Closure: ’35 Years On’ (Part 2 of 6)

When I undertook my ‘street’ portrait in 1984, I never thought I would be tramping the streets of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire 35 years later, revisiting those I photographed…

Paul – who enjoys family life – says he has spent the majority of the past 35 years ‘mostly bothering my wife’ who he met in South London in 1987 and with whom he has three children. Paul began a career in the electrical industry as an apprentice at the steelworks in Scunthorpe and is now Sales Director for a long-established electrical firm.

Paul is a percussionist who has ‘never not had a drumkit’ and he still plays regularly with a popular local band. In his spare time, Paul enjoys restoring classic motorbikes from the 70s and 80s. He works voluntarily for the Forge Project – a charity offering support for homeless and vulnerable people – in Scunthorpe, is a qualified football referee and took part in the Great North Run – the largest half marathon in the world which runs from Newcastle to South Shields and which attracts over 50,000 participants – over 10 succesive years. He admits that now his knees are ‘bolloxed’ he has to take his exercise a little easier.

‘I haven’t moved and I’ve done nowt’ was Scott’s initial response when I asked him what he’d been doing since 1984. From our conversation, however, he is clearly a settled and home-loving chap who is a career laboratory technician. He currently works for a Swedish mining company.

Since 1984 Sue has led a well-travelled life; she spent around 7 years in Amsterdam before busking her way through France, Portugal and Spain – where she tried her hand at fire juggling – living and working as she went. Since her return to the UK, Sue has held a variety of interesting and diverse jobs – manageress of a health farm in Brighton and lifeguarding in Bognor Regis among them – and currently works in the care industry.

Sue studied metalwork and jewellery in Sheffield and is a keen silversmith: she wore some excellent examples of her work for the recent photograph.

Many thanks go to those who agreed to take part in this project. 1984 photographs were made using a Mamiya 6×6 camera and the recent photographs were made using an OMD EM5 Mk II camera.

Closure: ’35 Years On’ (Part 1 of 6)

When I undertook my ‘street’ portrait in 1984, I never thought I would be tramping the streets of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire 35 years later, revisiting those I photographed…

I found the conversations I had with the people I photographed absolutely fascinating – all had interesting stories to tell – and Tina’s story of her life since 1984 was one of them.
Tina joined the Danish Merchant Navy as a cook and, over a span of 16 years, worked her way up the ladder and finished her maritime career as first mate. She returned to her home town of Scunthorpe where she gained employment as a heavy fork-lift driver and subsequently a gantry crane driver for a firm of steel fabricators.
After 10 years as a child-minder, Tina recently began casual work in a school kitchen, working around her commitments to her two sons and her dogs.

While I was in Scunthorpe, Martin was taking a holiday with his family following a long tour of the US. He generously drove over to me on his return so I could include him in the project. What had he been up to over the past 35 years? He mailed me this statement:

‘In 1984 I was in a local Scunthorpe band and working at an agricultural supplies establishment. In my spare time, I worked at the Baths Hall (and other venues) for a local PA company as a sound engineer. Chance meetings of people ‘further up the ladder’ in the live concert side of the music industry whilst working at Scunthorpe’s Free Rock Festival gave me the opportunity to begin working nationally and internationally as a sound engineer and tour/production manager. So, I made a ‘career move’ and began living in Leicester and joined a team of like-minded people there. 35 years later, I am back living in a quiet Lincolnshire village and married with 2 children. I’m thankful for an amazing career that has taken me all over the world year after year, working for multi-million (record) selling artists of all kinds. I’ve visited places that in 1984 I would never have dreamed of and experienced life in a way that I never thought possible. My work has introduced me to musicians and comedians, tv and film celebrities, and hundreds of other ‘roadies’ – a lot of whom will remain close friends for the rest of my days. It’s not easy being away from home, family and friends for long periods of time and it’s not a life that suits everyone, but the rewards make it worthwhile and I don’t regret (much of) it at all!’

Jill is still as enthusiastic about life – always delivered with good humour and accompanied by an infectious smile – as I remember she was back in 1984. Her consuming interest nowadays is centred on ‘Steampunk’, a style of design and fashion that combines historical elements with anachronistic technological features inspired by early science fiction.
Curiously, Jill explained to me that she had once made the headlines of a local newspaper when she ‘stole the Queen’s dog’. The sensational nature of that headline was a little misleading, though the dog she ‘liberated’ from conditions she felt were less than satisfactory was indeed from the same stock as the royal hounds.

