White Hart Lane


Hawkmoth at Wincheap
Canterbury


Sunset over the Shoulder
Calli was a cousin of a film star, and lived at 23 Abbey Street, where this pic was taken, 1971-72


Alfresco Toking
Roger Diaz, Billy and Calli in an orchard just south of campus, 1972


Empty Bookshelf
Roger in his College Room

...

[Rayge]

Part Two
today is out and about in Devon this last May




The Way to the Shops
Sandford


Rock Roses
Crediton


Stairway
Peoples Park, Crediton


Work in Progress
View from the bathroom window


Zonal
Pelargonium leaves


On Guard

Scrap monitors the strawberry bed.

[Rayge]

Today, the digital stuff in part one takes on a distinctly botanical turn, as it tends to do at this time of year in Devon, but Part
Two features all kinds of unfeasibly young people disporting themselves in 1972 or thereabouts from the scanned prints archives.


Promises


Fringe Benefits
Upton Hellions


Bend


Mill
It's in the contract, I have to take this picture every spring


Growing On


Clout-Casting Time
The May is definitely out in the piece of waste-ground adjoining the garden


Parallel Universes

[Rayge]

Part Two

Lost Horizon
Bill, Langstone Cliff, Dawlish, 1972


A Little Light Reading
Ashcombe Churchyard. 1972


Williams, Watson and Doyle
Minstead. Year unknown


Lacking Quality
Ill-cured home-grown. I demurred


Three Swallows Make a Summer
1972, Faversham


Light Relief
Bill's coat, Faversham, 1972

more of this sort of thing tomorrow

[Rayge]

Today, Part One is the archive stuff from prints of the early to mid-1970s: part two, more from the middle of last month


Bilbo Baggins (I Know)
BB was a dog belonging to Val T, who moved into the house Mike and I bought in Faversham in the summer
of 1972 and stayed for three terms. That's my room he's in, the only one with a working fireplace


Faversham Creek


Two Towers
Two parish churches built virtually next to one another somewhere in the Lincolnshire countryside


Liz
Taken at Saltfleetby or another of those huge beaches on the North Sea coast of Lincolnshire. I was visiting Liz and Dave,
friends from undergraduate days, who had taken up residence in Grimsby


College Room
Belonging to Frankie, before her hair turned orange.


Tower
Lincoln Cathedral I'm guessing, but don't know for certain


The Strawberry Incident
Plymouth, 1972

...

[Rayge]

Part Two
Begins, like charity, at home, then gets out and about


From Siberia, With Love
Iris sibirica


Glisters


Fungal Bloom


The Landscore Steps
Crediton


The Topside Path


Framed I


Framed II
The last four from a walk to the south of Crediton that continues on Tuesday. Day off tomorrow

ttfn

[Rayge]

In Part One today, the conclusion of a dog walk and a new arrival from May this year


Narrowing Path
Crediton


The New Curiosity Shop
Crediton


Shifting Planes
also Crediton, town of contrasts


On Our Weary Way We Plod


Visitor
Fearless baby bird - siskin, maybe?
Here's a couple more...



Tomorrow, petals not feathers

[Rayge]

Part Two
Features print scans from my first couple of years of picture-taking (using Zenith SLRs for those interested in that sort of thing)

Prelude to the Strawberry Incident
Plymouth Summer 1972. That's scrumpy (rough cider) in that plastic jerry-can


Five Whole Pounds
Pete (brother of Steve) Bell at Stuppington Lane student hovel, Canterbury, 1972


Four Barley Wines and a Future Librarian
Neil A at Wincheap student hovel, Canterbury, 1972-3


Whatever
Rodin's Burghers of Calais, Westminster, 1973. Adrian and I had got temporary night jobs loading lorries at a warehouse, finishing about 5 am and got an early train to London more or less straight from work


