Your Daley news ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sport again, and I see there's a new television documentary about that great 80's decathlete Daley Thompson. I photographed him sometime after his wins and always remember he told me off for some reason or another. (Can't imagine why, but I never did take to the fella!) Lo and behold, out of my archive pops this photograph of the moment in question, and I'd like to thank whoever it was for taking it ..

An athlete I did like was Shirley Strong, who was a hurdler for something like the Sale Harriers in Manchester. Very down to earth and always friendly, she'd pelt round the course in Stretford then spark up a fag whilst she, ironically, got her breath back! They don't make 'em like that anymore ..

We can win ..

 

 

 

 

 

It's time for The Olympics, and how exciting that they're over here in France. We looked into going to see an event or two but soon realised that - what with the ticket prices, travel and hotels - we'd be much better off sitting in our front room and watching the games with a stash of unsporty beer, crisps and chocolate ..

Tonight's opening ceremony has put me in mind of 1993, when Manchester made a bid for the 2000 Olympics. Didn't get them, of course, but the advertising of the bid made for a few nice pictures. Manchester Town Hall, Cornerhouse and the Evening News offices all sported promotional material but, should you happen to be in Manchester at the moment, I wouldn't waste your time looking for any of these buildings. The Town Hall is still shrouded in scaffolding and tarpaulin whilst it undergoes renovation, Cornerhouse (An arts venue) disappeared in 2015 and the Manchester Evening News hasn't had an office in its own city for .. ooh, bloody ages! Anyway, good luck to all the athletes, especially those in my favourite sport .. breakdancing!!

 

The Daily Record ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me, an irony of the French summer is that it's often too hot to go outside. And so I find myself in my den, trawling through more of my old negatives, which is how I came upon this picture from sometime in the 1990s. It was taken in the Mayor's Parlour at Swinton Town Hall in Manchester, a place I often went during my day-to-day life as a press photographer ..

The occasion was the presentation of an award to a little group of scouts, an event that didn't mean a lot to the majority of the public but was obviously a big event in the lives of these young lads. And what better way to put the icing on the cake than to have a photograph taken for the local press? (Hard to remember now but it was a 'big thing' to have one's photograph in the 'paper. The Manchester Evening News wasn't called 'A friend dropping in' for nothing!) Shots like this were bread and butter for me. Summer fayres, darts competitions, Women's Institute tea-parties .. and the local newspapers were full of these little glimpses into the lives of other people. A pleasing reminder that, all around, things were 'going on'. Groups were thriving, fun was being had, achievements were being made. They were a record of a community in action ..

I loved my days in this swirl of social activity. The variety was incredible and the word 'routine' unheard of. Press photography took me into situations I would otherwise never had had a chance to experience and it's such a shame that local newspapers have now all but disappeared. I thank my lucky stars that I got into the job at the time I did ..

Ps: The 'snapper' in the shot isn't me. I think it's a lad called Harry who used to work for the Salford City Reporter. The 'competition'! Quite often I'd arrive at a job to find it was being covered by another photographer and the fun was to invite them to shoot first and then rearrange the subjects to get a 'better' shot. An absolute creative buzz ..   

Watch this space ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hard to imagine it's now 55 years since Neil Armstrong and his Apollo 11 mates were heading back to Earth after that famous first landing on the Moon. I remember creeping downstairs as an eight year old to watch them on television, and have had an interest in Space ever since ..

This particular astronaut is my cousin Neil, photographed in about 1977. The shot features in my new Café Royal Books edition, a publication that's bringing back lots of memories for the people who have been buying it ..

Speaking personally, the memory that accompanies this particular photograph is a sad one. Neil was a bit of a troubled lad who, despite his cute little face and his poor parents' keenest efforts, got himself into quite a bit of a mess. He ended up into drugs, going to jail and then, sadly, committing suicide. There's a Neil-shaped space where he could have made so much of himself. Poor lad ..  

 

It's all about me ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the risk of becoming boring, can I point you to a nice little article about me that's just appeared in the Manchester Evening News ..

That's it. End of blog ..

Shocking ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Microsoft 'outage' has been a bit of a hoo-ha, hasn't it? (I genuinely thought the letter 'r' had been dropped from the word when I saw it as a TV sub-title.) Planes grounded, Sky News up the swannee. I hope you aren't stuck in an airport or trying to pay for your weekly shop at Morrison's ..

It's yet another reminder that the world we live in is made of fluff and electricity. There's nothing really THERE! Only last week I blogged about the joy kids today must feel when they load a 'real' film into a camera or put a 'real' record onto a turntable. Physical, tangible stuff that you can touch and feel and hold. Stuff that's THERE!..

As I sit here my desk is half taken over with a large pile of negatives. Stuff to scan, stuff to digitize (ho-ho!), but at least it's HERE in front of me and I know where it goes when I've finished with it. Whereas almost every photograph I've ever taken since the early 2000s is .. er .. in boring external hard discs in a case in a shed, or in this flat, rectangular glowing box that hums in front of me. What on earth will I do when I can't afford to pay for electricity? Shocking ..

Ps .. I hope you can actually read this!!     

