2011 Streak 94/365: Walk - 6.85 miles, Time - 2hrs, Weather - grey, overcast, light rain
I love the way you can use photos to tell a story but at the same time you have to be very, very careful as context is everything. For example I took this picture today and could well imagine a story about the wasteland around railtracks, the marginalised burning discarded palettes for warmth, perhaps some hoboing, perhaps it is in Central Europe - it could be anywhere. It would all be false.
This is Berkhamsted we're talking about. It is adjacent to a canal side development where a two bedroom flat sells for £400,000 and the fires have been lit by workmen clearing the land.
I took the photo because of my surprise at seeing a bonfire. When I was a kid everybody had bonfires to clear away the garden rubbish and I used to love watching them. But with Clean Air Acts, the habit has died away in all the places I have lived and I have ceased to think of bonfires as an option. All the woody waste from the garden now goes to the tip, which is fine as it will be composted, chipped or recycled in some way - but there is no romance.
Long ago I used to into bonfires in an unfixed way, with my mind wandered free. I liked that. I also liked prodding the fire and watching changing colours as things got hotter and then colder. Simple dreamlike pleasures.
So today I take a picture and imagine Central Europe, perhaps Post War, perhaps a time of hardship. I am a child again
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