Santa Claus and all that ..

Yep, he's coming to town today .. or at least to our little Mall in Culcheth, where I will be the snapper in residence to anyone who wants a photograph with the jovial old chap, and I'm sure it's not going to be the easiest job I'll have had this week! I dug this shot out of my Twelve for '13 archive from way back in the 70s, and what I particularly like about this photograph is the parental arm reaching in from the right. Reassuring .. or forcing the little bugger to sit tight? You can bet I'll be seeing a lot of that this afternoon!...

Don't miss these ..

Not that you'd want to - of course! - but if you did want to get me annoyed here's how to do it. Take a good long look at my archive photography - stuff from Twelve for '13, for example - and then say "Why don't you do a book, Martin?"

Aaaaaagh!! See? I've annoyed myself, just by writing that! The thing is .. I have done a book! In fact, I've done two and, flattering though it is to be asked .. no bugger bought 'em! And they cost a lot to make, too! So, if you're ever going to ask me "Why don't you do a book?" could you please follow it up with a swift hand-movement to your wallet and the production of twenty-five of your English pounds!

I thank you!..

Chest out ..

Being a hoary old pro, with a 35 year career in the bag, I'm not one these days for 'setting myself a project' to gain experience/practice my skills/keep up to speed with my equipment. But I was! Once! Back in the dim dark seventies .. when I was still a wannabe photographer .. I used to come up with little feature ideas and force myself onto the streets to shoot 'em. I say 'force' because I was so shy back then, but a chap named Victor Blackman came to my rescue! Remember him? He was a Daily Express Press photographer who had a weekly column in Amateur Photographer magazine and, as that timid 16 and 17 year old, his words taught me all I needed to know about gaining the confidence to get out onto those mean streets of Eccles! The only reason I mention this is because one of the projects I set myself was to photograph the shop-keepers along a little section of Liverpool Road, in Eccles, and one of the photographs I took has popped up in the last installment of Twelve for '13. I can very vaguely remember setting this up, getting a chap to surreptitiously check out the topless shots in a magazine as the female shop assistants carried on a chat, unawares. The irony is that the magazine isn't some top-shelf porn offering .. it's Amateur Photographer .. but setting up shots like this soon had me walking with my chest out, too!

A lot in store ..

December, and it's time for the final installment of my Twelve for '13 project. Blimey, I've finished it .. and now there are over 1, 000 of my archive photographs online for all to see. I've really enjoyed the work, and I hope it's brought a little pleasure and some great memories to anyone that's seen it. One of the photographs for December is this one - shot in front of the Virgin store in Manchester. Today, by sheer coincidence, sees the release of a sneaky preview of the Being Frank film - about Timperley 'character' Frank Sidebottom. It's a coincidence because when he was with The Freshies he sang about being "in love with the girl on the Virgin Megastore check out desk!" (Ok, this shop wasn't the megastore but I did take a PR photograph of Richard Branson opening it a couple of years later!) Another poignant thing about this shot is that you can see, in the window reflection, the wavy roof of the old Marks and Sparks store - the store that was destroyed in the IRA bombing. One snap .. such a lot in store!

Party like it's nearly the end of 2013 at last ..

Yeah, I know! Catchy title, not .. but it kinda gets across today's message which is - say it in hushed tones - that I think I can see a glimmer of hope for the economy. Well, my economy, at least! Last year I pooh-pooed the idea of couples not booking their Wedding for this year because it had a thirteen in it, but I think it's proved true for me and lot of 'Wedding' people I know. However, next year seems to be off the mark already and I've just taken two bookings in as many days when I'd have said we're too near to Christmas to even get any Wedding enquiries! PR seems to be on the up, as well - always a good sign when companies feel confident in promoting their news - and StudioFiveFour is ticking along with a steady flow of bookings and enquiries.

Of course, the fact that we're nearing the end of 2013 also means there's only one more installment of my Twelve for '13 project to come. Today's shot is from it, as you might have guessed, and December 1st will see a bumper upload of the last remaining images. After that .. well, you'll have to wait until January 2015 when I have an exhibition of the work opening at the Peoples' History Museum in Manchester.

So roll on 2014, and I'll have a can of Fosters, thank you very much ..

Jump you twat ..

Hard to believe there's only one installment left of my Twelve for '13 project - a Flickr exhibition of my archive from the mid-seventies and early eighties and .. I'm going to hold my hands up .. it's not had as much interest as I'd wanted! I should be world-famous by now!! Ok, only joking, but I do wish more people had seen the work, so it makes me feel all the better that the pictures will be physically 'up on walls' again in January of 2015. That's what it's about, isn't it! Seeing 'the real thing'! Digital is wonderful but look how, more and more, we're hearing of people who have lost their entire collections of photographs because their mobile phone was stolen or dropped down the loo! There was even a Wedding Photographer on TV last night who 'cried for three weeks' because thieves stole her computer and back-up drives. What? You didn't make CDs? Physical copies of your work? Are you crazy??...

