Hey, bud...

Read into this what you want! Green shoots of recovery, spring on the way, growth, optimism, better days ahead .. or just a saddo shooting bushes! It was a delight to see, though, and I can't wait for the warmer days that are just around the corner. The Wedding season's kicking off good and proper now too, especially with Valentine's Day filling our cash registers - sorry, our hearts - with romance! There's a big Wedding Fayre this weekend - the season opener if you like - at Tatton Park and, although I missed out on a stand, I'll be there in spirit, or at least in 250gm card, as 2000 Goody Bags will all have my little studiofivefour.com business flyer in them, with the offer of a free engagement shoot for all visitors to the event.

As for today .. well, I'm off to shoot a brochure at an Old Folks' Home. Not so much green shoots .. just another branch of my PR photography!

You weren't there, man...

I was minded last night of that old Vietnam war saying "If you can remember the sixties you weren't there!" The reason? I was reading the Q magazine '10 Greatest Gigs' list last night, and they've included a gig by The Smiths, which they called 'The Homecoming'. It was at Salford University's Maxwell Hall, on the 20th of July, 1986. "It all came together that night" sayeth John of The Marr. Apparently, when The Smiths came on the mosh-pit transformed instantly into a 'heaving human vortex' and the event was 'so tumultuous' that the floor below the gig suffered serious structural damage. They even had to tie the speakers down with rope to stop them falling on the audience! Man, I'd love to have been at that one! Oh, I was! I went! I saw it all .. except, I can't remember a bloody thing about it! I can remember their gig at the Free Trade Hall, 'cos that's where I shot my iconic - he said, modestly - images of Moz and his gladioli, and I can remember their gig at The Palace Theatre in Manchester, 'cos they came on to that tune from Romeo and Juliet and I was yacking to Kevin Cummins at the front of the stage, but can I remember this Salford gig? Can I buggery! Yet, I was there .. I have my ticket stub! I kept it! (Well, it does say To Be Retained!) Damn, I just wish my memories had been!..

Hand out ..

Here we are, folks! This is one of the earliest of my photographs - as early as any I can find in my archive, anyway. It was taken in Foxhill Road, in about 1974, on a Kodak Instamatic 126. I think you can see a certain nascent creativity there, ho ho! Certainly this was my first encounter with parallax error, as you can see that what was seen through the lens is slightly different to what I saw through the viewfinder! It's ok, though, I got the hang of that over the next 34 years!

Well, the exhibition is going swimmingly, even getting over 100 visitors on the cold, rainy, snowy Saturday we've just had. It's such fun to be there, listening to the tales and memories the images evoke. What I need now, though, is for the archive to be seen as a 'photographic' project rather than a collection of 'old photographs'. I certainly think that will become more evident once the gallery show finishes and Twelve for '13 gets going over the next year. I've picked the worst time to be trying to get a book published from it, though. There isn't a budget to be had from anyone, and the books are far too expensive (unfortunately) to self-publish .. unless anyone's got a spare thousand quid they can lend me?

Watch for the signs..

Twelve for '13 is growing! I'm having another trawl through all the scans I made of my negatives. The reason? Well, it's starting to dawn on me just how many subtle memories are locked away in those little slithers of gelatine! Take this shot, for example. It's the pub in which I started my erstwhile drinking career, the Bridgewater Hotel, on the corner of Green Lane, in Patricroft. Thing is, check out the road sign. Bridgewater Hospital. Now I'm guessing I took the shot because it seems to be pointing at the pub (God knows, I was sick enough in there!) but the fact is the hospital got knocked down years ago, and that sign is just about the only memory I have of it ever existing! I've joined a Facebook group called 'Eccles born and bred' you see, and all these little signs (ho ho) matter a lot to the people in the group. For example, I put a shot up of the shop that used to be my favourite record shop in Eccles, and the amount of chat it generated was just fantastic, so I feel it's my duty, Your honour (Oops!) to bring all those memories to the fore. It just means I've gotta spend another kerzillion hours going through my scans again.
Oh, bugger...

Time machine..

Oh, my God, Doctor, what is it? A kind of Tardis? Have aliens finally landed? Who is that giant woman? And what does Kodak mean?

