Hey mister, take my picture ..

When you think of great 'street' photographers the names Roger Mayne and Shirley Baker will, naturally, be up there in your top ten. So imagine how delighted I am to have some of my photographs included in a book with some of theirs.
I'm chuffed to bits, as they say ..

The book - 'Paradise Street' - is full of pictures of children playing in the street (A rare sight these days) and has just been published by the renowned Hoxton Mini Press in London. My copy was posted to me yesterday and I can't wait to see it. Not only that but the lady who compiled the collection was interviewed on Radio London last week and gave me a lovely name check. (Cheers, Luci. Back at ya!) Oooh, I'm dizzy with the fame. Touch my robe. Orderly line for autographs ..

The thing is that, thinking back to my 'archive' photographs from the 70s and early 80s, I can only feel sad that those kinds of shots are practically impossible to take these days. Hot on the heels of the Michael Jackson 'revelations', it's a horrible thing to know that, nowadays, a general view of photographers is that we're all perverted pædophiles. Why are you going up to kids in the street with a camera, you weirdo? Even sadder for me is the fact that the poor kids have been drilled to think the same thing. Lift a camera these days and it's the norm now to have 'Pædo' yelled at you by children not even ten years old. The beauty of the photograph of mine that's featured here is that those kids were actively trying to get into my photographs. Their cry of "Hey, mister, take my picture" is a line not many snappers will hear in the sunny twenty-first century. What a difference 42 years makes. Innocence lost, and it makes me sad ..

(Click on the picture to see one of my shots as it appears in the book ..)

And then ..

It's been a photographic roller-coaster of a day today, starting with an overnight e-mail from a gallery in New York telling me one of their clients wanted to buy one of my Joy Division photographs. Great start to a Monday. Then, before I'd even had my cornflakes, I discovered there's a guy selling one of said photographs as a poster on Ebay. Cheeky bastard! Then, I had a meeting at the library in our local town, which has offered me their space for an exhibition of my work in the summer. Great pick-me up! Then, a lab I used to print my work in the UK sent me a shot of an order they'd received. It was for another of my Joy Division prints - and they sent in their own digital file from which to have it printed. A complete and utter rip-off of my work ..

My summer exhibition will be from my Florescence series of flower photographs and I'm so pleased to have been asked to exhibit. In fact, thinking of the show has taken me back to the top of the roller-coaster. I like it up here ..

Flip the bird ..

I'm known around these parts as a professional photographer who offers One-Day Photo-Tuition workshops (Spot the blatant plug!!) .. and one of the things I try to drum into people during their day with me is this: if you see a picture in front of you, then take it. Take it very quickly, and then worry about focus, or exposure, or composition. Just don't let the moment pass ..

Today I was driving into town for three bags of sand. Let's skip why. As soon as I hit the main road I saw the mass take-off of the biggest flock of lapwings I have ever seen. It looked so fantastic that I screeched to a halt, rummaged for my 'phone and shot the one frame you see at the top of this montage. Then I raced back home and grabbed the 500mm ..

Got back, and the birds just sat there. For ages. 'Please' I begged .. 'Just fly near the tractor again. Please!' And did they? No, they didn't. They sat and ate worms .. for ages .. and then waited 'til Tractor Man had buggered off before they took to the air once more ..

Now I understand what it means to 'Flip the bird' ..

(I do believe you'll be given a closer view if you click on the image ..)

By 'eck ..

There was a lovely documentary on TV last night about the great photographer Don McCullin and bugger me if it wasn't exactly 27 years to the day since I met him. He was giving a reading of his new book 'Unreasonable Behaviour' at Waterstone's bookshop on Deansgate in Manchester and, when I went up to get my copy signed, he said "Do you know, you're the first person I've spoken to tonight that's got a Northern accent!"

Fade to grey ..

February, and I take down a cup for my morning brew. Gosh, I say to myself, look how this logo has faded away. Then, coffee in hand, I switch on the Mac and an email informs me that my internet domain name 'Manchester Wedding Photography' is about to lapse. It's now 18 months since I last shot a Wedding in Manchester. I think we can safely say that that part of my life is fading away ..

And in its place?..

Well, I find that I'm now one of those 'semi-retired' types who wonders how the hell I actually managed to fit any work into my life. The best thing is that I finally have more time for my writing, and I'm pleased to say that my second 'book' is now doing the rounds of literary agents. A new part of my life is fading in.
Keep your fingers crossed ..
 

Party like it's 1981 ..

