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.

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.

Retouching the past

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.

 

 

Disco at the Arbouretum pub in Nottingham 1982/3

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.

Tiko

Tiko was Mrs Saper dog in Tyrwhitt Road. Mrs Saper was my wonderful landlady originally from Poland.

Tiko was a very easy going dog and a real member of the family. Before I moved into the house I used to visit her son Adam and stay in a spare room.

One time I remember going to see a film “The Entity” at the largest screen in London and sat at the front, Adams friend got us free tickets as she worked in the industry. It was an especially scary film so I appreciated Tiko sleeping on my bed that night!

Taken on a 1932 Voigtländer Brillant V6 camera with a wide aperture (perhaps wide open at f4.5. I love the image drawing, tones and colours from this lens. A later version of this camera was copied by the Russians and called “Lubitel” My first Lubitel cost £11.75 in 1975 and had a sharper lens.

Living history

 

I photographed the prospectus for Newark Colledge in I think 1981 / 1982 as part of my photo course. I visited each department in turn but I remember best the visit to  the violin making department.

The students were from all over the world and I remember the calm but focused atmosphere. It turns out that the people I photographed then have gone on to be significant figures in their field.

Hans Johannsson had left a year or two earlier but I was asked by Brian FitzGibbon the director of a short documentary if I would supply some images taken in the early 80s, I was happy to do so. Its well woth a watch as the director has made a sensitive and well rounded overview of Hans’s journey.

I love the fact that Hans whilst respecting the past thinks above and beyond what has been to what could be and is still prepared to experiment.

Towards Cromer Pier

I had been woken up by our cat Tiger Lilly and could not get back to sleep so I went for a walk in the dark December night with a light rain falling.

The tide was low so I walked from Sheringham to East Runton on the beach, I had a torch built into my hat but when the going was smooth I turned it off and found myself in the greyness.

I could hear the waves to my left but only see a thin line of lighter grey of them crashing. I wasn’t so much walking through a landscape as walking through a tone scape.

When I turned the corner from West Runton I could see the pier at Cromer, bright in the night. It was 5:37am

iPhone not film. If I did have a film camera with me I would have also needed a tripod.

3 A2 Photographic prints rather than screen images

I will be in St.Helens my home town this Friday (14/07/2023)  to see the exhibition “Creative Roots” at the World of Glass Museum. I was kindly asked to submit some of my documentary photography work and it joins others across all media and arts that represent the creative output of native St.Helens people. Looks to be worth a visit. I will post the material from the exhibit once it closes on the 9th September 2023. Entrance is free.

Update: 08/11/2023

My A2 prints from the exhibition are back, nicely wrapped and undamaged. Many thanks to Kathryn Raven and her team at The World of Glass Museum for the opportunity to show them.
If you would like to read captions and the bio I sent to the exhibition then click here for a pdf: Stephen Johnson – Creative Roots