 

I've seen the future ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There've been two 'photography' stories in the 'paper this week, the first about Jessops, the camera store chain that was bought out by Dragons' Den star Peter Jones. It seems it's (once again) on the brink of collapse because of tax debts. And yet the second article was all about the rise and rise of 'film' photography, with more and more people trying out the 'old' way of doing things. (Pentax have even announced the launch of a new 35mm half-frame camera.) Is there hope for Jessops, then? Will I once again be able to walk into a shop full of cameras and lenses, with shelves and shelves of film and chemicals and Ilford Multigrade paper, and photographers loitering around telling each other how amazingly busy they've been lately? Oh, what a dream ..

Or is it? I can still remember when digital photography started to take hold and how I resisted changing to the new-fangled 'future'. But then someone told me that, with digital, I could vary the ISO ( .. or ASA for the old farts like me) between individual shots. What? Really? OMG! And so off I went down the Fuji Finepix highway and I've never looked back. No more changing rolls after 36 shots, no more long cold/hot nights in the darkroom, no more wasting chemicals and paper as I feverishly burned and dodged. (I'll blithely skip on from the hours/days/weeks I spent tearing my hair out over colour-balance and photoshop and geezers telling me I should always shoot RAW.) Oh yes, it was digital all the way and, as with the 'experts' who tell me that music definitely sounds better on vinyl, I've resisted the idea that photographs look better when they've been shot on film. (Don't they know you can add grain in photoshop?) ..

Don't get me wrong, I can understand the attraction of film and vinyl (and cassettes!) for kids. When all you've ever had is the mysterious, invisible world of digital it must be an absolute delight to actually have something to hold on to. And so, kids, the film world is all yours, and I hope you have fun whilst you're in it ..

Oh, but did I mention the cost?

   

Ps: Today I get another chance to show you a montage I made last year, showing my transition to digital with examples of every camera I've ever used. (And yes, I do still own them all.)

I remember you ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This fella here is John Anthony Roberts. He was born in Manchester in 1962 and died of a brain haemorrhage in the year 2000. His coffin came into the church to an a capella version of the Beach Boys' 'God Only Knows', and went out to 'Rhymes of Goodbye' by Scott Walker, and the organisers of his funeral decided against a Catholic ceremony because the priest could only offer them 9am and John "didn't do that time in the morning!" ..

I know all this (and a lot more) because his picture is in the new book of my photographs published by Café Royal Books, and has been seen by a very nice lady who used to go out with him until he died. To my delight she contacted me to say how "amazed and happy" she was to see it ..

Like most of the pictures in my archive, this shot is labelled simply for what it showed. Until yesterday John's photo was captioned 'Ramones hairdo' in my negative files (original, eh?), and was just a rather nice snap of a chap in a pub. But now there's an event and a character and a whole life behind the photograph. The lady who contacted me even spotted the vodka and diet coke that her boyfriend is 'minding' for her!..

I'll never see this picture in the same light again, and I hope I'm contacted many more times by people for whom my photography is more than a 'snap'. The Ramones sang 'I remember you' and, with John's former girlfriend in mind, I'll close today's blog with some lyrics from the song ..

I remember lying awake at night
And thinking just of you
But things don't last forever
And somehow baby
They never really do

John Roberts 1962 - 2000

 

 

The Menace!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dad's birthday, and today he'd have been .. well, it doesn't matter does it, seeing as he didn't make it past 75. Here he is, smartly togged up as always ("You never know who's looking at you, Martin"), though you've got to love a guy that would wear a suit and tie and still have a Dennis the Menace badge on his lapel!

Love you, Dad ..

On yer bike ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I should be out on my bike right now, cycling with friends to our traditional Saturday morning coffee in a nearby town square. Instead I'm indoors, looking at the rain through the window. Although it's fantastic for our garden (and for that I'm secretly delighted), the summer continues to be a wash-out. I think the cover of my new Café Royal book sums it up nicely ..

Speaking of cafés, my Mum was enjoying a meal with friends the other day when the owner came out from the kitchen to put up a new sign by the counter. Folks, it was his Christmas menu. On yer bike, mate. Let's have a summer first ..

Cereal blogger ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two young lads dress as Honey Monsters for a fancy-dress event in the late 1970s. You remember the Honey Monster, don't you? A gruff, (cuddly?) character dreamt up to advertise Sugar Puffs in the 1970s? Well, this is just one of the memories in a new collection of my photographs published today by Café Royal Books ..

To mark the launch of Eccles, Salford, Manchester 1970s-1980s I have a special offer to tell you about. I have a Limited Edition of just 40 of the books - which I will send with a 7x5 inch print of one of the images from the book - for just £20 each. (Plus P+P.) Email me here and pick a number between one and twenty-six. I'll send you the signed booklet and whichever image that corresponds with ..

I'm thrilled to be a part of the amazing CRB collection, joining such renowned photographers as Shirley Baker and Daniel Meadows and finally getting my work to a wider audience. Interesting, too, to have my work edited by a third party and see what they consider a workable set of images ..

And so, as the Honey Monster never said .. 'Tell 'em about the book, Martin'!