Saturday Evening Post #94: From the Notebook

“How ya Doin!”
Eddie Murphy Beverly Hills Cop

Shout out to all who are in Lockdown at the moment. We are at the end of week one with five to go.
It’s kinda like the job that just has to be done. Like vacuuming under the couch, or taking out the rubbish.

After the past few Posts I thought I’d try a lighter look at what has accumulated in my Notebook.

When I was still an apprentice, an early mentor introduced me to carrying and even better, making notes in a Daybook. I have, I guess been an inveterate note collector ever since. In the early days, notes of film type, lighting, camera settings studio setups filled many a page.
I came across one of those books a long time back (since lost again unfortunately) that had diagrammes of set design or location details for shots that I didn’t even recall making.

I even went through a “Yellow PostIt Note” phase.  Just about everywhere you looked in the workroom were magazines, books, tabletops and equipment with little yellow notes with scribbled details.

Or excepts from some book or movie or activity that I thought I might work on.

These days, I confess, I clip things from the Web and keep in an electronic notebook.

Here is one I came across recently.
Jane Goodall.
Jane is the lady from the 1960s who spent her life working in Africa with Chimpanzees. Amazingly her discoveries changed a lot of scientific thought about these creatures and the whole human race.
She recalls in a BBC interview some of the most important events from her time in the jungle.
Here is the link.

Her technique of getting to know the Chimps as individuals was frowned on by the scientific community. Yet my own experience with birds has followed a similar path. Great to hear her defend her position. Enjoy

I found this one a bit amusing

Would have never thought of using Ibis as a measuring tool.
As some wag said,
“If you are 3 Ibis away, you’ve just lost your lunch”

From the Rodney Smith collection challenge last week.
The image I’m currently living with was the one “Zoe with Ducks” From the Storytelling Series.

However I am also quite taken by “Chicken Haiti”  from the Humour set, is in there with a chance as well. I like it for the moment of timing. Given chickens to the best of my knowledge generally don’t perform to schedules.

I woke this morning with the sound of rain on the roof, and outside it was all grey and gloomy.
“Good day to stay under the Doona I thought”, and for no apparent reason, the song “Rainy Days and Mondays always get me Down”, by Karen Carpenter rang through my head. Funny as I haven’t heard it for years, and could never have cast myself as Carpenters fan.

Talkin’ to myself and feelin’ old
Sometimes I’d like to quit
Nothin’ ever seems to fit
Hangin’ around.

And

Finally,

Robin Whalley, a Landscape photographer from England posted this one. Interesting to me as he has gone back through some of his old work, and found some shots that he’d ignored, but now that he has some time, he’s been able to bring out a feel and mood that he’d missed earlier.

As I’m now working through my own collection of “Might have been good” shots, I found it very encouraging.

Funny old world.

Remain.

The Doona Hermit