My Olympus Trip ..

I'm a bit late coming to this news, but I read the other day that Olympus have stopped making cameras. I mean, that's like saying Hovis have given up on bread. What sad news. Sad but inevitable, I guess, as the rise and rise of the 'phone camera continues ..

When I first started working on a newspaper, I was presented with an Olympus OM-1 camera, with its 'arse-about-face' shutter speed ring where the aperture ring would normally be. (Don't worry about the technical stuff. Let's just say it was very odd to get used to). However, when I was about 20 the company launched the Olympus XA camera - a little compact beauty that I immediately fell in love with. From the day I bought one I was never without it. We went everywhere together and I must have gone through about five or six of them over the following years. (Including the one I dropped down a volcano in Sumatra.) I shot all of my book 'Don't Miss This' on them. It was just so quiet and inconspicuous. And now? Erm, now I use the camera on my 'phone ..

Sorry, Olympus, but it's been one hell of a trip ..

Still together after all these years ..

I look back at a lot of the people in my photographs and wonder "Where are they now?" and, at the weekend, I got the chance to meet up with a couple of my old 'subjects'! I took a shot of a bust of Cromwell alongside this ventilator flue on my Olympus XA way back in the 80s. I loved the fact that they looked like a couple, an actual pair of sculptures designed to be together. Well, I was back at Buile Hill park in Salford on Sunday and I'm delighted to report that they're still there. Actually, they're behind bars together! The beautiful old Mining Museum, where they're situated, has long been closed and is now a sorry sight, boarded up and surrounded by railings, locks and bars. The shot on the right is as close as I could get to my old friends! It made me feel quite sad but, as I always say at Manchester Wedding Photography, I'm so glad they're still together after all these years ..

Hooray for XA ..

I dusted down one of my old Olympus XA cameras last weekend, took it to the Southport Air Show and pointed it at .. people! Got some nice pix, too! (Click the montage to get a closer look!) Oh, yes .. this is what I've been missing! The kind of close up, in yer face photography that I shot so much of in the past. Now, I almost steer away from it. The fear of getting whalloped, attacked or called a paedo has kept my camera in my pocket and my self-value as a street photographer in the waste basket! I've just not dared do it, to be honest. I've not dared shoot the kind of photography that I shot all the time in 'the olden days'! The days when you weren't thought of as sleazy because you wanted to photograph someone, the days when a subject thought it was practically a form of flattery to be asked to pose, or to be amused if they 'clocked' me taking their photograph. I filled a book with shots like those - Don't Miss This, available in the foyer! - and, guess what, I intend to fill another one now! I've priced up dev and scan at Asda, and I've started ordering film in five packs. Oh, yes! Da boy is back! The Olympus is back. Hooray for XA!..

Fag break..

This is one of my favourite photographs from the March installment of Twelve for '13. A moment within a moment! It's Christmas, at a swanky dinner - I actually remember it was at Buile Hill Park, in Salford - and this waitress has just finished setting her places. It's time for a fag! Imagine that! Never mind smoking indoors - that's the first moment captured - but lighting up right there and then 'at work' as it were! You can even see from her expression that she knows she's pushing it a bit! And the second moment? Well, she looks like she's just about to get a right royal rollicking from the lady zooming in from the right! Her supervisor, maybe? "Put that out, Gladys!.." you can imagine her shouting! "How very dare you!"

Ah, the eighties! And wow, the Olympus XA! What a camera that was! It did a really good job of capturing those instants, in low light .. on film. The shots I took with it make up my book Don't Miss This, and this image sums up the ethos of that book perfectly. In every picture there's something else happening, something you mustn't miss! I highly recommend you don't miss out on a copy!

Bored...

I'm sorry, I can't help it .. I'm bored! It's not my fault! I'm just not that into sport, and I am trying to get caught up in the excitement, spectacle and physical perfection of the event, but after an initial flutter I'm afraid it is, for me, turning back into the Olympiczzzz!.. The only glimmer of hope was watching the England footy match last night, when we got back to a proper bit of spitting, effin' and jeffin' and arguing with the ref! Normality restored! I'll leave it at that..

