Ten out of ten ..

It's the tenth of May, 2010 ..

I'm pulling into a pub car-park, heart-thumping, about to meet - in person - a girl I've met on-line.

Her name is Lesley, and she's lovely.

______


It's the tenth of May, 2020 ..

I'm in France, with the girl I love.

Her name is Lesley, and she's lovely.

_______


Our tenth anniversary. Wow!

Oh, the picture? Well, she'd kill me if I put up a picture of herself. These are Lesley's grand-daughters. What? I'm going out with a grandma?..

;-)

x

Ten years into the future ..

I had the most lovely surprise yesterday ..

"Just wanted to say hi .." said a message I received. "Ten years ago today you photographed our wedding at Manchester Town Hall. You probably won't remember it as you've done hundreds but you did make our day and we've got lots of captured memories thanks to you."

Well, of course I remember it, and what a lovely message .. and how absolutely wonderful of the couple to think of me on their wedding anniversary. It really made my day ..

'Future Everything' said the poster that I posed them by all those years ago and now that we're in 'the future' it just reinforces the importance of a good set of Wedding photographs. It makes me feel great to think of all those 'hundreds' of couples who now have a set of my photographs in their homes ..

Happy anniversary, Judi and Chris ..  

Rain! Hurrah ..

A month ago, our garden was flooded. Spring was only just making itself felt and I feared for our poor old flower bulbs, underground and underwater. Four weeks later and the ground is rock hard. Weeks of winter rain has drained away, leaving the soil as cracked as the Kalahari. Nobody seems to have told the plants though, and they've all been coming up like crazy these past few weeks ..

And now, rain again, and nature is being rewarded for its no-nonsense approach to life. (Hey, it's been doing it for years.) I can't tell you how happy I am to see the skies darkening again, and we've been getting some great thunder and lightning to spice up the party ..

Of course, another aspect of nature is still darkening our lives at the moment. Confinement continues, but I hope my lock-down landscapes bring a little sunshine (and rain) into your day. Don't forget, I'm here if you have any photography questions that need answering ..  

Lock-down three ..

Lock-down Landscape number three .. the same number as the amount of weeks we have left inconfinement. Yeah, right ..

But what? A Jumbo Jet? Well, yes .. I've included it as it's currently as wonderful a sight as the fresh Spring leaves or the horses grazing just beyond our gate or the farmer sowing a new crop in the field by the side of us. The sky above us is normally a cross-roads for aircraft, demonstrating just how inter-connected our little world is. We get planes travelling up from Spain and Morocco to Paris or other parts of Europe, or from Rome and the UAE heading for the USA, and even South America heading for China - but, at the moment, there's barely a thing in the sky. It's working wonders for the reduction in pollution, and playing havoc with my plane-spotting ..

Still, I won't complain. People are going through hell at the moment. My thoughts are (as always) with you all today ..

For Joan and Alan ..

Time for Lock-down Landscape number 2, my new series of shots taken from, or within our garden ..

Sadly, since my last blog, two is also the number of deaths I've heard about, of people I know back in the UK. How sad. RIP Joan and Alan ..

President Macron has told us that the confinement will finish on May 11th. Personally, I think that's a bit too optimistic, and I'm sure I'll be shooting my landcsapes for quite a while yet. Don't forget, I'm here to answer any photography questions you might have about shooting landscapes and flowers ..

Life goes on .. it has too!

The start of our fourth week of lock-down .. or is it the third? No, the fourth, definitely .. I think!

Trouble is, we can't tell the difference between lock-down and normal life, tucked away in our remote little bit of France. (Not for nothing did a neighbour describe our village as 'the arse-end of nowhere') ..

No, we really are lucky to be a long way from all the problems of the world and, aside from missing our meet-ups at the bar and our bike rides with friends, life goes on as normal here. (I'm not telling you this as a way to gloat or to show off, it's just a fact) ..

Now, I say normal but, of course, we're impacted as much as many. The gîte has had to close, so that's obviously affected us, and mask-wearing and limited shopping trips are also now the norm. It's a shame, but a couple of visits from UK-based family and friends have had to be postponed, and the lovely French habit of greeting friends with a kiss on each cheek has also had to be put on the back-burner, too. Mwah, mwah ..

Life goes on, though. It has too! There's no stopping Spring, in all its magnificent beauty, so I've decided to start shooting a series of 'Lock-down Landscapes', featuring pictures I can take either from, or within, our garden. So, here's number one, and I hope you enjoy it. If you have any questions about any of the shots, or photography in general, either technical or artistic, then drop me a line. In these days of teaching from home, sending you an answer is the least I can do .. 

