[Leica] Cruising for snaps in Sussex

[Ian Stanley <ianstanley@mistral.co.uk>]

Greetings all,

	While the majority of you were designing shutter locks, deciding whether
to leave your cameras set on B or to shoot an extra frame, deciding whether
to use filter or not, debating various lenses, deciding if tape should be
placed over various cameras parts as well as what type of tape, etc I have
been out exploring my new neighbourhood and cruising for snaps.

	A great deal of the time has been spent at a place called the downs.  Why
theses areas are called the downs is beyond me as I have had to climb hills
to get to them each and every time!!  The only down about it is when you
head for home.  The rolling hills, fences, animal life, small villages is
all fairly new material for me after all this time in Asia and my long
holiday in Canada.  I am enjoying it thoroughly and looking forward to
being able to print some of this material when I make it back to the
darkroom in Kathmandu.

	I did however find the conversations about distance, travel, what is close
and what is far to be very interesting though.  In Nepal the distances are
usually very short but the time required to travel that distance is
considerable.  In Canada this summer I travelled over 20,000 kilometers in
my van and thought nothing of it but I can see that in England the
distances I will travel will be much less.  We all have our own idea of
what is close and what is far depending on our travel experiences and where
we live.  When I was working in Ghana I was photographing in a small
village outside of Bolgatanga near the Burkino Faso border.  After the sun
got too high in the sky and the heat too oppressive I spent a considerable
amount of time chatting with an elderly gentleman in the shade in front of
his house.  Well into the chat I asked him if he had always lived here and
he said that he had moved here from far away. When I asked where he moved
from his reply was "Do you see that tree way over there??"

	Anyway, I hope that you all continue with your rambling and discussions of
all and everything as it is what keeps this group as interesting as it is.
I love the variety!

Ian Stanley

temporarily in 
Kingston, Lewes
Sussex, England