Hands... 2011

Mr O and I have a badly kept ritual (badly kept as Sundays often turn out to be too busy to stick to it religiously...). Every Sunday we get the paper and together we sit and read, with our breakfast and coffee, through each supplement and section. Sometimes we draw each other's attention to a particular article, or perhaps a snippet or quote, but more often than not, it's a photograph.

Towards the end of last year, The Observer printed 'The 10 Best Photographic Portraits'. It was one of these ritual Sunday's that we discovered the article. Amongst the images of iconic sportsmen, musicians etc., it was the Anton Corbijn photo of John Lee Hooker's hand (which I've since discovered is the main image on Corbijn's homepage) that jumped out at us as being special amongst a pretty striking bunch of photos.

It came up in conversation a week or so later, and again at Christmas. With the welcoming in of 2011, we thought it could be a fun and interesting project to take a photo once a year, every year of Mr O's hands so that in decades to come we can place them all side by side and see how his hands have changed over the years.

So, inspired by Corbijn's photo, here's our first effort. Can I just point out that I in no way think these even come close to Corbijn's incredible work (I'm not trying to be modest, I'm just realistic), but instead, here's a personal blogpost of photos of my Mr O...

And the man himself. Couldn't resist a few portrait shots on this chilly January day...