Each month I offer you something to think about to get the brain working. This month …
Life only ever happens by chance.
Street Photography
A couple of days ago, I spotted an article on Substack which asked Is Street Photography Weird?.
I found myself agreeing with most of what the author was saying.
Now street photography is something I do. Wherever I am, if I have a camera on me – sadly not as often as I would like, due to sheer practicality – I’m always on the look out for a picture.
If I’m in a car (passenger seat, of course, as I don’t drive) I’m trying to watch what is approaching. If I’m somewhere I can stop and wait, even sit on a bench, I’m people-watching. All with an eye for a picture. Just people going about their ordinary life, looking interesting or unusual, or things in amusing juxtapositions.
It is catching candid images in the hope that they’re going to work, rather than having to controlled environment of a studio or similar. That’s why I like it; I can’t be doing with the poncing about with studio setups etc.
It’s candid photography. You’re mostly catching people off their guard, usually unaware they’ve been spotted. And for me that’s the point. I don’t much care if whoever I’m photographing sees me, although if they do I’ll often drop the camera rather than risk embarrassing them. Of course, because you’re often taking “grab shots” you do tend to get a high ratio of unusable images; that’s all part of the game, and much more sustainable now with digital cameras.
In 40-odd years of snatching candid street images, I’ve been challenged only twice; and one of them was by a policeman who I reminded that I was doing nothing illegal, with which he had to agree.
So, yes, street photography is rather weird. And just to prove it here’s a random selection of images from my back list. Enjoy.
Monthly Quotations for September
And so we arrive at this month’s collection of recently encountered quotes …
Imagine how noisy centipedes would be if they wore tiny flip flops.
[unknown]
You should not be afraid of someone who has a library and reads many books; you should fear someone who has only one book; and he considers it sacred, but he has never read it.
[Friedrich Nietzsche]
Sometimes I like to run naked in the moonlight and the wind, on a little trail behind our house, when the honeysuckle blooms. It’s a feeling of freedom, so close to God and nature.
[Dolly Parton]
Young wenches … gett upon a Table-board, and then gather-up their knees & their coates with their hands as high as they can, and then they wabble to and fro with their Buttocks as if they were kneading of Dowgh with their Arses.
[John Aubrey (1626-1697)]
In the old ignorant times before woomen were Readers ye history was handed downe from mother to daughter, &c.
[John Aubrey (1626-1697)]
The most pleasant of all outward pastimes is … to make pretty progress, a merry journey now and then with some good companions, to visit friends, see Cities, Castles, Towns, to see the pleasant fields, the crystal fountains, and take the gentle air amongst the mountains.
[Robert Burton; The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621)]
There are only two options: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are frightening.
[Carl Sagan]
September Quiz Answers
Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.
Classical & Ancient World
- In Greek mythology, who is the muse of sacred poetry? Polyhymnia
- What Roman holiday held from 17 to 23 December had a large influence on how Christmas was celebrated? Saturnalia
- What ancient wonder was located in the city of Alexandria in Egypt? Pharos, the Lighthouse of Alexandria
- What’s the name of the paradise warriors go to after death? Valhalla
- Anubis, the Ancient Egyptian God of Death, had the head of what? Jackal
- What is the title of the classic Greek epic attributed to Homer, telling the story of the Trojan War? The Iliad
Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2025.
This Month’s Poem
Hiawatha’s Photographing (opening)
Lewis Carroll
From his shoulder Hiawatha
Took the camera of rosewood,
Made of sliding, folding rosewood;
Neatly put it all together.
In its case it lay compactly,
Folded into nearly nothing;
But he opened out the hinges,
Pushed and pulled the joints and hinges,
Till it looked all squares and oblongs,
Like a complicated figure
In the Second Book of Euclid.
Find this poem online at My Poetic Side
September Self-Portrait
[Click the image for a larger view]
Ten Things
This year our Ten Things column will present a selection of words (of five or more letters) with a different ending each month. This month …
Words Ending in -ah
- batmitzvah
- chutzpah
- coolabah
- hallelujah
- kabbalah
- maharajah
- mynah
- pariah
- verandah
- zillah
So how many of those words did you know? And how many do you use?
This Month’s Quote
The universe is a circle whose circumference is nowhere
and whose centre is everywhere.
Paraphrase of Blaise Pascal
September Quiz Questions
Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month.
As always, they’re designed to be tricky but not impossible, so it’s unlikely everyone will know all the answers – just have a bit of fun.
Classical & Ancient World
- In Greek mythology, who is the muse of sacred poetry?
- What Roman holiday held from 17 to 23 December had a large influence on how Christmas was celebrated?
- What ancient wonder was located in the city of Alexandria in Egypt?
- What’s the name of the paradise warriors go to after death?
- Anubis, the Ancient Egyptian God of Death, had the head of what?
- What is the title of the classic Greek epic attributed to Homer, telling the story of the Trojan War?
Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.
September 1926
Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.
3. Birth. Alison Lurie, American author and academic (d.2020)
8. The German Weimar Republic joins the League of Nations.
11. In Rome, Gino Lucetti throws a bomb at Benito Mussolini’s car, but Mussolini is unhurt.
14. The Locarno Treaties of 1926 are ratified in Geneva.
20. The North Side Gang attempts to assassinate Al Capone, then at the apex of his power, spraying his headquarters in Cicero, Illinois with over a thousand rounds of machine gun fire in broad daylight, as Capone is eating there. Capone escapes unharmed.
21. Birth. Noor Jehan, Pakistani singer and actress (d.2000)
25. The League of Nations Slavery Convention abolishes all types of slavery.
25. Henry Ford announces the 8-hour, 5-day work week.