First steps on ‘the road to who knows where?’

Student work: 1973 – 1977

Aged 18, I had an idea to become a fine artist. With that in mind I enrolled on an art foundation course in London, E17. All art disciplines were covered over a year; one of these was photography. For the first time in my life I had a ‘proper’ camera in my hand along with a couple of rolls of film which I would develop myself.

The photograph above shows the children of two families I shared a house with and is on the second roll of film I ever exposed. The first was full of very unremarkable shots; I had chosen the old Covent Garden market as a subject – getting there towards midnight and staying until breakfast – and the tricky lighting, mainly bare fluorescent tubes, was too much for this novice. But I really enjoyed the experience of being there and, despite getting no decent photographs, I was hooked. At the end of the year I applied to undertake a full time course in photography.

The course was split: I did my first year in Nottingham and my remaining two years in Derby. Though I perhaps didn’t know it at the time, the influence that the course had on shaping my outlook (and inlook, if there is such a thing) was immense. In fact, I still haven’t managed to shake it off to this day.

The first book of photographs that really grabbed my attention as a student was ‘A Day Off: An English Journal’ by Tony Ray Jones (1941-1972). It included photographs made at seaside resorts (interesting to me as I was from a seaside resort); over the next couple of years I made several trips to the coast in search of my own seaside. I’m still looking.

Looking back at these photographs, it is interesting to me that my style has not really changed over the years. I find that reassuring.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this small collection of photographs. I’ll leave you with another seaside shot. As for gear, probably Nikon Nikkormat – I didn’t get my own camera until after college – with various Nikon lenses….

Only Joking! And Other Experimental Pieces

I have arrived at my present state, unemployed and close to retirement age – assuming I ever catch up with an ever moving boundary – via bus conducting, commercial fishing, bar keeping and, by far my most enduring occupation, a very modest career as a graphic artist. This said, photography has been my life.

Finding suitable words for this photograph of the destruction of a Scunthorpe steelworks

I have, in the past, been accused of flippancy and have always put my hand up. I know it. In the serious pursuit of the elusive ‘image-that-says-it-all’ there must be a playtime; looked forward to in much the same way as, during my schooldays, the bell that signified the end of prep and a mad dash to the tv room because The Monkees episodes started coincidentally with it.

Image made when I gatecrashed a graduation celebration, Lincoln 2015

To be fair, I wasn’t exactly dressed for the occasion when I made the above photograph and I probably hadn’t shaved either: I couldn’t resist mirroring my subject’s expression with a smiley face.

Sometimes I don’t need such a sophisticated addition to make me chuckle. I have a thing about dots, which I call ‘things’….

Photograph taken in Don Muang, Bangkok 2018

‘Sermon’: Image made in Muang Thong Thani, Bangkok 2014

‘Sermon’ is simply a photograph I made of an ornamental fountain. Camera pushed against a wall to enable a slow shutter speed. Here’s a similarly themed shot made in 1984:

‘Easter, Rising’ Photograph made in Scunthorpe, 1984.

Considered calling it ‘Exodus’ when I played around with it a couple of years ago. To be fair, ‘Photograph taken from moving car during a rapid descent of Mortal Ash Hill, Scunthorpe’ doesn’t have the same ring to it.

The addition of words to images during my experimental moments probably stems from my work as a graphic artist. I always shot my own images for designs I was working on; it was easier than finding a stock image that had the correct places for text etc. Here’s an example:

While the above does not exactly fit with the theme of this blog. Perhaps it demonstrates my point, above. The photograph drew upon the themes of isolation and inner struggle found in the play, perhaps tenuously.

Here is a photograph of me, at a few months old, taken by mum in 1955:

I must have been around 10 years old when I splashed out half my pocket money – threepence – on three little books at a jumble sale in my hometown, Cleethorpes. Each around 12 cms square, they featured the works of the painters: Miro, Klee and Braque. This acquisition formed the foundation of my lifelong interest in art history. Moments like this never leave you and I found myself remembering those little books while I played with the next two images in Photoshop:

When a theme of ‘Black on Black’ cropped up recently in a small photographic group I belong to I decided to ditch the camera and work in Photoshop from scratch. Although calling it a photograph is stretching it a bit, the process recalls the days I used to play around in the darkroom, making photograms.

This has been an indulgence, I know – and I make no apologies – but I needed a break. Here’s a shadow of a bicycle seat in my back yard that needed a beak. I ditched my favoured dot for a triangle…..lol

Cameras either OM1 or OMD. Zuiko lenses….

‘I’m no twitcher, but I know a bird when I see one.’

As a photographer I can relate to the ‘twitcher’; the keen bird-watcher who chases sightings of rare birds. Chasing that elusive shot, the less successful days far outnumbering the successful ones. The defining moments, after 40-odd years, able to be counted on my fingers: no less exciting than the discovery of a rare visiting goose on the Thames marshes.

