Alice's First Steps.

My Mum loves to tell the story of when I started walking, at the ripe old age of two and a bit. Before I was upwardly mobile, I had refined the art of shuffling around on my posterior to get from a to b. When my sister came along four years later, she had a pile of hand-me-downs, all a little threadbare around the bottom. A little concerned about me not standing on my own two feet, my Mum took me to the doctor, who declared 'oh there's nothing wrong with her, she's just lazy'. That's the bit my Mum loves retelling...

Not so for Alice! We've been documenting her life for the past nine months. The week before our last shoot, Alice had taken her first tentative steps at home, and she was pretty happy about it! We took a trip up to a meadow above Hebden Bridge one sunny Sunday with Alice, Archie, Jane & Carolynne. It felt pretty special to be capturing this chapter in her life, and all at the tender age of one...

From this....

To this.....

There's no stopping her now!

Ripley Pigfest Scarecrow Trail - a Crackling Good Time!

On Sunday afternoon we had a trip into Ripley to test our super sleuthing skills on all things porcine!  The Pigfest has been running for fifteen years now. It's inspired by the story of  Thomas Ingilby, an ancestor of Sir Thomas Inglby of Ripley Castle who saved King Edward III from a wild boar attack in 1355.

Ripley is very beautiful, little local shops, an abundance of blooms, and the majestic castle looking over the village.

So, with our sheet in hand, we took the first steps into Pigfest! At the start of the trail we were just having a bit of fun, and then a competitive streak kicked in. People were swapping their pig tales on the streets, and there were even volunteers on hand to help those ham-pered by their swine know how! 

If you'd like a challenge, here are a few of the trotters we saw. I've put the names at the end of this post. To give you a flavour, past pig names have been Uswine Bolt, Beatrix Trotter, Amy Swinehouse, Statue of Liboarty and Bradley Piggins. 

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13  -Think Royalty...

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And as a little bonus, this little piggy in the stocks was left nameless for someone to come up with a suitable title for him. My sis came up with Guy Porks, any advance?! Chop chop!! 

And to round it all up, we went to The Boar's Head for roast pork...

We have a few suggestions for next year, we couldn't help ourselves - Tilda Swineton, Porkham and Pies, Elvis Pigsley & Orange Is The New Black Pudding....

Answers:

1. Rupigscube 2. Vincent Van Hog  3. Hams Solo  4. Boaris Johnson  5. Lester Piggott  6.Pork Scratching  7. Alboart Einswine  8. Spider Pig  9. Captain Pigwash  10. Demi Boare & Patpig Swayze  11. Bacon Foil  12. The Red Boaron  13. Hamilla Parker Bowles  14. Hogsleigh  15. Scuboar Diver  16. Finding Boary

A Voice From The Past

I heard a voice from the past a few months ago, a 23 year old me.  We'd been doing quite a bit of house tidying, and I rediscovered a beautiful (if a little bashed) suitcase that holds my diaries from when I went travelling on a round the world trip with my friend Andrew.  I've picked up the diaries before and skimmed through their pages.  This time I sat down and read a chunk from my first few weeks away.  It was strange to see my neat writing and read those words, an echo from half my life away. In the case, I knew there were a couple of rolls of film that I hadn't had developed when I returned. But tucked down at the bottom in a little pouch, I discovered a couple more. I couldn't believe they've been there for so long. I wasn't sure what they'd reveal, or even if they'd still be OK. 

UK Film Lab (now known as Canadian Film Lab), had developed a few rolls of film for me in the past, and being really pleased with the results, I sent them off in a big brown envelope, not knowing if the secrets stored inside would ever develop. A short while later, an email containing the zip files appeared in my inbox. Each click on an image felt like I was drawing with a magic marker to reveal what lay beneath. Bursts of colour, scenes stored in my distant memory, each film grain and speck of dust adding to the story. The ones that resonated with me the most, were of a few weeks spent in Nepal. We flew into Kathmandu on September 23rd 1993.

From Kathmandu, we travelled to Pokhara, where we trekked for a few days in the mountains. We witnessed the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets and watched the light dance on the Himalayas. We walked alongside patchwork rice fields, stopped for refreshments at tiny cold drink stores in the mountain villages, visited temples and schools, and watched the clouds swirl beneath us.

Our boots gathered dirt and dust as we walked further into the mountains. We met kind, generous people who looked after us on our journey, who cooked for us and gave us sweet tea. Looking at the photos of the children we met, I can still hear their laughter, it was so infectious. We played many games of hide and seek and kick the can! I look at these photos now and wonder what they're all up to 23 years on.

It's sometimes hard for me to believe I did this round the world trip. For quite a few years now I have had anxiety and panic attacks around long distance travelling. But I'm getting itchy feet, and there are so many places I want to discover. Looking at these photos makes me realise how much I achieved, and how it is all very possible again.