Process, Wash, Pack...

After a very full week last week visiting various Guide Dog puppies in training I am happy to say that all images are processed leaving me free to wash clothes and then pack in time for my flight back out to Nairobi on Saturday.  Several people have picked up on the fact that the Foreign Office are recommending not travelling to Kenya at the moment due to increased retaliatory threats from el-Shabab... I would just like to mention that these warnings were in place in November before my last trip and it is only being talked about now as the British media 'catches up'.  

I am going to travel as planned as the alternative - as I see it - is to stay at home wrapped in bubble-wrap and hoping that the world passes me by as I simply 'exist' and forget how to live... those of you who know me well enough will know that just isn't who I am; there are plenty of risks wherever we go - avoiding them is partly due to being vigilant, and partly due to being lucky.

Anyhoo... I have work to do over the next couple of weeks which is mainly a long way from Nairobi - and I couldn't let my clients down now, could I...??!?

Will post some pics from the trip as soon as I can, but in the meantime here are (left to right) Ufton, Unity & Kasper.

See you soon!

J

Back to life, back to reality...

The last couple of weeks have been blissful, and I am feeling so chilled and relaxed at the moment that it is hard to imagine going back to work tomorrow...  After a really lovely family Christmas and then a totally chilled New Year's Eve with friends in Sidmouth I returned to Norfolk today through gale force winds and torrential rain to make it back in time for a family trip to the Panto... oh yes... I did!

The next three days will see me on the road again, in Leamington Spa, Bury St Edmunds and London - all for Guide Dogs visiting puppies in various stages of their training to provide images to go out to the sponsors involved in Guide Dogs' 'Sponsor a Puppy' campaign.  This is something I have been actively involved in for over nine years now (10th anniversary coming up in October later this year!) and - even though I have lost count of the thousands of images of puppies I have taken over the years I still enjoy it immensely!  The chap below is Kasper who I will be seeing on Thursday - this shot was taken with his trainer on our last visit back in August (when it was a little warmer!):

So a fair bit of driving over the next few days... am hoping for better weather than experienced today!!

JC

Entering the 21st Century... at last!

OK... to all those of you who have berated me for not having a live blog, here is my first real attempt to make this work!  I will hopefully be posting all of my news and anything else I think might be of interest, but for those of you who are familiar with some of my Facebook posts this site will be totally devoid of any political opinions or discussions...!!!

Please feel free to publish any comments to any of the posts that I put up here, and I promise to keep you updated on a reasonably regular basis!!

For now, here is one of my favourite pics from my latest trip to Kenya in November - I find the raw power of Rhinos exhilirating, and to be this close to them in the wild is truly awe-inspiring:

Here's to a happy and successful 2012 for all!

JC - 28th December 2012

Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

I recently completed work on commission for the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, four of my pieces are now on permanent display at Brompton Library: