MiLife 2011

MiLifeby Richard Primrose

MiLife Project 2011

Dedicated to Jayne StangoDied 19 March 2005

Despite being a professional photographer and spending a great deal of time with the Stango family, this is the only picture I could find of Jayne in my digital catalogue.

It’s a great relief that I had my mobile phone and took this and didn’t lose or delete it by mistake.

Miss you Jayne.

We all say 'take a picture' - but that's not what we do anymore. How many photos have you taken with your mobile phone that you have done nothing with? When you used film cameras that’s when you took a picture - you got a physical copy in your hand. Now we capture digital images, put it in a holding net and that's where it stays. In fishing terms we don't take it out of the net and put it on the table. Eventually the captured image will escape by the fragile way it is stored.

The MiLife Project is a collection of personal pictures taken with my mobile phone cameras from the end of 2003 when they became widely available. These images have been edited in iPhoto software and printed into a iPhoto Book.

MiLife illustrates the strong move away from film and an almost total dependence on mobile phone cameras. It also highlights the appalling lack of printing of such images and hence the fragility of depending on digital images in just their digital state. If such personal images are captured on mobile phones how will they be made available for family members in future generations to view and why is that important?

My grandparents and parents had all their pictures in a couple of drawers. In the 1970s and 1980s we sat around the fire looking at them on the floor. My dad used to do special slide shows after any holiday. I have all these images. It made me feel secure then and it comforts me now they have all died. They also provide a valuable snapshot of important social history for the years to come.

Using myself as an example consider this: I’m 42 now, in 30 years I should be a grandfather and even a great-grandfather. Thirty years is not a huge length of time but how many mobile phones would I have had? At least fifteen? Would I have retrieved all the images from these phones? How many computers would have gone through my possession? Ten? Would I have transferred those images to each computer? Would I have been able to? If I put them on a CD or DVD maybe they will be readable if stored correctly and unscratched. How about old hard drives? A lot of computer hardware ends up in India to be stripped and recycled. Maybe very advanced face recognition software would be able to find past relatives and allow you to download a relative for a premium!

MiLife Project 2011

And how about internet storage of your images, in the ‘Cloud’? You know clouds will come and go too. Will your storage account remain if you don’t use it, change your email, forget your login, miss your renewal fee? In 30 years will you be able to afford the storage cost? When you die will your relatives carry on paying to store such images? I suspect in 30 years that most digital images taken on mobile phone cameras in the last decade will be lost. In fact, I suspect a large amount already have been lost. Can our families now and in the future afford that loss? Can social history afford that gap? That’s what MiLife is all about, alerting people to this important oversight and encouraging you to print those mobile phone pictures.

It’s weird that with our mobile phone and point and shoot cameras we are documenting our everyday life in a jaw dropping way, yet bizarrely from the last 10 years we may come away with the least archival personal and social images! The only answer is to print those images. It will be the closest to stone tablet storage we can get. I recently went to the Tate opening of an exhibition of work by the photographer Eadweard Muybridge. I stood mesmorised by a panoramic print of San Francisco, a sharp, clear and well-exposed image, taken in 1878, 130 years ago! It made me think, although our mobile phone images may not be sharp, clear and well-exposed let’s at least have them exist! Imagine how valuable socially they will be in 130 years.

So the MiLife project encompasses this dramatic change in the past decade of a near total reliance on mobile phones for capturing images. My images may be mundane - the normal life of a recently divorced man getting his life back together. Meeting the girl of his dreams and marrying her. Also struggling financially, setting up a new home, holidays. Yes it’s very normal but by its disclosure it becomes extraordinary, maybe not at this minute but trust me in 130 years it certainly will be! Remember printed images are the closest way we can 'stone tablet' our family and social history. The other option, leaving such images in their digital state, is far too shocking even to contemplate.

I hope you enjoy my life documented by my mobile phone cameras and are motivated to search out your past pictures and print them. Don't delay, make your family memories 'stone tablet'!

