Spotlight on a bed

This is a follow up to Sean's post A bed in which all the world slept badly. It got me curious if I'd taken any photos of my bed when I was growing up, so I searched through my old negatives and found one . . . an unmade bed. In Geoff Dyer's book The Ongoing Moment (which I too am re visiting) he compares made and unmade beds. In the opening he says: "There are two kinds of bed: the made and the unmade. Made beds are nice and inviting but unmade ones are usually more interesting (even if they are not particularly inviting)." The spotlight is on my bed.

I was quite surprised in finding this negative as I don't remember taking it, never printed it, and this is the first time it exists as a positive.

My memories could not be more opposite to that of Sean's. I'd guess I was about 13 and this was my little den, or nest even. The bed is one half of a bunk bed (the top one) that in earlier years was connected to my sisters bed and I remember we'd argue who slept on the top. I was a big Genesis fan and painted the name on my bedside table, two stickers of Dark Side of the Moon and a Fonz Stay Cool. There's a Norwegian calendar on the wall and a tourist flag from Bergen where I was born. What's surprising is the picture of Jesus and I can't think why it's up there, I'm no way religious. I can only think it was from when my sister had the room before me (she'd left home by then). There's a radio cassette recorder, one of the first that could record straight from the radio, I used it a lot and it still exists in the guest room at my Mum's house. The chair to the right I have to this day in the living room. It's from when Mum and Dad had their first flat in Bergen in the 50's. When Mum was pregnant with me she suffered back pains and it was the only comfortable chair to sit in (it's a comfy chair). I can see my old Zenit E camera case and Leningrad light meter, long gone now. To the right, out of frame, I had an old black and white telly which I saved up and bought for £10. I'd stay up watching the late night films, Barney Miller and Rhoda. On Saturday mornings I'd make myself tea and marmalade on toast and watch Top Cat.

I liked my bed, I slept easy in it, it was a place I had my own little world . . .

Ken

Spring is in the air

 The suns out and the birds are singing. Ok, it's cold sun that's shining but I'll take it and use it to help flex some photographic muscle. If you don't use it, you lose it

Spring to to action

Sean

A bed in which all the world slept badly

The title of this post can be found in Geoff Dyers book, The On Going Moment. It's a great book, one I've started reading again. I've reached the part about beds and thought I'd use the quote of John Szarkowski
for this post and provide a picture (two) of a certain bed

Now this bed, well this bed I'm sure has gone and only exists in this picture and in memory. It's not a bed you could easily forget let alone sleep in. But somebody did and for quite a while. The picture was taken 2005 when I really had just started out in photography (I'm very new to it) and knew nothing of its history or practice. Yet I did feel the picture was important, the room was pretty much frozen in time before I shot it.


The first person to stay in that bed would leave that room for the last time via those stairs. The second by the window, some 35ft to the ground to their death. That happened fourteen years before these pictures was taken.

I stood there for a while before taking the picture, remembered putting those stickers and posters on the wall and the nights in that bed as a boy. I stuck it out for ten years until I left home at 17. I had done all I could to stay out of that bed and the house for years before then. Once I left home for good it became my mothers bed until she decided to take a different exit to me. I wont blame the bed for that but I'm sure she sleeps better now than she did in that bed.

No pictures were ever taken of boy in that bed or room, he was never photographed in it. But as Dyer said in the last passage of his essay on beds. "There was no need to Photograph him because - as this bed makes plain-he was, in a sense, already gone."


Sean

Picture making part two

I've been busy scanning dry plate glass negatives lately and came across this one. I think it goes well with Sean's Picture making post.

Circa 1920

Ken

Not quite a book review

In keeping with Sean's theme of portability I thought I'd mention the Phaidon 55 series of pocket books. As the blurb says "beautifully produced, pocket-sized books that acknowledge and celebrate all styles and all aspects of photography". Phaidon liken themselves to the Penguin series first brought out in the 1930s, which I agree.

They cover a very wide range of different photographers, from the likes of Julia Margaret Cameron to Nan Golding, Edweard Muybridge to Daido Moriyama for example.

The books start off with a brief biography, then chooses 55 major works from the photographer accompanied by interesting extended captions, finally ending with a timeline of the photographers key events throughout their lives.

They are a little expensive for their small size though, going from about £5 to £10 a time, but over the years I've paid no more than £10 to £15 for the box sets (5 books in each, covering a certain genre) on ebay. They do crop up now and again and well worth looking out for.

Ken

Book review

After watching this. Like me, you'll wonder why I've never been asked on to The Culture Show











Sean

What others can not bear to see

One of the documentaries that was up for a Bafta on Sunday was McCullin (it lost out to sugar man). Made by Jacqui & David Morris, I haven't seen it, in fact if I hadn't have been watching the Baftas, I might not have known about it. It's had great reviews and is top of my list of must sees






Sean

Cuckoo

I would put an album of my own up in reply to Kens fine post. But alas, I'm unable to.
It means a great deal  to have such a treasure, to be without one isn't easy to describe.
If you think of yourself as a boat and your memory as an ocean, then pictures are light houses. They help you find your way back

Never seen a light house with my own eyes.