Hope you enjoyed this first part of my project ’35 Years On’. The 1984 photographs were made using a Mamiya 6×6 camera and Kodak Tri-X film stock. Those taken during my stay in Scunthorpe in July 2019 were made using my OMD EM5 Mk II, coupled with a 12-40mm f2.8 Zuiko Digital lens. My sincere thanks to all who took part. I will leave you with a dedication to two guys who are sadly no longer with us:

Chatuchak, Part 2: Vendors

My last blog took a look at the Chatuchak Weekend Market before the crowds descend. In this blog my interest is directed to those who work at this popular Bangkok tourist attraction.

Business had just begun when I made most of these photographs, the narrow alleys of the central section still quickly and easily negotiable. Some stalls were already trading while in others, vendors waited in anticipation of a successful, busy day.

A Moment of Meditation (Coffee Cup): 2017

Looking at this photograph, one thought always occupies me: ‘I wish that coffee cup had not been there’. And it is true; I toned it down a tad, to lessen the impact, but for me it remains – admitted in my title – and anyway, I only have the one shot. It remains a vendor in refective mood rather than: ‘A mildly irritated man who knows that a farang with a camera has just asked if he could move a coffee cup.’

I waited for some time for the photograph above, but I sometimes get the feeling that something may happen to complete an image. In this case I was spotted, an occupational hazard that either works or doesn’t work. Following the moment I did enjoy some friendly banter – an occupational pleasure.

Speaking of conversations, I was talking to a grand old chap at one stall – his excellent English put my Thai speaking skills to shame – when he remarked as a parting shot: ‘yes, the market has many stories, many secrets’. I was on my way home but the vendor’s words got me thinking: untold stories? Hidden away? I wondered if they would ever reveal themselves.

The thousands of visitors Chatuchak attracts each weekend are well catered for, too. I tried the street food: delicious. Hot work when you consider the climate; well into the nineties usually. The lady above was able to engage with the few basic Thai pleasantries I offered, as was her assistant – also pictured above – sitting by her side.

Street portraiture has always interested me; it offers the chance to be a little in control and it presents the challenge of giving the resulting image relevance. I met a young man (portrayed below) outside a small, glass-fronted unit which was brightly lit to show off some very large paintings. We chatted and established the paintings were his work and he agreed to a photograph. I went outside to make the shot, the unit was too small to achieve the framing I felt I needed. What I didn’t anticipate was getting my hand in; by happy accident, in the right place… at the moment of exposure.

Thanks for visiting my blog. For those who like to know, I used an Olympus OMD with a Zuiko short zoom lems to make the photographs.

Chatuchak, Part 1: before the crowds descend

Rendezvous Point: The clock tower dominates the market, 2017

Covering some 27 acres, Bangkok’s Chatuchak Weekend Market is one of the biggest in the world. The market comprises around 15,000 stalls, the bulk of which are arranged grid-like with crisscrossing alleyways – which barely allow the passage of two people abreast – contained within a broad perimeter ‘avenue’. It is from this circulating walkway that the famous Clock Tower can be seen, offering hope for the lost: it is a popular meeting point for that reason. It is here that you can reunite with friends, sit and reflect on the experience or contemplate the wooden ‘croaking frog’ you just bought because, well, one does. I made the photograph above when things came together for me, contre-jour, a little after sunrise. The market largely dormant.

I like to visit the market early morning – before the latest contingent of the 200,000 who visit the market annually – because I have the place to myself. Nearly. Sometimes among the lifeless mannequins, the piles of books, t-shirts, souvenirs and other items, the well worn tarpaulin stretched across goods yet to be revealed… life pops up unexpectedly and the market wakes up.

A benefit, for me, of having a place like Chatuchak to oneself is the chance to look at things closer. Occasionally I spot a detail that gives me a chance to consider what is before me in a more contemplative way, exploring elements of composition, light and shade. This doesn’t happen often, but here are three examples: lights waiting to be switched on, polythene sheets stretched to cover their brimming contents and parasols waiting to be unfurled.