 

  

These Days ..

I haven't blogged for a while. Been a lot going on, hasn't there? And it was on the subject of the Coronavirus that I started thinking about songs to go with the topic. 'Stuck with you' for those self-isolating with close family, 'We'll meet again', for people missing their friends .. that sort of thing.

Of course, Joy Division's 'Isolation' came into my head very early on, as did 'Transmission' and, of course, 'Incubation', but when I started to think more about it more, an amazing thing happened and before I knew it I'd written a 'poem' that includes every single song by the band. (As far as I know!!)

So, seeing as every other bloody thing on the planet has been stopped in its tracks, I'll leave you with this for today and hope you feel confident that, one day, we'll be back to normal.

On second thoughts, normal was getting pretty damned crazy, wasn't it? Ah, I think I've got the topic for my next blog ..

Now that's different ..

Busy couple of weeks for yours truly, including two jobs that were 'first time' for me ..

Firstly, I had a portrait session at my studio - with ten adults! - but the two 'different' jobs both came last week in the shape of a gig and a wedding ..

Now, of course, I've photographed lots of gigs in my time but I've never actually been commissioned to shoot one before. Amazing as it sounds, it's true. So I was delighted when a local band called !GeRald! (And that's how they spell it) asked me to photograph one of their gigs. Rock on, boys ..

The second unusual job, the wedding, was different because both the bride and the groom were in their (let's say) very late sixties!! Didn't stop it being a great day though, and I loved being the only English person there, giving me an extra challenge on top of handling the photography.
Felicitations, Odile et Michel ..

Now, time for a breather. I'm not used to all this work ..   

Punk's not dead ..

A lot of people look at my Joy Division photographs and say "Isn't the audience young?" Hardly surprising when you consider the gig was held in a youth club, but those teenagers had nothing on some of the people in the crowd at a gig last night ..

I was asked to photograph at a little music festival in a town near here, and found out straight away it was going to be a bit of a family affair. These kids were there to support their Mums and Dads, all playing in the groups. (Either that or the parents were trying to save on babysitters!) Whichever way, the nippers were having a blast, bopping away and singing along to songs they knew.

Punk's not dead, and it won't be for a long, long time looking at these lot! 

Brexit Day ..

So here we are .. Brexit Day. Lesley and I were distraught when the UK voted to leave Europe, as we were right on the verge of committing ourselves to moving over to France. Now, we just feel happy that don't live in the UK, as it splits off and sails away to who knows what ..

Don't get me wrong. I'd love it - LOVE IT - if someone came up to me in three years time and said 'Look how well the UK is doing'. That would make my day. But, until then, here's my view of my old country. It's in the bin ..

See you on the other side!

Europe endless ..

My last week as a European and, ironically, I'm trying to keep a British 'stiff upper lip' about the UK's forthcoming Brexit this Friday. (As an ironic wink I'm writing this whilst listening to Kraftwerk's 'Europe Endless'. You can't beat a bit of Krautrock on a Monday morning .. )

This is the very definition of 'up in the air'. We ex-pats haven't got the foggiest idea how it's going to affect our lives over here in France. Hopefully, not too much! Perhaps it'll be just a case of signing up for a new visa, with a little more paperwork to prove our income and so on .. or maybe I'm being as naive as it comes. Lesley and I are lucky. We haven't got kids going through school here and we're not pensioners (yet) relying on the French health system to keep us in good order. What we are though is settled, and fear that any changes might put a spanner in the works of our new life ..

Our fate is in the hands of others. We pray they are understanding, sympathetic and wise ..

The Digital Decade ..

It seems it's fashionable to look back over the years as we reach the end of another decade, so here goes. (Don't worry, it won't take long ..)

I think I can sum up the past ten years in one word. Digital. And if you need a few more words to go with that then how's about 'Digital Photography ruined my career!' ..

Ten years ago I was riding high as a successful Wedding Photographer. I once topped over fifty bookings in a single year. I started shooting them in the year 2000 after Press and PR work started to die back and, bear in mind, back then (Cue: Old man's voice!) everything was shot on film. I would hoik a bloody big Mamiya RZ67 camera up a ladder to shoot my group shots and get a whole 12 frames before I had to change film. Then, along came digital and all of a sudden (Cue: Cliché) everyone was a bloody photographer ..

