Oh dear, that didn't go so well, did it? Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you .. the September sales report for my self-published book. A little disappointing, to say the least. I knew it was going to be hard to market but .. Jeez!
Hey ho, October is another month and, God knows, there might be ONE of you out there that fancies a read of it ..
Is there? Anyone? Help .. !
(Here comes the commercial break ..)
There's nothing new in photography anymore. I've known it for a long time, as I scroll through Instagram and Twitter, looking at all the 'up and coming' new stars of photography. Yeah, yeah, same old, same old. Same for music, too. Same for ..
Oh, shut up and get to the point, Martin ..
The point? There is no point. (Jeez, that sounds heavy, doesn't it?) No, I just wanted a reason to show you this pairing of photographs, taken 44 years apart - the donkey yesterday and the horse when I was a mere lad of 18. Both shots amusing in their own ways, but the 'horse' shot all the more interesting now because of its historical emphasis. You just don't see phone-boxes like those any more. (I explore the idea of photography as 'recorder' in my book, 'Page 99, by Joe Bancroft', if you're interested) ..
So perhaps there is a point, after all. The idea that every generation's got to have their spurt of creativity, before you're forty years on and your work is same old same old ..
Haven't I written this before? ..
I'm proud to say I was once the 'official' photographer to The Queen. I was covering an event in London's Hyde Park, at which only one photographer was allowed to take photographs for the sponsor. This was 1989, long before digital photography, and I was shooting on both 35mm and a Mamiya 645 120 roll film camera. I'd love to be able to show you the results, but the client insisted on taking my negatives, and I've never seen them since! ..
What I can show you is this rather odd photograph, taken in about 1975. I was fourteen or fifteen, and had learnt that Her Majesty would be passing down the motorway on a Royal visit to the area. I snuck out of school, positioned myself ready for the moment and .. well, thank God that lamp-post wasn't another two feet to the right! ..
I'm not a Royalist and, despite having photographed many of the Royal Family over my years as a press photographer, I still begrudge having to kow-tow to people who are only in their privileged positions because of ancestry. However, today's a day to stop and reflect, and to think of the amazing years of service given by Queen Elizabeth. May she rest in peace ..
