My latest post ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

A shot from my book of portrait photographs, coming out in the New Year. It was taken in the late 80s/early 90s, when I used to do an awful lot of PR photography for the Royal Mail. Back in the day, there was enough money in the company coffers to produce a monthly newspaper called The Courier, with offices in the centre of Manchester and distribution to everyone who worked for the Post Office. Now, the PO is in deep trouble, having been sold off to a foreign billionaire and with branch closures threatened all over the UK. (Sadly, there's talk of shutting down the main Post Office in Eccles .. a branch that opened in 1932!)

But hey, speaking of foreign takeovers, does that mean your post will now be in the Czech?? (Badum, tish!!)

Cancelled ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After seven years of retirement, I've grown used to a life without clients - worrying about getting their bookings, getting my name 'out' to them, doing a good job for them and trying to ensure I got further work from the little darlings. Last night I dipped my toe back into that world again, after agreeing to photograph the new members of a village council. And what happened? The job got cancelled .. a mere ten minutes before I was due to leave the house! Oh, how it took me back to all the fun and games of 'working for a living' ..

Anyway, unashamed plug time. Rob Bremner, a well-respected documentary photographer, has got his sticky mitts on my Café Royal book and felt moved to say he thought it was "up there with the best Café have done". Thanks so much for that, Rob. Really appreciated. (I still have a few available - signed - for just £10 in the UK if you're interested!)..

Another of my favourite Christmas photographs for you today. Taken at least forty years ago. I mean, where would you see a waitress now with a fag in her gob? I love the lady approaching from the right. Looks like she's ready to give her a right b*llocking. I wonder if her job got cancelled ..

Keep on walking ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did something this week that I've never done before in my life .. I gave a public reading from one of my books. I stood in front of an audience and read from 'Page 99, by Joe Bancroft' .. and it felt great! It was so enjoyable to be able to use accents and give accentuation to words I hope people might focus on when they read the book. Anyway, no-one walked out and I ended up reading for an hour longer than I'd proposed to, so that was alright, wasn't it?..

Speaking of walking, today's photograph must be at least 40 years old, but I'm buggered if I can find the negative. Instead, I scanned an old print - a proper 10x8 inch resin-coated black and white photograph - and tidied it up in Photoshop. Looks alright, although the thought did occur to me that 'Jake the Peg' was a Rolf Harris character, so I'm sure someone in this touchy-feely world of ours will now take exception. Well, it's my blog so you haven't got a leg to stand on .. (Groan!)

 

 

Sh*t ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A photograph by William Eggleston has just sold at auction in New York for $1.44m. I mean, I like old Billy's work a lot, but .. a million and a half for ONE photograph?? And this just days after a banana that had been stuck to a wall sold for over six million dollars. (And you don't even get the original banana for that price!) What a load of sh*t the art world is .. 

Although, I do have some lovely prints and photo-books available if anyone wants to put a bid in. Prices start at ten quid and .. erm, end there, too!

 

Copy that ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a kid, I dreamt of becoming a press photographer. All that exotic foreign travel, all that shoulder-rubbing with the rich and famous. In reality, most of my time was spent taking photographs like this .. the mundane, run-of-the-mill, bread and butter shots that filled a local weekly newspaper. (Faces sell 'papers, as they used to say. I talk about it in my fictional novel Page 99, by Joe Bancroft) ..

I recently unearthed an archive of this 'ordinary' press photography and plan to produce a collection of it to add to my stable of self-published books. (Actually, Faces sell 'papers isn't a bad title, come to think of it!) Anyway, my dream came true (obviously) and it's incredible to think but, back in November 1978, I'd just completed my first ever month as a professional photographer. A mere forty-six years ago, for goodness sake. At least photo-copiers have got smaller ..

Bah, humbug ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

The festive season steams in earlier and earlier and I think it's three weeks already since I heard Wham's 'Last Christmas' on the radio. When we moved to France we were rather pleased to see that the shops and supermarkets didn't go as crazy on the commercialism as the UK, but I'm afraid that's all changed now. Our local Intermarché, for example, has had a decorated toy 'grotto' open for business since the start of November. Still, the 'season of goodwill' was always good for me as a freelance photographer, what with all the parties and promotions like the shot I'm showing you today. Back in the day, I used to do a lot of work for Royal Mail, and a regular PR shoot was the arrival of that year's Christmas stamps. (I'm guessing this picture was taken in the early 90s, with pantomime characters out on Manchester's Market Street to plug the launch.) Now, things are so bad that I'm not sure anyone can actually afford to buy a stamp. In fact, I've heard the main Post Office in my home town of Eccles is likely to be shut down to save money. Talk about 'Bah, humbug' ..