Now, put away that violin. I'm not writing this to elicit sympathy. I'm just stating the facts and the fact is that, during the past decade, my career - and the careers of many, many others - was shot out of the sky because of digital technology. Actually, if I was to add another word for my decade it would be 'France', and if you'd like some more words to go with that, then I'll throw in 'I'm such a lucky bastard. Thank God we moved here when we did.' I've even got a Wedding to photograph next month ..

Happy New Year. Happy New Decade. I wonder what I'll be writing in another ten years ..

   

Disastrous .. or not!

Twenty years ago we were hurtling towards the biggest man-made disaster .. ever!! As the end of the century approached we were all aghast at the complete and imminent ruination of mankind in the form of .. The Millenium Bug!

It was going to wipe our computers clean, destroy all possibility of life's continuation as we knew it and make all our aircraft fall from the skies. (Cue excuse to use my amusing news photo from the early 80s ..)

And what happened? Nothing! We all got het up into a hissy fit for faff all although, I have to admit, I was a little sorry at the arrival of the year 2000 because I'd made a good few bob working for a PR company tasked with the job of promoting IT care for Millenium Bug computer checks.

I'm kinda, sorta, semi-optimistically hoping that, at least for us in France, the approach of Brexit will fizzle out in a similar way. That, after all the scaremongering, abuse and sad pitting of Brit against Brit, it will all amount to .. well, nothing as bad as we all fear. For us ex-pats in Europe it's going to mean more paperwork for sure but, once we're all in the 'new' systems, I'm praying that life will just go on as normal, and you lot in the UK can have your life apart from Europe and leave us all alone ..

It's either that or I keep a sharp eye out for passing aircraft ..  

 

What Joy ..

I'm feeling rather special at the moment. A very nice French chap has just driven 330 miles to bring me a box of chocolates!..

Ok, perhaps I should give you a little more detail. I was contacted in the summer by a guy who asked if I'd be interested in a project of his concerning Joy Division. He's had a very intriguing idea and wants me to be on board. To that end he drove from his home .. 165 miles away .. to have a coffee and a chat with me, and very happy I was to sign up with his plans. This week he returned .. bearing the lovely box of goodies from his local artisan chocolatier .. to flesh out his project a little further. A lot more people are now involved, and it's starting to sound a proper 'goer' ..

So, we had our coffees, and another lovely chat, and off he went to drive the 165 miles back. He left me with the chocolates .. and a really good feeling about my work. I'll let you know how he gets on with his project. What joy .. 

Dis the Cis ..

Oh, to be 23 again! Actually, I'm quite happy at 59, thank you very much. I'm so glad I grew up in the era that I did. Best music, best time to be a photographer etc., etc ..  and, more to the point, I'd probably be accused of sexual harassment if I was photographed like this now ..

Yes, the bloody world's gone mad, hasn't it? Lesley and I were watching one of the election broadcasts the other day and the candidate kept going on about 'Cis' people. Cis, Cis, bloody Cis! "Lesley," I said. "What is a Cis person?" and Googled it after she'd given me a blank look. Reader, I'll come clean. I am a Cis person. Me! And I've been one all along, apparently. I just didn't know it. Nobody told me. I can only apologise for my actions ..

Folks, 'Cis' means ... er, how can I put this? Normal. A 'Cis' person is just a man or woman who believes they are a man or woman. That means, for me, that I'm a bloke and I fancy women. An ever-narrowing category of human being, it seems ..

What is going on when 'normal' has to be categorised by .. erm, other people. I'm reminded of a character in that fantastic film 'Things to do in Denver when you're dead'. "Hey, give it a name," he'd say. So I'm going to Dis the Cis and stick with the name I've always used. Normal ..

And I don't care what you think ..

(Quick photo explanation. These ladies in .. yes, 1983 .. had just formed a kind of better class 'Kiss-o-gram' company and I'd gone along to take a shot for the Manchester Evening News. God, how times have changed ..)

Home is where the heart is ..

Following on from a recent 'Interiors' shoot at a rather grand house not far from here, I was delighted to be asked by an estate agent to photograph two properties for her yesterday. This is an area of work I've been trying to get into ever since I moved to France as it was, of course, something I did on a regular basis back in the UK. This photography is completely different to all the 'people-based' stuff I would normally shoot but I love this kind of work and thrive on its creative potential. Ironically - for something so static - it's still quite pressured work. Constantly changing light and anxious owners, hovering around and often eager to get you out of their house, are just two of the challenges I'd normally face. A seller won't realise that there's more to interior photography than just pointing and shooting and generally won't understand why I've taken fifteen shots from the same angle just beside their bedside table!