A diary in surprisingly good condition tells me that last night, as it were - January 24th - in 1981, I went to see The Revillos at Manchester University. It also tells me that, on January 15th, I went to see The Fall at a Manchester club called Rafters. On the 20th it was Toyah at Manchester Polytechnic - The Poly - where I also saw U2 on Feb. 27th. Before February was out I'd also seen The Passions (pictured), The Modettes, John Cooper-Clarke, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Bad Manners, The Drones, The Expressos, The UK Subs and The Freshies. No wonder I was always skint! But what an incredible line-up and I'll forever offer thanks to the Great God of The Snare Drum that I was the perfect age at the perfect time for such a musical feast ..

It brings tears to my eyes to venture further into this diary. The Pretenders, The Go-Go's, Jools Holland, Girls at our best, The Passions (again!), Cabaret Voltaire, Wall of Voodoo, a two-day Futurama festival in Stafford featuring about 30 bands including Simple Minds, Flock of Seagulls, Theatre of Hate and Bauhaus (I really must find the playlist). Then there was B-Movie, Altered Images, The Photos (Yes, I know .. the perfect name for a band for me), Split Enz, The Tubes, Modern Eon, The Cramps, Bill Nelson, Toyah (again), U2 (again), Pauline Murray, Squeeze, Spizzles, Department S, Bow Wow Wow, Gang of Four, New Musik, Discharge, The Revillos (again) and .. how could I forget? .. The Surgical Supports ..

Actually, I have forgotten them! Sorry lads ..  

You have to laugh ..

It's a mess, isn't it, this Brexit palaver? So thank God for comedy. There's been some great stuff to cheer us up on Facebook - be it a gently ribbing from the Dutch or perfectly-forgiveable astonishment from the Germans - and I thought I'd have a dig through my archives to remind us of some of our own great comics. Ken Dodd was probably one of the best comedians ever - when he was being rude! - but although I photographed him several times, I have none of my shots around to show you. Instead I give you Norman Wisdom, Sean Hughes, John Thomson and Steve Coogan. You have to laugh, don't you? .. 

60 is the new 18 ..

The New Year's rushing on - as it always does - and I was quite happy with that until a thought occurred to me yesterday. As it's now 2019 I can safely say "I'll be 60 next year!" Eeek! I'm not old enough to be 60!..

The flip side to that, of course, is that I'm very lucky to have reached this stage of my life. There was a sign above the bar in the pub I used to drink with my Dad that read 'Old age is a privilege denied to many' and, as I get older, I realise more and more just how true that is. A lot of you won't know Diane Oxberry, but she was the weather-girl on the BBC's North-West news programme for over 25 years. A real chirpy, happy fixture. She died last week at 51. Suddenly and shockingly and I didn't want to let something that awful pass without mentioning it. Poor old Diane. Except, she wasn't old, and she'll never get to be old. Even as old as 60 ..

Ps: That's me circa 1963. I thought we'd end the blog with a smile .. !

Over the moon, Brian ..

Oooh, that looks good in the window!..

We had a lovely surprise in Saturday's post. A big blue envelope containing a certificate and this window sticker announcing the fact that our gîte, La Galerie, has been rated 9.8 out of 10 by the Booking.com website. Talk about elated! We're over the moon! And did I mention that we've become "Superhosts" on Air B'nB? Not bad for our first year as gîte owners, eh? ..

 

Count your blessings ..

I don't know the point of today's blog, other than to say how lucky I feel that my life is going so well. I'm fit, I'm in a great place and I have no problems. I'm not saying this as a boast - I just want to point out how grateful I am that this is my situation at the moment. For sure, I've had my ups and downs like everybody else - redundancy, divorce, meningitis, an accident where I almost drowned, the death of my Dad and a stint on the dole when I felt like crap - but, at the moment, life is good. You see, already this year I've been told that my nephew's job will come to an end thanks to the closure of HMV's record shops; have seen the effects of cancer on two friends I've made here in France and have listened to a friend tell me how his idyllic life here could be about to be turned upside down because of marital problems. It's just brought it all to a point where I felt the need to stop and count my blessings. You just don't know what's out there, do you?..

I chose my shot of these kids in Kathmandu as a good way to bring that into focus. Sleeping on the streets in a sack. Hungry, futureless, unwanted. They should be in their early thirties now. I hope they made it ..  

Barking mad ..

I decided I'd dismantle my studio for the winter. It can get cold in that barn and I wanted to protect all my gear. Big mistake. I've now taken my third booking since I 'shut up shop' and shot the second of them this morning. It prompted me to show you these prints of Lesley's dogs, which I photographed and have just presented to her as a Christmas present. Give me a shout if you'd like your pets photographing this coming year. I promise my studio's all back in place! ..

Made it. Now let's do it again ..

We've come through to 'the other side'! Congratulations everyone, and a Happy New Year to you all. I offer you this shot from my archive as a toast to 2019. You will always find me in the kitchen at parties ..

