Fi Phillips

This month's photo inspiration is an old photo that I own but I thought it might get your creative cogs turning. Ther are three women in the photo having tea in the garden. What is their relationship to each other? What do they think of each other? Whose garden is it? Whose dog is it? Why has the photograph been ripped into pieces? What does this inspire you to write?

I haven't posted photo inspiration for a few months now (sorry about that) so I thought I'd return to it with a summer shot. This is a seaside telescope, all ready for someone to pop in a coin and have a look. Who do you think might use this? Are they alone? What are they looking for? What do they see through the lens?

This entrance is close to where I live. My family and I traipse through it a couple of times each month. That's as much information as I'm going to give you. What do you think it is? Prison? Castle? Barn? Garden gate? What does it inspire you to write?

At the beginning of the year, my camera broke. Then a couple of days later, the camera on my phone stopped working. Thankfully, our visit to Venice didn't suffer as my husband took his new posh, multi lens camera with him. It produces incredible shots but I find it too large and bulky to carry around with me. I wanted something that I could have with me on the off chance that I saw something I wanted to photograph. My husband came to the rescue with a surprise mother's day gift, a neat, little digital camera that is small enough to fit in a jacket pocket. I've been trying it out, and all its settings, ever since. The result of one such experiment is this. What do you think? Spooky? Inspirational? What story does it bring to mind?

This month's photo inspiration is an image taken on my birthday trip to Venice straight after the new year (which is why I haven't posted until today). There's a burnt-out candle, Christmas decorations, two finished hot chocolates and one biscuit remaining. A lone figure stands at the bar in the background. What does this inspire you to write?

Early one morning last week, while my family remained warm in the house before school and work, I ventured outside to leave the bins for the refuse collection. It was hardly a romantic or glamorous start to the the day but when I looked up, I saw this. In the midst of the lightening sky, a crescent moon and a star (or is it the space station?) sat shining alone together. It was one of those skies that made me pause (and obviously take a photo). What does this sky inspire you to write about? New beginnings? Peace? Partnership? Let me know.

Around this time every year, I compile a set of family photographs, one for each month, to create a calendar for the following year. December is a shot from the previous year. It's always a pleasure to look back over the last twelve months and remember. Looking back over my photographs for this year, along with the family shots are images that I took that don't show my family. They're shots of the garden or landscapes or other things that took my fancy. They tell a story in themselves. Choose twelve photos, one for each month of the year (November and December can be from past years if that's easier). Now, looking at the photos as a group, weave them together into a story. Here are mine. January February March April May June July August September October November December

I like unusual buildings and entrances, in fact any kind of threshold that is a little out of the ordinary. I took this photograph back in March on a family trip. What do you think of this? Is it inviting or just a little bit intimidating? Would you like to drop in? What would you find if you ventured through that door? Who might live here? What does this inspire you to write?

It's summer in the UK and with it, fun fairs begin to crop up in the most unexpected places. In case, you didn't know, this is a Helter Skelter. You run up the stairs in the tower and slide down the outside on a sack or mat. What do you think about this image? Does it bring back warm childhood memories, or perhaps thoughts of your children? Look a little closer. Stepping  through the open yellow door takes you into darkness. Who waits at the top? Where is this, with it's forest surround? Joyous childhood ride or scary trap for the unsuspecting? What does this inspire you to write?

This month's photo is one of my favourites that I've taken this year. I love the winding vine and the peering out into another world. What grabs your eye in the photograph? Is it the vines, the archway, the countryside beyond or the boy? How does it make you feel? Are you more drawn to the unseen area behind the camera or do you want to step through the archway? What does this inspire you to write?

This month's photographic inspiration is a shot of Bodelwyddan Castle in Wales, not far from where I live. It's a building that has gone through many changes - from family home, to army barracks and hospital, to school, and now split between a museum and a hotel. The castle is very, well, castle-y, with it's turrets and battlements, but internally it is also very homely. I can imagine a family living there. It's supposed to be one of the most haunted places in Wales. What do you think? Happy place or scary haunting ground? Practical and down to earth or otherworldly? What does this image inspire you to write?

Last month was manic for me, and not in a creative way. Real life took me away from my writing and I completely forgot to give you a photo inspiration post. This month, I'm giving you two photographs to make up for it. Written on the back of this photo - Nov 1946, left to right Peggy, Margaret, Marie. Written on the back of this photo - Nov 1946, left to right Billy, Margaret, Peggy. These two photographs are from a collection I have of unknown faces. I'm sure if my mother was still alive, she could tell me who they were but in her absence, I can only surmise that these were friends of hers or her family. Which photo are you drawn to and which face within that photo? Personally, I can't see much of a family resemblance between them. I know that Billy is Margaret's child. I have no idea where this was taken but I assume that it's somewhere in Yorkshire, England. What do you think? Was this a trip out with family? Was it summer time? 1946 was th...

