Go, Cowboys ..

Look what I've got on the diary this weekend! Michael Jackson's Wedding and the Dallas Cowboys! How exciting! ..

Yes, believe it or not, I'm shooting Michael Jackson's Wedding this afternoon and going to see the Cowboys at Wembley on Sunday! Ok, I guess you've kinda figured it's not that Michael Jackson who's getting wed today, but it's going to be just as much fun and I can't wait to get cracking! It'll be at Warrington's Park Royal Hotel. Four o'clock 'kick-off', as it were, so not much scope for outdoor photography .. and it's started to rain again as I type this!

Then, can't wait to hit the road for tomorrow's game of American Football. I've been a fan of the sport since the early days of Channel 4's broadcasts but I've never, ever seen a live game. Ok, I have, but it was the Manchester Allstars at Salford Rugby Ground. Not quite the same thing ..

So, a big Hoo Raa for America's team and let's hear it for  Manchester Wedding Photography .. Gimme an M, gimme an A, gimme an N ..

Hmmm, that could take a while ..

In person ..

Red, forty-three! Hut! Hut!...

And so it is, with delight, that I tell you I've managed to get tickets to see the Dallas Cowboys against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley next November! Phew, that's a weight off my mind! I've been a fan of 'Gridiron' since it started on Channel 4 back in the 80s, so I'm thrilled to be able to finally see one of the 'star' teams in action. Of course, I've photographed the game in the past, but watching the Manchester Allstars play American Football at the Willows Rugby Ground in Salford wasn't quite the same thing, bless 'em!..

I'm having a 'day of domesticity' today. Well, I'm supposed to be! I'd planned to start building some new units for the kitchen but I'd only managed to get some bits out of boxes before I was distracted by other things! I have quite a collection of signed photography books, and somehow I started rearranging them all and putting them into polythene bags to keep them clean. Of course, that then entailed actually looking at them and so, before you know it, half the morning'd gone! I've got some cracking autographs, though! André Kertesz, Mary Ellen Mark, Don McCullin .. even David Hockney, if you count his collages - and why wouldn't you? These are are people I've met, by the way! They're not just books I've bought, pre-signed! That's the equivalent of watching The Allstars when you really wanted to see The Cowboys ..

PS: David Hockney's autograph? You'd swear to God he's written 'Gary Lowry' ..!

Don't tell me the score...

Staying on the subject of the USA .. I must, must, must start watching the American Football again. Now that I've finally got one of those whizz-bang digital recorders I've got no excuse for missing any of the games that will be shown this season on Channel 4 (And before I go any further, I recorded The Jets versus The Cowboys last night, so nobody tell me the score!) Now, did you ever see a more incongruous shot than this picture of 'American' footballers mashing it up in front of a row of Salford 'back to back' terraced houses? Not exactly the MetLife stadium is it? In fact, it's The Willows, the home - up to last week - of the Salford Reds Rugby League team. This was back in the late 80's, when the marketing men were trying to get 'Gridiron' established in the UK (You may have noticed that they failed!) The Willows was one of the grounds where the game was played in England, and I went down there a few times to try my hand at photographing the sport (You may have noticed that I failed, too, ho ho! I'm rubbish at sports photography! I think I'll stick to Weddings! ) Anyway, just to add that  even The Willows closed last week, and the team will soon move to Barton, in Eccles.  Gotta keep moving, eh? Now what's the American term for an 'Up and under'?...