Pictures are usually captioned clockwise from top left. Not every picture is captioned.© Richard Primrose 2011

2003: I’m messing about during a shoot in the studio with a blow up dinosaur. After splitting up with Alison, my ex-wife, I move to a new apartment. Carmen takes me to Ikea and Sally kisses the TV. They put red lipstick on me. Haggis, my cat, is under the bed. 2004: One way to make sure the loo paper isn’t stolen. High Street, Great Dunmow. Flying to Jamaica. Its so hot the candle melts. Junior, Montego Bay Airport.

A party I really regret where Craig stabbed himself. Kathryn waving her finger at me. I’m probably at my most depressed and increase my anti-depressants. Alex pointing at me while we wait in Stansted Airport for Superman’s (Chris) stag do to Sweden. The Spy Bar calls in Stockholm. Chris concerned about his sexuality.

Haggis, who I rescued when I divorced. He is a constant companion after foolishly leaving my job at the photography studio. I still have my Mercedes. An impulse buy of a £400 short sleeve shirt from Italian designer John Richmond off Regent Street, London. Must resist beautiful Nikki - the divorce is too fresh. Who will tell Adam these glasses don’t suit him. Nikki’s cat entertains us.

Mario wins the go-carting trip for Chris’s pre-wedding do and is he really going to mary Mario’s sister Daniela? Centre Picture: The Loafers, including Vicky and Adam, the first of a number of multi media messages sent to Carmen. We told Jayne she looked good in her new hat for her daughters wedding. Daniella looks beautiful but her brother, Leon, prefers ‘Fanny’ the hairdressers teaching head! And yes I feel better with a banana sticker on my head.

Sally also leaves the photography studio and starts hairdressing. Kathryn, as usual, is sticking her finger up. The face is Sam. Has Stefan got Adam’s sunglasses on? This is Jamil, my son, visiting me in the Traffic bar where I lived in Great Dunmow. Vicky also leaves the studio and takes Mr Monkey with her. Tim on left, Sam, the face, on the right. Playing snooker in Peterborough.

I take Carmen to Pizza Express. She has also left the photography studio. I seem to go to Pizza Express a lot. Jamil tells me he fell over at school, hence the black eye. Haggis, as usual, is right in my face!

The Loafers are back Carmen! Bad colour choice at my sisters house. Punting on the River Cambs, Cambridge. I visit the walled garden I spent my childhood playing in. Opposite page: Chris punting before he falls in. I send three multi media messages to Carmen to let her know the bare essentials before I’m ready to go out, commonly known as the three ’S’s’.

A night with Vicky and Adam. Who has the same animal print ironing board as me? Normal traffic Friday night up to Peterborough. Don’t pour your chocolate fondue down the loo, it sets! At the Spinnaker Bar, Canary Wharf. I realise Tim has a very nice sister called Tabitha.

Sleeping over at Tim’s. Mr Potato Head is in Peterborough. Multi media message sent to me of my look-a-like playing bingo. I’m dressed to cut hedges. A guy playing the guitar in a street bin while I take Tabitha on a first date in Cambridge. Photographer Martin Parr signs books. Sleeping over at Tim’s again. Really bad Karaoke. It’s Haggis. I’m in New York.

I had forgotten how important my friends were, Sally, Carmen, Vicky and Adam. Always around and helping me through a divorce and getting off anti-depressants. Now a physical record exists within this book. It would be a difficult thing to explain your success based entirely on yourself when these images prove otherwise.

Opposite:2005: Off to French Alps for first snowboarding holiday. Wallpaper in Traffic bar. Jamil starts to grow an Afro. I keep cutting myself shaving. Mario looks on. Looking at my new shoes while I’m on the train to start a Masters Degree in Photojournalism. A stab wound needs stitches after trying to get a parcel open.

Don’t Forget to print it!

Oh Mercedes! Your A14 road days are nearly over as I’m running out of money. The Loafers continue. Carmen, check your messages. Adam is in red. I have a small head. Sally has a big mouth. Vicky has a short tongue. Adam and company watch new flat screen TV on wall. Wake up Tabitha! I’ve started painting to make ends meat.

Spending most of my time at home with Haggis. I dedicate the first part of the photography masters degree to individual A3 prints from my mobile phone. A small collection of a day in the life of Haggis.

Fellow student, Admas is on the train. Guardian newspaper picture matches the train seats, why? Admas is on the university roof in Central London. The big picture is my friend Keith, we are at Pizza Express. Our first ‘couple ‘shot. Tabitha among tree trunks at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Rooftop view of Elephant and Castle before they knock it down and redevelop it.