Me, me, Moorea ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a relative - a second cousin, I think (never met her!) - who is currently travelling in India and Nepal. I know this because she puts about sixty photographs a day on Instagram. (Me in a bar, me at the Taj Mahal, me in a tuk-tuk .. etc., etc., etc .. ) Now, I've no qualms with this and think it's lovely that she can relay the story of her trip to friends and family back home. It just reminds me of the time I did a round-the-world trip in 1991. Back then there were no mobile 'phones, no internet, no nothing! I shot all my photographs on Kodachrome 64 transparency film and posted the rolls home so that my Dad could forward them on for processing at Kodak's Hemel Hempstead labs. I didn't see a single one of my shots for six months. Now I know that's hardly Amundsen and the Antarctic, but it does show you how far things have come in such a short period of time, doesn't it? 

Ps: Since you ask, this is me on the island of Moorea, scene of one of my favourite films of all time. The bay on the left was deemed to be more photogenic and therefore used instead of Tahiti in The Bounty, with Anthony Hopkins. It looked so beautiful on screen that I just had to go and see it in 'real life'. I wasn't disappointed ..

Pardon?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A picture I recently posted with reference to tinnitus struck a nerve with a number of people who saw it. Seems there are quite a few of you who suffer as I do, and I'm very sorry to hear it. (No pun intended!) We really weren't warned so much in the way that kids are nowadays about the dangers of loud noise, and I for one used to love getting my head as close as possible to the PA systems at the gigs I went to. Here's a shot from Manchester Apollo just to highlight my stupidity. I wonder if the people in the picture have got squeaky ears ..

I've sold a book ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ah, the power of advertising! Like any budding self-publisher, I'm a stickler for monitoring my book sales on Amazon and, finally, as we approach the end of October, there's been movement on my 'sales report' page. I've sold a book! Yay! ..

Following on from an Instagram post I made last week, one wonderful person took it upon themselves to rush out and order my new photo-book 'Riding the Dirty Dog'. It's a collection of photographs, all shot on Kodachrome, from a Greyhound bus ride I made in 1985 (Twenty-five cities in a week!), and takes to eight the number of photo-books I've produced. Thank you, dear buyer, whoever you are. I hope you enjoy the photographs and feel your ten pounds was well spent ..

If you happen to be the one other photography fan who'd like the book, you can get it here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CY8ZKX9R

(Or here for the US .. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CY8ZKX9R )

Now then, anyone else ..?

Commercial Break: Check out my other photo-books here .. https://m05911.wixsite.com/my-site-2/about

Good grief, Charlie Brown ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this exact time last year I was - and I make no bones about it - pissed as a fart. It was the day of my brother's funeral and the last of us hardy souls were still going strong at a pub called The Grapes, in Eccles. Today isn't a day to be maudlin, though. Instead, I'm thinking of the great times I've had with people who are no longer with us. People like my cousin Ricky here, who I photographed in a gross state of .. er, exaggeration! We were all shocked last month to hear of the sudden death of one of our French friends in the village .. gone at 73. Sad though that is, it brings a smile to my face now to think that I'll always know him as Snoopy, a nickname I gave him after I discovered his love of the cartoon character. (Literally good grief, Charlie Brown!)  

The good times. Always remember the good times .. 

Night School

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You know what they say about writing, right? Edit, edit, edit! So here I am, editing (yet again) my book Page 99, by Joe Bancroft.

I've just reached a part where the protagonist Joe enrols at night school. Remember night school? I certainly do. Each year, just about this time, the Eccles Journal would have a multi-paged pull-out featuring all the new courses that were on offer at the various further education venues around the town. There was a mouth-watering range of subjects and pricing that meant you'd be stupid not to take a course. I remember signing up for art, shorthand and, of course, photography when I was seventeen years old. Great days ..

Incidentally, here's the piece from my book ..

