The Morning Papers (for Olga)
Inspired by this article, I have decided to give every photograph I post this week a title (possibly taken from Prince’s back catalogue – I haven’t decided yet. What do you reckon?) The dedication is my own.
Fiction and Photographs
Untitled digital photograph, 2012
Untitled digital photograph, 2012
Untitled digital photograph, 2012
Untitled digital photograph, 2012
Untitled digital photograph, 2012
The title of this post comes from a John Foxx album, which I have not heard. It comes from the period he was working with Louis Gordon and I think it’s a live album. I’m a big fan, but have no intention of hearing it. Not because I don’t like live albums or that period of his work, but because the title is so evocative that I don’t think any album could live up to it. And I like imagining the music too much.
Untitled digital photograph, 2012
Yesterday I went deep into the hinterland of Oxford Street, London’s busiest shopping destination and found boutiques galore. Hands up, I staked out the shop and waited for this couple to emerge. They were extremely nice about it and let me take a few shots.
Untitled digital photograph, 2012
Well, this almost doesn’t qualify as a portrait, because I kind of got the man’s permission after I took the shot, but hey…
It was taken somewhere not far from Longacre, London, UK – I’m not actually trying to get lost anymore…
Untitled (for Carole and Stuart), 2012
This was taken today on the street behind Covent Garden Market. Guess what happened next.
No.16 in an occassional series. Collect them all.
Untitled (for Nikki), 2012
Untitled digital photograph, 2012
These were taken on the Hayes train, and on Floral Street, London, UK, respectively.
On Friday last week I decided, having had a bit of success with it as a location, to return to Floral Street. It’s a street that hosts a number of fashion outlets and I was hoping to negotiate some more street portraits. It must have been the day or the time of day, but there was nobody around except for a couple of street photographers (and frankly who wants to photograph them? 
). But there was this interesting piece of plumbing in an unexpected place. And then on the way home…
Richard from CK Ponderings and I have just completed our second collaboration. If you would like to see the results, please go to Richard’s blog.
Here’s a sneak preview of my image to whet your appetite…
Untitled digital photograph, 2012
This was taken on Kingsway, London, UK.
In the early eighties, like a lot of people my age, I was a regular listener to the John Peel show. For those unfamiliar with Peel, the show was broadcast in the late evening/ night on Radio 1 in the UK. Peel played an eclectic mix of music that was often not on the commercial radar (and got little or no airplay in the daytime). Loads of now popular/ successful UK bands debuted on his show. And for many of them their first appearance was in the form of a specially recorded session.
According to Ken Garner’s exhaustive (and fascinating), book on the subject, The Peel Sessions, the track Down The Final Flight by the band The Very Things was first broadcast on the 9th January 1984. As I did some nights, I recorded the whole show on a 
and played it for weeks afterwards. I became obsessed with Down The Final Flight. Even the band’s excrutiating play-acting in a terrible faux-gothic video for one of their other tunes, The Bushes Scream While My Daddy Prunes could not put me off. There was something about the track’s doominess and the time of night it was played that really worked for me. I haven’t heard the song since 1984, so by way of a “live” experiment, I’m going to seek the track out online and give it a listen. Back soon…
Hmm, tribal drums, hectic bass playing, driving, doomy chords and spoken lyrics (in an English regional accent) – I can see the appeal to the teenage me. If I’m still around, I’ll definitely give it another listen in 2040.
Untitled digital photograph, 2012
This was taken off Kingsway, London, UK.
Untitled digital photograph, 2012
This was taken yesterday evening somewhere near Covent Garden, London, UK. Ironically, what attracted me to this woman was the striking blue of her coat…in fact it was another great outfit…but the image worked better in black and white…oh well.
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