Poo to pumpkins ..

Hallowe'en? Ya Boo Sucks! Let's get this crass, commercial American crap out of the way and make more space for good old English Selection Boxes on the shelves at Sainsbury's. And while I'm moaning about The States, can we all stop saying "I do" instead of I have" ... Have you got a bad mood on you today, Martin? I do?
Blaaaagh! ...

Well, blow me down..

Thoughts turn to The States today, what with Sandy battering it and all. I big 'hi' to all my American readers, and I'm thinking of you even if you haven't got any power to be able to read this! There are some rather brave souls out there risking all to bring us some incredible images and, speaking of the weather, the other day I bumped into a lady who'd bought one of my 'Shoot 'nTutor' sessions for her husband. He and I got together in May to run through the basics of his new Nikon.  "Hey.." I asked her "How's he getting on with his new camera?" She waved a dramatic arm in the air and tutted, loudly! "Well.." she sighed, shaking her head "He's not been able to take it outside all summer, has he? The weather's been so bad!.." Phhht!....

Back in time..

A class piece of cutting-edge photojournalism for you today, with a picture I shot in 1979 for the Sale & Altrincham Messenger. Don't forget to turn your clocks back, dear reader - that's what this photo's saying, loud and clear! And not staged, at all! Well, ok.. a little bit! So that was the summer, and now it's officially going to be cold and dark for the next six months! Oh, look on the bright side, why don't you, Martin. But isn't it funny how even clocks can look old-fashioned! Man, I am so steeped in my history at the moment because I have finally - yes, finally - scanned in all my old negatives. I'm going to have a fantastic archive of around 1, 500 old black and white photographs from the seventies and eighties. Just need to start getting the dust and scratches off 'em all now! But what a collection. Now that's what you call turning the clock back!
Enjoy your lie-in!...

Oscillate Wildly..

It's a Smiths song, in case you're wondering, but it's also what I don't want to do this weekend, despite my best wishes. I'm caught in a quandary, see! Tonight's the opening night of a fantastic Morrissey and Smiths photographic exhibition - in which I have a selection of prints - but it's in Bedford, and tomorrow I have a Wedding in Warrington! So, what to do? Well, I'm afraid the Wedding wins every time! I've never been late for a Wedding in all the years I've shot 'em, and I do not want to start now. Panic is a Smiths' song, not a state of mind I want to get into tomorrow morning! I'm not getting into a flap in a traffic-jam! Not even for Morrissey! So, I'll stay at home and watch Gardners' World tonight instead of hob-nobbing with my fellow snappers, and just hope I get to see some shots on Facebook over the weekend!

I've seen the light..

Never used film? Never printed your own photographs? Then this blog's for you! It's for you if you think a test-strip is a trial nudist session. It's for you if the mention of red lights and enlargers makes you smirk and titter, and you think developer is something to give you a bigger bust! In short, it's for you if you've never worked in a darkroom! And all because of this fab photograph I found in my archive the other day. It's the make-shift darkroom I used to set up in the kitchen when I moved into a flat with my dad in 1977. Black plastic sheets over the window and the enlarger and tray of dev on the worktop, squeezed between the cooker and the sink, just beside the ironing board, the kettle and my work flask! Now those were the days! But don't knock it! It's from this 'darkroom' that I printed all the photographs I sold to the Eccles Journal when I was 17, which led to me getting my first job on Messenger Group Newspapers in '78. This is where it all started, folks! Now switch the bloody light off, I'm working...

Before..

I've been re-jigging the PR page on my website over the weekend. It's now miles better than before, but it's not half been bringing back some memories! Like the time I was doing a shoot with the Man U captain Bryan Robson. The plan was to liaise with him at Old Trafford after training, then follow him back to his home in Hale to take the photographs. Trouble was, he was in a Merc and I was in Metro! I must have crashed red lights, junctions and any number of pedestrian crossings to keep up with him. There was no way I could lose him. This was, of course, in the days before mobile phones!

Or the time I was doing a photo-shoot with Dame Edna Everage, when I had this great idea to get him/her/it with an A-Z of Manchester to show that he/she/it was in the city. This was, of course, in the days before SatNav! Thing was, I thought that a great twist would be to have him/her .. oh .. The Dame holding the book upside down, to make a point about Her being Australian. Trouble is, she just wouldn't do it. Nowadays, with digital, it would have been three seconds work to change that but this was, of course, in the days before photoshop!

