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 ..