B213 – THE FREEMASONS!

Dad you’ll like this fact, so where I am in Massachusetts is home to the oldest fraternity in the world. The Freemasons, they literally are from where I am right now, they even have a load of Freemason lodges in the area where if you are part of them you can go a stay. thats pretty cool.

Im not sure if they are the same as we have in the UK but from there website it sounds like they are. Here, its a brotherhood for men to make connections work or life related and be part of “something bigger”.For the people who dont know what the Freemasons are the best way I can describe it, the organisation is a bit like an Adult scout’s group meets Social club. its full of traditions and teaches important life skills, but also it’s there for men to look out for one another. Im not saying I completely agree with this idea, but  it is a part of  our history and something that is still relative to us today i suppose, so we should really at least try to understand it.

Heres their website, have a look and see what you think. I mean if anyone can join and they just have a good time, eat good food, socialise, while having the odd secrete handshake, I don’t see a problem with it.

http://massfreemasonry.org/what-is-freemasonry/#!/brotherhood/

Im just kind of happy Ive managed to see another part of the world I probably would never have seen if it wasn’t for this job. Im now 213 days down  on the blog and really feel like my photos are getting better. today on my drive through Palma, Massachusetts, I saw this motor bike parked outside some 1960’s america cafe and as I went to take the photo I completely got the focus wrong, and as I pressed the shutter a red mustang drove past, 6 months ago I would probably have written the photo off as a fail, but today I looked at it and really liked how it turned out. a lot of photography, is purely about being in the right place at the right time and doing the right thing. that was difficult thing I had to understand when I first started this photo challenge thing, going out for 10 minutes once a week to take photos is pointless. but now I feel confident in my photos and seem to always be carrying my camera around with me, I think I’m slowly starting to get some cool photos from places I’ve been.

Here are my photos from today, its my last full day in america before I head back to London from all of 15 hours before I leave for my next trip and it should be a good one, I’ve been excited about this one for a while and cant wait to share the photos with you.

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– the home of the freemasons –
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– this photo, out of focus but I really like the colour in this shot, give its a 35mm feel –
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– the type of place Im in at the moment, surrounded by proper wildness –

 

B211 – HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Since I can remember everyones always said that in america they do Halloween 10 x better than us brits to do in the UK. well today is officially my first american Halloween and from being over here for the past month I can back that up, its treated like we treat christmas, its like 50 percent of all houses on every street dresses their houses up to look like some kind of Haunted House.

Today we kind of had a spontaneous prep day which means we didn’t have to go a film, well we did go a film some GV’s (general views) but apart from that I could get some rest in and not have to think about too much, which was kind of perfect, I literally laid in bed till 10am before even thinking about going out for a coffee and now I feel ready to go wake up early and get back to work.

for the past like 4 years Halloween in the UK seems to have taken off and I love it, im not really any good at dressing up, I always seem to get my make up wrong or don’t really have a proper outfit, but I love the treats and the parties, which kind what makes it. but as I currently living life out of a hotel in this part of the world called Ludlow, Massachusetts, Ill just have to live halloween through the millions of photos on instagram and through my whistle stop tour of Springfield earlier onto, were I managed to get the photos you see below. to be honest it was quite good because we had a few lenses with us, so I got to play around with a few different ones while taking these photos. there was literally fake zombies hanging from trees a long the streets that would start to shake and scream as you walked past. I hope they were fake because if they weren’t I would be terrible in a zombie apocalypse.

Heres my photos from today. enjoy.

and sorry  for my spelling mistakes yesterday. I do know how to spell avocado but sometime I just get it wrong.

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– these things were just creepy –
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– why are all these props bald? –
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– just one of the million front gardens that were decorated. kids round here must love this time of year –

B127 – CANCELLED TRAIN – 5 HOURS LATER…

today was meant to be a straight forward travel day, spent the day on my sofa then catch a train this evening up north. a few diversions later and im standing a new castle train station waiting for a taxi to finish my journey off. this isnt a complaint its a big observation, it happens, I just wish it didnt happen on my straight forward travel day.

Im trying to keep this as something thats based around photos, but on days like today, where im a bit hungover and just sitting on a train, its just about trying to take the best possible photos from an adverage day, which is kind of fun because you end up trying to frame up everything you see and make something not so interesting, interesting.

anyway its late on sunday, i’m nackered so heres a few photos for today. in other stuff the hotel im staying in for the next few hours is really nice, if you’re ever in Hexham, then stay at the Beaumont hotel. They will actually show you to your room! not sure what breakfast will be like but just gimme coffee and its all good.

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– New castle has some crazy sunsets –
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– for some reason I like this photo –
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– GERAY –

 

 

B081 – the only English in this town 

We are staying in a place called Raito which is basically just full out old Italians that just shout words at you and then invite you into their house to buy a bus ticket. 

Yesterday we went on the hunt for some pizza, and found a cool little restaurant the only thing is no one speaks a word of English so ordering food, drink or asking where the toilet is can be tough. But I gotta say this place is completely bonkers in a good way.

At the moment we are sat at a bus stop waiting for something to turn up not sure if it’s going to be a bus or horse and carriage trying to make it to Capri to have a look around … but as they say in French cest la vie!! 

– Amy giving it some sass –
– literally not an English person in sight –
– can’t take a bad picture here –

B079 – amalfi coast is unreal 

Just landed in Naples, Italy. This place is unreal, from the crazy drivers who literally drive where ever they want, to the 100ft cliffs with 7 houses a car park and hotel stuck on the side. We are looking forward to exploring this part of the world tomorrow morning with a hike up a volcano and then onto Pompeii to see the ruins of the old town. Should be a good morning with some cool photos.

Here’s a few snaps from our first afternoon here…

– Amy giving it some sass –
– a little beach we found yesterday evening –
– the view from our bedroom –

B077 – SWITZERLAND DAY 2 –

First thing, im sun burnt. really really sunburnt, ill post some photos tomorrow of my Sunburn, but today I wanted to show you how cool switzerland is, we literally sat by the water the whole afternoon just chilling out and swimming. In the morning though we went up into the mountains to find this new suspension bridge over a Valley, im not sure how high this is but it was pretty far up.

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– amy’s sur la pont –
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– it doesnt look that high, but it really was –
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– they like volleyball in Switzerland –
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– it looks like he caught the boat-