Photographer of the Day : Johnny Callaway (Tenerife 2026)

 we have featured his most excellent work before and he takes many a landscape but also has specialised in band photography too

Johnny says: 

Exit stage right…

By johnnyc1959

No method, no guru, no teacher… just a series of photos from Tenerife that may (or may not) signify something beyond the image.

“Los Cristianos: Still life with vent…” : [ Image (c) John Callaway 2026]

“Los Cristianos: Another green world?…” : [ Image (c) John Callaway 2026]

” El Teide. First there is a mountain” : [ Image (c) John Callaway 2026]

Rarer than the usual (preferred?) black & white but none the less for that . . . . he is at home in the dark of music venues to pastures further abroad . . . . . he started following what I was up to when he was in Nepal I think, or was it Katmandu ? Johnny?

Donovan in Concert - First There Is a Mountain

Donovan in Concert 1972. Live on BBC.

Photos of the Day: [a regular by now] Mr John Callaway

Ideas & Images from Portsmouth and Beyond

By johnnyc1959

…from The Queen’s Inclosure, Cowplain.

“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity, and by these I shall not regulate my proportions; and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself. As a man is, so he sees”. 

[William Blake from his communications with the Reverend John Trusler, 1799]

Sometimes it’s enough just to stand within a woodland and let imagination run wild. To seek out complex structures that depend upon each other to maintain their shape and form. Passageways and footpaths that might lead to familiar places or to other worlds. It’s the imperfect geometry of landscape I look for. The asymmetry of trees; the random intrusions of other flora; the invisible hand of homo sapiens…and the way that sunlight will always seek to create a strange geometry beneath a canopy of chaos.

“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life…”  

[Herman Hesse; “Wandering: Notes and Sketches”]

Check out John’s page on Wordpress here . . . . . .

Photo of the Week JohnnyC : The Forest of Bere . . . . . .

            Ideas & images from Portsmouth and beyond                  

Time is temporary… [Image © John Callaway 2025}

Johnny says:

a forest revisited

The Forest of Bere, an oft re-visited woodland throughout the seasons. The photogrqphs may change, as do the trees themselves, but it is light that creates the mystery and fires the imagination. Over time, how many have stood beneath the same canopy and wondered at the shapes and shadows cast onto the woodland floor? How many have sought sanctuary and solitude, in order to find a deeper meaning?

“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life…” [Hermann Hesse: “Baume”]

Photograph of the Week! [a favourite photographer ] IT’S A SIGN!

It’s johnnyC1959

Ideas & Images from Portsmouth and Beyond

Photo artist of the Week! | JohnnyC1959 | Ideas & images from Portsmouth and beyond

Justin in action 

Not especially a Darkness’s fan but of the members of the band individually and mostly Justin Hawkins whose blog/vlog/podcast whatever it is (sic is superb and always listenable and watchable - he is such a muso! Fine man!

JohnnyC - The Darkness here . . .

JUSTIN HAWKINS RIDES AGAIN!

Photo of the week (month? year?) John Callaway - PATTI SMITH at Brighton Dome

Patti Smith @ Brighton Dome [25 June 24]… [Image © John Callaway 2024]

Johnny he say:

"So…for anyone who has hung around these pages before, you’ll know that Patti Smith has been a constant soundtrack for the past 48 years or so. A spiritual and poetic guide since somewhere around 1978. In truth 1976 was the moment that something clicked…Johnny found something he could relate to, with 1978 becoming the moment when abstract thought first became realised through witness….

And here I am again, for the nth time watching Patti live..this time the Patti Smith Quartet at The Brighton Dome. The rock and roll moves are here, at the Roundhouse in 2015, but I’m thinking icon… One photo, one moment in a timeline, one truth teller…

…and once again, Johnny gets the feeling he’s being surrounded by horses…"

 For JohnnyC . . . . .

Patti Smith - Horses (Live,1976)