Alwyn
1990s. Portrait in a landscape.
I wonder if all pictures are portraits of one kind or other, perhaps all photographs are of lanscapes too. Classifying seems to obscure the in-betweenness of things.
School Ground
A weekend walk around Nottingham probably 1982. I had not long had a lesson in the zone system by visiting lecturer Fay Godwin and wanted to capture a large tonal range in bright sunlight. A metal bin in a school playground seemed to resonate. Years later I went to the photographers gallery after work in the Tony Stone Darkrooms, having not eaten I soon became a bit drunk on the free wine. Seeing Fay I walked up to her and said something along the lines of “Hello Fay, remember me?” she was very kind and I was an idiot!
St Ives
In the 1990s I went with a collegue from Tony Stone Images to oversee the printing of the Tony Stone Images Catalogue. Most of the time was spent inside a huge metal building containig thunderingly noisy Heidelburg presses, we were there to check the printed results with the approved proofs to be sure colour was as expected.
A fond memory is hearing a heavy rainstorm thrash the metal roof and overpower the sound of the presses.
Drinks
Pub, Nottingham 1982. Part of the nightlife project but not used in the exhibition.
football in the Arctic Circle
No soil, no plants. Great effort to flatten an area for communal use in a village that is on the edge of the world. Ittoqqortoormiit in Greenland.
Continuity
This lady was part of the production team working on the Granada TV production of “Strike” about the rise of the Solidarity movement in Poland, filmed in Manchester in 1981.
I didnt disturb people as I photographed them as I was aware I had to stay low key as I documented the process of making a factual based drama. She is either working with the script team or is part of continuity to ensure elements match across scenes. It was a 16mm film production, sound was captured using quarter inch tape on Nagra recorders. Granada was a unionised company and I was asked if I was a union member by one of the crew, Adam’s dad (the writer) had invited us and we were just students with no intention of profiting from the images so we got a pass. Years later I think the photos would be of value to the crew and I would be very happy to share them, if you know this lady please let her know, would love to know more about her work.
influence
A rough sea on the coast of Cornwall, 1981.
I was there as part of a group of students staying at a cottage belonging to one of the lecturers. Above the fireplace in the Livingroom was a large grainy print of the coast. Roger Beacroft (the lecturer) speculated on who amongst us would be influenced by it. I did not disappoint!
35mm HP5 film is not generally a good choice for landscapes but its dark grainy nature worked well in this landscape.
Self Portrait 1982
Late night. Back in my rented room in Burns Street.
I had been photographing in the pubs and clubs in Nottingham for my nightlife project at college.
I had a few frames left so used them up.
The venues I photographed in were quite low light so the camera would have been harder to see.
A miserable day
Ormskirk Street, St.Helens, Merseyside 1978. Building site for the Nat West Bank.
Wearing a long coat, a head scarf and with a plastic bag in hand a lady makes her way across the road.
In photography it’s easy to glamorise, to photograph the extra ordinary. It’s harder to document the ordinary.
In the gloom and the cold I found a kind of beauty.
4th and 5th form official schools photographer
I never got into rugby myself but was fortunate to miss games periods to do photography. A side effect was to become the sports teams photographer for the school. All the moneys from the sale of prints went back into buying film, chemicals and paper.
Extra maths class 1978/9
So greatful to the teachers who had the patience to help me understand mathematics. I won a school prize in the 5th form, £5 towards a book, I chose the focal encyclapedia of photography. A little certificate was pasted into the front of the book, the award was for “Progress”. I went from being very poor to mediocrity – a huge improvement! If I had not gone to Cowley school I would have totally failed academically.
Santorini
Stock Photo taken on an island hopping tour of Greek islands and placed with The Tony Stone Photolibrary in the 1980s.
Mamiya RB 6×7 90mm lens Kodak EPN 6012 transparency film.
Tree
The garden at 49 Tyrwhitt Road, Brockley, London.
Taken on a pre war Voigtländer Brillant camera. The lens captures light as it wraps around the soft edges of nature within the hard edges of South East London.
Philip
Fellow ex Cowley pupil Philip 1982
We had all left Cowley School and gone on to various colleges but gathered in the lake district during the summer break to catch up. The gang had gone from the woods into a clearing, but Philip held back, and I saw the opportunity for a portrait.
Being in college was like an extension of school but in the near future we were going out into the world and making a life for ourselves.
Caught between the known and the unknown, looking towards the light.
Fellow Photographer
Atherton Street, St.Helens. 1979.
I took this during an exchange visit in 1979. Musicians and choir from the Fanny Leicht Gymnasium in Stuttgart were visting Cowley school and they were all staying with local families.
I was walking with a large group of the visiting pupils into the town centre; they were due to meet the Mayor. The Germans were non plussed by the tiny houses and how old they were, a bit of a culture shock for them it seemed.
I had some nice chats with this chap about photography. I may of had a Pentax K1000 camera by then (or might still have had my Zenith E). His camera was more impressive! It would be lovely to get back in touch if he ever sees this. stephen@copyrightimage.co.uk
Flat visitor 1980
Unused image from the flat 8 project
The Prisoner
An abandoned room at Portmeirion Village 1982. “The Prisoner” starring Patrick McGoohan was filmed there and it had a profound effect on me as a very young boy when it was transmitted in 1968. It was exciting of course and the high tech of the time was a draw but it was the concepts and meaning behind the surface that attracted me. No 6 -McGoohans character in the series was not the traditional hero type figure, the series played with the idea of the individual and society. “Who is number 1?” – “You are number 6!” it was flagged at the start of evey episode!
Visiting Portmerion on perhaps my last family holiday in 1982 I was really pleased when I climbed a staircase (I wasnt meant to climb) and found this scene through the glass of the door. 24/7 monitoring of the prisoner was central to the series and this speaker on the cabinet and pens strewn on the floor looked like a low tech version of that.
In retrospect I can see how No 6 could be described as a hero figure by Ayn Rand, certainly problematic. Thankfully in 1973 I was similarly thunderstruck by a very different man: Jacob Bronowski in his 13 part documentary “The Ascent of Man” which contains some of the most emotionaly powerful and humanistic moments on TV.