Keep calm, son! That's not a space-ship, it's an enlarger! A what, Doctor? An enlarger, dear boy! A Vivitar colour enlarger. Believe it or not in the old days, if you wanted prints, you had to lock yourself away for hours in a dark room with one of these bad boys and bucketloads of smelly chemicals! Oh, wow Doctor, so it is a Tardis - it's a time-machine from photography long ago! Ha, yes, my son, I suppose it is. That and the Kodak sign. Kodak were one of the companies that produced the paper to make the prints, you see. Ah, yes, they're all signs of an era long ago and far away and, do you know, that enlarger's gone from having a price tag of £393 in this photograph to being sold on ebay last week for £19.99. Old technology, see. Wow Doctor, that's amazing! But, doctor, one last question. Yes, my son? What's a print?

Up my street!..

One of those slightly clichéd 'then and now' shots for you today, but I think it works quite well .. so you're getting it! This is a statue in Manchester's St Anne's Square, which was moved to one end from its original place in the centre. I loved the fact that, in the 80s, it was full-square outside a shop called High & Might, and now it's slap-bang in front of a massive - high and mighty - poster for Virgin holidays! I shot it on the XA way back then, and on the D300 during a PR shoot for a client last Thursday. Click on the image for a better effect! Speaking of clients, I went for a meeting with a potential new one yesterday. They showed me the old brochures they'd had shot in the past, featuring shots from their interests in Amsterdam, Munich and - hey, hey, Florida - and then they gave me a commision for a shoot in .. Hyde! Still, it's work, and they want it as 'arty' as possible.
Just up my street!

She's behind you...

252!!! That's how many people we had through the door of the gallery on Saturday! Two hundred and fifty bloody two! In six hours! I'm absolutely amazed! That means that almost 500 visitors have seen my photographs already, and we've only opened to the public three times! How good, as they say, is that? I spent the whole day chatting and listening to fantastic stories about 'the old days'. People really are engaging in the project and it's so exciting!

A couple of visitors were trying to identify where today's photograph was taken. It's actually in front of the Co-op funeral parlour on Liverpool Road. Glamorous, eh? Anyway, speaking of glamorous, I was telling them that the shot is actually labelled in my negative file as 'Fit Birds'! Hey, I was only 17! "Be careful.." I heard a voice say "You never know who might hear that!" I turned around and there was .. the 'fit bird' on the right! "Good job you didn't call it anything else!" she laughed!
Phew! Good job...

Glamorous cameras, clickety click!..

This photograph brought a little amusement to a chilly week when I posted it on Facebook and asked people if they could identify the cameras. (Hey, why don't you click the link and join my group whilst you're at it!) These are the actual bodies I used to shoot a lot of my Twelve for '13 archive and they all still work, apart from the Olympus XA at the front (Oops, gave that one away there!) Well, it's still chilly but I don't think that's going to put people off from coming down for the second of my Saturdays at Eccles Community Art Gallery. So many people have expressed an interest, and I know they're going to love it when they visit. The Gallery are saying on their website that it's the most popular exhibition they've ever had, and it's only been on a week! Wow! Anyway, just before I head down there, the other cameras are a Zentih EM and a Yashica 124G. So now you know, but let's see if anyone knows where today's Blog title comes from...

Unsure...

Well, they say every cloud has a silver lining, and I'm afraid that the troubles of Jessops and HMV have earnt me a few bob, as I got booked to shoot the 'state of the high street' for a client yesterday. Managed to line up the two 'dinosaurs' in one shot with this angle in Manchester. What a shame, though! I used to love a 'yack' with the Jessops lads in days gone by, and I have a nephew who's waiting with baited breath to hear if his job's safe at HMV. He'll be alright.. won't he?

Now I'm not superstitious, but I was having a chat with a hotel owner during a Wedding last year, and he said he feared his bookings for 2013 would be down. The reason? The year has the number 13 in it! I laughed .. but now I'm not so sure. All my enquiries seem to be for 2014! Surely my whole Wedding career isn't set to skip a year.. is it?

