Gwapple me gwapenuts!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I guess I know what I was doing thirty-seven years ago today. I was reading the British Journal of Photography, which I bought religiously every week for the grand sum of 60p. On this particular cover, the famous TV botanist David Bellamy peered out from behind a leafy bush in a pose I can only imagine he adopted every time he encountered a photographer. (I shot him exactly like that myself!)

 

Inside, there are articles on 'Stills video' for the press and news agencies (I remember the Manchester Evening News buying in just such a system) and the Canon EOS 620. There's a review of an exhibition at The Barbican - a 20th century collection of French photography entitled 'Art or nature', and there are adverts for the Mamiya 645 and the Bronica GS-1. The thing that surprised me most was the 'Classified' pages at the back of the magazine. There are .. wait for it .. EIGHT pages of jobs within photography, ranging from Slide Technicians on £8000 a year, Photography Lecturers on eight to fifteen thousand, Cruise Ship snappers, Black-and-white printers, E6 technicians and even Senior Photographers with the Ministry of Defence with a requirement of City and Guilds qualifications and at least an A,B or C pass in English Language, Mathematics and one Science subject ..

As David Bellamy (Or at least Lenny Henry) would say .. "Gwapple me gwapenuts!!!" 

(And if you don't understand that then you are TOO YOUNG!)

 

Happy Hockney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went to Paris recently to see the fantastic new David Hockney exhibition, then discovered yesterday that he and my Dad share the same birthday. (Two great men, two warm summer days in the 1930s!) I was lucky enough to photograph the artist back in December 1996, when he had a show at Manchester Art Gallery, but the work on display in the capital blew that exhibition away. Staged at the magnificent Foundation Louis Vuitton, it features 400 works of art over several floors and, although I found some of it rather childish, there's no denying the vibrancy of his paintings. And to walk into a room and see a picture that's fifty feet across .. wow! Highly recommended, and open until the end of August if you happen to be en Paris ..

PS: Having finished my photographs, I shook the great man's hand and asked for his autograph. I still have it to this day. You'd swear he's written 'Gary Lowry' .. ! 

PPS: Don't you just love the holes in his cardigan!!

 

Dad ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's sixteen years since Dad died, but July 9th is still a poignant day for me .. Happy Birthday, you old fart!

Lucky Angela Trimble

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1978, just like every other red-blooded teenage boy with his hormones a'ragin', I used to have a poster of Debbie Harry on my wall. So it came as quite a shock this morning to find out that her real name is Angela Trimble! "I love you, Miss Trimble" hasn't quite got the same punk punch to it, has it? Nevertheless, she still holds a special place in my heart and I'll be forever jealous of Chris Stein for, er  .. er .. let's skip that bit!

And so, happy birthday, Angela! Just turned 80 and looking fantastic. "How did I get so old?" she asked of herself. "I guess I just got lucky .." 

A lost innocence ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I melt in 44 degree heat, I thought I'd show again my picture of Lisa in the bath, probably from that fabled summer of sizzly '76. Lovely shot, isn't it? A 'warm' memory of a time gone by and a valid photographic document of that incredible meteorological 'blip', with a delicious ice-lolly and a cool bath by the front door-step in what was a stand-out year for heat and drought. But hang on, she's got no clothes on!! 

I'd be terrified to take a picture like this these days ..

The Demon ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"It was a hot afternoon, the last day of June, and the sun was a demon .. "

At 13 years old I'm not quite sure I knew what was going on in Bobby Goldsboro's gorgeous 1973 hit 'Summer (The first time)' - at that age the only thing I'd ever been seduced by was the Kodak Instamatic - but I can certainly relate to his comments about today's excessive heatwave. "One ten in the shade .." sings Bobby and, after a quick click on a conversion website, I can tell you it's almost exactly that .. 42.9 degrees centigrade actually .. in our back garden this afternoon. I'll bet the sweat's "trickling down" the front of quite a few gowns today, but surely there can't be many people planning a night of steamy passion in this weather? Maybe there are. Perhaps it's an age thing again .. !

 Ps: Feeling the heat in Manchester. I used to cross this square almost every day when I went to the offices of the Manchester Evening News. It's all been built on now, the sun-worshippers have to look elsewhere. One of my Olympus XA shots from the 1980s.

 

 

 

 

It's an age thing ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funny to think Rod Stewart will be playing Glastonbury today. I mean, who the hell wants to see an 80 year old geezer up on stage, reeling out his 'hits' for an audience one quarter his age? And then I have to come clean. Last weekend I skipped over to Manchester to see one of my all-time favourites, good ol' Charlie Harper from punk band UK Subs. At 81 he's even older than Rod but, oh boy, you wouldn't know it. Beer in hand, he belts out songs that first saw the light of day when I was 18, way back in the 1970s. (And if that's what punk and alcohol do for you, then I'm glad I signed up early!) It's just a matter of taste, isn't it? I wouldn't dream of standing in a crowd of 100,000 to watch a screen showing an old fart a quarter of a mile away, but stick me in front of Charlie in a small venue of a couple of hundred punters and I'm in heaven ..

