Sunrise

The view from my houseboat on the River Thames early this morning on almost the shortest day when, cloud permitting, the sun rises out of the river. Don't think I'll be as lucky tomorrow!

The Lion's Share

Child star Shirley Temple was quoted, "I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph." Finding these four only slightly dented my own faith. Happy Christmas to all chums!

Santa's Threesome!

Hi Girls! Thanks for posing at the Santacon gathering in Trafalgar Square last night for an old fashion photographer,  the only snapper using a camera rather than a smart phone. And for being patient while he dug out his reading glasses to show you the results!

Santa Claus is coming to Town...

Hundreds of Santas will be in London this Saturday for Santacon, a non-profit, non-religious and non-sensical Christmas street parade. This picture is from last year's event, when the Santas had  just arrived in Trafalgar Square, a little the worse for wear!

Them and Us....

A sobering message at a climate change protest rally in Berkeley Square, London

New Cafe Royal Book!

A big thank you to Craig at Cafe Royal Books for running more photos from my "Being English" book, available from bluecoatpress.co.uk at a modest £20....a lovely Christmas present!

The Gathering...

Families enjoying Autumn colour in Windsor Great Park, which was once part of a vast Norman hunting forest and was enclosed in the late 13th century. This Royal Park is managed and funded by the Crown Estate but is free for all to explore and enjoy.

Remembering...

The Waterloo Bonfire Society will parade through the streets of Lewes on Bonfire Night tonight, remembering the 17 Protestant martyrs who were burnt at the stake in front of the Star Inn, now the Town Hall, in 1555. It's mostly a night of celebration, but with grim undercurrents. On a lighter note, two effigies of Donald Trump will be going up in smoke tonight!

Fireworks!

Many thanks to Craig at Cafe Royal Books for publishing 36 pages of my Bonfire Societies photos, shot in The Sussex town of Lewes on November 5th in both 2013 and 2014. Big thanks also to the Waterloo Bonfire Society who welcomed me as their guest photographer for these two explosive and splendid nights.

Making Mischief

Heading across Kensington Gardens to a Halloween Party? Well no, because this picture was taken a week before the event. Yes, I should have asked but what if she had been a real witch and he a real devil? From my ongoing Londoner's Diary book project.

Solitude

The roar of Piccadilly a few hundred yards to his right and the pomp of Buckingham Palace to his left, but this man found a moment of peace and solitude amid the Autumn colours of Green Park that lies between the two. This is a picture from my ongoing Londoner's Diary book project.

Diwali

Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, in Trafalgar Square last Sunday. It's a celebration of light over darkness, good over evil and hope over despair. I must confess I felt the BBC had hijacked the event and turned it into a rock concert, until these dancers appeared with a display of the Indian culture I'd hoped and expected to see.

Celebration!

Yesterday in Trafalgar Square, and A Taste of Africa celebrated the music, culture and food of this colourful group of nations. Most of the music came from a rather remote stage but this dancer and her drummers chose to perform among the crowd....so much more fun for them and for us!

High Flyer

Not everybody knows how to dress for kite flying but I like to think that this gentleman, caught in Kensington Gardens, got it just about right. More moments at patrickwardphoto.com

Geating Ahead!

Strange happenings on the Thames towpath, where this couple were performing at the Henley Festival of the Arts. A picture from my on-going book project on the great river.

The Kiss

Just one of those lucky moments....I was at the Traditional Boat Rally, on the River Thames at Henley, admiring the slipper launch and the swans, and love stepped in. I've been photographing life along the river for several years now, so may have earned a little luck.

On Parade

It's the Notting Hill Carnival today!

War Games

a Tug of War between the Aylesbury Ducks and the Bracknell Pirates at the Hurley Regatta , on the River Thames last weekend. If only all warfare could be this simple...

Bold as Brass

A big thank you to Craig at Cafe Royal Books for publishing my English at Play photos. This cover was shot in the 1970s at the Yorkshire Miners Gala, as were most of the other images in this 36 page book.

Horse Trading

Evening conversation at the Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajasthan, India, where horses are also bought and sold. From an essay on my new website at patrickwardphoto.com

Rescue!

Chivalry lives on at the Henley Royal Regatta after the Stewards' Enclosure becomes a mud bath.This is the biggest annual rowing and social  event on the River Thames and lasts for five days, so it seldom escapes this kind of drama

Getaway!

Not terrorists...just two lads cooling off among the fountains in the courtyard of Somerset House in London. From my new website at patrickwardphoto.com

A Dog's Life

The tender to "Lady Audacious" carries a very important passenger up-river near Henley. They are heading for this weekend's Thames Traditional Boat Festival which celebrates all things wooden, doggy boy excluded! More English eccentricities at patrickwardphoto.com

Offerings

In Bali these women, arriving at sunrise, have walked through the night from their Besakih Temple to the volcanic shore at Klotok to make offerings to the sea. Sadly, the volcano above their temple has claimed far more  lives than the sea will ever do. From my new website at patrickwardphoto.com

Rajasthan

Two proud gentlemen at the Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajasthan, India. The fair takes place each November, at the time of the Kartik Purnema full moon. More images from this and other stories on my new website at patrickwardphoto.com

Flower Power

I found this carving of a Dutch tax collector at the Maduwe Karang Temple in Bali, once a colonial outpost of the Dutch East Indies. Some two hundred years later a kind soul had adorned it with a Lotus flower. Hindus believe that within each human being is the spirit of the sacred Lotus, representing eternity, purity and divinity. More at patrickwardphoto.com

Only in England

Yesterday Eton College celebrated the 4th of June....even though it was the 18th! During the Parade of Boats this was the only boy to fall into the River Thames. The Headmaster has yet to decide if he should be shot at dawn or elected as the next British Prime Minister.

