Backs against the wall ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm hearing a lot about the British flag appearing all over the UK, and how that's not going down so well in some quarters. Here in France the tricolour flies everywhere, a welcome sign of civic and national pride. If only that was the reason a lot of the Union Jacks are being displayed in the UK. Anyway, I'm not getting into politics, I just wanted an excuse to show you one of my old photographs, a picture taken on Jane Street in Salford during the celebrations for the Queen's 1977 Silver Jubilee. Jane Street has long gone, a chap takes his life in his hands when he attempts street photography of kids these days, and the simple meaning behind the good ol' red, white and blue has gone out of the window .. Sigh!

Modest men, lovely men ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a follow-on from my 'Read this' post, here's a photograph I took of André Kertész with a cake that was made for his 90th birthday. It was July 1984 and he was at the Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford for the opening of a wonderful exhibition of his work. (It was there that I first came across the word 'festschrift' - a collection of works published in honour of an artist - because I bought a copy and still have it, signed by the great man himself .. )

I believe Salford artist Harold Riley had a lot to do with bringing this exhibition to life. I lived down the road from him and photographed him often. "I'm a painter," he modestly told a lady at an event one time. "Oh yes?" she replied. "Can you give me a quote to emulsion our front room!" ..

Modest men, lovely men. I hope they're chattering together excitedly in heaven ..

Ps: This is from an original print, on RC paper, with my hand-written caption up the side! 

On yer bike ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I should be out on my bike right now, cycling with friends to our traditional Saturday morning coffee in a nearby town square. Instead I'm indoors, looking at the rain through the window. Although it's fantastic for our garden (and for that I'm secretly delighted), the summer continues to be a wash-out. I think the cover of my new Café Royal book sums it up nicely ..

Speaking of cafés, my Mum was enjoying a meal with friends the other day when the owner came out from the kitchen to put up a new sign by the counter. Folks, it was his Christmas menu. On yer bike, mate. Let's have a summer first ..

Keep your eyes peeled ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep your eyes peeled, because a selection of my photographs is about to be published by Café Royal Books. Based in the north of England and run by a chap called Craig Atkinson, CRB is "an award-winning publisher of documentary photography, committed to producing high-quality, limited edition, affordable books." My little addition is entitled 'Eccles, Salford, Manchester 1970s 1980s' and I'm delighted it'll be seen in the company of some really great names in photography. To mark the occasion I'm offering a limited edition of forty of the books, available numbered, signed and with a 7"x5" ink-jet print of one of the images, for just £20 each (Plus that pesky P+P). There are 26 images in the book. Email your interest and pick a number between one and 26. I'll then print and sign whichever photograph that corresponds to in the book. A bit of lucky-dip for ya ..

News just in ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a lot going on in the world at the moment. Elections in the UK and France, Putin chumming up with Kimmy, China ramping up its stockpiling of nuclear weapons, extreme weather conditions across the globe and .. wait, what's this .. there's a new book of photographs by Martin O'Neill? Now there's reason to be cheerful amongst all the global gloom and doom ..

I'm delighted to say I've been 'picked up' by Café Royal Books, the distinguished publisher of photography in the UK, and will have a collection of my pictures in one of their iconic photo-books from mid-July. I say 'delighted' because it means my work will now be available along with such renowned names as, among many others, Shirley Baker, Daniel Meadows and Chris Killip ..

It's the first time any of my work has been compiled by anyone other than myself, and fascinating to see what the editor considers to be an interesting selection from my archive. Perhaps you'll buy the book and let me know your thoughts? (It's called Eccles, Salford, Manchester 1970s-1980s, by the way, and I'll be offering a limited edition of signed copies of the book complete with a print of one of the photographs in the collection. Details to follow, as they say!) ..

And now, over to the sports desk ..

       

Any preference ..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been to a couple of good photography exhibitions lately, and have it on good authority that the photographer involved in one of them shot over 20,000 rolls of film! Like OMG, it's no wonder he ended up with enough shots to fill a gallery ..

