Cats and Clouds
and Other Matters

There are strong defenders of the primacy of the written word. There are also those who vehemently support the mantra that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. I personally believe that there is a powerful argument in favor of the synergy that may be achieved when words and pictures are used judiciously together. By this I do not mean the use of a simple caption for an illustration, nor do I mean the inclusion of random illustrations to break up the apparent tedium of a text. Together, a written piece can markedly enhance the meaning and significance of an illustration.

In this collection I have used this concept to combine two specific forms of representation in order to provide significant meaning that would be missing from either alone. Here, I have chosen to work with photography and poetry, two forms of expression that I particularly appreciate. The content is raw; the photographs are my own, and they have not been digitally manipulated in any way. Similarly, the poems are mine and have not been professionally edited. The scenes depicted in this collection have been captured during visits to Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, China, Greece, Ireland, Nepal, New Zealand, Taiwan, South Africa, Singapore and the USA, mostly during the period 2005 to 2015.

There is no subtext to the poems; most items are lighthearted reflections on every-day events, with only the occasional deeper meaning.