The one born in St.Helens in 1961.
To celibrate the release of the new St.Helens based Glass Eye Magazine issue (https://www.barrygore.co.uk/glasseye-magazine) which contains my story of the filming of Chariots of Fire at Cowley School I thought I would promote my other images of the period for any new visitors to see. Just CLICK HERE to see the images individually
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.
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.
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.
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.
Not my picture. A print from 1959 of my mother and fathers wedding.
As a child, perhaps 5 years old I found the picture and used a blue biro pen to scribble on it. I clearly remember doing it. I liked doing it.
When my mother and father found out there was hell to pay.
Some 58 years later I use a pen again (a wacom pen on a wacom tablet) to undo the damage.
The Arboretum in 1980 was a pub for older people, there was live music from singers in the style of Frank Sinatra and others of that period.
Within a short time it was refitted for the younger crowd. Dress code to get in: no trainers, smart attire.
The atmosphere was intense. Groups of girls, groups of boys. Overcoming the friction with music and alcohol.