I very rarely shot more than one image of any of my shots. They really were 'one-offs' in the best sense of the word. But, looking back through my negatives, I see that, now and again, I did shoot more than one image at a scene. Today's photographs are an example. Doddington Lane, in Salford, circa 1978. Two versions, and I can't decide which I like better. Any preference ..?

David Bailey? Who's he ..?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What to do when it's so goddam hot outside? Knuckle down and finish the next edition of your photo-book collection, that's what. So now Book Six is done and dusted, and I can't wait to see what it looks like when it comes back from the printers ..

It's entitled 'Who d'ya think you are, David Bailey ..?' - which will only mean anything if you're old enough to remember the Olympus camera ads he made in the late 70s - and is a bumper collection of 91 images from my archive. The photos were all taken in the late 70s and early 80s, around my old stomping grounds of Eccles, Salford and Manchester, and the good news is that, even after six books of photographs, I still have over a hundred pictures left to show you, so there'll definitely be a Book Seven at some stage. After that, I'm going to start on my colour photography, as I've got thousands of Kodachrome slides from my travels around the world ..

A review in Amateur Photographer magazine said my work was "a flick through history in a well-observed, light-hearted trip down memory lane." You can start your own collection here .. and, by the way, they're only a tenner each!

Showtime!

A sliver of new moon appeared in a darkening sky, Venus glowing above it as the sun went down on Saturday night. In the old French town of Guîtres, the 11th century Abbey of Notre-Dame took on its own majesty as lights came on in the square. A crowd gathered as music began to crackle from a pair of speakers. Divine music, uplifting music, joyous .. The Pop Group, The Cure, Virgin Prunes!

It was the opening of my Joy Division/Manchester exhibition, and a cold-wave (post-punk!) disco sparked the evening to life after speeches by myself and the mayor. I was so delighted with the turnout, as well as the interesting questions I attempted to answer in French. I can only thank the lovely people from 'Asso Biodynaboum', the organisation that offered me the show, for the great job they've done in promoting it. (And the mayor with the funky Converse trainers!) ..

The show is now on view at the Marie (town hall) in Guîtres until the end of June. I hope you manage to see it .. 

My time of the month ..

The first of the month! Happy August, everybody! And, of course, that means it's time for the next exciting installment of my Twelve for '13 project!! Ta ran ta daaaaa! Running alphabetically, as it does, means this month we go from Mac stores - which was a general seller of tat in Eccles - through Maggie (Thatcher) to Man buys Wine, Market Boy, Morrison's, Mosh, Neil with kitten and .. finally ..  Nightclub! This was actually the social club at Manchester City's old Maine Road ground, and I love the beam of light from the spotlights at the back, highlighting just how smoky those places were back then! So, another 80 belters from the seventies and very early eighties .. and there's even another colour shot just to show I was right up there at the cutting edge of technology!! Click here to get there!...

I'm surrounded by prints and picture frames as I type! I'm getting a collection of images together, ready to hit the Deli-Lama cafe in Salford to hang my latest exhibitions. I'm showing Joy Division and a selection from the show that was 'Salford - Down the line' at Eccles Community Art Gallery earlier this year. It opens on Saturday and I hope you can pop down there at some point. Hey, go for the gorgeous grub, if nothing else ..

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www.studiofivefour.com

You'd be a fool to miss it..

And so off we go into the fourth installment of my Twelve for '13 documentary photography archive and, if my fingers can type on this unseasonably cold April 1st, I can tell you that this month we have everything from photographs of Eccles Outdoor market to Jumbo jets and stage diving at a punk gig! In between, supermarkets, nightclubs and the demolition of old Salford. I hope you enjoy it...

How Egg-citing...

Happy Easter, everybody! Hope you're shelling out on a few treats for the family - or getting laid! (Tut! Martin....) Anyway, no word of a yoke, it's April Fool's day tomorrow but it's also the day my next Twelve for '13 installment hits the world-wide interwobble, so get that Cadbury's down yer neck and be all ready to log on in the morning! Eggs-act time to be decided!..