Sticklebacks

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A brief window of sunshine emerged in an otherwise wet and dull day, to enable me to cut the grass, do some dead-heading, and repel bramble invaders on the back drive.

Otherwise I scanned a batch of colour slides from a trip to Richmond Park in May 1981.

Jessica and Sam 5.81 1

Jessica, Sam,

Matthew 5.81

Matthew,

Becky 5.81

and Becky were my companions.

Aquilegia

It was the season of Aquilegias

Azelias 5.81

and Azaleas.

Matthew and Becky and reflections 5.81

When Matthew and Becky began fishing for sticklebacks in the lake,Β I walked around to the far side to see what I could do with my long lens.

Matthew and reflection 5.81 2Matthew and reflection 5.81 1

Gradually, a certain amount of interest was aroused.

Becky, Jessica, Sam, Matthew and reflectionsBecky, Sam, Jessica, Piper and Matthew and reflections 5.81 2Becky, Sam, Jessica, Piper and Matthew and reflections 5.81 3

Reflections of Becky, Sam, Jessica, Piper and Matthew 5.81 1

Jessica, Sam, and Piper, the dog, soon became involved.

Reflections of Becky, Sam, Jessica, Piper and Matthew 5.81 2

Hello; who’s that behind Sam?

Becky, Sam, Jessica, Piper and Matthew 5.81

The people in the background were more interested in the shrubbery,

Matthew, crowd, and reflections

Becky, Matthew and Crowd 5.81

Reflections of Becky, Matthew and Crowd 5.81Matthew and reflection with crowd 5.81

Reflections of Becky, Matthew and Crowd 5.81 2

but soon there was quite a crowd of spectators,

Reflections of Becky, Jessica, Sam, and crowd 5.81

Reflection of Matthew and observer 5.81

who slowly drifted away.

This evening’s dinner consisted of Jackie’s classic chicken jalfrezi with vegetable rice salad. She drank her Hoegaarden/Bavaria mix and IΒ drank Royale Pays’ d’Oc Merlot 2014.

58 comments

  1. Your slides have kept surprisingly well. I inherited a relative’s slides several years ago and they’d turned a most odd colour! Nice pics, too. πŸ™‚

    1. Usually the colour shift is all one direction, so it’s an easier job than it once was to digitally correct them.

  2. The question remains – were any sticklebacks captured? The quality of the prints is so different from the output of modern cameras – your posts have made me really aware of how I recognise photographic eras, not always by the fashions.

  3. What a wonderful story in both words and pictures …. I love the reflections, of course and the people drifting over and away silently. Sticklebacks were so much part of childhood – such excitement provoked by tiny fishes πŸ™‚

  4. I had the same question as Pauline…any fish stories? I assume this was a “catch and release” occasion, reminded as I am of Beatrix Potter’s TALE OF MR. JEREMY FISHER, the frog who ate butterfly sandwiches for lunch, and lived in a slippy-sloppy house. He was unhappy when he caught Jack the stickleback because Jack was too spiny to eat.

    Very nice capture of an upside-down world…. and who WAS that…behind Sam?

  5. These are great photos of kids doing kid things and wonderfully executed. I do love the sharpness of them as well–which is something I miss in digital photos. On the other hand, you can share the digital ones instantly…

  6. Beautiful post, Derrick – I think we all love you because you mix the old and the new and we all struggle with that – things are changing so fast.

  7. These are so wonderful, Derrick! I really love the ones with all of the reflections! Some of those look like they could be awesome abstract paintings with all of those great colors! πŸ™‚

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