Other Places

Porto Portugal

Life within the sound of bells.
Mid 1980s trip to Portugal for some stock travel photography and a holiday. Portugal is unlike anywhere I have ever been. This was the view (possibly?) from the rented accomodation for the night. One night whilst walking the streets I was spotted by someone a little drunk, he stared at me intently and then exclaimed loudly “You have an English face!”

November dip

A gentle still day. The sea laps against the North Norfolk shore at Sheringham. Digital, not film, Lumix G7 shot processed as if it were film.

Waterway

An early component of the Victorian revolution. Canals became a network that enabled a revolution. The revolution started in the North West of England and transformed the world.

Held high in the air this waterway crosses the road.

Tree shadow

Unknown location but in the North West of England.
Minimalist and Brutalist architecture. 1980s.

Holiday Camp

A gentle stroll down the beach in Prestatyn, Wales with my parents and sisters. We came across this holiday camp. It didnt look particularly inviting but things were a bit like that then. This may of course have been taken after 1984 when it was closed down and used to train police in riot control. In 2001 it was redeveloped for housing so assuming foreign holidays are something of the past we need to get re-building.

Bedroom in Nebo

My bedroom for the week on a family holiday in the small Welsh village of Nebo in 1980.

There was a quiet timelessnes to the room.
At the ago of 20 this was my last family holiday together. My father got on very well with a couple of local farmers who invited him to join them on a mole hunt, he didnt quite expect the knock at 5am to go out and do it but it all worked out in the end.

Californian wind

Old style wind towers. Taken on a road trip in an open topped car, Los Angeles to San Francisco, July 1991.

I was with two old school friends, Keith Hunt and Robert Williams. They could both drive so I was the backseat passenger who could enjoy the views. occasionally I would ask them to pull over so I could get out my Mamiya RB67 Medium format camera and photograph the sights.
These wind towers were beside the main highway in California, there seemed to be hundreds of them and we enjoyed driving the service roads to have a look. America really is a country of big contrasts, the congested freeways and the open wind farms were a lasting memory.

 

Lone Tree

This image is available for licensed use, please contact Stephen Johnson for details.

The Lake District, UK. Taken in 1995 and submitted to Getty Images where it began to sell in 1996.

Originally shot on 120 Fuji Velvia film this image was not manipulated other than changing contrast and reducing saturation (Velvia like Kodachrome before it tends to turn all images into a sunny day).

I have seen the image used in a few places, a front window display for Timberland stores and for the CD cover of “The best songs” by the 80s group China Crisis (https://bit.ly/2xTjhh8)

This is the original grade for the image from the period, done using Barco Creator software on a Silicon Graphics Indy machine.
I would probably do a softer grade if I were to work the image these days though that would of course take some of the drama out of it.

Mamiya 7 medium format range finder camera, 80mm lens, Fuji Velvia 120 film.

(Please note that I do not provide sharing links for commercial images on this site, these are for viewing on this website only If you wish to purchase a license to use the image then just get in touch)

Sheringham Park

Shifting forms on a windy day.
Sheringham Park, 11th February 2020. Not film but digital.

The Eiffel Tower

The shear audacity and the vision.
I discovered the continent of Europe in my 20s and spent some of my happiest times there. Europe will always be part of me.