More Travels with Jean Hanuman: England
You may revisit Hanuman's travels in France here.

Hanuman arrives in England
Hanuman at Blenheim Palace
Trip to East Sussex

      One day, in our room, Hanuman was looking over photos I was taken, with a sour expression on his face, and a series of tsks, splurts, and other noises suggesting criticism. "These photos," said he--"if you were to lay them over thousands of other photos, there would not be one jot of difference between them. Next time, I will handle the camera."

      "You better get a handle on your monkey," warned one of the other professors along on the trip the the old Roman city of Bath, a one-time home of many famouspeople, including Jane Austen. "He came out of a pub about an hour after we got here, and he's going up to person after person asking them for directions to the bathroom, and bursting into wild laughter each time." Just then, I got a tap on the shoulder, and turned to face a maniacal Hanuman who asked in an insultingly exaggerated English accent, "Do you know the way to the bathroom. Hahaha!hahaha!!. Get it? Bath-room!?" and snapped the photographic evidence of my reaction before scampering off to his next "subject."

    Days later, on the bus from the Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton to the magnificent Stourhead Gardens, Hanuman waxed artistic. Below is the evidence of his "vision" of travel in England, which is under copyright (no reproductions please) for a coffee table book he plans to publish of his photography. Below is a preview of this wonderful volume, with commentary by the photographer, Jean Hanuman.

"I like to call this one, 'Abbey Rode.' Notice the composition, the calm, presumably before the storm."

"Look and learn, Doherty. A good photographer must inspire joy in his or her subject, not just the poised smile."

"I was able to have a pretty decent conversation with old Bugs here. Notice again, the joyous expression on his face, the easy, natural way I was able to capture his body language."

"Keira had me take this picture back in '04 when we were scouting locations for Pride and Prejudice. Admittedly, the composition is flawless, the vision divine, the framing is perfect. It's a wonder I was able to keep myself composed for the shot, with Keira all over me as she was. I think this photo convinced the director to use it in the film. 'I'll just pretend it is you,' Keira whispered in my ear just before she ran out to meet Darcy on the bridge."

"Anyone can capture the beauty of the garden and its structures, but look what gets ignored as people shoot breathtaking panoramas. Here, I submit.is beauty, and perhaps a bit of truth, as Mr. Keats would have it. It is not merely for the reflection that the puddle has beauty, it is the Taoist principle that the strength of water is to collect itself in its lowest spot, in the natural place for it. Note the nuances, the subtle shading, the universe found in a square foot of earth! A small leaf was placed on the scene to provide the contrast."

"All this green, all this sylvan splendor. Would it be possible without the industrial revolution? Who thinks of the hard-working gardeners, when looking at the garden. Why Eden itself was not without its grounds-crew of laboring angels."

"Here's the kind of scene I often get while riding on your back, Doherty. As you are talking, young Lucy does a pantomime of 'you' as the words come pouring from your gullett. She's mouthing: 'blah blah blah blah.'"