Adi and Mary
Mary was the then girlfriend of Pete (featured earlier). Along with two others, they had taken over our stude
non-hovel at 23 Abbey St after we left in 1972. This on the same place and day as the one above


Aspiring Beatniks
Hawkmoth and Shaky, Southampton, 1973

More from my stude and deadbeat days tomorrow, I hope

[Rayge]

Part one today continues a scramble through scans of prints from the early 1970s


Brief Return
Jacques was one of the first five in the house at 23 Abbey Street, but left after a term. This is a visit in Easter 1972


Hirondelle
At less than £1 a litre, and tasting not unpleasant, Hirondelle was the wine of choice for we budding oenophiles. Hawkmoth
gets stuck in to a bottle outside Salisbury Cathedral, on the same 1972 trip to visit Shaky as featured in yesterday's 'aspiring beatniks'.
Hawk and Shaky are both natives of Yorkshire, and later that day subjected a crowded commuter train from Salisbury to Souhampton
to several choruses of 'On Ilkley Moor Baht Hat' while I pretended to be somewhere, anywhere, else. Oog


Vroom Vroom
Adrian in Abbey Street


At St Radigunds
Canterbury: TT, Mad Michael, Farmer Ted and Sleazy Des prepare to go on the road, 1972-3


Just Another Wednesday Afternoon
Celia and Paru, 1973-4


Formal for ’72
TT gets his velvet jacket on for Hawk's wedding, summer of 1972

...

[Rayge]

Part Two
Maytime in my garden


Woodland Planting



Purple Velvet


Queen of Columbines




Pinks in Pots


Wild Party
British natives red campion, columbine and buttercup in late evening sunshine


Mill Lane Blues

More flowers and long-ago youths next time

[Rayge]

Part One today is in my garden in the last ten days of May


Pink Bucket


Clematis Montana


Old China Rose


Flagging


Veins


Bristles


Them Again

Tomorrow: out and about
...

[Rayge]

Part Two
Is still boggling at how long I've been alive, and taking photos; scanned prints of scenes 45 years or so ago

On the Bus
Faversham. On the way in to Hawk's wedding, summer 1972. Bill got into the spirit by wearing white and something
borrowed, viz. my corduroy Levi jacket


The Happy Couple
Somewhere in East Kent


Magnificent Eyebrows
Canterbury 1973. Pete H shows off his facial furniture. He's still got them, I saw him just last week


Mary
1973, Faversham. One of the odd things about photos of this vintage is how many people are smoking straights


Oooog
Pete has that Monday morning feeling. Kilburn 1974 (?)


At Home in Putney
A mirror selfie, 1974-5. Sorry about the noise from the textured paper of the print


Disgrace
Grace Delaney, daughter of Rob and Celia, aged about one. 1975, Canterbury.

More fuzzies tomorrow

[Rayge]

Part One continues the prints from the 1970s, while Part Two gets out and about in Devon in the last week or so of May
Some of these scans are from textured prints, and Just Aren't Right, but best I can do for the moment


Smiley
Pete. 331a Kilburn High Road, 1974-5


Moths Allowed
Hawkmoth, Wrexham, mid-seventies. Hawk's marriage didn't last long and in 1974 or so he moved with his new girlfriend, Stevie,
to North Wales, where she had found work as a lecturer; hawk was a qualified teacher, and here he is standing outside the NAB,
just for old times' sake.


At Home
Hawk, Wrexham


Growing Up
Celia and Grace, South Downs, 1976?


Cooling Off
Celia again: this was the very hot day prelude to an all-night party at the home of one of Johnny G's relatives in Surrey,
somewhere, in the red hot summer of 1976, a legendary event in the lives of many attendees - at least two long-standing
relationships began there, and the following day most decamped to Brighton and surprised Bill at his lifeguard station by the
West Pier - but more of that, no doubt, anon


The Eternal Triangle
Jacques, Duncan and his cannabis plant. Putney, 1976.

More tomorrow