Dis the Cis ..

Oh, to be 23 again! Actually, I'm quite happy at 59, thank you very much. I'm so glad I grew up in the era that I did. Best music, best time to be a photographer etc., etc ..  and, more to the point, I'd probably be accused of sexual harassment if I was photographed like this now ..

Yes, the bloody world's gone mad, hasn't it? Lesley and I were watching one of the election broadcasts the other day and the candidate kept going on about 'Cis' people. Cis, Cis, bloody Cis! "Lesley," I said. "What is a Cis person?" and Googled it after she'd given me a blank look. Reader, I'll come clean. I am a Cis person. Me! And I've been one all along, apparently. I just didn't know it. Nobody told me. I can only apologise for my actions ..

Folks, 'Cis' means ... er, how can I put this? Normal. A 'Cis' person is just a man or woman who believes they are a man or woman. That means, for me, that I'm a bloke and I fancy women. An ever-narrowing category of human being, it seems ..

What is going on when 'normal' has to be categorised by .. erm, other people. I'm reminded of a character in that fantastic film 'Things to do in Denver when you're dead'. "Hey, give it a name," he'd say. So I'm going to Dis the Cis and stick with the name I've always used. Normal ..

And I don't care what you think ..

(Quick photo explanation. These ladies in .. yes, 1983 .. had just formed a kind of better class 'Kiss-o-gram' company and I'd gone along to take a shot for the Manchester Evening News. God, how times have changed ..)

Home is where the heart is ..

Following on from a recent 'Interiors' shoot at a rather grand house not far from here, I was delighted to be asked by an estate agent to photograph two properties for her yesterday. This is an area of work I've been trying to get into ever since I moved to France as it was, of course, something I did on a regular basis back in the UK. This photography is completely different to all the 'people-based' stuff I would normally shoot but I love this kind of work and thrive on its creative potential. Ironically - for something so static - it's still quite pressured work. Constantly changing light and anxious owners, hovering around and often eager to get you out of their house, are just two of the challenges I'd normally face. A seller won't realise that there's more to interior photography than just pointing and shooting and generally won't understand why I've taken fifteen shots from the same angle just beside their bedside table!

Still, I'm hoping this leads onto more work of this kind. The owner of the 'grand' house said my photography was "AMAZING!!!!!" (His capitals, and I counted the exclamation marks for accuracy) and the estate agent mailed me to say the shots were "great", so I guess I'm getting the hang of it!..