Still, I'm hoping this leads onto more work of this kind. The owner of the 'grand' house said my photography was "AMAZING!!!!!" (His capitals, and I counted the exclamation marks for accuracy) and the estate agent mailed me to say the shots were "great", so I guess I'm getting the hang of it!..  

A Lidl bit of lingo ..

                    







A car pulled up by our garden the other day and a young lady got out and asked - in French - for directions to an event that was taking place nearby. Happily I was able to help her out and she went on her way with a chirpy 'Bon weekend!' ..

And then it occurred to me. All the time I ever spent learning French at school I was only ever taught to ask for directions, not to give them: "Où est la gare?" and all that jazz. We've lived in France now for over two years and, little by little, my French is slowly improving so it made me feel really good to be on the other side of the question ..

And anyway, without French how would I ever converse with the two new lads at badminton? They're German, so French is our common language. Or the two guys who're currently staying at our gîte whilst they work on the construction of a new nearby Lidl store? They're Polish! Thank God for French! Ooh, and can't wait to go to the new Lidl ..

Today's photographs have - evidently - nothing to do with linguistics but they were taking during this morning's sunrise, the first after the end of British Summer Time. I figured they were as good as anything I could show you today! ..

Catching up ..

I've written three children's books and I'm hawking them around like mad. In the last half hour I've genuinely had three rejections (Just standard replies. The same one for each book!) from one literary agent but, earlier this week, I thought I'd had the nicest reply I've ever had ..

"Your submission caught my eye, so I read it straight away."

Brilliant!

Sadly, this was followed by "I didn't quite love it enough to take things further."

Ooooh, so close!

Still, I keep trying and, like a certain .. er, what's her name? .. JK something, I'll keep going and hope that one day my work will land on the desk of someone who's looking for exactly what I have to offer ..

Anyway, I'm writing this because I thought it was time for a catch up. I haven't blogged for ages. Of course, I'm not now living the life I did, where a Wedding blog, or a PR blog, would have tripped from my stuttering fingertips every other day. Truth is, a little bit of that was because "they" said that, as a pro snapper, it was important to blog to build up business. Never worked, of course, but I got/get the blast from simply doing the writing ..

I suppose a reason I don't blog as much now is because I'd just bombard you with a ton of 'Oh wow, it's amazing here' gush .. and so I hold back. But the truth is .. it's amazing here! And now I know that telling you that has a worth because an old pal of mine .. I'm talking childhood, I'm talking 1970 .. got in touch the other day and told me that he knew I'd moved to France because he followed my blog.
Blogging has a value, after all!..

The world is going mad beyond the bounds of our tiny bucolic idyll. I try to ignore it and concentrate on hummingbird moths and cycling .. but I know it's all there and it's bloody depressing. Do you want to know what caused a 'stir' in our village today? There was a duck on the church roof and it was suggested I get a shot for the monthly magazine. I missed it .. couldn't get there before the noon bell scared it off .. but it put a great big smile on my face. It was as far away as I could get from my former life .. and I loved it.

A sunrise shot over our beautiful farm fields is what I offer you today. Calm, peace, happiness. Now I just gotta get a publisher to like my books ..    

Two years ..

It's two years to the day since I shot a Wedding in the UK. Happy Anniversary to Emma and Chris! Two years ago August 28th was the Late Summer Bank Holiday in England and I spent the day in a funny old mood - enjoying the Wedding yet feeling sad that it would be my last in the UK. However time moves on and now I feel a world away from all of that. I miss photographing weddings - of course I do - but what I don't miss is all the stress of trying to get the bookings. That was the hard work .. especially in these days of budgets and uncles with 'a good camera'. The wedding photography market is saturated now with so-called photographers - amateurs making a few bob on the side, and supposedly 'pro' photographers who take £300 for a couple of hours' work on a Saturday and then go back to being a gas-fitter on Monday morning. I'll more than happily shoot another wedding if I'm asked but no, I don't miss that 'marketing' side of things one little bit ..

(And here I am, hogging the camera in my last ever group shot)

Happy Birthday, Elliott ..

Happy 91st birthday to one of my heroes .. the great photographer Elliott Erwitt, definitely one of my earliest photographic influences, particularly for his use of humour in his work. I hadn't realised as a kid that photography could be amusing!! The shot I'm showing you today highlights that beautifully. Photographing these army cadets circa 1975 I asked one of the boys to stick out his tongue as he marched past - a straight copy of Elliott's shot of marching soldiers that features in one of his books ..