At Carmen’s house. Last snow flurry on the Mercedes. I have sold my Mercedes and bought the FEG. Not sure Haggis likes Mr Monkey from the studio. Keith’s shoe at Keith’s house. Where are these cobbles?

A year after Chris and Daniella’s wedding her mum, Jayne, is now in the hospice. We occupy ourselves painting while individually we visit Jayne’s bedside. Vicky is playing with matches. I really like Tabitha! Its a hot summer. Your eyes are like spanners, every time I look into them my nuts tighten. With Adam and playing with a Victorian camera.

University class, where I’m doing an MA in photojournalism. World Press Photo Awards, Amsterdam. No idea who’s dog or home where I took this picture. Tim’s head in hands moment. Carmen’s doing bar work. My sister Sarah did this painting of me when I was a teenager, I had totally forgotten about it until one day she unrolled it out on the floor. My face on this particular day.

My sister Sarah. Chenel, Sam’s sister. A visit to London Aquarian. Jolene and Lee’s TV. Photographer Stefan Rauch. At the pub after Jayne’s funeral. Tim’s wrinkly forehead. Jolene and Lee canoodling. Listening to a talk at large auditorium. Keith at Pizza Express - again!

Stuck in Traffic: Using special effects setting on camera. Carmen, Rob her boyfriend and I enjoy a night at the Traffic bar in Great Dunmow. Wallpaper at Traffic.

Previous page: New phone with better camera! Jamaican beer. TRex at London’s National History Museum. Admas and I on a train. Twickenham Rugby stand demolished. Jamil perfects his afro. Chenel’s dad is asleep. A year dating Tabitha. This page: Only yellow cars can park here. Multi media message of Stefan’s dog. Tabitha’s parents dining table. Flying to Rome for the day.

Finally get to the London Apple Store, Regents Street. Shall I do a project of my coat on the back of toilet doors? Tim is in love with Beyonce. Bert in hat. Tim and Tabitha’s dad is somewhere in that dive. Keith’s coffee table books. Where you going Haggis? Talk at university. Waiting for Mac to render film for video iPod. Taken a picture of my TV, happens to be playing the film Aviator. Opposite: Maids make beds in Egypt. Haggis found. Fancy dress party. Mac laptop dies.

All money for university gone. Painting as much as possible to make ends meat.

Photographer Homer Sykes gives talk at our university. Beautiful day in Great Dunmow. London Underground train on a lorry. Gift from Keith, a victorian light box for viewing glass negative plates. TRex vegetable butter - why? Photographer Fung in class. Multi media message from Carmen, new shoes. Carmen and Sally. I’m worrying about money. Haggis you’re scaring me.

Started doing a bit of garden clearing for JT (John) in the beautiful village Tilty. JT in his element on a tractor. Found this sleeping toy sausage in a compost heap, I kid you not. JT is in a hurry, as usual. Farm toilet door.

Daniella by lamp light. Tabitha’s parents hallway. Jamil has lost his afro! Keith’s Italian chair and shoes. Ikea home store lamp next to my bed. Breakfast in Norfolk lodge. Tabitha is happy because it’s snowing. Window cleaning with Bert, this is the first window I’ve ever cleaned!

Keith is in blue. I’ve just had enough of painting. Green cable for a roving microphone. Tabitha is filling up. Got ladders on the FEG car. Queuing for entry at our university end of year final show MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography.

2006: Chinese New Year Soho, London. Would not want to wallpaper this! Tate Modern Turbine Hall. Pigging only? Car wash. My tie in Keith’s front room. Mario, Jayne’s son, in the back of the FEG. Opposite: I see faces. Counting the cost of going to university. Painting in green. Beach hut North Norfolk.

Is that you Haggis? Bank gets possession order on my flat in the morning but by the afternoon I’m at Apple’s head office to show them my NightBus project for their video iPod. I walk into a garage door. Secret wood in Norfolk near Sandringham. Haggis’ eye. Welsh born Geraint with Keith’s orange curtains behind him.

