Time of the month ..

A tradition of mine at this time of year is to play 'Alice's Song' by The Passions.
Oh, why's that, Martin? Glad you asked. It's because the opening line is 'A cold winter's day, in late November'. See what I did there?..

The Passions are another of those bands who are seen to have been one-hit wonders - their 'hit' being 'I'm in love with a German Film Star' which came out .. holy shit!! .. almost 38 years ago. But they were such a good band beyond that one track, and I play their three albums regularly. I also, as you can see, photographed them way back in the day, and I often wonder what the musicians are all doing now. Clare Grogan's voice was beautiful, and it's such a shame not to hear it anymore ..

Tomorrow I'll reach back to 'B' in my alphabetically-filed records. It'll be time for Kate Bush and her song from the same period, 'December will be magic again'. A pal of mine 'accuses' me of being stuck in the 1980s. Perhaps I am but, do you know what? I like it it here. I'm staying ..

Christmas cutey ..

I doubt she'll remember it, but little Erin was the first baby ever to be photographed in my new studio in France. She popped in when she was just a few weeks old and brought along her parents, grandparents, uncle and cousin for a photo-shoot during the summer. And now here she is, back again and all geared up for her first Christmas on planet Earth. What a cutey, and what great fun it was to photograph her for her Grandma's Christmas cards ..

This year is the first time I've been able to offer portrait gift vouchers in France, and I'm hoping there'll be at least a little interest in them as December draws closer. I'm also offering vouchers for my one-day camera workshops. I hope Santa will send me a few bookings in the New Year ..

Flying high ..

I've just found another collection of my old photographs and, bizarrely, I have the First World War to thank ..

Over the recent 100th anniversary weekend I filmed a remembrance performance by a choir in which Lesley is a member and made it into my first ever little film. Trouble is, when I say little, it took up 94 gigabytes of memory on my computer and practically ground it to a halt. I had to clear the decks, as it were, to make more room for my film to work, so I set about sorting through all the folders on my desktop and transferring them over to an external hard drive. Stuck away in one of my folders was another folder, enticingly labelled 'To Do' and, when I opened this up, there was a whole new set of scans I'd made - God knows how long ago - that took me right back to the years before I was a professional photographer. There were shots in there from probably 1975 and certainly 1977, as I can see Queen's Silver Jubilee posters up in the background. What fantastic new additions to my archive. The only frustration was that I had to finish the film first but, now it's done and all 84 minutes of it are burnt to DVD, I can get to work on my new early Christmas presents. Two of the gems in there were the pictures I'm showing you today. Click on them to see them larger ..

The aerial shot is from a flight I took in a Cessna in 1977. Growing up, we were lucky enough to know a chap with a part-share in a plane at nearby Barton Airport. He invited me up for my first ever flight when I was still just 16 years old. The second picture is from Manchester Airport, back in the days when plane-spotters like me were allowed to walk around on the tops of the piers. I spent many a warm summer's day thrilling to the scream of jets and the whiff of kerosene. Great memories ..



 

Moan, moan ..

I've just deleted one of those blogs you write when you're drunk. One of those ranty, shouty, 'world going to pot' blogs you'd instantly regret if you published. It was just one of those nights last night ..

I was told that another two of my photographer pals have been made redundant back in the UK. One is now stacking shelves at Waitrose and the other is one of those dudes that tears around an Amazon delivery depot collecting orders to send out. Depressing ..

I also got asked if I'd try to do something with a low-resolution, blurry photograph of a chap and his Mum. Shot on a phone, in a pub (the sign for the exits clearly visible behind them) it was the only shot of them together. And now the poor lady has died ..

And people say they don't need professional photographers any more. Wish I hadn't deleted that blog now ..

Busy bee ..

She broke her little finger playing 'walking netball' last week, but that hasn't stopped her rehearsing carols with a choir so that she can go and entertain residents in old folks' homes this Christmas. Add to that her constant knitting for charity, her little business making hand-made cards, her cooking for more 'old-folk' in her block of flats, her membership of the Women's Institute, her organising of day trips for numerous other societies ..

Oh and, by the way, she's 81. Love ya, Mum ..

Just remember ..

I went to a funeral this week, the first I've attended in France. I'd only known the lady for 18 months but there was still sadness and a sense of loss, knowing that I'll never see her again. I can't imagine how that felt when multiplied by the tens, the hundreds, the thousands, the millions that died in the First World War ..

All we can do today is think about it, mark the day, take a moment.
Just remember ..