So where to now? What plans are in the offing? I can't help but think back to my early freelance days, when the arrival of January meant a nose-dive in the old income. The newspapers were smaller, with less advertising after Christmas, and 'photographable' events disappeared from the diary as people hunkered down for the winter. Pretty grim, but creatively interesting times as one sought to produce useable work for the press ..

No such problems now, of course, as I mellow down into my blissful semi-retirement and, ironically, at - literally - 1.20 am during our New Year's party, I was asked if I would photograph a Wedding this coming year. How's that for a cracking start to the year?..

My most recent project has been the new children's adventure story wot I wrote. (Copyright Eddie Braben circa 1974 and if you don't like Morecambe and Wise this joke will go right over your head!) I finished the story several months ago, but knew that - as a children's book - it needed to be illustrated. To cut a long story short I ended up doing it myself and have just finished adding 73 illustrations to the book. Just got to get it published now. In my last blog I said my closing word would be 'Optimism'. So let's hope ..

Happy New Year everybody ..

Optimism ..

I hate all this 'end of old year/start of new year' stuff, which is why I always use an academic diary. These begin and end in the summer which is why, for me, December 31st is only five months into 'my' year. So, today, there'll be no depressing closure, no thought of what the 'new year' will bring, no resolutions - just a pleasant continuation of 2018/19 ..

Having said that, it's nice to look back as today does mark the end of our first 'full' year of being in France - From January 1st to December 31st - and, without banging on about it, I have to say it has been a fantastic year for Lesley and I. Lovely to see all four seasons run by us, and it's delightful to see next Spring already making itself felt in our garden. With all the shit going on in the world right now I think this will be my closing word as 2019 approaches. Optimism ...

Christmas 2018 ..

Christmas Eve .. already! Time to hope for world peace, a sensible resolution to Brexit, a reverse of global warming and unspeakable things to happen to the fluff-headed Yankee one whose name means 'fart' in English ..

Of course, being realistic, I'll just have to settle for a day of rosy glow and the glow of rosé but I guess that's the 'magic of Christmas', isn't it? The vague, miniscule hope that things just might come good and we end up in a better world. I give you my shot of the joy, excitement and innocence of Christmas as a nod in that direction ..

I've already had my present, as Lesley returned home safely last night from a week in the UK and now we'll get to spend our second Christmas together in France ..

So, to you and yours .. thank you so much for reading my blog and may your Christmas take you back to the magic of your childhood. It was good back then, wasn't it? ..

Here comes the summer ..

Right, that's it! The sun's gone down on the shortest day of the year and we're officially rolling our way back to summer. Yee haaa..

As it's the Solstice, I have followed statutory regulations and played Jethro Tull's 'Ring out Solstice Bells', which I promptly followed up with The Undertones version of 'Here comes the summer' ..

The sun's setting as far from the north as it gets - although I took this shot two days ago and it's just as well I did .. it's absolutely poured down all day long .. but it won't belong before we're back to drought conditions and all this water will be long forgotten ..

I think I'll just see if my shorts fit ..

Regular as clockwork ..

There's only one thing as regular as a New Moon, and that's the appearance of our neighbour's Christmas garden decorations. Lovely then, to see them both combined in this shot from last evening and amazing to think that this is now the third winter we've seen Fabrice's reindeer ..!

I know I'm getting boring but, seeing as Christmas is a time for reflection, I can't tell you just how much we've both settled into our new lives here. Yesterday Lesley sang at yet another of her choral Carol Concerts in a beautiful church near here, only to be asked at the end if she'd consider joining a new quartet that's being formed, and last week I gave another of my 'Shoot 'n Tutor' workshops to a young lad, only to be thanked by his dad for his "awesome course on photography," adding "He hasn’t stopped talking about how much he has learned."

Actually, there is another thing that's as regular as clockwork. The village church bell has just started to ring its 8am Angelus. It's a warmly reassuring sign that this is where we truly belong ..

Christ!

I often listen to UK radio whilst I'm working on the computer and one station I tune into has decided to play only Christmas records throughout December. Come on Martin, I thought. Give them a chance. Get into the Christmas spirit. Which was all well and good until they played 'When a child is born' by Johnny Mathis'. There's a part of the song in which he speaks the following lines ..

"And all of this happens because the world is waiting, waiting for one child. Black, white, yellow, no-one knows .."

Except they've edited them out of the song! Those words have gone! (At least on this radio station). It's no longer PC to even suggest that there are kids of different colours in this world. Well, speaking as 'Whitey' I've had enough of PC, and if I wasn't so afraid of offending some likkle darling somewhere I'd add that I think PC can just Fuck Right Off ..

