Hello fellows! I've been here on Deviantart for nearly a year and a half now and I've just decided to make a blog. I'm not a diary keeper so I'm just going to use this space to tell you a little about myself, so you have something to associate with my photos.

My name is Ben, I live in the fairly large town of Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk, in south-east England. I live in an apartment with my parents and dog. As soon as I have a steady income I'll be looking to move out. I've lived here most of my life, and am quite bored of this town. I evidently don't like staying in one place too long. For the time being I'd like to live somewhere else in this country, but more than anything I want to travel.

For a long time I've had a fascination with Scandinavia and the Arctic, so a few years ago I began teaching myself Norwegian. There are no courses here so I found a few good online resources. Then in July 2008 I took a trip up to Tromsø in northern Norway, to see if it satisfied my curiosity and my fascination would go away. Well it didn't, so I went back the following January. After having seen it in the summer and winter, I can't imagine a better place to live. I shall certainly explore some more of Scandinavia, especially Norway, before deciding where the next stage of my life will be.

I recently read a blog by Tim Haus, [link] a man from Berlin who is currently on a bicycle tour around the world. He said that he sometimes goes for a week without washing - I couldn't do that. But his sense for adventure speaks to me. I would love to try something like that some day.

I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I was baptised in 2001 and I believe it's the best course of life one can have. There are four congregations in Ipswich, each with around 100 members. We meet twice a week as a congregation for two hours, where we associate with fellow believers, listen to lectures full of counsel, information and encouragement from the bible, and participate in studies, also based on the bible. There are a few minutes dedicated to song and prayer. Many people have a negative opinion on religion in general, and I can understand why. If you have any questions please leave me a note and I'll gladly try to answer any questions you have.

In the four Ipswich congregations we have members from France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, Ecuador and Ghana. I have made friends with the Polish families there and for the past few years have been teaching myself Polish to practice with them. My username, Czwartek, (pronounced chvartek) is the Polish word for 'Thursday'. I wanted to be Piątek (p'yontek) 'Friday', but DA won't allow the letter ą in usernames.

As for why I am here, I love photography. It's great to be able to share my work with the community and see what works of art other people are creating. I worked in a camera shop in 2004, and it was there I bought my first digital camera. My first few year's work is nothing to boast about, but I'd like to think that over the years I've gotten better. So far it's just a hobby, but I'd be interested in pursuing photography professionally if the opportunity ever shows itself. I'm always open to criticism and suggestions on how to improve my work.

Thanks for your time
Ben