Or the time I was photographing a snake-keeper at a zoo in the Midlands. I went behind the cages, set up my lights, got ready with a Mamiya 645 loaded with trannie film and put on a .. wide-angle lens!
The guy pulled the snake from its cage, turned it towards me and .. it went for me! Bit me right on the head, it did, but not before I'd fired the shutter and got the shot of it up there! This was, of course, in the days before I had any sense!!

Wot? No?...

Bloody hell! It's gone five on Friday afternoon and I've not had chance to blog. What's the world coming to, eh? No blog on a Friday? Jeepers! How will the world survive?

I dug these negs out of my 'big box of negs' the other day, and if you're not into photography then this is gonna be boring as hell! Sorry! These shots were taken at Bradford's Media Museum, as it's now called, when one of my photographer heroes, Andre Kertesz, had an exhibition to mark his, erm, 90th, I think, birthday. I took some shots of him with a birthday cake that'd been made for him and then .. double whammy .. in comes Guardian photography legend Denis Thorpe, and the two of 'em set up a 'duel' with cameras at fifty paces (Ok, three!) for Denis's newspaper shots for the next day's paper. Click, snap, thank you very much, I said to myself, as I shot the two of them 'at play'.

So, no blog on a Friday? Never mind that! These days there's no Kertesz, and Denis has retired and, guess what, they're talking about closing the print version of the Guardian. Mummy, take me home!....

Is it real, or is it....?

A photograph of Elliott Erwitt - my hero! - appeared on my Facebook page this morning. He was showing off a T shirt that said "Warning! Digital manipulation kills photography" Hmmm, discuss!

Well, I suppose it depends on what you mean by "manipulation" doesn't it?
I mean, I 'manipulate' my photographs on the computer. I dodge, burn, spot, crop, sharpen .. but it's nothing that I didn't do in the darkroom of old. If that were the case you could argue that using Ilford Multigrade filters was tantamount to 'manipulation'. Oooh, boosting the contrast are you? Damn it, don't you realise you're killing photography? So, in my book, manipulation means using all the crappy 'effects' that are offered in Photoshop. Turning someone green, with horns, and making them float above the moon in a tutu .. now that's manipulation! But 'killing photography'? Nah, it's just created another branch of ART. It's just another way of giving people an outlet for their latent creativity. I might not like it but, hey, I can't stand Adele and look how popular she is, so what do I know? If anything I think that kind of photography - let's called it photo-art, or phart, for short - just gives all the more meaning to my kind of photography. Real! Accurate! Trustworthy!...

Elliot Erwitt is killing T shirt design!

©Martin O'Neill 2012

Jim'll break it..

Funny thing, context, isn't it? Look at a picture one way, and it means one thing. Look at it again, with a different agenda, and it can lead you to believe a completely different story. I get fed up submitting my photographs to people only to be told "We need some context." Why can't people just accept a photograph for how it looks? Its composition, its 'feel'.. Hmm? A couple of the 'institutions' to whom I've sent my Salford archive have asked for more 'context'. Well, what else do they need? It's photographs of life in Eccles, Salford and Manchester in the seventies and early eighties. End of..

Anyway, in the context of the fact that the Jimmy Savile saga is still rumbling on, here's one of my photographs of him starting off on a run from the Post House in Manchester. Up to a couple of weeks ago that's all it was, but now look at it again. See the boy being questioned by his Mum in the background? The smug expression from Savile? The arrows, pointing two ways at once?
Oooh, see how you can make a photograph mean anything?

Not just hot air..

I thought this Archive Photograph would be suitable acknowledgement of Felix ThingWotsit's amazing Fall to Earth the other day. Gulp! High, wasn't it? I'm glad he took his own camera, that's all I can say!

Mind you, I'm glad I took my own camera to so many unbelievable photo-opportunities when I was younger, and I'll tell you, this archive project of mine is absolutely taking over! I've now scanned over 500 sets of negatives, at 12 negatives at a time .. so that's, erm ..  6,000 images I've amassed already, all waiting to be edited down then photoshop tweaked to get them ready for 'my public' .. ! And that's just the stuff I've already scanned! The box is still half full! Boy, if I ever wanted a winter project I've got one! Nice to know it's got a definite purpose, though. I'll be showing a selection of the shots on their 'home turf' of Eccles come January. It's true! It's not just hot air..

