Have you ever driven 400 kilometres over a 13 hour day, walked miles through war cemeteries and villages with names like Kemmel and Poperinge ... always expecting the rain to stop and the clouds to clear, as promised by a reliable weather source the night before?
Have you ever bought cheap Pumas from a bazaar in Istanbul then worn them all over Flanders Fields in Belgian rain only to find that they are clearly 'indoor' Pumas ... in fact, they're possibly not
Pumas at all?
Have you ever planned a journey to Flanders Fields, allowing for the late Spring, bought the 82km autocircuit guide to the area only to talk with two lovely Canadian guys at the very first stop and find out that, although they have been in the area a week they have yet to see one of those prolific poppies ... they had heard
'the larks, still bravely singing', as written about in John McCrae's famous poem
'In Flanders Fields' ... the poem that begins with the line
'In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row.'
Have you ever
done it all anyway ... laughing as the temperature dropped below 10oC, the rain fell and as the wind blew, trying to take interesting photographs without getting too wet and too cold; eating a green 'verse kervel soep' ... (fresh chervil soup for those English speakers)in a smokey crowded Irish pub over in Mesen while trying to remember where New Zealanders Street was ... the one you walked down only last week?
Have you ever had the sun come out at the end of a long rainy cold grey day ... transforming the bleak landscape into something so incredible that you feel you should photograph every field and building lit by its brilliance?
And have you ever ended your day at Ieper's Menin Gate, with 300 people, all watching in silence as the local firemen of Ieper performed their traditional
Last Post in memory of the sacrifices made by the Allied soldiers back in the war?
Well I have ...
Have you ever driven 400 kilometres over a 13 hour day, walked miles through war cemeteries and villages with names like Kemmel and Poperinge ... always expecting the rain to stop and the clouds to clear, as promised by a reliable weather source the night before?
Have you ever bought cheap Pumas from a bazaar in Istanbul then worn them all over Flanders Fields in Belgian rain only to find that they are clearly 'indoor' Pumas ... in fact, they're possibly not Pumas at all?
Have you ever planned a journey to Flanders Fields, allowing for the late Spring, bought the 82km autocircuit guide to the area only to talk with two lovely Canadian guys at the very first stop and find out that, although they have been in the area a week they have yet to see one of those prolific poppies ... they had heard 'the larks, still bravely singing', as written about in John McCrae's famous poem 'In Flanders Fields' ... the poem that begins with the line 'In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row.'
Have you ever done it all anyway ... laughing as the temperature dropped below 10oC, the rain fell and as the wind blew, trying to take interesting photographs without getting too wet and too cold; eating a green 'verse kervel soep' ... (fresh chervil soup for those English speakers)in a smokey crowded Irish pub over in Mesen while trying to remember where New Zealanders Street was ... the one you walked down only last week?
Have you ever had the sun come out at the end of a long rainy cold grey day ... transforming the bleak landscape into something so incredible that you feel you should photograph every field and building lit by its brilliance?
And have you ever ended your day at Ieper's Menin Gate, with 300 people, all watching in silence as the local firemen of Ieper performed their traditional Last Post in memory of the sacrifices made by the Allied soldiers back in the war?
Well I have ...