Finally Tim and Chenel get together, although Chenel is shy. Nice bathroom suit. I’m painting and cold. Bert’s dad, Steve Baxter, on his mower. Big backside. Keith’s front room is hosting Sally. I am Superman and happy.

My NightBus show opens at Apple’s Europe head office, thats why I’m happy. Inside Apple and The Big Mac sever. British Rail train seat on the way to art show. Still painting to make ends meet despite getting Apple show! I hate Henry the Hoover. Horrible kitchen units. A Womble.

The A14 drive to Peterborough to see Tabitha. Keith’s fan. This is sister Eve, sitting in a back room. Tabitha is tickled by something. With Basil the dog in Tilty. I’m running on empty, a lot.

Working in a beautiful rural part of Essex. Clearly being that remote you can hang large knickers on your line. The FEG dash.The dog on this farm was a bit straggly. Tea break with George. Been topped up with the countryside. Opposite: Old person’s bathroom. Sure I qualified as a photographer not a painter? Is that Tabitha through the glass? That’s a button that you don’t want to press. Harry the hedgehog.

The Sunbeam 1000HP (top speed in 1927 203.793mph) land speed car at Beaulieu House, England and scene from museum ride. It’s just a tree trunk. Tabitha with quintessentially English pint of bitter. I had this Nintendo game and clock in the 1980’s. Opposite: House where every room needs wallpaper stripping, it just went on and on. Posh bin for paper towels. Basil wants my lunch. Triumphal strip with blisters.

I found my old work phone. A typical French antique mayonnaise maker. Jamil in orange. Camden makes Tabitha’s engagement ring slightly more expensive with a London parking ticket. Opposite: Ah! The last of the loafers. The ring. Tabitha the night we got engaged. Sally, myself and Carmen in the pub. Back seat reading.

The room I have at Keith’s house, now I’ve left my apartment in Great Dunmow, it’s smaller than it looks. The pink castle Tabitha wants to get married in. Another British Rail seat. A peek into Keith’s attic. This page: Cat Fish Keith performs at the Half Moon in Bishop’s Stortford near Stansted Airport. No point trying to look cool in the FEG. Keith in his chair. Bert and India by candlelight. Nice exposure for Haggis. Well if you’re fed up with my painting pictures how do you think I feel?

Previous page: Playing with Basil from Tilty. This page: Working in the countryside again. Keith’s brothers painting and sculpture show. Glad to see the back of 2006. You have to manually change the year which I couldn’t be bothered to do at 00.55am.

I had occasionally helped my friend Bert Baxter on his window cleaning round. This particular day, while both up ladders, Bert's mobile rang: "Hi Dad. No way! Really! That's amazing". This transpired to mean that Steve, Bert's dad, was at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, and after hearing a colossal crash went to the top of a stairwell and viewed a man amidst fragments of three priceless Ming vases. The man’s shoe lace was undone. Steve took a picture on his mobile phone, which he has since lost. I told Bert to tell his dad that he should approach the papers with this image. He did. The story and picture went worldwide.

What tickles me about this story, though, is the picture far right. Nick Flynn, the gentleman who 'tripped' on his shoe lace and managed to smash all three large priceless 300-year-old Ming vases off a long window ledge, said: "I have a few household accidents, maybe drop a cup or two, smash a plate, but nothing like this has ever happened to me before." The museum owners wrote to Mr Flynn asking him not to visit again.

This upset Mr Flynn, who can be seen here a few weeks after the event protesting outside the museum. Strangely enough, Steve Baxter, happened to be passing the museum, saw Mr Flynn and crossed over to take another picture. Mr Flynn, who was on his mobile giving an interview about his protest to a local TV station, didn't recognise Steve. As Steve used gestures to ask Mr Flynn if he could take a snap, he nodded and told the TV station that his protest was successful and people were even coming over to him to take pictures!

Less than a year before this event the 7/7 London bus and underground train suicide bombings in London had been mostly recorded by mobile phone cameras and newspapers made widespread use of these images. Steve's picture was similarly widely published. Despite being taken on a phone camera with less than one million pixels, the papers used it.

Both mobile phone images opposite © Steve Baxter 2006

2007: Crude attempt to join pictures of a landscape on phone software to make a panoramic view.