I am never out and about with birds on my mind, they tend to be incidental. Even as subject I find them accidentally so, for what birds will do is difficult to anticipate. Luck often plays an important part:

I quite like those silent moments required by the photographer – armed with a longest focal length of only 80mm – in order to not scare a subject away:

This approach is not necessary when there are more birds than you can shake a stick at in some public space, and they are looking upon you as provider:

Birds are the stuff of legends and beliefs; swans, in particular crop up in lore and legend. I understand that they mate for life, though divorce sometimes happens (who knows that?):

The Kiss and a Lover Spurned, Lincoln, UK 2016

I was out not so long ago with a pal who is an excellent drone photographer: the machine created some interest, rather alarmingly I thought, with a local flock:

I’ll finish with my favourite. I thought there was something of a reverential about this bird, overseeing a temple-like setting. In fact, it was beneath houses built on piles above the swamp where the very limits of Greater Bangkok meet the Gulf of Thailand:

Thanks for visiting, as usual the photographs were made using an Olympus OMD and a Zuiko short zoom lens.

A Little Bit of Nostalgia: 1981, SOS (Save our Steel), Scunthorpe

I recently came across some negatives I have never printed. The subject, a protest march which took place (as far as I can remember) on a cold day during 1981 in Scunthorpe; a North Lincolnshire town grown up with steel working.

Margaret Thatcher’s government was to announce the loss of over 4,000 jobs in the area.

A year earlier, fears had been raised about the long term plans for steel-making in Scunthorpe; now they were being realised.

By the end of the year, the Normanby Park site, after 69 years of steel production, would be closed down and demolished.

Despite the cold, there were brighter moments during the march and many in the community lent their support….

Steel is still being produced, on a smaller scale, at Scunthorpe today; as in the eighties, the future remains uncertain. We hope for a revival of the town’s fortunes…

Thanks for visiting this blog. The photographs were made using an Olympus OM1 with Zuiko lenses. Film stock was Kodak Tri-X Pan.

A school, an hour, an education

‘Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.’ (Kofi Annan)

Having the correct documentation I had expected to spend a day at the Mae La refugee camp on the Thai/Myanmar border. As it was, I managed about an hour at a makeshift high school before the party I was with had to hurry off. And what a hugely rewarding hour that was.

It rains a lot during the summer months in Tak Province

I visited in June 2016. Mae La is the largest refugee camp of nine in Thailand; the latest figures (November 2018} show around 32,000 refugees live there, mainly Karen people, with around a third being of school age (5-18 years). The party I was with had helped in the provision of resources for this makeshift school and was escorted by a representative of an organisation that had set up a teaching English training scheme for displaced teachers.

Auxiliary staff at the teacher training facility

The school was well attended and I found myself welcomed into classrooms much like any classrooms, anywhere. The commitment to learning struck me immediately, though I did manage to disrupt that once or twice:

Some of the older students live at the school; I caught up with three of them at break time and they gave me a whirlwind tour of their quarters:

The boys pictured were keen sportsmen; the school has considerable success in sports competitions – as the trophy shelf shows – despite the small size of the school playground:

The child in the photograph above kept her distance but followed me as I made my brief exploration. One day she will be at school, though she has already embarked upon a life of learning and one which, as I know very well, does not stop.

Thanks for visiting my blog: as usual, the camera I used was an Olympus OMD with a Zuiko short zoom.

At the end of the line and what I saw there…

‘Railway termini are our gates to the glorious and unknown. Through them we pass out into
adventure and sunshine. To them, alas! we return.’

The above caption is an observation made by the English novelist, E M Forster (1879 – 1970). He knew a thing or two about travelling and his quote is very apt for the subject of this blog: Bangkok Railway Station.

People like having their photograph taken with trains here in Thailand. I have witnessed wedding shots being made at a couple of provincial stations, though never at Bangkok Railway Station – or Hualamphong as it is locally known – …yet.

I have visited the place many times over the years, looking for pictures. More often than not I don’t get them but the experience of being at this perpetually busy place is always an enjoyable one.

My favourite time for visiting Hualamphong is very early morning when the overnight trains arrive. The platforms become a hive of activity; passengers, still only half awake, alight, cleaners board, restaurant car staff finish up. Dirty linen is thrown from the train whilst maids and porters execute its transport to the laundry with military precision. By the time I have finished watching this fascinating process the laundry has already fired up a good head of steam.

Trains are well used in Thailand and offers a cheap way of getting around. The journey times are long (the trip from my local station to Hualamphong, a distance of around 24 kilometres, takes about 45 minutes), but I personally enjoy the leisurely pace.

The prospect of the journey ahead, Hualamphong

Monks frequently travel by rail and occasionally present an opportunity for me to flex my observational, narrative style. The presence of barbers on the platform at Hualamphong has always been a bit of a mystery to me….