Hmmm... Just been asked if I can supply Wedding images for His 'n Hers' ipads. Hell, why not? Just don't lose 'em, guys!

You know how I was talking about my music photography the other day? About the fact that my pictures have been picked up by three different galleries and companies at the same time? Well now it's happened with my Flower Photography! Both the doctors' surgeries in the village have said they want to promote the work on their walls, and I'm having a meeting with one of the managers this month to discuss how we can sell the work on site!

Anyway, from Olympiczzz.. to Olympus, and today's photograph is another from my 'Don't Miss This' Olympus XA series. Mmmm! Photography! Now there's something I never get bored with....

It's all passing me by..

How weird last night to have no football to watch although, to be honest, I'm kinda glad I've no longer got an interest in Euro 2012. Apart from anything, it was costing me a fortune. It's those bloody ads on ITV, isn't it? I just can't help myself! I've already put down-payments on an Audi, a Qashquai and two Citroens, lost four thousand quid on online betting and picked me out two of those tasty little brown Macdonalds player escort kids to adopt over the coming winter! I just wish, wish, wish I could get excited about the Olympiczzz now or hey, even the tennis, but I can't and I feel such a failure! I mean, think of all the people that are turning out just to watch the Olypiczzz torch. They can even get excited about a lit stick being jogged past 'em? It's beyond me!

I've had an offer from a magazine to review my book 'Don't Miss This' .. a copy's going off in the post to them today so stay tooned! Today's photograph is another one of my Olympus XA shots. Remembrance Day parade, circa 1985.

Happy Tuesday, folks!

It's X10 time....

My new camera's arrived! I spent £400, waited almost a week for delivery and then shot .. flowers, a glove, and a photo for my 'Seen..' Flickr project!  D'ya think I'm stuck in my ways?? Seriously, it's so exciting to finally get my hands on this little beauty - the Fuji X10! It has a silent shutter and a 'normal' viewfinder, so it's going to be fantastic for all those sneaky Wedding shots! It takes me back to the first time I saw the original magazine ads for the Olympus XA in about 1981. I just had to have one, and I've felt the same about this camera ever since it came out. And who knows where my work with it will lead? My Olympus photographs got me on TV, got me to the finals of national photographic competitions .. and got me a self-published book called Don't Miss This, that went on to be stocked at The Photographers' Gallery. Bring it on, X10!..

Oooh, Monty! ..

Middle age, and I like it! And how do I know? Well, I got all excited at the start of a new series of Gardener's World last night! That's how I know! Monty Don is back! Yay! ...

A nice relaxing weekend to come now and, still on my mission to start using film cameras again, I have dug out an old Olympus XA and plan to run a film through it to see if it still works. I have to remember these cameras are over thirty years old, though. Practically middle-aged!

Feel the Benefit...

Ok folks, I'm outta here! I'm giving up photography and going on the dole! I'm gonna have me a heap o' babies and live off the State, and if 'they' decide to cap my benefits at TWENTY SIX THOUSAND POUNDS A YEAR then so be it .. I'll live with it! I'll cut my cloth to fit, as they say!

Ugh! I feel sick! I really can't believe I live in a country that gives so much money away, yet fines me £100 if my tax return's a single day late! Thank you, Great Britain. God Bless you! Where do I send the cheque?

Now, of course I realise there has to be a place for income support - I was on the dole myself for a few weeks when I got made redundant in 1982 - but for goodness sake, when 'they' class poverty as a kid not having his or her own bedroom! Oh, come on !!!!!!!!

Deep breath! Hey! Hi, dear reader! Thanks for checking in, and if you're reading this from outside the UK then this rant might not mean a lot, so I apologise, and let's get back to photography. Here's another shot of Eccles from my Olympus XA box. I felt it fitted with today's topic and, is it just me, or does that lady look like The Queen?

