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