paul (england)'s photostream  

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.