anthony galvin

Bridleway near Plumpton Wood, Northamptonshire

Over the last few years we’ve been lucky to be able walk together before work. Remote working, a local school runs and an energetic dog combined to make this part of our weekday routine. Unfortunately this doesn’t happen so much now - new job and new school.

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Northern Lights from Maidford, Northamptonshire

For a brief moment, even South Northamptonshire was transported to the edge of the article circle. We took the kids up to the top of a hill near the house but it was too cloudy, and after an hour or so we took them home to warm up. A few hours later, pretty much in the middle of the night I went back out and grabbed this photo.

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Hovden, Hardangervidda, Norway

A day on the slopes, with old friends. Magic.

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A deer runs across the lake at Vinje, Hardangervidda, Norway

Looking out across the lake from my friends study. Amongst all the stillness a frenzy of legs and energy.

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Blue sky day in Morzine

Spring in the mountains. Blue sky and another chance to scoot around, this time with the family.

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Looking down on Avoriaz

About 20 years ago I came to visit Richard and stayed in what was then just an old barn. He took me up here and showed me this view. Still magic.

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Emma & Violet (Snr) at the Coronation Street Party

I didn’t take this picture, but it’s one of my favourites. Emma and her grandmother - Nanar Violet. Violet had seen 5 monarchs in her lifetime and this coronation was just before her 100th birthday. Sadly no longer with us, she remains an inspiration to us all.

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Lower Shuckburgh, Northamptonshire

Lush, green, rural middle of England.

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Following the family cycling round Rutland Water, Rutland

A day out. Cycling round and round. This was my view for most of the day. Pootling round Rutland Water is a great reminder that adventures can happen in your backyard.

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The church at Rutland Water, Rutland

Growing up in Rochdale there were lots of tales about the villages at the bottom of the reservoirs (Hollingworth Lake and Greenbooth in particular). But Rutland Water takes that to a new level.

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Amsterdam Harbour

One of the few work trips of the last year or so, and a scorching hot evening in Amsterdam.

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Path over the fields, Northamptonshire

When I'm away working in a city, it's this sense of space I really miss. Especially on a sunny day.

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Emma & Hazel, before the circus at Evenly Wood Gardens

Who doesn't love a burger before a night at the ~~opera~~ circus.

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Arriving at the Bothy on Ulva after 2 hours of walking

The most memorable walk of the year, at the start of our stay on one of the most magical islands that makes up our nation of islands.

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Rain stops play. Stewkley, Buckinghamshire

Amazingly we got back on and finished the game.

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Towcester, Northamptonshire

It often feels like the people responsible for planning in South Northamptonshire are determined to erase the unique history and character of this part of the world. Luckily they haven't quite succeeded.

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Cold view from Maidford, Northamptonshire

Looking along the valley over to metropolis that is Adstone (population 65).

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Looking towards the long meadow on the edge of Maidford

There's only a couple of paths out of the village and the one through the long meadow heading North out of Maidford is the one we probably walk most often. I often try and capture the meadow on camera, but it rarely comes out as it looks to the naked eye. (6 January 2022)

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V+H at Burton Dasset

Burton Dasset Hills Country Park is, as the name suggests a hilly place. I love the way this picture captures the sense of achievement of V+H making it to the top of one of the short, sharp, climbs. (6 February 2022)

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H

All style, before breakfast. (23 Feburary 2022)

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From the top of a run at Edland, Telemark, Norway

The weather on the first day of a short trip to Norway was perfect, with crystal clear light. This captures the view looking down to the village below the small ski resort of Edland. (4 March 2022)

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V+H pushing their bikes, Betws-y-Coed, Snowdonia

We had a few days away in North Wales. The weather was as you might expect, but the girls were still keen to get out of their bikes - even if they were occasionally defeated by th epic gradients. (7 April 2022)

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Badby Woods, Northamptonshire

Spring in a bluebell woods, when everything is full of life and colour - and the whole forest is full of birdsong. (8 May 2022)

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With Emma at Songs By The Lake

Out. Out! (4 June 2022)

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H taking a photo, Summer Solstice

