A room in which to view

This morning, I found enough time to read a couple of chapters of the novel I started a couple of days ago, which I've been enjoying. It is the first fiction I've read in ages, and I've been enjoying it. But by midday, I was at my planned meeting in town to assess some important council business, which looks like it may have to be handled differently. There is nothing like change to keep one on one's toes.

By 1pm I'd walked only a few yards across the road to do my stint as a steward at the Preservation Trust exhibition in the town's Subscription Rooms. I had promised to look after John's computer on which we were demonstrating the 3D stereoscopic photos and also some stereo microscopic images related to the Brunel Goods Shed and a couple of other of the buildings we have restored.

The torrential rain had kept people away this morning and we did have more visitors this afternoon, including Ixxxy, a local blipper, who came up and introduced herself to me. I was delighted to meet her, although I had briefly made her acquaintance some months before she started blipping. Here's hoping she can meet Helena and I again, when we have more time. I showed her the £D images and I think she was suitably amused, as were most of the people who also saw them this afternoon.

When there was a lull I took a few pictures in the exhibition space. This one was my favourite, even as I shot it. I had just been speaking at some length to this couple, who are here standing in front of a few of the twenty-six displays that tell the story of the thirty year history of the Preservation Trust's work in Stroud. I'm pleased that a few of my own pictures are part of these displays, as I've contributed some of the contemporary views of the buildings we have transformed. It is good to see them printed up well, which is a very rare event for my work. My picture of the mayor and her deputy from our Preview on Monday night was printed in the local paper today, but I can't say either it or the printing was of a very high order!

What I really wanted today was to have more time to play around, to experiment, rather than just record. I'd been very inspired last night by a BBC tv documentary, in the 'Imagine' series, about the work of the photographer William Klein, who I didn't think I knew, until I saw some of the memorable images from his body of work going back to the 1950s. Then I recognised a few iconic images, but more importantly I could see how his style has influenced others so much. An excerpt from one of his documentary films was also stunning. I highly recommend watching it on the BBC iPlayer if you can. I am also going to make a beeline for the Tate Modern exhibition of his work which will be showing until 13th January 2013. I expect I'm the only person who didn't know anything about this!