He's playing my tune...

It's a man thing, isn't it? Get a nice bit of music going and you suddenly feel the need to pretend you're conducting the band! And a-one, two, three, four...

In yet another of those amazing coincidences I scanned this shot in earlier, and then heard that today's the birthday of Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of my favourite composers. How appropriate! His 'Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis' turns me into a blubbering wreck every time I hear it, and I actually drove to Newcastle once just because the piece was being played live at The Sage, Gateshead. It was worth the drive, too!

So, still scanning the archive, and still finding some absolute gems! I must show you the shot of Patrick Lichfield! He's signing books at what looks like Waterstone's in Manchester. Thing is, I cannot remember a bloody thing about it..

'Ere we go, two, three, four...

Reasons to be cheerful ...

There ya go! 34 years done! Bring on the rest!...

Pretty sure I've blogged this picture before but what the heck!...
This is the letter - dated 11th October 1978 - that changed my life!
It was the letter that said I'd got the job as Junior Photographer with Messenger Group Newspapers. Starting salary £45 a week! And Junior? You betcha! I'd only just turned 18, but within a week of this letter I was photographing the captain of Manchester United, the Lord Mayor of Manchester and Princess Anne! I was a Press Photographer! My ambition was fulfilled and it felt fantastic! 34 years on and it still feels fantastic. Only the other day I was at a networking event and I can't tell you the pride it gave me to tell people that I was a photographer! Ok, I kinda get sympathetic looks these days but hey, it's too late to change now!...

But, man, the changes I've seen in those years! Newspapers have come and gone, many photographers have come and gone, camera shops have come and gone, cameras have come and gone, film's definitely gone .. but I'm still here, making a living by taking photographs!

I don't work as a photographer, I am a photographer! I live photography, breathe it, think about it all the time. I am so lucky to be 'living' my dream! Reasons to be cheerful, one, two, three...

In the sh*t..

I do try to be upbeat in this Blog, choosing mainly to ignore 'real life' and talk about the things that affect me and my photography but Jeez, it's hard to keep a smile on your face when you switch on the news these days...

I was going to illustrate today's blog with one of my shots of Jimmy Savile. I haven't! Nuff said! That is some of the saddest news I've heard in a long time. And then there's April Jones. And Syria & Turkey. And Israel. And Rogue Afghan Soldiers And Food Prices. And The Economy. And.. oh God, let's get back to Drum Majorettes about to land in the sh*t! Ah, that's better...

I have a new website address! Further to yesterday's Blog, apparently I'm not getting up the Google rankings because my website hasn't got the word 'Wedding' in the title. So, from now on, if you feel so inclined, you can find me at WeddingsAtStudioFiveFour.com.... 

Point me to Google..

Bloomin' poo and wee and sausages! I don't know whether I'm coming or going! I've had real problems lately getting up the mysterious 'Google Rankings', despite spending ages tagging every flippin' photograph on my site with keywords and venue names and Wedding terms. So, I've done what no man is supposed to do .. I've admitted I was flummoxed and turned to the experts! "Ah.." they've said "No, no, no..." (I imagined fingers being wagged at me, even though we were speaking on the phone) Seems Google doesn't read words within images any more. Oh, you silly man! Text! That's what you need! Tons and tons of text on your pages. Text that Google can read, text that Google can assess for relevance, text that's taken bloody ages to add to my site, and there's the day gone and I've not moved from my desk since 7am! So, when did that change then? And why? And can someone please warn me about the next sneaky shift in 'their' way of checking things! It only seems ten bloody minutes since I was advised that I must be on Google Adwords, and then that was a no-no, it was all about Facebook, and now it's blogging and tweeting and emailing that you've blogged about your tweet on someone's wall .. or something! Aaaagh!

Still, as long as it brings in business..

On the horizon..

I can't ever remember using the digital zoom on my little Nikon Coolpix compact - it's normally set to wide and macro - but I love the shot I got on that setting yesterday. Ok, it's not perfect, but this Liverpool skyline will forever remind me of a fantastic day on Formby beach with my girlfriend Lesley and the two dogs. We walked for two hours yesterday, watching young families taking photos in the sunshine, and in all of that time I saw .. two cameras! Everyone else was using their phone to capture their memories. Just holding up their iphone or android and capturing a digital memory that will .. well, will what? Be printed? Shoved on Facebook? Used as a screensaver? Who knows, but just don't ask Kodak! With everybody shooting digitally they've shut down their film division, and the end of the little yellow box is nigh. Scary times!