Now, please don't tell anybody, but I stole that book from our school library when I was about 15. (The guilt haunts me still!) Years later I was lucky enough to meet Elliott and I got him to sign it. "Man," he said, "I've not seen one of these for a long time" .. 

Dad ..

I love this picture of my Dad. There he is, third from left in oily overalls, fag in hand, his hair - his pride and joy - carefully combed, and a cool smile on his face. More or less his 'go to' look until redundancy robbed him of direction in his early 50s and shot down his life ..

He'd be about 28 in this shot, and he'd have been 86 today if he was still around.
July the 9th. My Dad's birthday.
Love you, Dad. Miss you ..

Feelin' hot, hot, hot ..

We're heading for a rather worrying 'canicule' - or heatwave - here in France today. On the weather forecast, parts of the country have a bright red 42˚ over the top of them (Not us .. we're only due 40˚!!) ..

My thoughts drift back to the legendary 'Summer of '76' in England, when it was absolutely scorchio for weeks on end. At the time, having just left school, I was working part-time in a bakery and, believe it or not, it was so hot in there that we used to go outside to cool down. Speaking of which, here's an appropriate shot from my archive - little Lisa have an ice-lolly and a cool down in a kiddy's bath on her front doorstep. Can you imagine the outcry if I'd taken this photograph today?
We live in sad, sad times ..

Paris ..

Some shots from my weekend trip to Paris .. including tourists, traffic, touts, tat and my €11 beer at Notre Dame. Good God ..

The Paris Air No-Show

Regular readers of this blog - hello, both of you - will know I always try to make the annual pilgrimage to RIAT, the big RAF Air Show in Gloucestershire. This year - seeing as I now live in France - I decided I'd go to the Paris Air Show instead.
Big mistake! It was rubbish ..

I feel such a sense of anti-climax this morning, having returned home yesterday utterly disappointed with what would normally be a highlight of my year. The show, at Le Bourget airfield, is not a patch on RIAT and I can only console myself with the knowledge that I now never need bother with Paris ever again. I know it's mainly a trade show but I didn't realise just how much of it is actually given over to the business of selling aircraft and parts. Any actually flying displays are almost just chucked in as an after-thought. And that's if you can find a space to actually see the flying. It was a bit of a Paris Air No-Show, really. The crowds were horrendous and the space given over to viewing the displays was pathetically small. I think this shot sums it up. Having made their way to the outskirts of Paris, all these people could do was watch the aerobatics on a big screen. A bit pointless, really ..

Oh RIAT, I'm sorry. I'll be back next year, I promise ..        

Gardening ..

 At the corner of our street in the UK was the home of an elderly man and woman and I'd see them in front of it, practically every day, working hard on a garden that must have been about six feet square. It was tiny yet there they were, weeding and trimming and tidying. Don't get me wrong, I was a very keen gardener in the UK but even I thought 'God, how boring' .. and now I am that couple. I'm retired and I spend every waking moment in our garden, weeding and trimming and tidying .. and digging and planting and transplanting and sowing and dividing and .. photographing.

You'll be aware of my Florescence flower photography series of course, but this is 'real life' photography - in situ - with the ever-changing light that our wide open garden offers up to my lens. It's beautiful and constantly evolving and I realise now that the elderly couple in Warrington weren't gardening, they were pouring their love into something that gives so much in return. I'm sorry I ever thought you might be boring ..  

All hail, Bowdon Vale

Two packages have arrived in the post this week - a DVD in one and a magazine in the other - and I'm pleased to say they both feature some of my music photographs from Bowdon Vale Youth Club in Manchester. It was there in 1979 - aged just 18 - that I photographed Joy Division and The Freshies - two 'up and coming' local bands. The rise and sustained popularity of Joy Division is known to all - the 'oh-so-near' failure of The Freshies not so well documented ..

'Louder Than War' magazine features one of my shots on its cover and two other images of Joy Division in a celebration of the 40th anniversary of one of their albums, and I have several of my pictures of The Freshies used in a brilliant new documentary film about their lead singer. 'Being Frank' is a fascinating look at the life of Chris Sievey, the man inside the head of the comedy character 'Frank Sidebottom'. He turned to 'being Frank' after getting nowhere with The Freshies but it was whilst he was still trying to make it with the band that I set up a morning's photography with them on the sunny streets of Manchester. One of the stills is featured here - the lads running down the spiral car-park entrance to Tesco's in Sale. Gosh, what memories ..

