Terrible ..

D'ya know, a man could get a complex! Following on from the recent 'Sh*t' email I received, I read this in the comments book of my exhibition on Saturday. I was at 'Made in Eccles' at The People's History Museum with some of my pals. I had to bribe them with booze to get them to come into Manchester, of course, but come in they did, and - despite the tears - a good time was had by all..

The comments book is filling up nicely. Some of the exhibition visitors even liked it! There are comments in there by a couple of other snapper mates, and even a few nice lines from a girl I used to date about 30 years ago!! One of the staff members told me a chap from Germany had come to the museum specifically to see my work, and on Saturday I chatted to a very nice couple from Middlesborough who said it didn't matter that the pictures were about Eccles, because it felt so similar to the working class area they'd grown up in in the North-East..

Blog update: No sooner had I posted today's blog than this photo was sent to me!..

So, not so terrible after all ..

Oh, Joy ..

Finally, finally I have a website dedicated to my Joy Division photographs .. and it's only taken me all of ten years since I first showed them to the world! JoyDivisionPhotos.com went live this morning and I'm delighted to be - at last - able to start promoting the site. In May I'll be kicking off a major Joy Division exhibition in Macclesfield, as well as several 'travelling' shows to tie in with a stage-play about the band. And all that, of course, is tied in with the - gulp - thirty-fifth anniversary of the death of lead singer Ian Curtis. Poignant still ...

The show at the People's History Museum is going well too, judging by the tweets that are coming out from people who have been to see it. Actually, if you'd planned to go and see it, it's down until Thursday because of other activities going on at the Museum. Bit of warning for ya there! ..

Great to get yet another Manchester Wedding Photography booking for a Wedding next year, but .. ask me how I got it! Go on, ask me! Did the couple Google me? Meet me at a Wedding Fayre? Pick up a flyer at a hotel? I'll tell ya tomorrow .. 

Bum, bum ..

Sorry, I'm turning into an exhibition bore here - yawn - but I just need to tell you some good news from yesterday. I had a meeting with a lovely lady from a place called Incubation Arts in Macclesfield, who gave me the green light for a new exhibition of my Joy Division photographs there in May and June. It's great news, although I kinda did a double take when she mentioned it would tie in with the 35th anniversary of the death of lead singer Ian Curtis. What a shock! So that's ten years already since I decided to show the work to mark the 25th anniversary!! Crikey!..

There's a blackboard set up for comments at my - zzz - 'Made in Eccles' exhibition at the People's History Museum in Manchester. I was delighted when, on the very first day, a tourist wrote 'Botev Plovdic' on it with a cheeky little border drawn around. Nice, I thought! I hope that's something good, I thought! Turns out it's the name of a bloody football team in Bulgaria! Hmm..

Anyway, that made me laugh, and so did going to the loo last week during a shoot - I apologise for the sheer glamour of the job here - at a bathroom fittings supplier near Blackburn. The toilet seat was broken! Bum, bum!..

It's up! ..

Done! At last! Made in Eccles is up and running! I can finally relax! Actually, I'm aching all over today, pathetic as it sounds. I just didn't realise how much bending and stretching and reaching and hammering is involved in the hanging of over 100 photographs. Still, they're there now so I only hope that now I've "built it, the people will come"!..

Funnily enough, the first person to see the show was one of those ubiquitous Japanese tourists, who'd obviously been tootling around the rest of the museum and just carried on and wandered into my space, camera - inevitably - in hand! Now the last time a Japanese chap saw one of my exhibitions in Manchester he ended up staging it in Tokyo, providing me with a fantastic and memorable trip to the land of the Rising Sun! Now a good friend, Nobu rang me and asked if I'd "mind" if he put my Joy Division photographs on view in his home city. Mind?
No, I did not mind, and the rest, as they say ..
Here's hoping ...

Get it up ..

Today's the day! It's time to hang up my washing .. er, my photographs! I'll be spending today at The People's History Museum putting up my 'Made in Eccles' exhibition, with this photograph taking a leading role in the show. It's a shot of our laundry, hanging in the back garden, circa 1975. My poor old Mum was horrified when she saw it! "Oh, our Martin.." she flustered "How can you show that! Look at the state of it!" Sorry Mum! Reality's king in my world! Oh, and mentioning Manchester Wedding Photography! SEO's a bit of a ruler, too...


Anyways, better get a move on ...