Welcome to the first of 2019’s monthly Photo-a-Day collections. The prompts are set by the wonderful Chantelle who blogs as Fat Mum Slim. This has been a daily fixture of my Instagram feed (search for #FMSPAD) since January 1st 2017. It has been a wonderful community to join in with and there are some very talented photographers and artists taking part in it.
Jan 1st – Hello
Hello 2019! This was taken as we were about to head to bed (at about 4am)
#fms_hello
Jan 2nd – New
New buildings going up (or actually an older building being refurbished to look new). This curvy creation is over the Broadgate entrance to Liverpool Street Station.
#fms_new
Jan 3rd – Currently reading
Well, I was reading this intriguing fantasy book until someone interrupted me (with a camera)…
The book I’m reading is what I was reading at the time and it’s a great read.
#fms_currentlyreading
Jan 4th – Yellow
Yellow stripes on a bee landing on a yellow Mahonia flower. I spotted this as I walked from Stanmore Chiropractic Clinic to the Station.
#fms_yellow
Jan 5th – A fave thing
I many wonderful things, but trying to take (yet) another photo of books seemed like a cop out, and then it was finding just a single thing that makes me smile each time (and that I’ve not photographed before) and this Nisse (Scandinavian gnome) fit the bill. He’s one of three that I own, that get a more prominent placing during Christmas, but don’t get packed away with the seasonal decorations.
#fms_afavething
Jan 6th – Breakfast
Sunday breakfast: sausage and egg sandwich…
#fms_breakfast
Jan 7th – Look up!
Looking up in my sitting room, this is the sight that greets me… A rather unusual lampshade that I got many years ago from Habitat, and it is made up of magnifying glasses, so we need keep it out of direct sunlight.
#fms_lookup
Jan 8th – Quirky
I wasn’t feeling it this week, and quirky seemed beyond me (maybe the Nisse would have been better for this prompt). But I remembered these two piggy (catty) banks….
Guess which is fuller…?
#fms_quirky
Jan 9th – This or that
This red “pill” or that blue “pill”… a photo inspired by one of my favourite films (which is amazingly 20 years old this year).
On a side note, I tried to use Smarties, but now they use all natural colours the ones I bought didn’t have the vibrant colouration of the M&Ms… still chocolate though.
#fms_thisorthat
Jan 10th – Play
A play’s opening lines which also uses the word play… prettified by a couple of rings….
“If music be the food of love, play on…” Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare (In case you didn’t know)
I will say I find these prompts difficult to come up with as I don’t have a small person or animal to photograph for the easy option.
#fms_play
Jan 11th – Pink
Pretty pink cyclamen to be seen on the way to work at Clerkenwell. In the wonderful Bonhill Cemetery, near to Old Street.
#fms_pink
Jan 12th – Begins with T
A teddy bear, from Guernsey…
…why does my brain suddenly lose any idea of what starts with T when a prompt like this appears….
#fms_beginswitht
Jan 13th – Lunch
A multiseed bagel with ham, english mustard, cheddar and homemade sauerkraut.
My recipe for sauerkraut is quite simple, and very straight forward.
#fms_lunch
Jan 14th – Handful
A handful of bedding…
#fms_handful
Jan 15th – Paint
With last years renovations, I did wield a bit of paint… and I remembered that I took some photos during the process….
#fms_paint
Jan 16th – Glasses
One of my current pairs, and an historic pair….
#fms_glasses
Jan 17th – Corner
The corner of the UBS building at Broadgate Circle, near Liverpool street.
#fms_corner
Jan 18th – Turquoise
A turquoise plate.
I’m sure I’m not alone in wondering if a colour I see fits the prompt description when it is a specifically named colour like turqouise or aqua or teal, and it’s not helped by my phone kept altering colours from what my eye saw to the photograph… So this is as best a turquoise as I can imagine…
I did learn that we call it that colour because the French imported the Persian mined stone via Turkey…
#fms_turquoise
Jan 19th – Fence
A fence with three crows (or are they rooks), which I pulled from my archive as I couldn’t find any interesting fences to photograph. It was taken on the walk from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door in Dorset.
#fms_fence
Jan 20th – Dinner
Dinner tonight was thai red curry, not the most photogenic of foods. And to be honest, I really don’t enjoy taking photographs of food.
#fms_dinner
Jan 21st – Nice!
It’s a fine line as to what nice is… is it rubbish or excellent or something in between. Anyway it was a nice surprise to find that these Algerian Irises were flowering in our garden, providing a nice splash of colour in these dark January days.
#fms_nice
Jan 22nd – I went here
The London Borough of Waltham Forest is the first ever Mayor London’s Borough of Culture, and they had a weekend event and this was the light installation called the Nest. It was a sound and light installation and totally mesmerising.
#fms_iwenthere
Jan 23rd – A drink
A nice strong black coffee, with an interesting yin/yang swirl on top (completely unintentionally)
#fms_adrink
Jan 24th – Landscape
Living in London I don’t get to see much ‘landscape’, but it’s very much an urban view. This is taken at the Walthamstow Wetlands (which I love going to) looking towards a new development.
#fms_landscape
Jan 25th – White
It’s winter, and we had a blast of cold air, which brought a bit of snow to London, and a fabulous frost. So white is the frost on the leaves of a plant I pass on my way to work in Stanmore.
#fms_white
Jan 26th – What I wore today
This may be too much information, but this was what I wore to work…
#fms_whatiworetoday
Jan 27th – A sign
In the midst of winter, I found these leaves emerging on my Japanese Wineberry: A sign that spring is on it’s way.
#fms_asign
Jan 28th – The sky
A brilliant blue sky over St Luke’s, on Old Street, on my way to work. No filter necessary.
#fms_thesky
Jan 29th – Empty
Nothing between my ears as the light shines straight through…
…and one of my most popular photos.
#fms_empty
Jan 30th – Monochrome
A found monochromatic photo, which means I’ve not edited at all, and why there are couple of colours. I like to challenge myself with this, rather than just turning a photo black and white….
#fms_monochrome
Jan 31st – Morning
Morning coffee… very rarely in bed (off to work too early) but was able to quickly grab this photo.
#fms_morning
Bonus photo
Another view of the Nest light installation (I was slightly obsessed by it)
So that’s it for this month, I hope you enjoyed the photos. I wasn’t fortunate enough to have been chosen as one of the Fab Four this time around. The fab four (or more) are chosen by the Facebook admin team each day for each prompt.
There will be a constant (some might think endless) stream of photos on my Instagram feed, so if you can’t wait until next month then follow me there. There will be another summary of my photos next month.
Thanks for reading this, my lovely interonauts,
Tim