I recently cut through our  village graveyard on the way home from a morning chore. As a child, and a teen, I found graveyards rather scary places to visit but now as an adult, they've taken on a different persona, something much more comforting - a garden of memories. What does this photograph make you think of? Does it raise thoughts of ghosts, or families gathering together to remember? What stands out to you? The words on the gravestones, the shadows, or the flowers left on the grave? What does this image inspire you to write?

On the way back to the car after a family walk, I came across this signpost and it struck me how the name of the street, 'Paradise' didn't really match with firstly, the condition of the signpost and secondly, its location in an area of city terrace houses. Even though I'm not a Christian, for me the idea of Paradise still links to the original, biblical idea (ideal?) of a beautiful garden, not a built-up row of red brick dwellings with tiny amounts of outside space. How could this be Paradise? Perhaps, the mistake is in my thinking. Perhaps, each of us has a different idea of Paradise: a break from the children and some adult conversation, freshly laid, untouched snow, or the buzz of the city. Where could you find an unexpected Paradise?

This is something we'll be seeing a lot of soon in the UK- a street covered in autumn leaves. My children are almost past the age to kick around in leaves but whenever we pass a pile of leaves like this, there's always the temptation. What could lie beneath this layer of leaves, beyond the obvious earwigs and worms? Something lost? Something hidden? What could you find if you bent to clear away the leaves?

The new school term starts next week for me and my children, a return to normality, a new normality for my daughter who is entering high school. The weather has turned cold but is sunny enough to allow us to still get out. Recently, we found ourselves at the play park that you can see above. Play parks are wonderful places. Obviously, they provide a world of entertainment  for children but they're more than that. They're a meeting place for all ages - parents with their children, teenagers with nowhere else to go, and grandparents sharing times with younger generations.  I took this photo on a random whim and it wasn't until I got home that I realised how much I had captured. Look at the people on the benches. I remember there being a number of teenagers in the park but there were also parents whose children played beyond the reach of my photograph. It was the end of day, hence the placing of the tree's shadow. The play park sits on a busy city road but the...

A couple of days ago, I was putting out the rubbish when I saw this fine fellow. He's a Blue Adonis and apparently rather rare in the UK. In a messy corner, perched on an old grimy tennis ball, it was the vibrant colour of his wings and body that caught my eye. He was a flash of magic among all the jumble. Butterflies have long been the symbol of transformation and new beginnings waiting to unfold. They are often seen as magical, which isn't surprising when you think of the hidden metamorphosis that takes place when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. So this is my monthly photo inspiration  - a butterfly, a splash of magic, a sign of transformation. What does this image inspire you to write?

This week and next, I'm on holiday. Or rather my children are on holiday from school and I'm organising (although school holidays do release me from ironing school uniform and making packed lunches so I get a bit of a break too). For me, holidays have always been a time of family coming together. There are days out, days in, maybe travel to another country. The majority of my most memorable holidays have involved the beach - ice cream on the Yorkshire coast with my parents, my first taste of 'abroad' at a beach barbecue on Majorca, my one year old daughter's widening eyes as she dipped her toes in the sea in North Wales (her first holiday). The photograph above reminds me of a holiday to Canterbury with my family. My husband was working there and for a week, my children and I joined him. While he worked, we would spend time in the city, visiting the Cathedral, the museums, the ceramics cafe, and the park. When he was finished, we would drive out of Canterbu...

At this time of year, the crows always return to nest in the trees at my children's school. The street that the school sits on is lined on both sides with hefty horse chestnut trees. The crows reside in each of those trees, a community of raggedy nests and cawing neighbours.  They're intelligent birds, majestic when seen in flight. They have ties to Norse mythology and Native American legends . They're also survivors, adapting to the spreading reach of mankind. Yet for all this, they are often dismissed as villains or henchmen. We have books about rabbits , otters , and owls , but crows rarely figure as heroes.  Years ago, a fellow member of a writing class told me a story about crows. Nancy was quite elderly by this time, American with a slow, drawling accent. She and her husband had been posted in Burma for some years (her husband had some bureaucratic role). In the grounds of their home, an old, immense tree had housed a community of crows. She call...

In the massive miscellany of photographs that my parents left to me are many unidentified faces. I can guess at which side of the family some of them belong to (the smiling man that looks like my Father, the family photographed in a studio in Leeds where my Mother came from) but I have no idea whom the majority of them are. I thought I would use one of these as this month's photo inspiration. I would guess that this family were photographed pre 1920s. What can you tell me about them? Did they all get on? Was the daughter the centre of attention? What did the boys grow up to be?  Tell me a story about these faces.