I'm now just waiting to hear 'Mistletoe and wine', in which Cliff Richard sings "Christmas time, mistletoe and wine. Children singing Christian rhyme." ..

Christian? How dare you mention Christian! Now look how many other religions you've offended.

Christ .. !   

Time of the month ..

A tradition of mine at this time of year is to play 'Alice's Song' by The Passions.
Oh, why's that, Martin? Glad you asked. It's because the opening line is 'A cold winter's day, in late November'. See what I did there?..

The Passions are another of those bands who are seen to have been one-hit wonders - their 'hit' being 'I'm in love with a German Film Star' which came out .. holy shit!! .. almost 38 years ago. But they were such a good band beyond that one track, and I play their three albums regularly. I also, as you can see, photographed them way back in the day, and I often wonder what the musicians are all doing now. Clare Grogan's voice was beautiful, and it's such a shame not to hear it anymore ..

Tomorrow I'll reach back to 'B' in my alphabetically-filed records. It'll be time for Kate Bush and her song from the same period, 'December will be magic again'. A pal of mine 'accuses' me of being stuck in the 1980s. Perhaps I am but, do you know what? I like it it here. I'm staying ..

Christmas cutey ..

I doubt she'll remember it, but little Erin was the first baby ever to be photographed in my new studio in France. She popped in when she was just a few weeks old and brought along her parents, grandparents, uncle and cousin for a photo-shoot during the summer. And now here she is, back again and all geared up for her first Christmas on planet Earth. What a cutey, and what great fun it was to photograph her for her Grandma's Christmas cards ..

This year is the first time I've been able to offer portrait gift vouchers in France, and I'm hoping there'll be at least a little interest in them as December draws closer. I'm also offering vouchers for my one-day camera workshops. I hope Santa will send me a few bookings in the New Year ..

Flying high ..

I've just found another collection of my old photographs and, bizarrely, I have the First World War to thank ..

Over the recent 100th anniversary weekend I filmed a remembrance performance by a choir in which Lesley is a member and made it into my first ever little film. Trouble is, when I say little, it took up 94 gigabytes of memory on my computer and practically ground it to a halt. I had to clear the decks, as it were, to make more room for my film to work, so I set about sorting through all the folders on my desktop and transferring them over to an external hard drive. Stuck away in one of my folders was another folder, enticingly labelled 'To Do' and, when I opened this up, there was a whole new set of scans I'd made - God knows how long ago - that took me right back to the years before I was a professional photographer. There were shots in there from probably 1975 and certainly 1977, as I can see Queen's Silver Jubilee posters up in the background. What fantastic new additions to my archive. The only frustration was that I had to finish the film first but, now it's done and all 84 minutes of it are burnt to DVD, I can get to work on my new early Christmas presents. Two of the gems in there were the pictures I'm showing you today. Click on them to see them larger ..

The aerial shot is from a flight I took in a Cessna in 1977. Growing up, we were lucky enough to know a chap with a part-share in a plane at nearby Barton Airport. He invited me up for my first ever flight when I was still just 16 years old. The second picture is from Manchester Airport, back in the days when plane-spotters like me were allowed to walk around on the tops of the piers. I spent many a warm summer's day thrilling to the scream of jets and the whiff of kerosene. Great memories ..



 

Moan, moan ..

I've just deleted one of those blogs you write when you're drunk. One of those ranty, shouty, 'world going to pot' blogs you'd instantly regret if you published. It was just one of those nights last night ..

I was told that another two of my photographer pals have been made redundant back in the UK. One is now stacking shelves at Waitrose and the other is one of those dudes that tears around an Amazon delivery depot collecting orders to send out. Depressing ..

I also got asked if I'd try to do something with a low-resolution, blurry photograph of a chap and his Mum. Shot on a phone, in a pub (the sign for the exits clearly visible behind them) it was the only shot of them together. And now the poor lady has died ..

And people say they don't need professional photographers any more. Wish I hadn't deleted that blog now ..

Busy bee ..

She broke her little finger playing 'walking netball' last week, but that hasn't stopped her rehearsing carols with a choir so that she can go and entertain residents in old folks' homes this Christmas. Add to that her constant knitting for charity, her little business making hand-made cards, her cooking for more 'old-folk' in her block of flats, her membership of the Women's Institute, her organising of day trips for numerous other societies ..

Oh and, by the way, she's 81. Love ya, Mum ..

Just remember ..

I went to a funeral this week, the first I've attended in France. I'd only known the lady for 18 months but there was still sadness and a sense of loss, knowing that I'll never see her again. I can't imagine how that felt when multiplied by the tens, the hundreds, the thousands, the millions that died in the First World War ..

All we can do today is think about it, mark the day, take a moment.
Just remember ..