The magazine article is really good and the DVD is incredible. I highly recommend them. Sad to think that Ian Curtis and Chris Sievey are now both dead but lovely to think my work is playing a part in keeping their memories alive. Thank God I went to that little club all those years back.
All hail, Bowdon Vale ..
  

Ten years gone ..

It's the tenth anniversary of the death of my Dad. Funny, mad, daft, sentimental old Joe O'Neill. Miss him to bits. Now give me my camera back, you old bugger ... x

The Woolworth's Fire ..

Hot on the heels of my blog about Maggie Thatcher, I was reminded of something else that happened forty years ago this month. In the light of the Notre Dame fire, it's a rather poignant memory, too. Does anyone remember the horrendous fire that killed ten people in the Woolworth's store in Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens?..

I was a newby 18 year old on Messenger Group Newspapers when I heard the news on the radio. Myself and another photographer shot into 'town' and began to take pictures, self-importantly walking in and amongst the firemen as they went about their difficult work. What I didn't know was that, around the side of the building, those ten poor victims were trapped and facing the last few minutes of their lives. I still shudder when I think of the horror ..

 

Mrs Margaret Thatcher ..

Barely six months into my first ever job as a press photographer, I can still remember the day a lady called Margaret Thatcher hit the campaign trail in our little town, and we all know how successful she was with that! Now I read that next month will be the 40th anniversary of her coming to power.
Oh, my bloody God. Where did those 40 years go?..

As it happens, I was to photograph Maggie one more time, and this time it was in a much more intimate setting as she prepared to launch her autobiography. As she was in book-signing mood, I asked if she would add her name to my little autograph book, which she happily did and which I still possess to this day ..

I don't care what you think about her politics, but you have to admit she was a hell of a figure during the late 20th century and I for one am really proud to say I actually met her in the flesh ..

Wow!..

Following on from my night of star-shooting, I sent some of the pictures to an old pal in the UK. John Fox is a former photographer at the Manchester Evening News and now gives talks on Astro-Photography. He very kindly emailed me back with the word "Wow!" and then proceeded to identify and caption everything in what, to me, was just a pretty picture of the night sky. I was amazed, I am in awe and, on the day that a Black Hole was photographed for the first ever time, I am absolutely gob-smacked by what my camera has captured. And the distances and sizes of everything out there! These star-clouds and nebulae are 5, 6 and 7,000 light years away, yet still within our own Milky Way Galaxy. Imagine that. So far away and yet light travelling for up to 7,000 years landed on my camera sensor for a mere five seconds and recorded an image like this!

John, I think "Wow!" sums it up nicely ..

 

Stars in your eyes ..

I find it very exciting that today we might be on the verge of seeing the first ever photograph of a Black Hole. Scientists have teasingly announced that they "may" be revealing an image later this afternoon ..

By sheer coincidence I was up at 4 this morning to take some 'sky' pictures of my own. We get some really clear skies in our part of France and I'm trying to interest astronomers in coming to stay at our gîte for some tip-top night-time viewing. I'm being helped in that by an old snapper pal of mine, who  is head-honcho of an astronomical society back in the UK. He gives talks on astro-photography and has actually already used some of my photographs in his talks ..

Now might also be a good time to tell you that I've written and illustrated a children's adventure story about a Black Hole. It went off yesterday into that dark unknown world of literary agents and I'm hoping that all these coincidences mean it's 'in the stars' that it'll find a publisher.
Watch this space (Ho ho ..)

One more coincidence .. and I swear this is true. As I finished writing this blog a track by Alan Parsons came on the radio.  Which track? Eye in the Sky. I kid you not!..

Anyway, for anyone interested, my shots show Acturus, with three shooting stars (Top left); Jupiter and a section of The Milky Way (Top right); Polaris (Bottom left) and the constellation of Lyra (Bottom right).

It was 40 years ago tonight ..

I was a skinny, spotty 18 year old photographer when, exactly 40 years ago tonight, I took my camera to a gig in a local youth club and shot a set of photographs that are still relevant to this day.

I can still remember the shock as Ian Curtis started his wild, whiplash dancing, and I can still remember getting onto the stage, standing behind Peter Hook and being told, in no uncertain terms, to "Fuck off!"

This photograph is the poster from the first exhibition I had of these photographs - an incredible 25 years after the death of Ian. Now another 15 years have passed. It gives me great pleasure that these photographs are still used in magazines and other publications - a tribute to the late, great lead singer.

RIP Ian Curtis. 

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 .. !