The one born in St.Helens in 1961.
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!”
I love the short story by H,G.Wells “The door in the wall”, you can read it here
Read as an allegory it touches something that was very tangible for me, since lost in the noise of life.
This side of the doorway was in Haydock, Merseyside in the early 1980s.
1990s 6×7 Mamiya RB67 colour transparency reimagined in 2021 as a black and white play of light.
35mm night shot, early 1980s. Nottingham, the canal near the railway.
On the water. A frame from my first roll of Kodak infra red film
Night time shot in Nottingham. Taken in approx. 1982-1983.
Even Latin Masters could show their funny side when on stage at the school show.
Cowley boys school, St.Helens, later 1970s.
French lesson in progress, Crowley boys school 1977 or 1978. Unseen by the teacher I got out my Zenith E camera and took a few shots. The shutter was loud so I’m not sure how I managed to take more than one before the teacher noticed but there are two adjacent negatives rather than one.
I generally sat at the back of the class to avoid being noticed too much by the teachers. Not that I was up to no good, I just didnt think of myself as academic. Taking photographs seemed meaningful though my activities seemed not to really register with others. I’m glad I took the picture as I dont think there are many images of live classrooms from the period, true documentary.
A later documentary project of a Nottingham school allowed me to take similar images of a real life lessons in a private boys school but the difference was I was there as an outsider and conspicuous, here I was part of the scene.