Heading home from dinner we stopped to enjoy the sunset, and take a few photos. H wanted to take one as too. (21 June 2022)

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Barn Owl Demonstration at Holdenby House

I sometimes spot barn owls on the quiet lanes around the village, but it's nearly always just for a moment in the headlights. On a baking hot day we watched this amazing owl do a few laps of the grounds before it headed back to the shade. (9 July 2022)

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Commonwealth Games Athletics, Alexander Stadium Birmingham

Even at the early morning qualifying heats 'Brum' put on a show. (3 August 2022)

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On the edge of Maidford

Beyond the long meadow and through the wheat field. (15 August 2022)

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Beynac-et-Cazenac, Dordogne, France

The river Dordogne is a canoeing and paddleboard paradise. I snapped this whilst we stopped to catch our breadth climbing up to the hilltop village of Beynac. (25 August 2022)

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Louvre Museum, Paris

The Louvre is a brilliant place, full of amazing art works - but the crowding and the crush around this particular painting feels bizarre and unwelcome (though not a surprise). (28 August 2022)

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Cycling along a byway

By the end of the summer Northamptonshire looked like a desert, but some of the dusty byways make great family cycle tracks. (25 September 2022)

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Maidford

The moon and clouds made it look like someone was trying to send smoke signals from a neighbouring village. (3 October 2022)

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Manchester Art Gallery (15 October 2022)

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Family Portrait Dunwich Beach, Suffolk

Somehow captures the ridiculous nature of a Galvin family trip to the seaside. (27 October 2022)

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Lois Weedon, (9 November 2022)

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Looking down the valley

The view from our bedroom "down the valley" seems to refresh every morning. I love this view, but it's not always easy to capture a good photo. With the naked eye you look past the neighbours houses, but the camera always seems to highlight the rooftops and garages. (13 November 2022)

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Cold walk, Maidford

One of those cold winter mornings when the sun doesn't seem like it's going to make it above the horizon, and you know the temperature is going to steadfastly refuse to get to zero. (16 December 2022)

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A few weeks ago I left R/GA after nearly 4 years, working first as a Technical Team Lead and then as a Technical Director. I’ve learned 1000s of tiny lessons and quite a few big ones over the last few years. Here’s some key ones.

1. Multi-discipline collaboration from day 1
Complex (digital) projects require talented people from many disciplines. Casting the right team can be a challenge, but once on the ground (usually at R/GA in a war room), collaboration needs to be rapid, open and without (too much) ego.

2. Code scamps (aka prototypes) are essential
Just about working software is the best way of explaining an idea. If you can sketch in code, getting something up and running no matter how hacky then you’re moving forward. The things you learn by doing this early are nearly always invaluable as long as you’re prepared to throw away more than you keep - being over invested in the scamp is going to get in the way of iterating.

3. Really good QA helps produce really good products
The internet is everywhere and on everything (Brad Frost, also ex-rga has some great slides about this). I’ve worked on projects where the QA engineer is testing on 20 devices. Obviously there are real benefits in test automation, but there’s no shortcuts - at somepoint somebody is going to need to tap through your app on all the devices, again and again and again.

4. Work smart and work hard
The industry has a long hours culture and sometimes working hard (late) is the way to a briliant product. But it’s not the only way. From a technology point of view investing in smart work; automation, auto-scaling, developer tools that work is way better than just staying late.

5. Access to tools and permissions matter
The battle for better tools and services is constant. If you constantly put a barrier in front of getting things done then you kill the speed at which innovation can happen and in an agency environment slow projects die a slow death. If it takes a 48 hour helpdesk response to get the CI box back online or multiple paper based forms to spin up a cloud service then the velocity of your crack innovation team is being severly hampered.

6. Location doesn’t have to be important
There’s a clamour to have EVERYONE IN THE WAR ROOM ALL THE TIME. But collaboration doesn’t really work like that. Clearly facetime matters, and at the right stage of the project it really is worth having everyone sat in the same room. But having highly motivated, talented people pulling in the same direction is way more important than having them sat in the same office (or even timezone).