Budapest, for my lads weekend away before I get married. Collecting old wallpaper makes stripping feel worthwhile. JT (John) is mad. What you thinking Adam?

Leon organises Mario a Greek Meze meal before his wedding. I move into Tabitha’s place and start unpacking my stuff, bringing Mr Monkey from the studio. Off to Loch Ness for a mini honeymoon, the place has the most chintzy material! Off to Marbella, Spain for Tim’s weekend before he gets married. Tabitha waiting for me when I return.

A tacky angel mobile phone effect. My painting boots. A tornado off the A47 near Peterborough. The FEG reaches the devil’s number. Tim will remember this Flaming Lamborghini cocktail a few nights before his wedding. Rome or Death. Up a ladder painting and see a Red Kite and a US E-3 Sentry plane.

My NightBus project opens at Tate Britain. Glad I’m not an electrician. The old Mac laptop goes on eBay. More wallpaper stripped and kept. Sharing the balcony in Minorca, Spain with a pigeon on our first holiday and first ‘Am I pregnant?’ situation. No we are not!

The iPhone arrives in Britain and Wendy, Bert’s mum and Steve’s wife, has one! An Ink Cap fungi in the garden. Angry ice cream and scared apple strudel. Phone box on back of truck. Chenel and Tabitha at our friends Martin and Ruth. Pete’s Christmas pudding. FEG interior. NightBus goes to Curzon Cinema, Soho.

Previous page: Monday nights always at Jolene and Lee’s home and inevitably we end up on the internet. Keith’s crushed can exhibition. DogyDog poses. Launch of Magnum Magnum new book at the V&A, London. Steve takes me to Belgo’s Belgian restaurant, plenty of bier. May have this wallpaper in bedroom. Haggis, the cat, gets a cheque from the Tate, which I can’t cash! We pop to a nice Norfolk cottage for the end of the year.

This page: I start to work on my new project ‘Now I’m Living at Keith’s House’. Tabitha splashes out on a new ball dress. Tim and I are also splashing in the hot tub. Bert can’t dance. This year is nearly over.

End of 2007

2008: Previous page: Our first wedding anniversary back in Scotland where we got married. Another sewing a landscape together effort. Amazingly the long standing bachelor Keith gets married and I give a speech. Current reading matter. Plastic bullets in Cambridge. It’s the FEG interior again. This page: British Library getting stroppy with my cat. Still painting. I spend three days emptying Keith’s attic. The kitchen pots. My trainers. Tabitha is enjoying organising lists for family holiday.

The family holiday. Playing vinyl. Burning confidential waste gets a bit out of hand. The brother in-laws look friendly. Tabitha’s nan has a stroke. Multi media message from Vicky and Adam’s swirly faces. That’s a Richard Branson hot air balloon. Tabitha stock-takes her Clinique collection. Opposite page: Crazy image effect on old mobile phone. Tim and I finally get an iPhone! Working on Keith project. Recording commentary on project in bathroom. Ready for any dust this house may throw at me. Baking these.

Sleeping in Steve and Wendy’s attic. Last race ever at Walthamstow Dogs, East London and Steve is there. Welsh Minstrels and Miners. X Factor begins. Jason avoiding an accident. Airport parking and off to Ibiza! Holiday reading. Tabitha’s back. V&A Museum.

Reading material for a passenger on British Rail. Keith’s brother’s new exhibition is opened by Sister Wendy Becket. Tim, Jason and I buy an old Lada Riva off eBay. My coffee pot dies. We drive the Lada from Peterborough to French Alps for one day’s snowboarding, I break my ribs and we drive back again, the Lada makes it. iPhone screen shot. End of 2008.

2009: Visit to Fitzwilliam Museum with Jason, no priceless vases on window ledge. Back in French Alps and on top of Pic Blanc. Leica MP camera needs repairing. It’s snowing in Peterborough, where is the FEG! Despite the snow I’m hedge cutting for fun. Opposite page: Back at Leica to pick up repaired MP. Not my Postman Pat tent. It’s unlikely to be Saturday on this day.

