Why Photography and Writing are natural bedfellows

Tweet You hopefully won't be surprised to learn that as well as writing, I like to indulge my creativity with a spot of photography. I took the photo on the left last night, from a spot outside County Hall (this was before I got moved by security since, for some odd reason, you're not allowed to use tripods in that area).

London's a fantastic place to live if you enjoy photography. You've got your usual tourist-y locales, along with the many markets and shopping districts for those whose bent runs more towards street photography. Parks and nature reserves satisfy the nature photographers, and there are buildings galore for the architectural enthusiasts. Your two biggest problems are finding a spot among the other photographers, and trying to be polite to those idiotic passersby who seem to think it's vital that they occupy the pride of place in your shot.

Still, I love photography, and it satisfies the more visual side of my brain. Whenever I write, I try to paint a picture in the mind of the reader, so they can 'see' what I see in my head when I'm writing, but sometimes it's just easier to take a photo of it. Besides, photography is an excellent way to stimulate creativity - a favourite 'game' of mine is to browse the random shots gallery on Flickr, and use the first image that pops up as a story prompt. Try it yourself and see what you come up with!

Fearless

Tweet I have never been a big fan of spiders. I wouldn't say that I was ever arachnophobic, especially since I can quite happily catch an errant eight-legged visitor to my flat using a glass and a coaster, before depositing them safely outside, but I just don't really like them. So it was with a mixture of dismay and fascination that I met a Chilean Rose spider at an animal handling session at Wingham Wildlife Park in Kent on Monday. The handler started us off with a pair of cute baby lemurs, before progressing to a young raccoon, then a baby alligator, and finally a royal python, before bringing out the finale.



At first, I decided not to handle her (she's called Rosie). However, I remembered that I have a reputation as being fearless to defend, and so thrust my phone at my mother with the instructions to take a photo, before sticking out my hands. I can honestly say it was bizarre, but not a bad experience. She was so light that I could barely feel her sitting on my palm, and the fact that she was furry simply let me look at her as a fuzzy creature instead of a spider.

I don't think I'll ever actually like spiders but now I think I'm a lot less worried by them.