Naturally, as we are in Bangkok, there are oddities: I came across a bust – a replica of some classical work – sat on a table at an intersection in the artists’ zone. It didn’t appear to be on sale and I was having no luck with it. A farang with a briefcase was hurrying along. I picked my moment; on reflection I got it wrong – not the ‘decisive moment’ – but I like it anyway.

I have a wooden frog somewhere, consigned to a box and hidden away. Perhaps I’ll find it one day and be able to tell someone, ‘look, it croaks!’.

Written off, but not forgotten: crashed cars, spare parts and untold stories

Top of the heap, the latest acquisition: 2015

I paid a short visit to a dismantling firm – spur of the moment decision really – in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire during July of 2015. I had arrived in the town on an early morning train and made my way to the outskirts where once stood the vast buildings and blast furnaces of steelworks.

I was looking for something I could not find: the new warehousing depots and characterless industrial units, some still waiting for occupation, were not it. The weather was deteriorating fast and my getaway toward the town centre took me past a dismantlers’ yard: I remembered finding parts here for my first car – an old Renault 5 – over 40 years previously.

What an odd beauty destruction may bring: 2015

The guy in the office gave me the ‘once’ over – twice – before allowing me in to make photographs. After I’d had a good look around – making shots later to be ignored – I began to look a little closer. Occasionally, among the clutter and chaos, I’d find a few interesting arrangements of distorted metal and displaced parts. Then I made a photograph of an interior and things got a little more philosophical.

The door of this car was missing and I didn’t resist the temptation. I crouched in the passenger side – the seats had been removed – and considered the scene; ‘what were your thoughts at the moment of impact?’, ‘did you have time to have a thought?’. The dashboard was intact; maybe, on the premise that cars are replaceable, this story had a happy ending.

I recalled JG Ballard, whose book, Crash I had enjoyed:

‘A car crash harnesses elements of eroticism, aggression, desire, speed, drama, kinesthetic factors, the stylizing of motion, consumer goods, status – all these in one event.’

I noticed a redundant church that overlooked the scene and found this connection appropriate. As I made the short walk into the town – and shelter – the drizzle had become rain.

For those who like to know, the camera was an Olympus OMD coupled with a Zuiko short zoom lens. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Diversions: Photography and How I Enjoy Playing…

Sometimes, while reviewing files, I come across an image that fails to work for me but which, on closer scrutiny, offers the possibility of a crop and the chance to ‘play around’ with it. More often than not, interestingly, this is a colour image and therefore ‘out of my comfort zone’. My ‘notes in passing’ are predominantly monochrome and that is the setting I use on my camera by default.

Both the above images were made one the same day, at a car park that overlooks the Gulf of Thailand. I was waiting for the sun to rise fully and had a walk around to kill some time. The first was part of an image that I simply flipped upside down because the shapes, for me, worked better as a composition. The second was taken on a raised pavement that ran alongside the parking spaces; it had rained during the night and a large pool of water had formed at the point where the footpath turned a corner, catching the early light. It was a reasonably simple job, using Photoshop, to turn the photograph into something I could live with.

Talat Noi, one of Bangkok’s oldest communities, is one of my favourite districts and is the subject of an ongoing project (there is a blog on this page about it). The image above was made through the doorway of a building that was being renovated. The main change I made was to shorten the broom handle until it, in my opinion, worked with the composition. Artistic license…

I don’t have a macro lens, but my lens will focus very closely and on occasion I have experimented with very close up images. The two photos above were made using this and on these I specifically went out to make colour photographs as a little project. The tendrils in the first were barely a millimetre wide. The close focus and low light combined to give me only a couple of points were the image is sharp and I brightened the highlights at those points. I removed most of the background, leaving a little detail which I felt complemented the design. Likewise, the highlights were selectively brightened in the second image. It’s about the colour red.

I was sat outside the house one early morning when I noticed the intense shadows on the wall caused by a tree bathed in the warm light of the sun, which had just risen above the rooftops of surrounding houses. The was a gentle breeze and the shadows moved, almost imperceptibly, as I watched them. I thought: ‘how great it would be if you could capture that as a painting’. So I tried to realise what that may look like and this was the result.

