Mild or bitter?...

I gave a talk last night to Salford Photographic Group, and took the opportunity to 'try out' some of my old photographs in front of a new audience. I showed them the 12 photographs in my project 'Boardom', which were all shot on the morning of Valentine's Day, 1993. I'll leave it to you to learn more about them by clicking here if you're intrigued, but it's interesting to see how, 20 years on, so much has changed .. and so much has stayed the same. The theme was recession, closure, downturn .. ring any bells? .. but, as always with a camera, its inescapable ability to capture everything that's in front of it is so much to the fore. There is nothing in this photograph that exists anymore. The pub, The Rovers Return, is long gone, the newspaper in the shot (Ah, you'll have to read the blurb now!) is no longer published .. and even the brewery has closed down! One thing hasn't changed, though. I've yet to get anyone interested in showing this work!

Livin' off the wall...

Oh, I do love a good project, and there's plenty to keep me busy over the coming winter months! First of all I am so, so close to finishing off my archive! Man, it's taken months, but it's looking fantastic and I'm managing to get it all done just in time for my next undertaking - a solo exhibition in Eccles in January. Alongside that, and very excitingly, I've been invited to be one of the 'core participants' in a new creative undertaking at a gallery in Altrincham!

So, the details...

Well, my archive is looking like it'll be at least 875 pictures strong, including this one of the frozen shadow of an old Ford Cortina in about 1980. Topical, eh? I'm gearing up to hopefully make a new book, or get an exhibition together of some of the best of the shots, though I've been working on it so long that I almost feel sad I'm nearing the end of this part of the project! However, the next assignment calls, and that will be a month-long exhibition at Eccles Community Art Gallery from mid-January. The gallery's based in an old shop in the precinct and I'm being given the whole place to myself. I'm going to show a large number of shots of 'old' Eccles, similar to the exhibition I had for the library's 100th anniversary a few years back, and I'm hoping to run workshops on Saturday mornings, too, so watch this space! There'll be a local writer getting involved, too, and maybe even a couple of actors! Ooooh....

Thirdly, as I said, I'm going to be taking part in a forthcoming shoot and exhibition at a gallery called Local Creation, in Altrincham. We're all getting together next week to mash out the plans over a glass or two of mulled wine, and I'll let you know how that goes once it's all sorted.

Wow! Exciting! Life ain't so bad at all, if you live it off the wall...