Time for some sunbathing

A cyclist on the beach after the London-Brighton bike ride in June 2003 (image 2356-4)

It's dark and dreary January, reputedly the time of year when we feel worst about everything. The rain seems to have been coming down for weeks, so what better way to lift the spirits and ban the January blues than with this week's picture subject - sunbathing. Roll on spring and summer.

Sheep last week

After the previous and rather gloomy picture feature about murder (see below), what could be more gentle and unthreatening than last week's subject - sheep. Actually, when you look at their heads and eyes close-up, sheep are pretty weird looking. If they were three or four times larger, we'd all be pretty scared of them. There are more than 33 million sheep munching their way across the fields and hillsides of Britain and every year they provide us with 300000 tonnes of meat, not to mention all that wool, milk and yoghourt. We get a lot more out of sheep than they get out of us, so it's just as well they aren't any bigger.

Murder, men and horses and shop closures

The picture set three weeks ago, in the dark days straddling the old and new years, looked at murder. We'd recently had Christmas and Jesus, of course, was murdered. Then, on the Thursday after Christmas in Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated while campaigning in Rawalpindi. Closer to home, on Christmas Day, a man was attacked and left for dead on a patch of waste ground behind where we live in Brighton. Thankfully he still clings on to life - less lucky was the 16-year old stabbed to death a couple of days later in broad daylight in Islington. It seems a sudden and violent end can come to anyone, famous or unknown, at any time. What a gloomy end it was to 2007 !

The picture subject five weeks ago was men and horses. Even though horses no longer provide essential transport (though when the oil runs out, who knows) they still feature very strongly in our national life. From the bloke in the bookie's putting a fiver on the 3.30 at Kempton to the glittering display of the Household Cavalry at the Queen's Birthday Parade, horses and men remain bonded together as ever they were. This set is the latest in a series and you may like to see the earlier ones about men and boats, cars, dogs, drink, food and hats.

It was Christmas on the high street again, but Santa arrived with an unpleasant present this time. The credit crunch put a dampener on the ringing tills and a lot of shopkeepers will be facing difficulties in the New Year. The subject of the picture feature six weeks ago, therefore, was closing down, which is what many shops, especially small ones, could soon be doing. Of course we've been here before - 1991-94, 1982-85 and 1973-75. Boom and bust is as British as bangers and mash. Unfortunately.

Over 50000 pictures now available

The picture library offers more than 50000 images and they can all be keyword searched from the picture search page. New or updated subjects include sunbathing, sheep, murder, men and horses, shop closures, dogs and bikers. The site has several ways to help make relevant and fruitful searches, including index pages for both subjects and events & places.  There is also a useful search guide and information page.

A good showcase of the type and range of photography available can be explored in the pictures of the week series. Published on the site since December 2001, this now totals over 2900 images. Each week brings a set of ten pictures about a particular place, event or theme. Almost all the library's pictures are available for personal or commercial reproduction. Digital files can be delivered by email or CD, prices start from as little as £8 and there is further information on the prices and terms & conditions pages. You can also contact David Gray for quotations and availability for new photography commissions.

Cup of coffee on a cafe table in Brighton in November 2007 (image 2746-9)