8 Months ago I would try my hand at Solargraphy. But what is a Solargraph? Let me explain.
A solargraph is a long-exposure photograph which shows the path taken by the sun across the sky. Normally a solargraph will be left to expose from 6 months to one year.

I constructed my cameras from empty beer cans with an aperture of roughly 0.25mm. I exposed the image straight on to a a single sheet of B&W photographic paper.
Three of these crude cylinders were hidden at various locations on Mersea Island -  My home town.

7 months 22 days later I went to collect them, only to find one missing, which I had placed on someone’s beach hut. The other two had quite surprising results inside them both.

This camera was duck taped to the top of the chimney on my parents bungalow.

This one is from harbour area of Mersea. Or as we locals call it: ‘The Hard’.
*Note: The sea in the lower half of the picture is a complete blur thanks to the movement of the boats and the tide rising up and down.

For more information about Solargraphy, along with an excellent ‘how to’ section, please visit solargraphy.com/.

Don’t get me wrong. Some of my time in SA was great. I met some lovely people including Ellie’s family who were so warm and hospitable and of course Mel and Jaco who I stayed with for the 10 days. I’m sorry I will miss their wedding.

I do have one story from my short visit to SA. I was sitting in the airport viewing lounge as I had half a day to kill while I waited for my plane. Many schools from the local townships come to visit the airport on school outings. A group of teenage girls came and sat down next to me laughing and giggling and trying to take photos of the sad deperested Sam slumped in the corner of the room. They started speaking to me and then the next minute I know I’m sitting in the middle of about 20 kids telling my travel stories. It was so much fun as they were teaching me how to speak Zulu, laughing at me trying to dance (laughing at the poor white boys attempt of booty shaking) to the delight of all the of passengers who were in the lounge. I have plenty of photos of the crazy 2 hours. The teacher even wanted to show me the school in the Township, I would have gone if I didn’t have to leave later on. Its a shame this happened on my last day of being in Africa. I doubt i’ll come back here for a very long time.

The sad thing is this whole mess has overshadowed my trip and instead of talking everyone to sleep with my travel tales I have to explain why I’m back. I can’t even to bare to look at my photos from the first time I was in South Africa which is a great shame as it was the best time ever, so much fun. :-)

The hardest thing about splitting up with someone in the Web 2.0 generation is that you are constantly reminded of them. Weather its having mutual friends on Facebook, seeing photos on Flickr or reading and writing blogs. You just can’t seem to get away from anyone anymore, I’m not sure that’s a good thing really. I’m sure in a few months I will heal and be back to normal. Still, ‘I get by with a little help from me friends’ :-) I do have a great bunch of friends all over the world.

No more comedy cocks for a while.
Ok one more then.

The 5 break up songs i listened to on my way back from SA to the UK
1. Fake Plastic Trees – Radiohead
2. Love will tear us Apart – Joy Division
3. God Only Knows – Beach Boys
4. Boys don’t Cry – The Cure
5. Teardrop – Massive Attack

Maybe next month I’ll have some news for you, but this wasn’t how I planned my trip!. Hope to see a few people when I’m back
Love Sam