Marc Provins

On the 19th December 2014 I started a new life. It was the end of a two decade relationship, it was the day our shared home was sold and I set out as a single person again, Olive the cat came too. Looking back I don't know how I found the strength to get through the process, it's a cliche but it did feel like my world had been turned upside down, I had no idea if I was making good or bad decisions and I felt hurt and scared. I'd lost a couple of stone in weight, was having bizarre dreams or not sleeping at all and my nerves literally felt like they were rattling. However I've got amazing family and friends who looked after me and I've discovered I'm strong. So a year later I'm feeling calm, collected and I'm healing. My new home has proved to be a sanctuary, which is exactly what my instincts told me it would be when I first visited and knew I had to live here. So if you are going through a tough time at the moment, trust yourself, make dec...

  Occasionally it seems wise to rest up and withdraw from the world a bit, and this weekend has been one of those times. I have a hunch that this often happens to me around October as short sleeves give way to long and heavier coats suddenly feel like a good idea. One of the benefits of living in a Victorian house is an open fire left over from an era before central heating. The first few blazes of the season bring an unparalleled pleasure that must connect us with our ancestors in some deep primal manner.  So my pictures today go no further than my living room and luckily I decided to get my camera just as the sun was low and the colours mellow. Home and my immediate surroundings are often the starting point for my projects and a source of inspiration. My other half who has been hit by the recession, redundancy and periods of unemployment over the last few years said that home can both a prison (when out of work) and a sanctuary (when working), whic...