I use pictures like the ones in Kens album as stand ins for my own. Like a cuckoo in the nest really,  I store my (imagined) pictures in albums like Kens


In honour of Kens album I''d like to post this beautiful piece of music featured in the beautiful film Moonrise Kingdom. (A film featuring camping and a lighthouse, and if that film doesn't get Angie camping, nothing will).

It's actually from Benjamin Brittens -Friday Afternoons, Children's songs for Children's Chrous and piano Op7.

It's track number 3

 

Just another photo album

My first Photo Album.

I've been doing a bit of moonlighting over on Latticed Window for the past month. I'm not afraid to admit I've become a little obsessed with collecting other peoples photo albums at the local auction houses. I asked a good friend recently for some advice, they said "Without obsession, no art. Go with the flow on this and you'll see! I shit you not!"

Anyway, it got me thinking about my own photo albums, so I dug out my very first album today.

When I was about 8 or 9 years old my Norwegian uncle Johan gave me my first camera. I instantly loved it. Money for film and processing was a problem, but I was lucky enough to have a paper round and a Saturday job fixing bicycles at a family friends shop, so most of that went towards the cost.

First camera

I've no idea where I got the Norfolk Photo Album, I can only guess I picked it up at one of the Scouts jumble sales. I was very pleased with it, that I can remember.The first photos are from a Scout Summer Camp round about 1973 or 1974.

I loved camping and at the moment Sean, Diane and I are trying to convince Angie to give it a go (not much luck so far!). I bought my first tent which I still have. I was very proud of it and later on that tent would be with me in my teens hitch hiking round the country.

I'd also take a lot of snaps of my family and pets.

Mum and my Finnish Aunt Katrina

Jenta the German Shepherd and my cat Trampas

Sometimes I'd be in the picture.

Me and my big sister Kina

I was very interested in ornithology at this time. We found an injured black headed gull on the seafront which I had great fun in nursing back to health.

In 1974 when I was 10, my Mum and I went on a trip to Norway. It was the first time I went there that I could remember. We started in Oslo visiting family and moved on to Stavanger then Bergen and then finally up North to where my Norwegian family originated from in Brattvåg. It was a fantastic trip.

Me (Norway in the background)

On the way to Bergen

It was not until arriving in Stavanger that my photography took a major turn. We stayed with Mum's friend Brita and her husband Tony. Tony was a keen photographer and saw that I'd got an interest so we went off to the lake to shoot a sunset, my first ever. I was surprised when he said just point it at the sun, it'll be ok. We stayed for a few days and he showed me how to process some film and print some black and white photos. From that day on I have Tony Ions to thank for sparking my life long interest in photography.

Stavanger 1974

To see the entire Norfolk Photo Album click on the slideshow.

Ken

Wilko Johnson

Not much more can be said about Wilko. He is a true hero and an incredible inspiration for everyone.

Read and listen.

It's not a Wilko or Feelgoods song, but this song by Ben Caplan is just so fitting.

Ken

People Like Us

There's a new fly on the wall documentary tonight on BBC 3 focusing on the lives of the people of Harpurhey in Manchester. It's a place I know well, I only live down the road from it now. I went to school with kids from Harpurey, knocked around with kids from Harpurhey. It's only a couple of miles out the city centre. I guess its most famous for being the home of the late Bernard Mannings "World Famous" Embassy club.  It did earn itself the label of being the poorest place in England a number of years back, but to my mind Harpurhey is a typical inner city area of Manchester.  The Doc will include Monsall and Moston which border Harpurhey but are essentially the same place as far as life goes. Both mine and Diane's parents are buried at the cemetery on Mostan Lane, where much of the doc is set around


I'll be interested to see how this is handled, from the clips I've seen it looks like it's going to go down the My Big Fat Gypsie Wedding, route. I'm sure there'll be some tender moments, some humor too. But there's going to be some sneering.

"BBC Three spent a crazy summer with the young people of Harpurhey"



I remeber it being pretty wet really

Drum Roll...

This is my new website


 I've tried places like smugmug and moonfruit but I was never happy. I've gone with aphotofolio  which is used by the likes of Mark Tucker and Christopher Anderson (of Magnum). The cost was a one of payment of $1000 and there's a $17 dollor a month fee. When I consider how much dough I've spent on gear over the years, I think I've got a bargain.

When it comes to photography websites, I either like Black or White. For now at least I think I'll stick with black, though I could change to white in 60 seconds.  There's eight different designs, mine's 6


Cheers


Edit:

Have since seen the white