I genuinely dropped upon this photograph this morning, a picture I did of Rod at Manchester City's old Maine Road ground back in the .. 90s? (I'm compiling a set of images for a talk I'm giving next Saturday and there he was, along with a bevy of other 'famous' people in a folder I named 'Slebs'!) I'd forgotten I'd taken it, much as I forget a lot of things these days. It's an age thing ..

Ps: My informal talk 'A life in Press Photography' will take place at GALERIE 16 in Chef-Boutonne at 11 on Saturday. Please come along, if you can remember ..

Blowing my own ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been three months since I last wrote a blog, and I can only apologise to those of you who have been waiting patiently for a new post. (Anyone?) I'd like to say this hiatus was because I was paddling up the Amazon or zoning out on a Tibetan hill-top retreat, but the boring fact is I changed computers and couldn't work out how to log onto the site again ..

Having sorted it, I was amazed when I got back online. Instead of having to dust down my page or brush away the digital cobwebs, I find my blog has been doing quite nicely in my absence. Very nicely indeed, I have to say.  In fact, in the past week alone it has had over 9,000 hits (Four thousand of them from Brazil astonishingly, and another thousand from Vietnam .. !!) How delightful! Thank you very much. Obrigado. Cảm ơn ..

Now, the question is, do I fill you in on what's happened since March or just skip lightly along and start again from today? I think I'll just move on .. you won't want to hear about my book sales or my upcoming photography talk or an email that came in just this week thanking me for my "amazing work documenting Eccles". Oh yes, it may have been three months, but I'm as keen as ever to blow my own  ..    

 

 

God bless Kath Smith ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do any of you remember the indomitable Kath Smith, the wonder-swirl of a fund-raiser for the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital? She raised something like a million and a half quid for equipment used in the treatment of kids there. Not bad for someone who didn't even begin her charity work 'til she was in her late 60s. (She even convinced Cliff Richard to donate a pair of his trousers to raffle!) Poor old Kath died many years ago, but she lives on in a photograph I've just unearthed, in which she's roped in a couple of elephants for a PR stunt ..

God bless you, Kath Smith! 

Spring has sprung ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My calendar tells me today is the first day of Spring, even though I've always thought of that as being March 21st. But hey ho, an extra day of the new season is always a good thing, eh?

Today's shot was taken on 6x6cm colour transparency film, from a series of landscape photographs I was working on in the 1980s. Hard to imagine now, isn't it? A mere twelve shots on a roll of film, a trip to the processing lab and a wait for the results to see if you'd 'got it right'. I was a really slow convert to digital photography, but now I can't imagine shooting any other way. Like the arrival of Spring, it really did bring in a whole new way of life .. 

Joy Division ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's now forty-six years since I took these pictures of Joy Division, and I post them again in memory of Ian Curtis. Here's a little video I made of my photographs ..

Read on ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today is 'Je lis' day in France. (I read!) And it has delighted me to see that my blog is still read a lot (3.7k visitors last week), even though I don't put up as many posts as I used to. But why do I blog? I was asked the question over a lovely dinner this weekend. "Because I like writing," I answered, and I felt for the most part that was true. However, just a few years back, my response would have been 'To promote my work' and I realise now that's still true, too. What Princess Anne has to do with it I have no idea, but I thought I'd show you one of the earliest 'Royal' pictures I ever shot - Autumn, 1978.

Anyway ..  (Here comes the commercial break) .. can I interest you in reading one of my books?

Getting fresh ..

 

 

 

 

 

It was forty-six years ago today that eighteen-year-old me spent a couple of hours walking the mean streets of Sale with The Freshies. This was the band fronted by Chris Sievey, who transformed himself into Frank Sidebottom a few years later. On February 28th, the group had played Bowdon Vale Youth Club - scene of my 'famous' Joy Division photographs - and, after the gig, I asked if I could do a shoot. Why I didn't ask Joy Division I will never know!! ..

Anyway, here are three of the lads, larking about in Tesco's car park and outside the Blue Rooms disco in Sale. Great memories, great times ..

Going, going, gone ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Dad's old local will shut its doors forever on Friday. And the shopping mall in which I had my photographic studio has just issued eviction notices to every one of its tenants. I know nothing stays the same - and I understand the 'sensible' economic reasoning behind the decisions - but it was a shock for me to realise these places will soon be gone forever ..

