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paul (england)'s photostream
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I've disabled comments to free up time for better things (and, let's face it, for me *most* things are better than sitting in front of a computer (which is also making my right arm and shoulder ever more painful)) - and also for reasons of privacy (I'm not comfortable with people I don't like being able to eavesdrop on my conversations here with friends).
I also like the idea of one bit of Flickr being more about the images than about chat (and, frankly, I don't think there's much to say about the sort of photos I take - most of which were taken so long ago anyway). I'm just happy to know that some of you do take the time to drop by (thank-you! :-)). And please always feel free to Flickrmail me if you have something to say or ask or query or correct!
You can look at some of my "best"/favourite shots by searching Flickr for "paulmdtbest" (though this usually isn't very up to date)
Photographic equipment
film camera: old Pentax 35mm SLRs (LX (mostly)/MX/KX/K1000)
(digital camera: Samsung L77 - but very few photos uploaded here)
film: mostly colour negative (Fuji Pro 160S, Kodak Portra 160, etc. - also some C41 b&w (e.g. Ilford XP2 Super)
tripod: Manfrotto 055XPROB and 055MF3 with ball head 486RC2 and 488RC2
Early life
Born: Surrey, England, 1956 (English mother, Danish father)
Education: local state schools; Royal Grammar School, Guildford; and on Saturdays the
Royal College of Music junior department (scholarship student) - piano & cello, etc.
Gap year: English assistant at schools in Bavaria (Obersalzberg) and Hessen (Oberurff)
University of Leicester (Combined Hons (Class I) degree: psychology, music, German;
Arts faculty prize)
PGCE: TEFL (teaching English as foreign language)
Work, etc.
Germany: English teacher, Heinrich-Heine-Gymnasium (grammar school), Dortmund
Denmark: private English language school in Copenhagen - which I soon left for
manual, shift work at SAS Catering, Kastrup Airport (much better!)
Oxford: various menial jobs (no fun, low pay - and the usual horrid UK overpriced rented rooms)
Spain: Vigo (in Galicia, on the Atlantic coast)
Oxford (again): "research assistant" on the Oxford English Dictionary:
a year of that was more than enough and I decided to go back ("for a while") to my parents;
longish stays in Spain - Santander and (twice) Salamanca
And I'm still in Surrey, living with my father (my mother died in May 2011) -
mainly because I so like my surroundings here
(yet hardly anyone else is photographing them)
How I live
"ligero de equipaje": simple, healthy, clean and green; food organic, mostly vegetarian;
don't need to work (financially independent, thanks to good fortune and savings -
though I have to live pretty cheap; no home/wife/kids (never wanted any of that);
no car (hate them), few possessions, even fewer friends (but the best, and all I want)
What I like
wandering & wondering); sitting & watching; trees; autumn, winter; clouds; solitude;
music (including piano improvisation - except I hardly ever do it any more);
kind, intelligent faces; underdogs, good losers, Germans (well, someone has to)
and other Europeans (in other words, my "cousins" and their languages);
Europe (I'm so lucky to live here and not some godforsaken place like the US)
and Scandinavia;
twilight; shades of blue; apres-rain; the sky at night, public places; train journeys
(especially across Europe) - and ferries;
real smiles; everyday life (much more than fiction); anything clever, witty, poetic,
expressive, idiomatic;
(but as a boy, what I liked most: maths, aircraft and playing football!)
Interests
psychology; language (and its music, voices and accents, its humour, poetry and idioms)
and languages (French, Spanish, Danish, German); music; ideas, quotations, ...
Politics, religion, etc.
My heart and my friends have always been on the left and green. I am not religious
Regrets
"A few". The RGS and the RCM; most of what I learnt at school and university; TEFL;
learning so much Spanish (when I could have learnt much less, or relearned French or German -
or played the piano, done more drawing, learnt more English, done more thinking, "idling" ... );
I regret almost every job I've ever done; I regret the abysmally low self-esteem and crippling
shyness (especially with the girls I liked most - who were probably the ones who liked me most)
that plagued my younger life, and can still crop up when I most wish it wouldn't
(though, perhaps thanks to it, things haven't worked out too badly in the end:
just imagine if I'd met the "right"; person, got married, had to buy a house, have children,
get a "proper" job (bye-bye freedom, happiness and what's left of your money) -
ended up like everyone else ... ). So overall, I don't wish I'd done things all that differently.