A Christmas present .. for the future!

It's October 25th so ... Ho Ho Ho!

Yes, ONLY two months to go until Christmas so, in true keeping with the capitalist meaning of it all, it's time to start plugging my Portrait Photography Gift Vouchers. I'm really pleased I'm able to do it this year, now that I'm up and running again with a studio, and my Christmas wish is that it really takes off in 2019. I also hope I can gain a reputation as a quality restorer of old photographs.
Spread the word, folks. Spread the word ..

Sun down ..

From our garden I get a great view of every sunset throughout the year. I also get a great view of a huge mast, which was added to the horizon in Spring to measure whether it's breezy enough to warrant building wind-turbines on the site. Two nights ago the sun had moved far enough over to set right behind the mast and, like a giant 'solstice' marker, I feel that we are now 'on the other side' and winter is on its way. As an interesting aside, I photographed the next night's sunset with my camera-phone (or is it a phone-camera?) and was amazed to see how much the earth has turned in just one 24 hour period. The sun set completely to the left of the mast. The blown-up quality is rubbish, but you get a good idea of how far over it has already moved.

With the clocks changing this weekend this will happen just after 6.30 in the evening. The dark nights have definitely drawn in ..    

Be realistic ..

You'll have to indulge me in this blog as I revel in the fact that, today, I mark exactly forty years as a professional photographer. Forty years! OMG ..

Yes, this day in 1978 I turned up - 18 years old - for my first day with Messenger Group Newspapers in Sale, South Manchester .. and I haven't stopped clicking since. I well remember that day, which started with me being taken to choose a motorbike (I hadn't yet taken the driving test) and ended with me photographing the captain of Manchester United. And boy, the famous people certainly racked up over the years, as did the list of amazing events and places the job took me to. I was once chosen as the sole photographer to cover The Queen at an event in London, and have met people as diverse as Mohammed Ali and Margaret Thatcher, Jimmy Saville and Max Clifford. Assignments have taken me from Altrincham and Runcorn to Sri Lanka and Libya and I've covered countless parties, celebrations, launches, gigs, show-openings and book launches. It's been amazing ..

You can click on a few images of the teenage O'Neill, including an 18 year old me with Princess Anne - my first Royal job - and, one of my favourites, me up a 300 foot chimney, scaled without ropes or any nudge towards safety whatsoever!
Those were the days ..

My school careers teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I left school. "A press photographer," I said. "Be realistic," he replied. So glad I proved him wrong ..


  

Stars in your eyes ..

The night sky is one of the most amazing things about living here in France. On a cloudless evening I can look up and see The Milky Way stretch right over our house - something that was impossible to do in the light-polluted skies of the North West of England. In fact, constellations are actually harder to recognise here because of all the extra stars I can see. It's amazing ..

Last night I thought I'd try to capture some of the magnificence but, not being a technically-minded astro-photographer - or a technically-minded anything, come to think of it - I took the simple route to star photography by laying an old camera on the ground and pointing it upwards.
Folks, this is the result ..

Merry Christmas, everybody ..

Cars!! Aaaaagh!! And road-works!! Aaaagh!! And effing Christmas!! Aaaaaaaagh!!
Oh boy, am I glad to be back in rural old France ..

I nipped over to the UK this weekend to see family, have a swift Guinness or eight with my pals and do a spot of er, plane-spotting. There's a pub at the end of the runway at Manchester Airport which I've been going to since I was a teenager in the 70s. It's the best place to get close to planes short of actually boarding one, and it was great to be back there after a year away. Getting to the pub, however, was a different matter. There are bloody roadworks everywhere! And cars. There are cars everywhere! From my bedroom window alone I could see 18 cars parked up. The roadsides are full of them, the pavements are full of them and there's a never-ending stream of them up and down all day long. And Christmas! Christmas is everywhere! Bear in mind it was still September at the weekend, so what a shock it was to see Christmas displays at the three large shops I went into.

Do you know the only thing that wasn't there? Seeds. I went into Wilmslow garden centre with a long list of seeds we'd like to plant in our garden. There were none. They'd all been "put away" to make way for the Christmas displays. So God help you. Do not go into Wilmslow Garden centre for seeds. You will be thwarted!

Oh boy, am I glad to be back in rural old France .. 

The write stuff ..

Well, there's a first! I went to a creative writing workshop this morning, where I was urged to put down a few words as often as I could.
Hang on, that's like writing a  ..

Anyway, in a blatant plug (Now there's a first, Martin) I wanted to show you these photographs. They're from back in the summer and one of the first shoots I did in my new French studio. I've not been able to say anything until now as the pictures were part of a surprise gift to the parents. I'm so pleased with how the studio is working, and delighted with the results I'm getting. Of course, it does help that I was working with two of the most charming little sisters in the whole of Paris. I've now done eight family portrait sessions and was asked last week to book in another one. I was also asked if I could photograph another Wedding next summer. Woohoo ..

