So Christmas and the New Year brought snow and ice to Glencoe, but despite the wonderful conditions, it also brought flu and colds. The Parkin household became torporous and the desire to do anything beyond sit in front of the log burner could not be found. Fortunately, it only lasted a week, but sadly, it loosened its grip just as the ice loosened its hold on the landscape. Over the last week, the temperature in the local area rose from -15C to nearly +15C in some places!!

In the depths of my flu, I spent a bit of time on various internet shopping sites to attempt retail therapy by buying photography books. One of the books I found was a copy of Ken Duncan’s showcase book (If you don’t know of Ken Duncan. He was Australia’s preeminent landscape photographer from the last century - sort of like an antipodean Colin Prior). Ken created a wonderful showcase collection of his work called “The Ken Duncan Collection”. This was a leather-bound coffee table book in an edition of 1000 that was over a metre wide when opened. I saw what I thought was a reproduction copy for £20 on eBay and thought it was worth a punt. I was quite surprised when the parcel weighed over 6kg! It was the original limited edition copy. For once, retail therapy worked, and I was delighted for an hour or so while I perused Ken’s amazing panoramic photographs (well, OK. Some of them are a bit overblown, but Fuji Velvia sunsets in the Australian landscape are pretty wild!).

Call that a knife? This is a knife! [Mandela warning]

Click here to download issue 319 (high quality, 200Mb)

Click here to download issue 319 (smaller download, 146Mb)