I’m hoping that I have persuaded you to print your mobile phone pictures, both those you’ve already taken and those you will take in the future. My good friend Steve Baxter, seen here on the direct right, has certainly taken the lead with this huge canvas print of the tiny jpeg that came from his mobile phone. Of course, the quality is not brilliant but it is better than not printing it at all. Quality has to be accepted as fairly poor but this should not put you off. If you had a choice between having no pictures of a loved one or just one small low quality likeness then you would grab it. Often the value of a picture increases years later, as when a loved one dies. It was an oversight on our part to rely so heavily on mobile phone cameras and not properly storing them or printing them. However, we can correct it now, and in so doing, save both our family and our social history.

The link between iPhone Applications and taking pictures on your phone for sharing on social network websites, was made stronger at the Central London G20 protests in April 2009 (opposite page). Although I covered the protest professionally, I got most of my intelligence on Twitter and shared this image through my iPhone Twitter application. Many of such worldwide protests and social images sit on these network sites unprinted and will eventually be deleted. A serious shortcoming of digital photography is that many images will be deleted because they were viewed as irrelevant at the time but they will be irreplaceable later when inevitable social developments make their loss incalculable.

So you better believe the importance of printing your mobile phone pictures.

You Gotta Believe!

Multi media message from JT of a working steam engine I gave him. Screen shot from my email account. Weather is good enough to paint outside, unfortunately. Passing a kebab shop late one night in Peterborough. Haggis stayed with Keith after I got married, so finally persuaded Tabitha to have a kitten. Welcome to Mac Murphy via the Twitter social network.

I’m covered in paint as usual. Time to develop some film from the Leica MP. Mac with Mac under sofa. Michael Jackson’s televised funeral. Lee has a Wii. O2 arena to see Body Worlds exhibition. Swifts at Aldwincle Lodge, Northamptonshire. Mac with Mac again. Cat gash. Cleaning cast iron stove in a barn.

After a family weekend in London we brunch at The Diner off Carnaby Street. Mac is on the neighbours roof! James behind a glass at our regular Tuesday night dinner at Martin and Ruth’s. Not been to Pizza Express for a while. A lot of umbrellas.

Brand new umbrella crushed at the beer festival. James after a glass of beer. Some of the games downloaded from Apps Store. Different angle of umbrellas shows Channel 4 clever logo. Mac is hiding, very badly. We are in Ibiza on our favourite beach!

Bye bye Ibiza. FEG is parked in London W10 for Notting Hill’s huge carnival. Music so loud the speakers are on fire! Monday nights at Jolene and Lee’s and we are all on our laptops! The chicken van.

James’ glass again. Mac has been castrated. Dad’s beer mug from 1966. Footing a ladder. A weekend trip to North Yorkshire, England. The same china set mum and dad had when we were kids in a Whitby curiosity shop. The legend reggae DJ David Rodigan is in Peterborough! Stop smiling James.

Although Mac has not mastered the cat flap yet he has managed to drag a pigeon through it! Richard Branson’s hot air balloon nearly landed in the garden, so close they asked for 12 cups of tea! Multi media message from Tabitha asking me if this fancy dress outfit will do for future party. Patchwork England. Dario and I are in Pizza Express, Covent Garden.

Decided to fit a log burner at home and it’s raining! On the roof fitting chimney and Mac joins me. While at Steve and Wendy’s house my iPhone slides into a large bowl of dough made by Steve. Ending 2009 in a Welsh cottage with Tabitha and champagne.

2010: Previous page: Snapshot of weather in my world. This page: The new year starts cold and the log burner is in good use. We have landed in France and the Primrose snowboarding party has begun. Chenel’s brother Sam joins us. My head gear improves. I’ve managed to bust my ribs again. Tabitha is sad to be back home in Peterborough.

Money is dictating a cheap 3rd wedding anniversary with a large French Fancy cake and a trip to the cinema to see Avatar in 3D. Steve’s Dodydog has pups. Poor old Haggis is looking old. Tabitha’s nan and grandad celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. Take pics of Leica camera to put on eBay as I’m in need of cash. Another happy couple Steve and Wendy. 60 years ago. Lazy Mac. Opposite page: Steve takes me to Austria skiing and introduces me to the badger he loves so much!