Chapter two

 It was a dark and stormy night and, as the wind blew against the  ..

Sorry, just getting in a little writing practice ..
 

Living our dream ..

"Do you fancy living in France?" ..

I couldn't believe it when Lesley asked me that. France? Why would I want to go and live in France? How boring would that be? "Well, I've been looking at houses" she said. "Why don't we just go and visit for a week?

And now we've lived here for a year!

I can't tell you how great it feels to say that. Our first anniversary. Bugger me, we've done it! ..

Yes, a year ago today Lesley and I were making our way down from Calais in a little two-car convoy, both vehicles stuffed to the hilt with books, pans and cocker spaniels. A year on, and we feel completely at home. What we couldn't know as we drove down was that, not only did we buy a house that's perfect for us, but we chose one in a most amazing area. The countryside's fantastic and the people here are brilliant. We've made so many new friends - both French and English .. oh, and American (Hi, Arthur!) - and everybody has been so helpful as we've knuckled down to setting up home here ..

And so much else has happened, too ..

It's great to know what a full four seasons can throw at you over here, having experienced a winter that hit a low of minus seventeen and a scorching summer that seems to have gone on forever. We've had storms that have made the gîte roof leak, followed by a really busy season full of guests. We've converted our garden from a big patch of nothing into a plot with flower beds, hens and sweet corn; we've celebrated a Christmas without commercialism and brought in New Year at a party with pea-shooters (great fun); we've had dinner with the mayor and so many fun nights at our village bar that we've lost count; we've seen chateaux, been canoeing, watched the fields of sunflowers come and go and become contributors to our local monthly magazine. We've both got into the tax and health systems and are picking up more of the lingo every day. Lesley, in fact, is practically fluent and even sings in French at one of the three choirs she's joined. Or is it four? Can't keep count. I know she works at the library and never seems to stop baking and cooking now she has the time. I've put my hand to DIY, and realised I'm quite a dab hand at laying flooring. I've opened a photography studio, written my second book and even shot a wedding here. I cycle practically every day, and our walks around this beautiful countryside are bliss. And did I mention the friends? Our lovely, lovely friends ..

Anyway, can't sit around. I've got window-shutters to paint and a shed roof to repair. I also need to get ready for a slide-show I'm giving on Friday night. Then we're playing croquet with friends this afternoon and we need to get down to catch an annual week-long photography exhibition before it closes on Sunday. We've been invited to a 'do' on Saturday, and on Sunday we're throwing our own little bash to mark this 'momentous occasion ..

Boring it ain't and yes, Lesley, I do fancy living in France. So, let's do another year, and then another, and then another. Living the dream. Lesley's dream? ..

OUR dream!..

    

Sunflower fall ..

The weather always seems to change, right on cue, as August comes to an end. It's like a switch. And even though the thermometer will hit the high 80s again today, it's somehow a different heat - a less fierce, cooler heat! In England I would now be looking at my garden and noticing subtle changes in leaves, and seeds bulging from flowers gone over but, from now on, I'll forever associate the beginning of Autumn with the end of the sunflower season in France. All around are fields and fields of sunflowers  - or, at least, the blackened, shrivelled husks of a former summer splendour - all with their heads hung low as if in sadness at the loss of their looks. And now the farmers are moving in to chop off their heads. It's a hard life. See you next year, you beauties ..

Ps: Right on cue, the farmer cut down the flowers in the field right next to our gîte. The flowers seem to be bowing in submission. I'm reading too much into this. More gin, vicar?

I ain't going nowhere ..

We're in the middle of La Rentrée - the big return to school and work - and, as everyone heads home again, we in the countryside get a sense of things definitely quietening down after the summer. There are certainly fewer English-registered cars in the supermarket car park and Facebook is filling up with posts - already nostalgic - as people look back on their holidays in France ..

Today marks two years to the day that we first set eyes on what was to become our new home and it is as hot here now as it was on that already distant day - the grass as brown, the sun as bright. We were to have many a 'rentrée'  of our own over the following year as we worked to set up home; lots of heart-wrenching 'goodbyes' as we set off for England after brief snatched stays here, but now we have the most wonderful feeling to know that we are going nowhere. We are staying put. We live here. We can have as much France as we want. It is wonderful ..





   

An unexpected arboretum ..

