DANGER DAVE.

And so at the end of my three day printing marathon (which I have to say I found quite torturous) I met up with an old college friend Danger Dave otherwise known as David Denny. I have always liked DD's work and find it free, unrestricted and fluid in its approach. A kind of 'of the moment' body of work if you like.
We spoke of college days when we where popular with the ladies and ate pies on Blackpools sea front, and then of our frustration with the industry and how no one seems to be admitting they are skint and have no work...
Daves passion for his work always comes across when he is talking about photography and we both came to the conclusion that it was better to struggle and do what you love rather than sail through life and have a job that you hate. In fact we both realised how few of the people that we were at college with actually still make pictures... And so after weeping into our coffee cups we walked to the tube in the rain like reunited brothers under cover of my new Wind Proof umbrella....
You can see Daves work here.

My old friend Len..

Back in he day when hand printing was the norm and longevity was a lot more certain, a man known simply as Len would deliver paper, chemicals and the odd can of air. A lovely chap full of life and always a guaranteed twinkle in his eye. The twinkle was probably due to his wife who was twenty years younger, incredibly attractive and Spanish... Often we would chat over coffee and the smell of sulphur and he would tell me which photographers he liked best and if it was at all possible to get a signed print from the likes of Tezza O'Neill or maybe Dazza Bailey. Not surprisingly Len did often obtain quite a few signed prints, and this was simply down to being just plain nice.
The last time I seen Len was about ten years ago when he told me he was taking early retirement and moving to Spain with his wife and young daughter. He'd had enough of London and just wanted a quite life with his lovely missus drinking sangria on a Spanish rooftop.
Imagine my delight (and surprise) when the paper delivered to the darkroom today was in the hands of my old chum Len. It was however a little sad to see the man who told me "Bailey's not a Twat hes a C**t" looking so frail and old. The twinkle had gone and he was but a shadow of his former self. He went on to tell me that his wife had almost destroyed him and turned out to be quite the dark eyed physco, hence the move back to London and his former job..
After chatting about the olden days and reminiscing a wee bit we said our goodbyes and I have to say I really felt for the fella. But just as I was about to go back to the darkroom those old familar words called out; "Got any signed prints I can have off-a-you govnor?" It was just like old times and within five minutes Len had an original Doyle fresh from the processor. He took his print, thanked me and winked as he said goodbye. The twinkle hadn't gone, it had just lay dormant...

GO AND READ A BOOK..

Having just read Robert Adams Beauty In Photography this morning over a pot of coffee (thank you Miss Noble for the recommendation) I am now inspired to extend the tripod legs and unfold my dark cloth in search of images a new. Its a truly wonderful and honest read and should don the shelf's of every photographers home (although you will probably have to order it as there seems to be few in the bookshops).

Lately I have spent a lot of time reading things on line and have to admit I have stopped buying newspapers altogether mainly due to the fact that I am a fair bit away from any news agent and also find most news papers to be biased wining rot. So I was intrigued to read Greg Ceo's 'Are You Under 25, When Was The Last Time You Bought A News Paper'. Its an excellent article and raises some good points, in particular this quote;
“If you won’t pay to see someone else’s work, why do you expect people to pay to see your work?” ”How do you expect to make a living as a photojournalist?” ”Who is your audience?”
Something I had never even thought of. Ironic I found this via the British Journal of Photography while reading it for free on line...

WHAT IS THE ARTIST TRYING TO DO ?

DOES HE DO IT ?

WAS IT WORTH TRYING ?

HENRY JAMES.

The Princess.....

Gallery Director, Writer, Artist, Mentor, Northern Lass, and bringer of peace Laura Noble has began what may become the mightiest blog in the universe.
I would urge you all to make a cuppa and spend some time there. I on the other hand may go into blog semi retirement....

as we stand there for two minutes of silence and contemplate decade after decade, century after century of corpse mountain making, it might also be worth realising that neither photography nor painting music nor poetry have ever managed to prevent it happening again and again. In this circumstance Art clearly has no power to bring about change. So that begs the question, why do we bother still making it?
Mark Page.

If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event...what kind of film would you use?