Wendy on her iPhone, as usual. Bert’s Michael Jackson skiing leather jacket and he is also Mr Napkin Head. Finally wearing a crash helmet. This is William from Oxford fashioning a saxon ski jacket. Opposite page: We need a dump here in Austria. 10 days of boarding and I didn’t hurt myself until Fod crashes his board into me. Austrian ski lift engineers play Irish snap with us. Very large chocolate spread jars.

Bert’s girlfriend Claire. Keith in his shed. Yep think that’s a Bansky and the FEG reaches 100,000 miles. Opposite page: Having a log burner means you spend all year looking for wood. We choose a kitten from a new litter at Steve and Wendy’s place. Tim sets up family group shot. Log burner produces a lot of soot on TV. I get a splinter in my hand from sanding down old woodwork. Mac no longer fits in the box I picked him up in when he was a kitten. After 4 days the hospital finally remove splinter.

Previous page: At least if I’m going to have to paint I’m lucky enough to use wacky colours. Whoops, Tabitha needs a pregnancy test again. This page: The guy in the dustbin in Cambridge is still there 6 years on. Multi media message from Wendy of the kitten. Tate Modern invites me to new photo show in London. Is this the Snoopy candle? Another Tate show to go to. We pick up the kitten, Apple Dapple.

Harry the hedgehog nests in the most awkward place in the centre of the garden. Adam and Vicky’s kitchen lamp. Before and after painting Oundle clock shop. World Cup is on! Apple wants some steel band LP playing. Cats eat marrow? Opposite page: Family holiday in Majorca, Spain. Tabitha wants the studio changing back to her lounge after a busy spate of photography. Saatchi Gallery, London. Branson’s hot air balloon following me again. A British Rail seat. Out going call in Spain. Back from Spain.

The long drive to Norwich in Tim and Chenel’s car. Converting the chimnea to take smoke away from our faces. Everybody is wearing Crocs. Jackie is happy. The wood store is built. Not everybody is happy. Apple can get her leg behind her head. Opposite page: I photograph a bible for a banner. Sculptor Henry Moore at Tate Britain. New shed and I evict Harry the hedgehog from middle of grass to reseed. Ball of wool blocks hole. Bert’s irresistible offer to Wales, didn’t go. Still collecting wood. Rained off from outside painting. Wine tasting and swallowing.

Previous page: Ibiza! Beach reading. Tabitha’s legs. The FEG is over, I will not miss it. Screen saver from Satachii Gallery visit with Tim. Missable cookie. On a rainy night in London with Lee. This page: Tate Britain opening of Muybridge exhibition. Bert, Claire and Steve in their kitchen. Big toy truck in Peterborough. Still seeing faces everywhere, chilli powder on granite worktop.

Previous page: Apple and Mac finally make friends, although Apple being the female has control of the TV remote. This page: Weather App on iPhone in Peterborough. Rushing out to see firework display in Cambridge and it rained but Tabitha still enjoyed it. My Mont Blanc pen ready next to the bed. eBay App on iPhone, just one more bid! This years home made sloe gin.

With such constant dependence on mobile phones what we do with them sometimes becomes an important moment in time, whether for good or bad. The option to take a picture of your screen at that time is important. iPhones allow this. We have all lost precious text messages when changing mobile phones, here is one (opposite) that for me fits the bill. Jamil, my son, due to stay over at the weekend had canceled and I didn’t get the text message. My 10 minute talk on photography went well at the business breakfast club I had been to earlier that morning and Tabitha my wife had hurt her bum the previous weekend after a fall on the slopes in the French Alps. My ex-wife died around 3pm on the 16 December 2010.

Opposite page:

The supermarkets are gearing up for Christmas. Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver 30 minute meals book is out. The log store is full. I’m driving the Volvo to Alpe D’Huez, France, for a weekend of snowboarding and, of course, bring back some good French red. Waiting for a full English breakfast (it’s early) at The Restaurant. Lee my brother in-law has spotted tongue disease. The father in-law, Mike, cuts his ‘Congratulations on your voluntary redundancy’ celebration cookie.

Take a picture of your screen

End of 2011

Sir Alan Haggis Higgins

Haggis died 7 March 2011

It would be ridiculous dedicating a book to your cat.

Haggis, you got me through a divorce and off anti-depressants. I will miss your incessant attention seeking, messy eating habits and pooh.