So, photographs made of paper for me although I hope, when my show is up at The Peoples' History Museum in Manchester, that they don't atract as much interaction as this poster. It's still some of the funniest graffiti I've ever seen...

Coming soon .. ish! ..

Big News!..

I've been selected to have an exhibition in Manchester! I'm going to have a four month show at the Peoples' History Museum on the Left Bank in Spinningfields. A collection of my archive photography is going up to show working-class life in the 1970s - in other words,  my way of growing up as a teenager! I'm really pleased, as you might guess, but take your coat off and sit down again! Don't be rushing out the door just yet, 'cos the exhibition doesn't open until January 2015. These guys plan ahead! Gives me time to get a nice set of prints done, though!..

#peopleshistorymuseum
#documentaryphotography
#culchethstudio

Past, future .. tense!

I was hearing yesterday that the A&E department at Trafford General Hospital is soon to close down and, by one of those strange coincidences, I was actually working on a 1977 image from my archive that mentioned it in the shot! Park Hospital, as it used to be called, was listed as a destination on this scruffy knackered pole at the old Eccles Bus Station, and the poor dear with the hankie looked like she'd have benefitted from a trip there too, bless! It's the hospital where I was born - as, indeed, was a certain Patrick Steven Morrissey just nine months earlier - but, I suppose, life moves on and it's had a good innings!

Hard to believe that I only have two 'overs' left (to keep the cricket analogy going) of my archive's Twelve for '13 project. I was working on November's additions when I came across today's particular shot, and it'll be added on November 1st as the penultimate upload. After that .. well, I'm hoping there's a chance I'll get the work shown in Manchester in the coming months. I've been working on a proposal for an exhibition in the City, and I'm off there today to drop it off.
My future - I hope - from the past!  It's tense ..

Rocktober ..

Ok, wind instruments aren't exactly 'rock' but, seeing as everyone says I use this blog to blow my own trumpet, I thought this picture would be appropriate as the first image this new month. It's from the October installment of Twelve for '13, my documentary photography archive from Eccles and Manchester and, boy, you're in for a treat this month as I've not only uploaded eight more images than normal .. but two of 'em are in colour! Spoiling you!..

So, October, Rocktober, Stoptober .. call it what you will and, if you're doing something selfless for charidee this month then I hope you succeed, but the only thing I'm going to stop is my sporadic forays into the National Lottery. I'm sure Gilbert O'Sullivan's delighted that his old song's seeing the light of day on their advert, but I notice no-one mentions on it that the ticket price is going up a quid!
Hey, who knows  .. they might change their minds and start charging a pound again. Then they could use 'Get Down' as the soundtrack! Now that's rock!!...

(No it isn't, Martin! Get a grip....)

Grub up! ..

Well, here's something to get your teeth into! I seem to be setting a trend here, based around food, glorious food! You've already seen that I spent Monday shooting PR pix in a sausage factory, and last week I was back at Smiths restaurant in Eccles to put up some new food-themed photographs from my Twelve for '13 archive. Today I'm returning to the Deli-Lama Cafe in Salford to put up a banner of Joy Division photographs that will form a backdrop to gigs during the Salford Music festival, but the BIG news is that I've just been selected to shoot the brochure for a new restaurant in Manchester. I can't tell you whose restaurant it is, although my pals James and Martin might be able to drop you the odd hint!! How exciting! Anyone for seconds?..

Stop Press: Had a portrait sitting at the studio this morning. The sitter brought me a bacon butty!!  Foodtastic!!....

#culchethstudio
www.studiofivefour.com

Food for thought ..

I now have two exhibitions going on at the same time in Salford - one in a café and one in a restaurant! At least you won't starve to death if you to see any of my work! I've got Joy Division shots at the Deli-Lama Café, along with a selection of my Twelve for '13 Eccles archive - and I've got 'food' themed photography at Smiths restaurant in Eccles along with a couple of .. er, Smiths shots from 1984! One of these days I'll have to try my luck with an exhibition in a proper grown-up gallery but, as they say, a wall is a wall! Food for thought ..

#culchethstudio
www.studiofivefour.com

You will always find me in the kitchen ..

 Party, party .. September's Twelve for '13 installment is here! P is for Peel Green, Pink Panther and even .. Patti Boulaye!

Perfect!...

#culchethstudio
www.studiofivefour.com

P is for peep ..

September beckons, and if you have a quick peep behind the curtain you'll see that the next installment of my Twelve for '13 project is all ready to go. This time we move through subjects as varied as pensioners, Patricroft Railway station, parades and - as you can see - passport machines! There's a plane crash in there, a couple of funny phone box photos, and the old Piccadilly Radio DJ Pete Baker. Yes, we're mostly on the letter P, although I do do a bit of 'Nose-picking', 'Old dears' and 'Ooops' too! Pop by tomorrow and have a peep. Please!..

#culchethstudio
www.studiofivefour.com

Kick - off ..

It's the first day of the football season and, for the second year in a row, I have made a concious decision not to follow the beautiful game. I'm sick of the pansying, overpaid, whining little brats and their pathetic fake-foul roly-polying! So, no footy for me! So there!..