I had an hour to kill yesterday, having left my car for two new tyres in a nearby town called Melle. I walked out of the garage and, barely 200 yards up the street, turned straight into an absolutely stunning arboretum. What an unexpected oasis of calm, and how educational that all the trees were labelled. The scents were delicious, the colours amazing, the dappled sun warming through the leafy canopy. I had the place to myself, which was blissful, relaxing and special. I took a few photographs .. and then I went to Aldi !

A year ago today ..

Well, I know what I was doing this time last year .. I was at the fab Great John Street Hotel in Manchester photographing the Wedding of Emma and Chris .. the last time I ever photographed a Wedding in the UK! Three weeks later we were off to live in France, and it's lovely that that chapter of my life closed on such a lovely high. The August Bank Holiday will forever be associated with that landmark moment and later today I'll raise a glass to the happy couple's first anniversary. I know I've done a hell of a lot of things since that busy Monday but, wow, where did a year go?

Praying hands ..

These hands, seemingly in prayer, are the perfect picture to go with today's blog. The shot was taken exactly two years ago today on the cross-channel ferry that Lesley and I took for our first foray into France and you can be sure that, having hardly ever been to France before, I was definitely saying a little prayer inside ..

I'm now praying hard that the Brextit sh*t storm pans out right or we're all in trouble. Who knows? Our prayers have been answered once ..

World Photography Day .. apparently!

It's World Photography Day, apparently! Not that I'd notice the difference, 'cos it's always World Photography Day where I am! As in, I think the world of photography and photography has taken me round the world. Let's face it, photography is my world. Has been since 1974. How lucky I am that my school started a camera club, and how lucky I am that I didn't listen to my careers teacher when I told him I wanted to be a photographer. "Be realistic," he told me, a pitying tone to his voice. It's 40 years since I became a professional photographer. Thanks for the encouragement, Mr McBean ..

Today's shot? Glad you asked. It's my little doll Minnie, atop a marker post at the equator about 3am during a bus-ride through Malaysia. One of the shots from my forthcoming slide-show ..   

In the spotlight ..

I love taking photographs, and I love to have them seen. Photography is all about communicating, after all. It's also, for me, about entertaining, which is also why I love to write and why this blog has been going so long. I can tell how successful any piece has been because the 'system' offers me statistics - amazing facts about the numbers of readers, and their locations, and what they had for lunch. (Maybe not that last bit!) With photography it's a little bit harder. If I put a photograph onto Facebook - which I do with relish and great regularity - I generally have no idea how 'viewed' it is. Unless I get a 'like' or a comment I have no way of knowing if it's been seen - or enjoyed (or worse). It was a real delight therefore to have a lovely chap I know (Hello B) come up to me yesterday and say, out of the blue, how much he loved seeing my photographs online. "Do keep putting them up there," he said. I certainly shall B, and thank you so much for giving me such a vote of confidence ..

It's my old modelling partner Minnie who's back in the spotlight next. I'm delighted to have been offered an evening at our village 'salle de fête' - or community hall - to give a slide-show of her trip around the world. It freaks me out to think it's 27 years since she and I went back-packing together but lovely to give her another chance to show off her holiday snaps. Here she is, the old sun-worshipper, on the beach in Tahiti.

September 21st, if you're knocking about ..  

It gladdens an old man's heart ..

I had yet another photo-shoot in the studio this morning, and went into it with a spring in my step. The reason? A family I photographed recently chose this image as the picture they wanted for their wall. It gladdens an old man's heart to have something a little more 'quirky' selected by a client.
I hope it happens more often ..

Simpler times ..

This photograph is getting on for 45 years old! It was my idea of art when I was 13 or fourteen years old. Taken on a Kodak Instamatic that I think may have been forgotten about in my Mum's sideboard, it shows my brother and sister being 'held' by one of our friends from down the street. I was at the start of my interest in photography and just five years from getting my first job as a professional photographer. The gorgeous cherry tree on the left is now cut down, people have paved over these gardens and now, instead of the one car you can see, the street is chock full of them. We knew who lived in every one of the houses you can see here, and played marbles and football and conkers and hide and seek with no knowledge of supposed 'perverts' or danger of hurting ourselves or fear of being run over. We even played on the railway banking that can be seen behind the houses at the rear and I can still hear the sound of the grasshoppers that lived there in the summer. And the lad in the middle? Dead from drugs a mere 15 years later. Innocence gone. RIP KC ..

The swing of things ..

I shot my first ever Wedding in France yesterday. In French!..

It went really well and my mixture of stuttering lingo and lots of pointing meant I left last evening with 1, 200 images under my belt. It's been almost exactly a year .. a YEAR .. since I last photographed a Wedding, so it's lovely to be back in the swing of things at last. I'm also swinging round to a house near Poitiers later this week to photograph it for an estate agent, and then I'm swinging back to my studio for another family photo-session next weekend. Je suis très content!!..

