Shifting forms on a windy day.
Sheringham Park, 11th February 2020. Not film but digital.
Other Places
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.
Mad dogs and English men
An abandoned Ebro B-35 Diesel lorry on the roadside near Capileira in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Spain. Mid 1980s.
Why whitewash tree trunks?
Portugal. The care and attention paid to the tree places nature as the dominant content of this place. A people sympathetic to the importance of trees.
I had thought the whitewash was just aesthetic but apparently there are other good reasons for doing this.
Portuguese fruit shop 1980s
Fruit shop, Portugal.
A harsh light.
APU: (Aliança Povo Unido) from wikipedia: The United People Alliance was an electoral and political coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party and the Portuguese Democratic Movement. After 1983, the Ecologist Party “The Greens” also joined.
Ecstasy in the garden
Water drops from the fountains in the garden of the Generalife, adjacent to the Alhambra Palace.
Taken during a visit to Granada, Spain in the 1980s. I went on a tour with Adam and he introduced me to Southern Spain, visiting cities, towns and villages well away from the crowded beaches.
This was my first trip to a hot country and I remember being extremely hot even when walking in the shadows, entering the sunlight brought an overwhelming blast of heat. Coming as I do from a small industrial town in the North West of England it was certainly something I had never experienced before.
Walking through the beautiful water cooled gardens felt very special. These small moments of bliss are fleeting, saved up and revisited years later, a glimpse into what could be.
The Lakes
The Lake District. Fellow ex Cowley pupils, 1982. We had gone our separate ways to college/university/polytechnic but met back up in the Summer for a few days. In the car on the way up from St.Helens we played an Imagination tape none stop, “body talk” and “just an illusion” being favorites. Some enjoyed a swim in the freezing water, I just kept my camera dry.
Two worlds
I cannot reconcile my earlier documentary work and my later commercial work.
Some images cross the boundary a little easier. This image didnt sell too well through Getty Images though of course that is only one way to judge it.
Between two worlds new patterns emerge.
Ferns shot on 6×7 colour transparency and the water shot on a Gandolfi camera using 10″x 8″ black and white film. Image composited in Barco Creator Software. Both images shot in the early 1990s, Location: the Lake District / Brockley, London.
(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)
Umbrella shop
In 1990 I went on a trip to Poland. It was in the later stages of the fall of communism. Among the extensive brutalist concrete buildings in the various cities I went to there was always a little place where the sunshine came through.
Children of the stones
Great British Scare Stories
Ringway
I had thought this was Speke airport in Liverpool but my memory was deceiving me, someone kindly pointed out my error with a link to a photograph of this structure being at Manchester Airport. I do have a very strong memory of watching planes at Speke airport, perhaps that was on another occasion. As always its the pictures that speak truth, my words based on a forty year old memory are prone to error. The brain fills in the gaps and makes the story sound plausible. What else have I mistaken or misremembered?
I do want to find a truth in the work but it is important to say that I am an unreliable witness!
Eiffel tower
Paris in the spring later 1980s.
Looking down was much better than looking across. My earliest stock photography images with Tony Stone Photolibrary were travel shots including this one that was given the number T70L 101094-1T.
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral
Better known locally as Paddy’s Wigwam.
Ferry cross the Mersey
St.Helens, my home town is about half way between Manchester and Liverpool. I don’t recall many trips to either city but this (rare for me) 1970s colour image shows me departing from Liverpool and heading towards New Brighton on the ferry.
I must have been 3 or 4 years old when I first saw a large body of water. It was the Mersey Estuary seen from the docks. In that one moment I remember being completely overwhelmed seeing the waves dancing with the wind and the sheer scale of the scene in front of me filled me with awe.
Ghent
I was in Ghent Belgium to learn about Barco Creator software for my job at Tony Stone Images.
Behind the hotel was a side street that looked very abandoned, too good to miss I took my tripod and Mamiya RB67 camera round at night to take a picture.
I shot on fuji Velvia film which made the image go bright green from the streetlight so I drained the colour and added atmosphere in Creator.
It reminds me of one of my favourite films: Malpertuis, a mythical story set in an indeterminate European country.
(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)
