Bless you ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've just had a quick two-day flit to Manchester, bringing back memories of the days I used to go plane-spotting at the airport there in the 1970s. Back then, the roof terraces were open to spectators and you'd literally be above the jets and passengers as they got on or off their flights. Such freedom has long gone, of course, which is a shame but I can obviously see why. Also long gone are jets like these, the Boeing 727 and the Vickers VC-10, not to mention the entire Pan-Am airline, which went out of business many years ago. Anyway, a good time was had by all and I came back with duty-free gin, Cadbury's chocolate, a couple of new books and .. a stinking cold! 

Bless you, Manchester! 

And another thing ..

 

 

 

 

I made a flying visit to the UK last week and dedicate today's blog to the lady who sat beside me on the Ryanair flight home. After the safety announcements were made (unintelligibly - as is the norm - by a twelve year old with a trout pout), she looked up at the panel storing the life vests and said to her friend "Brenda .. (names charged for f*cking obvious reasons), we don't go over water, do we?"..

Anyway,  over the water I am, and I bring disturbing news from the old country'. It seems .. oh God, I can hardly bare to type this .. it seems that the mullet is back. Yes, the worst hair-style on the planet, actively being sported by otherwise-sensible young men, usually with a dodgy caterpillar of a moustache, throwing me right back to Sydney, Australia in 1985. Still, they distracted me from the afore-mentioned trout pouts and thick, smeared-on eyebrows, and the constant vaping by everyone aged three years old and upwards ..

Meanwhile, I made a few more 'then and now' shots, including this pair from Manchester airport. The first is from the days when folk used to visit the terraces for an afternoon of plane-spotting, an activity that's long-since been forbidden, and the second is from the departure lounge, where a man that should know better sat with his feet on the seats and played a film with the sound turned up so that everyone around him could follow it ..

Oh, and I realised one other thing whilst I was away. I realised I've turned into my Dad!

 

  

Flying high ..

I've just found another collection of my old photographs and, bizarrely, I have the First World War to thank ..

Over the recent 100th anniversary weekend I filmed a remembrance performance by a choir in which Lesley is a member and made it into my first ever little film. Trouble is, when I say little, it took up 94 gigabytes of memory on my computer and practically ground it to a halt. I had to clear the decks, as it were, to make more room for my film to work, so I set about sorting through all the folders on my desktop and transferring them over to an external hard drive. Stuck away in one of my folders was another folder, enticingly labelled 'To Do' and, when I opened this up, there was a whole new set of scans I'd made - God knows how long ago - that took me right back to the years before I was a professional photographer. There were shots in there from probably 1975 and certainly 1977, as I can see Queen's Silver Jubilee posters up in the background. What fantastic new additions to my archive. The only frustration was that I had to finish the film first but, now it's done and all 84 minutes of it are burnt to DVD, I can get to work on my new early Christmas presents. Two of the gems in there were the pictures I'm showing you today. Click on them to see them larger ..

The aerial shot is from a flight I took in a Cessna in 1977. Growing up, we were lucky enough to know a chap with a part-share in a plane at nearby Barton Airport. He invited me up for my first ever flight when I was still just 16 years old. The second picture is from Manchester Airport, back in the days when plane-spotters like me were allowed to walk around on the tops of the piers. I spent many a warm summer's day thrilling to the scream of jets and the whiff of kerosene. Great memories ..



 

Concorde ..

Until yesterday I'd never been to the Runway Visitor Park at Manchester Airport. It's home to the Concorde hangar, which is where I was working yesterday. I was once lucky enough to fly on Concorde - an experience I will never forget - so it felt really sad to see the 'plane ostensibly behind bars, seeming, to me, to be looking out longingly at all the aircraft that were taking off in front of it ..

Still, we all have our day. Let's just enjoy them whilst we can ..

Come fly with me..

So I'm working on this old image yesterday - of a Jumbo at 'Ringway' Airport - when 'Jet' by Wings comes on the radio! I just love coincidences like that! The other day Lesley and I watched the Kirsten Dunst version of 'Marie Antoinette' and, listed in the film credits, was the name of a guy who's job was 'Head Cutter'! The guy who wrote my Crossword Dictionary is called Ted Smart! It goes on and on! Anyway, the reason I was working on this shot is because it's just been selected to go up on the walls of a new 'Executive' Lounge at Manchester Airport. I've had two images chosen - the other shot is of an old Dan-Air Comet - and it looks like there'll be more to go up in the near future. It's all been a bit rushed - as these things always are - but I'll be able to tell you a little more about it once the lounge opens to the public next week. There was one other good piece of news yesterday, too! I'm going to have a three-month show of some of my music photography over the summer/autumn at a cafe in Salford. It'll tie in nicely with the Salford Music Festival, so I'll probably be able to buy my own private jet from the sales of Joy Division prints before Christmas! Must fly..

Stop Press: News just in .. reports say it's not a Jumbo, it's a DC8 !