"Oh, Gawd, Phil! We've been rumbled!.."

Timeless...

There's not enough time in the world for the millions of things I've got to do, yet I still keep getting deliciously distracted by my Olympus XA project. I seem to be magically drawn to my scanner and my box of old negatives, and newly discovered 'old' photographs keep appearing from the archive. It's fantastic! What a wonderful little camera that was! I've already published 'Don't Miss This' as a collection of the work, but as I keep finding new images I can feel another volume coming on.. Watch this space, as they say!
Now, what was I doing? I seem to have run out of time...

Christmas Eve Eve...

I'm sure you've all been very good little boys and girls this year so today, as a treat, I'm showing two of my favourite Santa photographs. They were shot, of course, on the Ho Ho Holympus XA!
Laters.....

Best foot forward...

I really need to hit the streets and start buying a few things for Christmas, but I've had a gift come early and I can't stop playing with it! (Behave!) I've unearthed a small stash of old black and white photographs from my Olympus XA days, and as I have no idea where the negatives might be I've spent the whole morning in me jim-jams scanning the prints and retouching the dust spots. Here's one I vaguely remember taking. I think it was at a disabled childrens' art-exhibition when I worked for the Runcorn Guardian, so we're talking 30 years ago at least! Can't wait to get the rest of them up on Flickr to show you, but for now I really need to get festive and start pounding the streets. Any ideas what my Mum might like?...

One hell of a hangover..

They say the best camera in the world is the one you have with you, and for a good ten years from the eighties I always carried an Olympus XA camera with me wherever I went - including the loo! So, here's a shot for all you 'Office Party' boozers who might be feeling a little down and out this morning, because the makers of my little camera are feeling a little under the weather today too, as they sway from the hangover of an alleged $1.5bn deception! I really hope they survive, even if they're bought by Fuji (Another favourite brand of mine) and I for one will raise a glass when the whole sordid affair is over and done with...

PS: The shot was one of the images that didn't make it into my collection of Olympus XA photographs. It's a book called 'Don't Miss This' and, hey, it would make an ideal Christmas present for the photographer in your life!
Cheers!
Hic!

Do you fancy a..?

Such a lot of bad news going around, so I thought I'd give you a laugh! This is an old Olympus XA shot from my 'Don't Miss This' period, shot on Church Street in my home town of Eccles. I haven't been down there in ages, though I remember that the last time I visited, a very helpful 'local' came up to me and suggested I "don't wave a camera around round here!"....

Anyway, busy making a new Jorgensen Wedding today. I absolutely love them! They're so classic in their design - plain and simple, prints under black mattes, job done! The Wedding in question was at Manchester Town Hall in May and, ironically, Saturday's bride, Wendy, has been looking at those photographs online since they went up. By my reckoning that means I'll be making her album next May, and that'll be another year gone!

Oh, one more thing! I've re-re-jigged my Wedding Photography video for YouTube, and it's finally viewable on those new-fangled Smartphones whatjummies.... Have a look, if you fancy it!

Jesus!

No sign of June bursting out all over yet, but my Blog Stats sure as hell are!   I had 994 readers last month, which is really quite amazing, and I don't even care if 991 of 'em are my Mum!
Just to think that people that I don't know have made an active effort to read what I write is quite, quite flattering! I mean, we're talking everywhere from Iraq to China via Turkey, Russia and The Netherlands.
Seriously, thank you for the interest, everybody!

One of those 'Stuck in front of the computer' days today, as I sort through Wedding photographs and start to prepare new albums. One of 'my brides' from two years ago has finally delivered her picture choices, and it's amazing to look back even just two short years to notice changes in my ways of working.
For a start, I get the shots in focus these days! Only joking!

Talking about trips back in time, here's one of my Olympus XA shots from my book Don't Miss This!
Where did all those years go? Jesus!