The ‘Photographer’s Eye’. Joe just had it. Could ‘see’ when a photograph was right. He could feel it. Would know when there was no other way to improve on a composition. It thrilled him to bits, which is why he signed up for a night-school course enticingly entitled ‘Tricks of the trade for the experienced amateur’. It spanned twelve Thursday nights in an annexe of the Green Lane adult education centre and Joe initially went just to enquire about the course but was convinced he should enrol after a fortunate chance meeting with Phil, the tutor. The guy’s chilled vibe, scruffy beard and posh, diffident voice were all very nice, but Joe put his name down the second Phil told him that, in no uncertain terms, would they be photographing rainbows or robins or waterfalls. What they did photograph - in only the third week - was a semi-professional model, the likes of whom Joe had never seen in his life; a blonde, crop-haired, perfectly made-up Heaven-sent Goddess called Janine, who sported lip-liner and blusher under a cheeky, tilted fedora and introduced him in no uncertain terms to the concept of ‘out of your bleedin’ league, mate’. Annoyingly, during the shoot, Phil kept rabbiting on about lighting and angle, exposure, pose and shadows, when all Joe could do was drool at this vision in a hat. 

 

Bank Holiday Monday

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Prince's Park in Irlam, an area I used to cover for the Cadishead and Irlam Guardian until 1982. It should be a lot busier than this today though, as it's the site of an annual August Bank Holiday festival. I hope the weather's behaving for everybody. Bank Holidays meant only one thing as a press photographer .. you'd be guaranteed a really busy day as you tried to cover all the events going on in your 'patch'. And this particular Bank Holiday will always stay in my memory, as it was the date of the very last wedding I shot in the UK. Great memories .. 

Grumpy old man ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I turned 64 yesterday, an age that didn't mean a thing until that bloody McCartney put it into a ditty, but I think it entitles me to be a moaning old fart from now on, so here goes ..

I mentioned that I'd gone to Paris last week, keen to taste for myself the 'Olympic' experience. The trip also gave me the opportunity to visit an exhibition by famed American photographer Stephen Shore, whose work delights and baffles me in equal measure. Can't say I was over-excited by the stuff he was showing this time, but it did make me a little bit miffed when I started to think of my own photography. 'I've got work like that', I found myself saying. 'I've done stuff like that, too'. So why are my pictures getting eight likes on Instagram and his are in a Parisian photo-gallery? Why are mine in a self-published book (Total sales so far .. 2!) and he's being fêted in the capital at such a momentous time in its history?..

Well, because he's good, of course (whatever that is) and he's already well-known and he was doing it all a long time before I was. But even so .. how does one get a break these days? I think I've missed the boat when it comes to gaining recognition as a photographer, but a little more interest would be nice. After all, the whole point of actually taking photographs is so that they can be seen, and we can't all be like Vivian Maier when it comes to keeping our talent under wraps ..

Anyway, I'd be interested in offers from any gallery (anywhere) to show my work. Publishers, please form an orderly queue and I will consider all your proposals seriously. Ad agencies? Happy to help. Magazines? Of course you can do a feature on me ..

One of my heroes, André Kertész, was about 168 before he got properly recognised, so I guess it's just a waiting game in the end. (Oh, I can hear you now. 'How dare he compare himself to the masters? But if you haven't got faith in your own work what have you got?) So have a little patience, Martin. Your time will come .. 

Ps: Stephen's photographs are the bottom two in my collage. My pair are at the top. Click to see them larger. Any thoughts?

PPS: Life isn't all bad (even though I am 64!!). I do have my range of self-published books, and Café Royal have recently published a little collection of my photography. And the travel shot (top left) is from my new book 'Riding the dirty dog', covering a Greyhound bus trip across America (in a week!) So there ..

What's that, nurse? Time for my medication?..

Champion ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Diary, went to The Olympics. It was dead good. Paris very busy but amazing to see some of the venues, even if only from the outside ..

I just had to go! I couldn't be this close to The Olympics and not go to see for myself. To experience the buzz of the beautiful city of Paris at such a momentous moment, and join the crowds (And I mean crowds!) as they took in the sights. To mingle with people from all over the world as they came together for the magnificent spectacle ..

My legs are killing me now. I feel like I've run my own personal marathon, whizzing around the sights in just one hot afternoon, but it was certainly worth it. My photographs show the 'less glamorous' side of The Games, a quick glimpse behind the scenes (Because, let's face it, that's all I got!) But hey, I even bought the T-shirt ..  

And so to the shots. Click to see them larger ..

 

 

Fin!