I had a conversation on Friday that was rather chilling, too, and it actually made me wonder if there'll be such a job title as Stills Photographer in a few years time. A couple of PR executives both said, in seperate conversations at a Networking Event, that they just had no need/demand/budget for Professional Stills Photography any more. (My bank balance can vouch for that, by the way!) However, photography is the only thing I know and, with my 34th anniversary as a photographer coming up this week, I'm starting to think (Hope!) that it'll stay the only thing I know. Jeepers! Who knows what's on the horizon?...

That'll B The Day...

So it's 'Bond and Beatles Day', eh? The fiftieth anniversary of The Scousers and The Spy! I briefly wondered what I could Blog about today that began with B, when by chance, I scanned this negative, which I've called 'Busker', so that'll do nicely, thank you! Yes, the scanning is still continuing, and the archive grows by the day. I've now been invited to exhibit some of the shots at a Community Arts Centre in Eccles, and we're looking at a month-long show early in the New Year. I'll let you know, 'cos I'd love you to 'B' there!...

I want jam on it..

I'm in a little hiatus between Weddings right now, with none in the diary until the end of October. It's time to get marketing! I did a great Wedding Fayre at Crewe Hall on Sunday, and there's another one coming up at the Fir Grove Hotel in Grappenhall in early November. One of the things I'm starting to push at them (again!) is Gift Vouchers as Wedding Presents. I mean, come on, how many toasters do people need? I offer vouchers so that people can either help Wedding Couples to pay for their Wedding Photography, or indeed get them an upgrade to a package above their own budget. It's an idea that took off really well at last week's Wedding, with the bride and groom having to cough off just £95 to pay off their photography! Now that's a reason for a toast, if ever I heard one...

The write stuff..

Jeez, I never realised bass players were so bad at spelling! I'm 'mentioned in dispatches' in Peter Hook's new book about Joy Division, but bizarrely he calls me Martin Ocomin!!! (He also says he "kicked me up the arse" when I got up onto the stage at their Bowdon Vale gig, which is totally untrue but hey, artistic licence and all that!) He does, though - rather annoyingly - say, in the same paragraph, "Photographers, they think they're it" which is a bit of an unnecessary dig I think, but I hold no grudge against a musician from one of my mostest ever favourite bands! Peace and love, Hooky, peace and love...

It's behind you ..

I know, I know .. but he was asking for it! Couldn't resist this shot at one of the Labour Party soirées I shot last night. 300 shots, one MP and a lorra lorra champers! It helped, too, that all I had to do was give the memory cards to the client (although I backed them up on my cameras' other cards, of course!)

So, that's my PR head off and my archive head back on for the rest of the week. I've just sent my Morrissey images across to Rock City Art - I'll feature in their exhibition later on this month -  and another set of 'social documentary' shots has been selected by Getty Images, so they're heading out later this afternoon. After that, it's back to the scanner again to blaze on with digitizing all my lovely negatives. Looks like my past ain't behind me .. it's blazing a trail into the future and everything's looking good!

Work, work, work...

Busy!..

Hardly had a minute to myself this weekend.. and I've loved it! I started off on Friday evening with a trip to Leeds to see renowned photographer Homer Sykes, a lovely geezer whose talk was fun, informative and well worth the journey. Next was Karen and Alun's 'kinda' Wedding Day in Liverpool. They'd already got married in Zambia last month so threw a big party at the city's Bluecoat Gallery for all their friends on Saturday. They're a fantastic couple and the whole event was an absolute blast! Just time then to drop their hundreds of shots onto the computer before I was off to Crewe Hall for its annual Autumn Wedding Fayre on Sunday. Pleased to say that went really well, and 130 couples came through the doors in the space of just five hours! Hi to you all! Today? Well, today I've got to edit all of Saturday's photographs, then I'm off into Manchester to cover two 'fringe' meetings at the Labour Party Conference. Last year I had to photograph Mike Batt and Feargal Sharkey. Wonder who I'll get this time! Tomorrow I'm off for a meeting with Blundells Hill Golf club to discuss photographing their new brochure, and then I'm shooting some ad shots for a local business park on Wednesday. I reckon I should get to eat by Thursday!

Oh, and Happy October to you all...