New Website!

Have just built a new website, thanks to kind help from Photoshelter, who provided an ideal template and also much support. This picture was taken in Venice, on the Grand Canal, during the build-up to the annual Carnival. You can see the full website at patrickwardphoto.com

Construction Site

A Year in America, 1981. At a sandcastle building competition at Manhattan Beach, California

Memorial Day Weekend

A year in America, 1981. On Venice Beach in California, where I waited quietly by this palm tree, enjoying the shapes and the music and hoping one more thing might happen....and then along came this couple on their tandem! Friends in the USA just wished me a happy Memorial Day weekend, so this picture is my thank you to them, and America.

Fairy Tales

A Year in America, 1981. Children enjoy the sculpture of Hans Christian Andersen in Central Park, New York. Portraits show that the great Danish author really did have a magnificent nose as well as superior prose....he wrote The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, The Snow Queen and  Thumbelina.

Lovers...

A year in America, 1981. A kiss in Central Park, New York, before the start of a concert by Elton John.

Beauties and the Beast

A Year in America, 1981. Four Beauty Queens in a street parade in La Quinta, California. The car is an all-American Chevrolet.

Snap Shot

A Year in America, 1981, and a photographer records a street parade in New York City. I've spent the intervening three decades brooding about that pipe, wondering if I was crazy to stop smoking and if this was the key to great photography....

The Magnificent Twelve!

A Year in America, 1981. Young people at a rodeo in Magdalena, New Mexico. Seeing this picture again has reminded me why I need to be back on the 5/2 Diet!

May Day!

A year in America, 1981, and women celebrate May Day in Central Park, New York

The Kiss

A Year in America, 1981. Loving moment at a Renaissance Fair near Los Angeles, California

In Harlem

A Year in America, 1981. At the African American Day Parade in Harlem, New York

Easter Egg Race

A Year in America, 1981. Easter Egg Race on the White House Lawn, Washington DC. I wonder whether present day security still allows such innocent pastimes......

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

A Year in America, 1981. Ladies suitably attired at the Rooster Crowing Competition in Rogue River, Oregon. A bird called Hollerin' Harry won the opening event in 1953, and $50 for his owner, by crowing 71 times in one hour. History doesn't tell us which owner of a very large shotgun got to him first!

Mormon Treat

A year in America, 1981. Beauty Queen judges the tug-of-war match at Founder's Day in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Heavenly Wheels

A Year in America, 1981, at a Sikh Festival in Venice Beach, California. I wasn't converted but took up skating again, only parting with my precious wheels, to my daughter, some 20 years later.

Celebrating the General

A Year in America, 1981. At the German-American Day Parade on Fifth Avenue, New York, honoring General von Steuben, a revolutionary war hero, but maybe more an excuse to dress up and to celebrate all things German.

Breakfast is Served...

One Year in America, 1981, and this long suffering lad was hoping to win the Fancy Dress prize at the Ragamuffin Parade in the Bronx, New York

The Nun's Story

A Year in America,1981. A moment at a gay parade in San Francisco, where the all male Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were using drag and religious imagery to call attention to sexual intolerance and to satirize issues of gender and morality. In San Francisco the Sisters have raised over a million dollars for various causes.

Head Shot

One Year in America, 1981. Not sure what I expected when I went to Founder's Day at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie but it certainly wasn't this eccentric young woman. Matthew Vassar founded Vassar Female College in 1861 but he quickly removed the word Female from its name, maybe anticipating that this chum of Robin Hood would one day arrive to celebrate his special day.

Flight Path

A year in America, 1981, and a model airplane enthusiast contemplates the magic of flight in the desert near Calico Ghost Town, California. I was traveling across the country shooting on a grant, and concerned that Americans would not be as eccentric as us Brits...I needn't have worried!

Judgement Day

One Year in America, 1981, and a moment of decision for this judge at the Snow Sculpture Competition in Stowe, Vermont. I just Googled it and, 35 years on, the event is still going strong, this week in fact. God bless America!

Rocket Man

One Year in America, 1981...an anti-nuclear protester at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. The message on his t shirt, Radioactive Rodents, refers to the partial nuclear meltdown that had occurred at Three Mile Island, in Pennsylvania, two years earlier, when the public were assured that radioactive rodent droppings found in the building posed no health risk. Good news then!

Tutu

A Year in America, 1981. Happy winners at a Snow Golf tournament in New Hampshire.