We tend to think of "celebrity culture" - and all the tissue-paper thin emotions and over-dramatic excesses which accompany it - as a recent phenomenon. But as any self-respecting elephant will tell you, few things are new in this world of ours. Step forward into the limelight Miss Mabel Love. Born in the English seaside resort … Continue reading CELEBRITY LOVE
FAKE VIEWS
This photograph was taken ten years ago, back in the days when travel was easy. The sky didn’t really look like this - I’ve added it from a selection I keep in a jar by the door. #fakeviews
BOTTOMS
I’m not sure what I intended the focal point of this photograph, taken forty years ago, to be. It probably was the unseen event that was monopolising all their attention, but, in retrospect, it has become the spectral seagull in the sky and the curious reflection in the crash helmet.
LILIES
A vase of lilies stands next to my TV. With a slight rotation of my head, I can move from war to peace.
AUTHENTICITY?
UNKNOWN WOMAN WITH A LARGE HAT : Whyte & Sons Studio, Union Street, Glasgow. Authenticity is a strange concept when it comes to photography. Even the best photographic image is far from authentic. Repairing old photographs does not destroy their authenticity, it merely shifts it onto another plain. So bring on the filters and get … Continue reading AUTHENTICITY?
SPRING INTO STYLE
HALIFAX DAILY COURIER & GUARDIAN, 9 MARCH 1932 : Thumbing through a 90 year old newspaper and I find an advert that appeals to me. I think I would look good in that overcoat, and it is a bargain at only £3.15p. But, hang on a moment: according to the Bank of England's On-Line Inflation Calculator … Continue reading SPRING INTO STYLE
VICTORIAN REALITY
VICTORIAN STUDIO PORTRAIT OF UNKNOWN WOMAN (BROWN, BARNES & BELL, LIVERPOOL) : The Victorians would have loved those smartphone apps where you can brighten your smile, get rid of your piggy eyes, and dissolve blemishes. Look carefully at any old Victorian studio portrait and you can see where eyebrows have been extended and spots scraped … Continue reading VICTORIAN REALITY
STOP IT
CLEETHORPES, 1983 (ALAN BURNETT) : I must stop messing about with old photographs: blurring them, changing them, artying them up. It has become a form of compulsive behaviour, and I have gone way beyond the line in the sand where I can judge whether they are of any value.
WAITING FOR THE TRAIN
SHEFFIELD MIDLAND STATION (1983) Alan Burnett Another of my old photographs which I filed away into obscurity forty years ago, but return to now because I have nothing better to do. It is out of focus and blurred, but so are my memories. Don't ask me to say why I like it, I can't tell … Continue reading WAITING FOR THE TRAIN
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