Isabel and I took ourselves off to Dulwich Picture Gallery today to see an exhibition of works from the Group of Seven, sometimes known as the Algonquin school, who were a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920-1933. The paintings were very good, although the exhibition was crowded, and they reminded us a great deal of our trip through the Canadian Rockies in 2006.

Mount Robson by Lawren S. Harris

A view from our drive along the Icefields Parkway in the Canadian Rockies in 2006

Christmas went on for a long time and consisted of a seemingly endless series of rooms full of people, food and sometimes quite a bit of noise.

We kicked off as usual with Christmas Eve at Eva’s, a night of great company and simply wonderful food. Eva’s food table is a work of art.

Christmas Day was just Isabel and I and the kids at home with a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, several recorded films watched back to back, and a great big inviting sofa. Very, very pleasant. The photos are here.

Boxing Day was the gathering of the extended Russell clan in Hackney, more mountains of food and drink, two rounds of fiercely contested Trivial Pursuits and an energetic round of Secret Santa present opening (and trading). The photos are here.

A few minutes of video of Trivial Pursuits and Secret Santa

After a brief pause the Swash extended family gathered at our place for more food, another round of energetic Secret Santa and some charades by the kids and some adults. The photo’s are here.

A few minutes of video of various charades.

Another glorious day, another walk through the autumn colours of Hampstead Heath, a few more photos from my iPhone……

The camera on the new iPhone is simply astonishing.

This glorious autumn continues with another wonderful sunny and clear day today. It reminds me of the autumn of 1977 when I was living above a community children’s nursery in the large old rambling Deanery in Hackney. As we moved in to the Deanery the surrounding streets were demolished and the whole area, including the gardens, was bulldozed and then the site was left to go wild for the best part of a year. During the summer of 1977 the vast open space around us became a wonderful overgrown thicket of plants springing up from the seeds and roots that the bulldozers had smeared around. The autumn of 1977 was like this one, dry, warm, sunny, still and seemingly endless and our old building became marooned in a sea of plants and wonderful colour. Unfortunately back then I didn’t have a camera.

We went for a walk on the Heath today and here are some photos taken with my iPhone.

I finally managed to get a new iPhone 4s this week, it took some doing as they are sold out as soon as they arrive. It is a big upgrade from my two year old iPhone 3GS and one of the biggest improvements is in the camera. The new iPhone camera has improved optics, improved sensor and improved electronics and takes photos at least as good as a decent compact camera. This is a big deal for me as it means I will have a pretty good camera with me at all times and that means a lot of fun and a lot of captured photo opportunities.

The new iPhone camera comes with a very good HDR (High Dynamic Range) function that opens up shadows and recovers blown highlights. Here are two photos shot in my room, one with no HDR (hence the blow out highlights outside the window) and one with the HDR function turned on. You can see the huge improvement the HDR brings.

With no HDR

With the HDR function turned on

Some iPhone photos from the Heath today – the weather was simply glorious

A nice moody B&W shot in the evening damp gloom

This photo shot from the platform at Tufnell Park tube station is actually three shots stitched together as a panorama using software on my iPhone.

This is a photo of the blue autumn sky and a contrail above a wooden fence in Junction Road

We gathered at my brother Chris’s house for a few fireworks and some conversation. The small boys (and a few of the larger ones) got awfully excited. Click here to see all the photos.

Isabel and I took a stroll across the Heath today to look at the autumn colours and I took some photos. To see them click here.

There was a fancy dress party at Tremlett Grove last night. There were some strange, odd, wonderful, creative and sometimes disturbing costumes. I had a great eveining. My favourite costume was the guy who came as Jack Nicholson in the Shining wearing a door with his head sticking through it.

Click here to see all the photos (including full size versions).

Here is an animated slideshow of some of the photos, with some music. To see the slideshow at it’s best go to full screen.

Will the real Jack Nicholson please wave an axe

I have been working through a box of old negs, scanning as I go, and I have found some great photos from the 1970s and early 1980s. The photos below from the Windsor Free Festival came from the same old box and now I have added some photos from the households at Cornwallis Road and Cromartie Road, the women’s weekend away at the cottage in Gloucester and some shots from the front steps of the squat in Offord Road. The photos from the 1970s start here and those from the 1980s start here.

Isabel and I attended the funeral of Jane Greetham in Highgate Cemetery yesterday. Neither of us had seen Jane for years but back in the 1970s she loomed large in both our lives. I came across this photo of her with a group of friends at a women’s away weekend in a cottage in Gloucester in the mid-1970s. I remember that jacket.

Digging about in the loft I came across a small pack of medium format black and white negs. When I scanned them I discovered a lovely set of photos of the group of people putting together the newsletter at the 1974 Windsor Free Festival. The newsletter was ‘Freek Power’ and if you click here you can download a copy. The photos are here.

My son Jess turned 39 this week, how did that happen? We gathered for a meal to celebrate. Lovely evening.

My son Jess on one side and my daughter Rosie on the other

Isabel and I spent a pleasant long weekend walking in the Peak District, other than the journey up, when we encountered rather scary torrential rain on the motorway, the weather was pretty good. We walked a very nice circuit up and over MamTor on the Friday and on the Saturday we met up with John and Moira for a river side walk from Hathersage to Hope. Photos are here.

Around Mam Tor

Walking with John and Moira

A rather cool looking horse

We spent Friday evening at John Hoyland and Dom Gill’s 70th birthday party at the exquisite Orangery in Holland Park. It was a chance to catch up with old friends and the food, the booze and above all the company were tremendous, the evening flew by all too fast. Click here to see all the photos.

Isabel and I spent a pleasant hour today looking at the magnificent and stunning objects in the British Museums exhibition ‘Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World‘. I urge you to catch this one before it closes, some of the objects are on a par with the objects I once saw during a visit to the tomb of Philip II of Macedon (the father of Alexander the Great) in northern Greece, the Afghanistan exhibition is that good.

Here are a few pics I grabbed in the Museum’s great hall with my iPhone, including one of Isabel contemplating the giant quartzite head of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III.