Oh, by the way, an internet whizz-kid saddo told me that I need to be adding specific words to my blogs so that I can link them to my web-site. So, at the risk of being incredibly boring (Hey, there has to be a first time!) I'm going to mention studiofivefour.com - the home of Martin O'Neill photography.
Yeah, that's boring.. isn't it!

Back to Eccles tomorrow for another stint at my exhibition. Really looking forward to meeting more new people and watching their reactions when they find themselves in my photographs. That first pause, the squinty close-up peer, then the laugh and the gasp and the shake of the head. That's not me.. is it?

Something old, something new..

Yep, they're all dead! That's what a chap called Dave said when he saw a picture of himself and his old colleagues on the wall of my new exhibition! Yes, it's finally opened and wow, what a brilliant day it was! I broke the record for the number of visitors to the gallery on a single day, and it was incredible to eavesdrop on a few of the conversations going on around the room. People were catching sight of a long-lost grandad, or an old flame, or a neighbour they used to play with in the street and Dave, as I said, saw a photograph of work-mates he last saw 36 years ago. He's pictured as a curly-haired, flare-wearing youngster standing by an old Commer van outside the Dispatch Department of Gardner's Diesels in Eccles. One young lady even managed to identify her old school hall .. by the curtains .. and, although it's inevitable, it was sad to hear of those who aren''t around any more. Me poor old dad included! Still, I couldn't have been more happy with the way the exhibition was received, and I really enjoyed kicking off the side-project of re-photographing people who were in original shots. Dave and Arthur here were two of my first 'models'! We even had the first of our 'live' theatrical performances, with actors Elaine and Dave (Another one!) giving us a really funny rendition of how a conversation about the seventies might go! So, we're off! We're up and running and you've got a month to come down and see what it's all about!

It's called Salford, down the line! and it's at Eccles Community Art Gallery every Tuesday and Saturday until February 9th. I've also started a Facebook Group for people who want to see more of the shots! My project Twelve for '13 will showcase about 80 shots a month on Flickr, and the page will help me get the word out to anyone who's keen on documentary photography.

On the line..

Funny old world, innit? Planning the hanging of the exhibition, it became apparent that we'd have trouble attaching my photographs to the wall, so we devised a way to 'peg' the prints to washing line strung across the gallery. Then came a cry from Karen, the Gallery founder. "You haven't got a photo of washing on a line?.." she asked. Er yes, actually, I have .. and here it is, the shot that is now suddenly the opening image of the whole show. Our back garden in Foxhill Road, on Brookhouse Estate. There was a family - who we didn't know as we'd just moved in - that lived in that house at the back of our garden, and the funny thing is that I was once saved from drowning in the sea in Morecambe .. by the lad that came from that family! As I was telling this story to the chap from the gallery who was helping me he told me he'd also lived in the same street as us, and his surname was .. Eccles!

Tunnel vision..

So, another big name on the 'high street' bites the dust! Jessops went into administration yesterday and all I can say is that, from personal experience, I'm not surprised in the slightest! They're the people who told me not to bother buying from their shop, but to go home and make my purchase online! I went there in the early summer to check out the Fuji X10 camera - I liked the look of it and the specs sounded fab, but I needed to literally 'get to grips' with one to see what it felt like in my hands. The Warrington store had just one in stock, so I shot down there pronto to have a nosey. Well, as you know, I fell in love with the little beauty, and I've been using it since that first Wedding try-out in May. The thing is, the model in the shop was much dearer than anywhere I'd seen it online, so the chap in the shop went onto his computer, logged onto Jessops online, and told me I could buy it there for £50 less than the shop price. Fifty pounds less! From the same company! Jeez! Shoot yourselves in the foot, why don't ya! That's a case of tunnel-vision if ever I saw one!..

(And yes, that was another naff link to my exhibition, and this picture is yet another from my archive. The show opens on Saturday at Eccles Community Art Gallery!)

A walk in the park..

Just walked the 'scenic' route home from the post office, and flipped my gorgeous Fuji X10 to square format for a change. Knocked these off in the 15 minutes it took to get home! Click on the pic to see it larger. Anyway, enough of the arty farty stuff .. let's get back to business!