I will doubtless return many times to these familiar platforms, coffee shops, ticket offices and washrooms before I head back to the UK. Perhaps I’ll step out into the sun or maybe just hang out until it is time to catch the train home. Either way it’ll be an adventure.

I remember wondering who left those shoes and gloves and under what circumstances, lol. The photographs in this blog were taken on my trusty OMD with a Zuiko short zoom on it. Thanks for visiting, I’ll leave you with someone who had obviously had a very tiring day….

Big Buddha and Other Monumental Marvels

When you are still a fair way off and this appears out of the distant haze, you know that you will soon be facing a statue of gargantuan proportions. Thailand has many such epic tributes to their Buddhist beliefs. And they are wonderful to behold.

Some of these sacred sites are old, some are new. Here is a giant Buddha that I came across last year, being built out of a cliff face:

More often than not, these immense constructions represent Buddha himself, others are effigies of revered monks or staues of mythological entities….

Many of these celebrations are the centrepieces of Thai Wats (temples), others are found in incredibly ornate Chinese Temples.

Some attract visitors, some (at least when I was there) stand alone. Gigantic sentinels overlooking a vast landscape. Harmonious despite their huge size.

Standing amongst these titans, how small we are in the grand scheme of things….

Thanks for visiting this blog. All photographs made using my Olympus OMD EM5 c/w Zuiko Digital short zoom lens.

Grandad! Take my picture!

Since the photograph above was taken I have gained a grandson.

I remember the day I first received the news that I had become a grandparent and how very pleased I was; I also recall a sudden feeling of growing old. This said, I have come to realise that the important things about my new role are the first five letters of the title; for the experience is indeed grand.

As a keen photographer I enjoy recording those moments I spend with my grandchildren; I find it interesting how sometimes the snapshot aesthetic combines with my own narrative style:

And this, below; at the time, my daughter was in an advanced stage of pregnancy:

Grandchildren are demanding; in fact, sometimes I get worn out just watching them:

I’ve come to realise that there can be a strong bond between those at one end of life and those at the other; it’s a good feeling, like being comfortable.

I don’t see my grandchildren as often as I like, so my collection of photographs is a constant reminder of how they were; I hope there will be many more photographs of how they are. I look forward to that…..

Wall, for wall’s sake

I’ve been trying my hand at this blogging malarkey for a couple of weeks now; the idea seems to be to maintain the momentum by publishing posts regularly… and often. But then, not to sacrifice quality for the sake of quantity; and so this morning I had that kind of feeling one gets when faced with a blank piece of paper, pencil in hand and no real idea of where to start. The first mark dilemma. A wall. Best ignore Eric Weiner when he said ‘nothing kills creativity faster than a wall’ and face up.

Looking through my files this morning it soon became evident that walls – as subject – have featured quite regularly in my life. I may be a wall lover, without realising the fact. Certain walls have stopped me – both in a physical and metaphorical sense – and I have recorded that moment.

There are walls that have had historical significance, constructed for protection:

Walls with great character:

And walls that have been used as a canvas for the street artist’s statement:

I guess (hope) there will be plenty more walls to come. Thanks for visiting; as usual the photographs were made using an early Olympus digital camera and my current OMD, except for the cute Portuguese wall which was made using an Olympus OM1, film stock was Kodachrome. I’ll leave you with a wall I found in Lincoln – I researched the markings and resolved the enigma, but that’s another story.

In Defence of the Irritating Photographer Dad

Ever since they were enabled – notably by Kodak – millions of people have made photographs of family members. My mother has her album of printed treasures made with various Box Brownies and Instamatics, my teenage daughter stores hers as files on her smartphone.

Some notable photographers have engaged with the genre of family: Magnum photographer, Christopher Anderson is one that comes to mind. Check out his book, Son. And me – though I’ve never been a professional photographer, I’m seriously involved with it – I’m no different from all those who find a great joy in recording my family life.

It is by being with the family that gives you access to the full range of human emotions, that familiarity along with close observation presents a marvelous opportunity to capture them – even though at times your subject matter may become a little irritated with you, lol.

Sometimes, it is grand to be able to step back; the following two photographs were taken from outside a restaurant, I’d nipped out for a cigarette (I know, my bad – it was raining, too) and watched through the window as my wife and kids made the most of my absence (‘be on your best behaviour, kids’ etc). The second shot was taken after they had spotted me….

Sometimes you get a photograph that goes beyond the snapshot. The two following photographs contain unexpected elements; in the first I did not know that my kid’s cousin would run into the frame and stick her tongue out and in the second I simply hadn’t noticed the image on a tv screen until I had downloaded the images.

And then there are moments when everything comes together just so:

The kids may even put up with photographer dad when he is in the mood to experiment:

Naturally, I will continue to make my family snaps despite the occasional flak. Thanks for visiting – as usual the photographs were made using my Olympus digital camera. I’ll sign off with one of my favourite photographs of all time. A candid shot – it seemed inappropriate to say ‘smile please’….