Wishes
It would be so nice to be once again in the places that were once my home:
in Germany, Denmark, Spain (Santander, Salamanca) ...
Never to lose that easy smile again.
(Like most people nowadays) to have more time - to return to that slower, simpler, more solitary
(talk- and email-free), richer life, when I had time to do more things and do them well.
I wish computers didn't take up so much time. And while I enjoy taking photos, all the rest
(editing, uploading, Flickr) takes up too much of my time.
Still, at least I'm still car- and mobile phone- and Twitter- and Facebook-free.
And I always used to wish I knew I had a decent, secure, not-too-expensive home,
shared with one or two nice people. (I thought that was asking too much here in the UK) -
but now, thanks to a friend, it is there for me if I ever need it (touch wood and fingers crossed)
Achievements
Staying single. Holding my nerve. Not getting tired. Not selling out.
Photos of paul (england) (20)
paul (england)'s favorite photos from other Flickr members (368)
Contacts (113)
Groups (44)
- Flickr Ideas 0 photos, 10,373 members
- MacBook Pro 3,718 photos, 1,532 members
- C-41 Process B/W Films 17,039 photos, 1,364 members
- fisheye fanatics 65,280 photos, 7,045 members
- Dead Famous in the British Isles 499 photos, 79 members
- Typography and Lettering 115,874 photos, 17,128 members
- 55mm takumar! 1,318 photos, 131 members
- UK Film Club 5,342 photos, 299 members
- Takumar! 20,947 photos, 1,696 members
- ICM - Intentional Camera Movement - 14.000+ great submissions! 14,347 photos, 2,072 members
- Camera Toss 7,515 photos, 8,719 members
- Pentax KX users 8,464 photos, 457 members
- Manfrotto Official 9,378 photos, 1,794 members
- Bookham Camera Club 156 photos, 6 members
- Oxford 34,338 photos, 2,618 members
- Pentax LX 2,931 photos, 191 members
- Guildford High Street UK 267 photos, 56 members
- I Shoot Film 1,764,902 photos, 69,646 members
- translucence 6 photos, 5 members
- Box Hill 62 photos, 23 members
- Surrey - England's Finest County 11,894 photos, 822 members
- Photo Technique 972 photos, 153 members
- Guardian Camera Club 21,434 photos, 10,796 members
- Time-Lapse 2,759 photos, 1,121 members
- Sussex & Surrey Digital Artists Group 6,455 photos, 370 members
- GIMP users 122,229 photos, 8,816 members
- Pentax MX 9,538 photos, 828 members
- Cambridge Colour 1,096 photos, 147 members
- PENTAX - All Genuine Lenses 42,988 photos, 1,441 members
- London 574,976 photos, 28,556 members
- London Photographers 126,881 photos, 4,995 members
- ME Super 7,702 photos, 660 members
- Cambridge by night 1,646 photos, 300 members
- Cambridge in Motion 10 photos, 31 members
- Slow Photography 21 photos, 26 members
- Pentax K-1000 users and lovers (k1000) 47,990 photos, 3,197 members
- Backlit 5,384 photos, 604 members
- Cambridge University Botanic Garden 2,511 photos, 242 members
- FlickrCentral 4,810,976 photos, 166,256 members
- Guardianista 2,511 photos, 170 members
- Cambridge (England) - the very best of [CLOSED] 3,903 photos, 233 members
- Cambridge (England) People & Portraits 4,885 photos, 476 members
- Cambridge Meet Up 567 photos, 90 members
- Cambridge 38,756 photos, 2,449 members
Testimonials (0)
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- Name:
- Paul Messerschmidt
- Joined:
- July 2006
- Currently:
- Surrey, England
- I am:
- Male and Single





