The Bridgewater Hotel in Eccles was - I think - the first pub in which I ever had a drink. I know my Dad weaned me onto Guinness there (with the help of a little blackcurrant juice), and he was a big part of the darts team and a larger-than-life character known by many. When I called in at the end of November there were four people drinking there on what would have once been a busy Sunday afternoon. Very sad ..

The shopping mall will shut at the end of this month. I had my studio there for three years. The occupants, who have run successful shops and cafés for as many as twenty-seven years, will have to be out within 28 days. They each received an e-mail telling them the owner's plans and are, as you can imagine, still in shock ..

The Grammar school I went to has been a housing estate for years. The church in which I was confirmed was bulldozed to the ground late last year and the shopping centre in Eccles is about to bite the dust in a 're-development', too. Life goes on, as they say. Things can't stay the same forever. Hurrah for progress ..

What a shame ..

Moments in time ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was our friend Hélène's funeral yesterday, a very sad day of course, but one that also brought a smile to my face as we all watched a short 'film' of her life in photographs; Hélène as sweet, smiling little girl in communion dress, Hélène as sexy 60s teenager in fashionable hair-do and mini-skirt, Hélène as modern mum on holiday .. it was a fascinating glimpse into a life which, to my shame, I'd never considered. I've only ever know our dear friend as (apologies, Hélène) an old lady, and it was almost a shock to be shown that - yes - she had actually lived a full and rewarding life and leaves behind generations of family and so many, many friends who will miss her immensely ..

My new portrait books are, naturally, never far from my mind at the moment, and I show you two photographs from them today because these young girls will probably be as old as I am now, with whole life stories and possibly children and grandchildren of their own. It's all so fleeting, isn't it? I just hope their lives have been as successful as that of our friend. Rest in peace, Hélène ..   

Gone ..

 

 

 

 

 

This week I have been asked, once again, to supply a photograph for a funeral. A lovely friend from the village has died and, as I'd previously shot a portrait of her in my old studio, the family have come to me for a print. That's the third time it's happened in such a short space of time, and I'm sorry to be so maudlin but it makes me very sentimental sometimes to think of my photography as a record of the past. Of things gone, of people no longer here. It is literally the driving force behind the production of my two new portrait books .. Remember Me! 

 I feature here three young lads from my archive, all of whom left this life far too soon. May they rest in peace .. 

Portraits from a time ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm delighted to announce the launch of my new books, two self-published collections of portrait photographs dating from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s. Entitled '69 Portraits' and '77 More ..', the books offer a total of 146 portraits taken in and around my home town of Eccles, in Greater Manchester, during a time in which, according to my friend Janet, having your photograph taken was "pretty much a novelty and a delight" ..

Every subject in the books looks directly at the camera. Many of them are gone now, everyone else long into adulthood, but they all seem to be saying "Remember me" as they stare into my lens. The intimacy of the eye-to-eye contact makes a connection with each and every person featured, and I'm only glad I was there to take these photographs during that more innocent time ..

    

Gizza show ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't want to be sniffy about this, but there was a story in The Times last week about a woman who's currently having an exhibition at London's National Portrait Gallery. Turns out no-one had ever heard of her. Who was she? Where had she come from? And how on earth had she managed to snag herself a prestigious solo exhibition at such an esteemed establishment? Turns out she's part of the "Law Family Charitable foundation, which donated an undisclosed sum towards the gallery’s £40 million refurbishment." Aha!..

Now, there's nothing wrong with the pictures -  from what I've seen some of them are quite good - but they're nothing that you wouldn't see every week in a glossy 'celeb' magazine, and I find it a bit unfair (Well I would, wouldn't I?) that she gets such a fantastic show and the rest of us Oi Polloi never get a look in. As I launch the latest of my self-published books - two collections of portraits (One hundred and forty-six in all) - I send a message to the NPG. I have about four pounds twenty-seven in my bank account, and I'd gladly give you the lot if you'll just put some of my pictures up on your wall ..   

One hundred and forty-six ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An update on my forthcoming portrait photography books. (Yawn yawn, shuffle shuffle) ..

They say less is more, but I've completely ignored that advice and crammed some extra photographs into my two editions. '61 Portraits' has now become '69', and '75 MORE ..' has grown to '77'. That's one hundred and forty-six photographs in which every single subject is looking straight at the camera. It really is quite an intimate experience to share 'eye-to-eye' contact with so many people, lots of them now grown adults, lots having passed away. I feel, in a way - and without wanting to sound too cringey - that I'm honouring their lives with these little books ..

  

Trump ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strap yourselves in, folks. It's the first day of criminal Trump's presidency, and he's hit the ground running with a swathe of signed orders, having already left the World Health Organisation and the Paris Climate Agreement. Did this guy not see the news from Los Angeles? I despair ..