Finally a crop from a photograph that I would normally have made in black and white. The complementary colours used by the artist produced a stunning effect, however, and I didn’t resist the temptation to alter my settings for a moment. On review, I thought there was an almost collage effect, that the window looked disassociated from the wall. It was a simple task to mask the image – window frames are easy, with their straight lines – and attempt to emphasise this effect. Whatever, there is a lot going on in this picture.

Interestingly, I note that all of these images were taken in 2017. I’m still playing.

Thanks for visiting my blog. Usual Olympus OMD and Zuiko short zoom used for all, for those who are interested.

Closure: I need to let the eighties go…

I look through the portraits that formed a late 1984, early 1985 project on an almost annual basis. My subject was the ‘alternative’ youth culture of Scunthorpe, a steel town in North Lincolnshire. I shall be there in six weeks’ time and it occurred to me that it will be the 35th anniversary of the project.

I am planning to track down some of these folk, see what they’re up to and, should they allow it, make another portrait. I originally shot around eighty portraits and I am hoping to track down about 24: I think that will be a project, and I think that then I can lay the thing to rest.

In 1985 I held a modest exhibition of around 48 portraits, mounted but unframed, in the local museum and gallery. I have moved around a lot since – including abroad – and about 24 of the original prints have accompanied me on my travels. About 4 years ago I discovered the complete set of negatives in a box stored in my brother’s garage. All in perfect condition.

I contact printed the lot and am hoping, nearer my visit, that social media – particularly local groups – will provide me with some contacts. A number are facebook friends, so I perhaps have a bit of a start there. I’m fairly optimistic.

Originally shot on film using a medium format – 6cm x 6cm – camera, I shall be using my digital camera for any new photographs. I am also going to be thinking about context.

I remember those days well, the project was a lot of fun. Along the way I met a lot of very resourceful and interesting people.

I’m looking forward to catching up with old friends, finding out a little more about the many strangers I photographed. I do know that some of my subjects are, sadly, no longer with us; the new project will be a memorial to them.

And if I am not successful? Well there will always be next year…

Thanks for taking the time to look at this small selection of images. If there are developments, I’ll be keeping you posted….

It’s a closed shop. Well, almost…

My early morning walks in Lincolnshire often take me through high streets and I confess to being a keen window-shopper. Sometimes I find a window display interesting enough to want to record the moment; sometimes an empty shop, sadly closed down or simply closed for renovation offers up something equally appealing.

As a student, the work of Eugene Atget (1857-1927) made a great impression on me. The Frenchman was out and about the streets of Paris early and he photographed many shop fronts. Fête du Trône is my favourite and is worth seeking out should you be interested. The photograph above is a kind of homage to the great man; you will notice that I have mirrored the image so that the reflected word ‘hope’ is better read. Across the road was an employment agency (it is worth bearing in mind that Grimsby, once the greatest fishing port in the world, has seen better times) which bore the legend: (no) hope…

I find this sort of thing rather attractive, though I have heard it described as ‘an eyesore’. Each to his own. West of Grimsby, a little way along the Humber estuary there is another port, busier than Grimsby and an important oil terminal. Immingham is a small town and, like Grimsby, its connection with far-off places is reflected by a diverse population. Should you need something exotic to be cooked up for you or if you want to browse shelves for unfamiliar ingredients, you are catered for:

Head downstream from Grimsby and you will encounter neighbouring Cleethorpes; a seaside resort and the place of my birth, many moons ago. I found a pet supplies shop as I made my way down to the beach one day:

And on another occasion I reached the seafront, was suckered in by a faux ice cream cornet and, despite the fact it was a cold, miserable day, entered this excellent establishment only to find out that they didn’t have my favourite flavour (pistachio, if you’re interested).

Heading inland, Gainsborough – as far as you can go before entering Nottinghamshire – is a very interesting place with a fair history; famous for the Tudor Hall that once hosted the likes of Henry VIII, the town also attracts me for the wealth of shop front potential. The shops in the two photographs below sat side by side; I was sat on the wall of a splendid churchyard having a smoke when they occurred to me:

Boston, the third port in Lincolnshire, is a fascinating place to visit and was my home during the 1970s. Over the past three years I have spent a few days of my annual holiday in the town. It has seen changes and I’m hoping that it will be a subject for a future blog post. For the time being, here is an empty shop window shortly after sunrise:

Many thanks for taking the time to look at my blog. For the enthusiast, I used an Olympus OMD with a Zuiko short zoom for all the photographs.