Ah! Hmmmm... business! Well, news not just in .. business is tough! I've had four Wedding enquiries in a week, and not one of the couples has decided to book me. The reason? The cost! Even though I offer a great package at just £599. I'm going to be honest with you .. that hurts! It hurts so much that I've decided to bite the bullet and put forward a new concept in Wedding Photography billing. I'm inviting couples to 'make me an offer' for their photography, and if the figure works for me then that's the price they'll pay for coverage of their Big Day. Radical and, I hope, successful! And I don't mean just from a financial point of view. I'm a photographer. I need to be taking photographs! I have to be shooting stuff for people! It's what I've done for nearly 35 years and, although I can see now it won't be any old walk in the park, I want to be doing it for the next 35, too!

Pegged out!..

Late blog today as I've been far too busy putting up my new exhibition. Looks bloody great too, with almost 100 photographs pegged out on washing lines, ready to receive visitors' comments about who the people in the pictures actually are! Ironically, one of the first shots you see in the McCullin film (that I spoke of yesterday) is of a line with pegs clipped to it, strung out across his darkroom to dry his prints! How's that for a good omen? Anyway, check out Twelve for '13 if you fancy seeing more from this archive. Meantime, I'm off to wash me smalls .. all this washing line's got me going!

War! What is it good for?...

Go and see 'McCullin', the film about renowned war photographer Don McCullin. Bravery, modesty, artistry, humanity and sheer, utter professionalism are what you'll see when you go. That and some of the most powerful proof you'll ever need of how awful mankind is to its brothers and sisters. We went yesterday. One of the 'wars' in Don's life was the conflict in Northern Ireland - he went there for The Observer in 1971 - and guess what was on the front page of yesterday's Observer. An image from the 'war' in Belfast! Police being shot at on the streets of The UK this weekend - forty two years after Don's first images. The sad thing is that he admits that his war photography doesn't change a thing. On a lighter note, he came to Waterstone's in Manchester in 1992 to launch his amazing autobiography, and I dutifully queued to have my copy signed by 'the master'. After a brief chat when it was 'my turn', he looked at me and said "Do you know, you're the first person I've spoken to tonight that's got a Northern accent!"

A kid 'shooting' over a pew in church. That's as close as I ever want to get to war, and it's yet another of the images from my archive. If it's of any interest, I've started a Facebook group to try to promote the Twelve for '13 project.
I'd love it if you joined...

Through the round window..

A few self-portraits inevitably turned up whilst I was going through my box of 'archive' negatives, and I thought it was rather amusing that I seemed to be drawn to circles when I did 'em! So - looking though the round window - I can't tell what camera I'm using for the shot on the left but I can see my old Yashica FR1 in the centre shot, and my tried and trusted Zenith E in the shot on the right. That and a really dodgy hair-do! You can click on the image to get a really good look!! Hey, speaking of dodgy, the creatives at Eccles Community Art Gallery have decided to surround my exhibition photographs with 70s memorabilia, and have put a shout out for help in finding naff old clothes, games and other items from the decade. Think Space-hoppers, Choppers, tank-tops, clackers, platforms, David Cassidy posters and the like. Can you help? Far out, man...

Oooh...

Oooh, things are beginning to happen! My new exhibition is getting closer, and the wheels on the mighty publicity juggernaut have begun to roll. Eccles Community Art Gallery has begun a twelve day 'teaser', adding a new photograph from my show to their website every day until the opening on January 12th. There's a practical point to the exercise. We're hoping that people might recognise themselves, or people they know, in the shots so that I can shoot a 'then and now' to compliment the 1970s photos.

And it gets better! A writer called Elaine McCann is putting together a few 3-5 minute long plays, based on some of her favourites from my photographs, and these will be 'acted out' each Saturday by two professional actors. I'm dying to see what Elaine comes up with as, apparently, one of her faves is my shot of a box of cornflakes! Oooh...

Lucky for some...

The dawn of a New Year, and I want to wish everyone the very best for 2013. Let's hope 13 is a lucky number for us all! I won't do the traditional 'look back at the year', as I think it's safe to say it wasn't the best that most of us have ever had, so let's skip into the future with heads held high! For me, January 1st means there are only 11 days left until you can come and see my new exhibition in Eccles. Lucky you!...