New Day Dawns ..

It's New Year's Day for me! For years I've used an academic diary to plan my days - and their year finishes on July 31st - so it was a funny old morning as I closed the book on 2017/18 and opened my new brand new 18/19 diary this morning. I say funny when I actually mean nostalgic, because 'last year's' diary opened onto a month that was full of preparation for our move to France. It's fascinating to look back and see what we were up to as we packed our lives into cardboard boxes last August ..

There was excitement, and nerves, and a mega sense of things rushing towards us. At the same time as we were gearing up to leave the UK, I was trying to get my house in order to enable me to rent it out. There are one-word entries like 'Carpets' and 'Skip' and 'Burglar alarm' .. (ok, that's two) as I got everything ready for tenants, and there are entries like 'Phone Tristan' (French plumber) and 'Book Rob' (French TV installers) and 'Speak to Emma' .. the last bride whose Wedding I photographed in England. Yes, it was manic ..

And today? New Year's Day? Bliss! 30 degrees, and a leisurely day getting the gîte ready for tonight's arrival. (They've just arrived, by the way, and what bloody lovely people they are.) Who'd have thought it would all settle down so quickly? This afternoon I was working on a few pix ('Cos it's far too hot to go out!!) when I got an email saying we'd had a gîte booking - for three weeks - next summer. The lady has just been over to France and was so keen to get her next visit sorted that she went straight online and booked a trip. All this as I dust off my f1.8 because .. I'm photographing a Wedding on Saturday! Oh man, who'd have thought?

Yes, it looks like it's definitely going to be a 'Happy New Year'! Season's Greetings, one and all  ..

 

Going back in time ..

Another whole week spent working on my new (French) website, and I'm delighted to say I've finally got my 'Archives' page up and running. I'm really proud of this collection of documentary shots, taken mostly with an Olympus XA 35mm camera in the early 80s. We went everywhere together, that camera and I ..

Anyway, take a look. See what you think ..

He's back!

Just when I thought I'd retired .. I launch a brand-new web-site and start offering photo-shoots and beautiful prints for sale. Well, ya gotta have a project!..

Yes, I'm back in business as 'Photography In France' and have a great new site for everyone to check out. (Click here to do just that!!) I'll be selling images from my Florescence series, as well as from my black and white archive and my music photography. I'm also offering a photo-retouching and restoration service, and a new series of landscape photographs ..

Also in the mix is the offer of a free portrait shoot, now that I have my little studio up and running at last. I've already shot my third set of family portraits, with another two bookings in the diary for next month. Ah, it's just like old times ..

It's all coming back to me ..

This weekend was my first visit to the UK since November of last year, and it seems that nothing changes. I was going to write a blog about some of the things of which I was reminded .. you know, all the .. er, overweight people, all the tattoos, the self-checkout tills that tell you to 'wait for assistance' and all those orange-faced girls with false eye-lashes .. but I decided I wouldn't bitch and just stick with my old favourite ..

So, yes folks, it seems it is still not the done thing to drive on the inside lane of an English motorway. Oh England, I've not missed you ..

A very Bon Weekend indeed ..

It's a habit I cannot kick, so this weekend saw me back at RAF Fairford for the annual Royal International Air Tattoo. The fact that, this year, I actually had to get there from France, with all the driving, flying and bed and breakfasts that involved, didn't put me off one jot. It was another great show and scorchio weather made it all worthwhile. I even made it back to a bar in Poitiers in time to catch the second half of France's victorious world cup match. All that and it started to rain once I got home, meaning I didn't even have to water the garden. Bliss. Ah, if Carlsberg did weekends ..

(Click to see larger shots ..)

Bumpkin!

How do you know when you live in the countryside? When you can take these two shots, one after the other, from exactly the same spot on your back porch! Not bad for a 'townie' from Eccles!

Happy Birthday, Dad ..

I always used to think I looked like my Mum, but putting these two shots together has made me realise I might have been wrong. Here's my Dad - aged about 45 - and a shot of me - er, just a likkle bit older - that was taken yesterday for a National Library Day event here in France. I've turned into my Dad. Good grief ..

I was looking for a shot of good ol' Joe as it's his birthday today, and I wanted to mark the moment. Happy Birthday Dad .. you'd have been 85 today, you old fart!

(Ps: I'm the one on the right!)

Oh, baby ..

It's been a long time since I wrote about portrait photography, so I'm delighted to be able to show you this photograph and say  .. my new studio is up and running!

Some friends popped in yesterday for a quick shoot  .. and a chance for me to get my bearings again after a gap of so long. I thought it was appropriate that my first photographs were of a new-born and I'm really happy with the way things went. Oh, baby .. it feels good!