Buy a Postcard! Lincoln Cathedral and me…

Approaching the county town of Lincolnshire by road or rail one will spot the cathedral miles before arrival . To say it dominates the skyline is probably an understatement. On a fine day – there are some – the magnificent building simply demands attention.

Lincoln’s Newest Building (when I took the shot): 2016

I have lived in Lincoln, I have holidayed in Lincoln, I have made many hundreds of photographs in Lincoln. However, when I came to look for images to support this blog, I discovered I had very few that featured the cathedral. There are several reasons for this – including poor weather, sun in the wrong place, scaffolding – but the main one is my belief that, if you need a good image of a famous attraction, you should buy a postcard. Photographers dedicated to the task, like John Hindes (1916-1997), have done all the hard work. So why bother knocking yourself out or settling for second best?

Children and the Art of the Stonemason, Lincoln Cathedral: 2016

That said, I enjoy being around the cathedral: the shot above was taken close to the little cafe there and is one of the few interiors you can experience without paying a considerable fee. Aside from other visitors to this area, I found the relatively new addition of memorial paving stones quite interesting.

Lincoln Cathedral was once the tallest building in the world, a title it held for more than two centuries. It was home to one of four surviving copies of the Magna Carta until that historic document was moved to neighbouring Lincoln Castle. It attracts visitors from all over the world and is a popular venue for special occasions. Once, I happened to be passing just as university students came tumbling out from their graduation ceremony:

It must be said that I happened across the celebration by accident; I was making my way back to my digs after browsing second-hand books. I much prefer the place during the early morning when there is nobody about, my snooping witnessed by the inanimate:

It was during a very early morning walk that I made my favourite photograph of the cathedral. A huge billboard had been erected, advertising a display over the city by the RAF display team, the Red Arrows (currently based in Lincolnshire). I made a connection with the shapes of the aircraft and the cathedral spires. The rising sun was in the wrong place but then, I wasn’t after a postcard.

Thanks for visiting my blog. Camera used was my Olympus OMD.

Not as bracing as you might think: a day out in Skegness

The resort town of Skegness, on the coast of Lincolnshire, is famous for the slogan: ‘It’s so bracing!’. Not so the day I visited the place. In the middle of that long, hot summer of 2018. The view from the shore is dominated by a vast wind farm; on this day of heat and little breeze it was as if cooling fans had been laid on for the benefit of visitors.

It would be fair to say that us Brits enjoy our Costa del Sol temperatures in small, package-deal doses; not a couple of months of them. I base this observation on a switch – from, ‘it’s too wet’ or, ‘it’s too cold’ to, ‘it’s too hot’ – in conversations about the weather. I sympathised with the parents of the youngster above as they tried to work up some enthusiasm appropriate to the moment. I had chosen the first day of the holiday season – the day after the schools closed for the summer – but there were surprisingly few souls walking about.

Donkey Delivery Vehicle, Main Beach: July 2018

I walked north along the promenade. Once I had left the main beach I had the route to myself and, as the sun beat down, the phrase ‘mad dogs and Englishmen (go out in the midday sun)’ came to mind. The closest thing to alternative activity was encountered as I passed some bowling greens:

There was even less evidence of man a little further on as I arrived at the North Shore Golf Club, though the fairways were crying out for some rain:

The chap above was probably looking for the ‘nineteenth hole’ I imagine, lol. I’d have joined him, but I needed to press on. I managed another couple of kilometres before I decided to return to the main road. My water bottle was empty, I was quite some distance from the town by now and I felt uncomfortable.

The road to who knows where?… I never found out: July 2018

In my explorations of my home county, Lincolnshire I always use public transport. If that’s not available, I walk. I was overjoyed to find, at the end of an overgrown pathway from the shore, the main road into town and, importantly, a bus stop. The couple in the shelter were not only preoccupied with themselves, they were in full sunshine. I lurked in the shade behind. By the time I boarded a bus I felt like someone with a bizarre fetish:

And that was that. Alighted the bus at the railway station and made my escape after a lengthy wait in a long queue of hot and irritable fellow travelers. ‘It’s far too hot’ – If they weren’t saying it, they were thinking it.

Thanks for visiting this, my 30th blog. The camera I used for the pictures was my trusty Olympus OMD.