One thing that did kick off last night was my Joy Division/Eccles exhibition at the Deli-Lama cafe in Salford. Many thanks to everyone who came, and to Linda and Lincoln for getting the show off to a great start (So great that I missed my train!)

My picture today's from my Twelve for '13 project - shot in about 1975 on the fields at the back of our 'ouse! I remember there was an electricity pylon in the middle of the running track, and the grass always grew high there because the mowers couldn't get in between the stanchions. As kids we'd see this grass rustling and swaying, and we'd sneak up on a guy from down our street who used to take his latest fling there for a bit of .. well, back o' the net!    


#culchethstudio
www.studiofivefour.com

Life's essentials ..

A gorgeous Saturday morning so, even though I have a lot of things going round in my head, I'll just keep it simple and show you a beautiful rain-dappled dahlia from earlier this morning.

Just to let you know that Joy Division and a selection of photographs from my Eccles Twelve for '13 project are now up on the walls of the Deli-Lama cafe in sunny Salford, and they look great! Get down there! Grab a sarnie and a glass of something tasty whilst you're at it!

Ah! Rain, sun, good grub, wine, interesting photography ... life's essentials!
Have a great weekend... 

#culchethstudio
www.studiofivefour.com

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 ..

#culchethstudio
www.studiofivefour.com

Sleep, Blog .. Open Studio...

When a man is too busy to blog, he's too busy for life said .. erm, nobody .. but anyway, let's crack on and write, even though I have a trillion things to prepare for tomorrow's Studio opening! It's just that I keep remembering things I'll need to take over there in order to work properly! I've just designed a bit of the new literature I'll need around the place .. price lists, receipts etc., and I've topped up my bubble-blowing machine. Hey, I've even put new batteries in my squeaky frogs and giraffes! (Toys to attract kids' attention, since you ask!) As well as all that, I've designed this new montage for my website, and have even organised July's Twelve for '13 installment, which launches tomorrow! Ooh, this is so exciting! Good job I got up at 4 am....

#culchethportraitstudio

I'd just like to point out ..

There ya go - one of my favourite shots from the June installment of Twelve for '13! This, and another 79 shots have just been added to Flickr, and you can check 'em all out from here! Incredible to think that I'm now half-way through the project and all I can say is - I hope you're enjoying it! June's collection takes us from hot-dog stands to Honey monsters, Placemate 7 to Eccles Job Centre, kids on choppers to snogging at 'grab-a-granny' night! Blimey, talk about diverse! If you don't know, Placemate 7 was a disco in Manchester, and my pal and I used to go there every Tuesday night - it was free to get in before 10pm! Trouble is, it was empty before 10pm, and we'd have to stand there bored rigid sipping our over-priced bitter shandies until a bit of 'talent' came in. I remember one time my mate started chatting up a French au-pair. He actually apologised as he thought I'd be interested, but she was definitely not my type, so I left him to it. Within a week she'd ditched her job and moved into his Chorlton bed-sit which, many weeks later, she managed to set on fire and melt all his LPs. Ah, oui, je ne regrette rien...

May Day, May Day..

Did your Mum ever tell you that, if you wanted a nice complexion, you should splash your face with dew on the morning of the first of May? I must have looked a right loon rubbing my eight-year-old mush with water from our scrappy front lawn. Didn't work, though, did it? Maybe it was just Mum's way of making sure I had a wash before school! Aw....

The first of the month means, of course, that my Twelve for '13 project is updated, and today's picture is one from a new set of 76 shots available online. This time we move through subjects as varied as workers' portraits at Gardner Diesels in Eccles, to kids playing on Foxhill Road - where I grew up - to the Firemens' strike of '77 and even .. a Fleetwood Mac concert at Maine Road! You want variety? Just click here...

Funny story brewing ...

Life threw me one last funny story to end my music photography exhibition in Eccles on Saturday. When I arrived to take down my photographs there was a young chap looking at the work, and the gallery 'boss' introduced me as the photographer. "Great pictures.." he said to me "Fantastic! Amazing! Brill..." Ok, he didn't go that mad, he just said he liked the work, and asked the cost of a 16x12. "It's not for me.." he added, rather too quickly for my liking "It's for my girlfriend, she's crazy about Morrissey!" "Well.." I said "She's not alone. Did she see him on that programme last week?" (Victoria Wood made a programme about the story of tea, and interviewed Morrissey over a cuppa in New York) "See it?.." he laughed "She's so nuts about Moz that now she knows he uses a tea-pot she's gone out and bought one!!..."

Hmmm... Tea! Photography in Eccles! How am I going to tie those two together? Aha, a nice old picture of me dear old Dad, clutching the packet of tea-bags he'd just nipped out to buy on his lunch-break - circa 1979! It proved to be one of the more popuar photographs in the recent Twelve for '13 exhibition. Dad used to drink tea like it was going out of fashion. With five sugars! Sweet!...