I just said to Sam (my wife) “I’m going to write a quick blog post”. “Happy, Happy, Happy” was her reply. Unfortunately she isn’t going to enjoy a couple of paragraphs in this post, but they need saying. They’ll be over soon enough and we can get on with being Happy, Happy, Happy.
That shot was taken yesterday and that’s how up to date we are with this blog. Amélie playing in the garden belonging to Sam’s grandad and his wife Rachel. Beautiful garden and truly beautiful people. Amélie spent our visit outside leaping about, sitting with either a book or the chickens. Louis briefly had a look at the chickens because he thought there might be a fight and then went back to what he’d essentially spent four hours doing. Dangling into the river, fishing out any debris that might be passing and seeing if those pieces of china/pottery/glass could be fashioned into an effective weapon. He cut is finger and needed a plaster so I’m going to say his experiments were a resounding success.
We all know the proverb or story of King Canute, at least we think we do. I’d like to compare him to our glorious Leader, Boris Johnson aka Winston Churchill Lite, but that isn’t at all fair to either Canute or Boris . Let’s begin by saying the correct spelling is King Cnut…I know, that’s extremely close to what springs to mind when people think of Boris, nevertheless let’s strive for the facts. Legend says that he had his chair carried to the shore where he sat and commanded the waves not to break on his land. What he actually attempted to demonstrate to the people was that no matter who you are, the inevitable will happen, the waves will come regardless and just like the tide so will the second wave of Covid-19. Sounds terrifying, it isn’t.
We do have to take this very seriously though. However, my view is that we are going be living with this for a very longtime, forever probably. There’s no magic wand to be waved, if and when a vaccine become available Covid-19 won’t go away. Just as with flu we will need to protect the vulnerable whilst the rest of the population gradually gains immunity, getting on with their lives as best as they can. We need to learn how to live with it. We had a Coronavirus test last week. Sam had a fever and cough, the children were ill too, I had a stomach upset. To be fair I drink Rioja or beer whenever I can reasonably justify it, that coupled with the Marlboro (I’m not a heavy smoker) means I occasionally have a headache, sore throat, cough and lost my sense of smell twenty years ago. Any number of symptoms to be honest, Coronavirus maybe the least of my problems. Thursday at 10:30 we were tested and subsequently declared clear some 15 hours later. There’s nothing to say that we didn’t get infected at 10.45 on Thursday morning by the way. I’m mentioning this because it’s pertinent to my current Street Photography or Leica biker exploits, they’re both largely curtailed. Let’s just say that the great British public aren’t all following the guidelines. Quarantine is being ignored and now we see that the government has increased fines for non compliance to £10,000, other sanctions are coming in this week. Only groups of six people can congregate for example. Here’s a couple of images taken in Bristol the other day. We’re indoors and in a carpark, there’s a queue of around 30 or so people. Masks on, masks off and a kind of half way house in between the two.
In my last blog post I spoke about how busy things had got again in the cities during August. Many more people around, great news for Street Photographers, but sadly this was a false dawn. They were mostly there for the free food made possible and paid for by the government/taxpayer to entice people back to the hospitality industry, to induce some spending in the High Streets of the U.K. It’s interesting how the word Hospitality can easily turn into Hospital. Cases are surging, a second wave is almost upon us. We’re staring down the barrel of another lockdown and winter isn’t here yet when they say things will really become serious. In all fairness governments are in an impossible position. Well, apart from Mr Trump and the Kremlin who have a vaccine already to go. Don’t worry too much about testing, do a little bit, not thoroughly though, this is a race and we need the votes, just inoculate everyone and hope for the best, to hell with it. Let’s not concern ourselves with that or the fact that Siberia is on fire, an area 13 times the size of Britain. Tons of greenhouse gasses being released, more than all the airlines produce, the permafrost underneath melting which at some point will cause some real problems. I’m done. Let’s cheer up and put it all into perspective. Let’s talk about Street Photography, the children returning to school and me winning $150…happy, happy, happy.
I have no idea why this guy is driving around Bristol in a Jeep, but good luck to him. I like people who are different and do their own thing. When you’re desperately looking for a photo and the streets are once again empty you essentially click anything that catches your eye, practically everything that moves as you stroll along…
The thing is that I’m fine with quickly grabbing anything I can, photographically speaking of course! I prefer it sometimes. When the streets are heaving with humanity I find it difficult to organise it all, put into order the chaos and although it’s totally possible for me to do, I’m so out of practice.
Some familiar scenes or backgrounds to regular readers of this blog. I decided to head to Queens Square, hoping for something different and a few people. It was much quieter in Bristol than can be seen in these photographs. Of course where there’s a statue there’s the obligatory traffic cone adorning whoever dignitaries head happens to be the subject matter. I really had one chance at what I wanted, missed that and I don’t want to talk about it. Next best came along, a runner, some kind of colour match, didn’t quite get it. This is what happens when you’re not out constantly shooting Street:
In the end I settled for someone just walking along, which really sets me back about five years or so with my Street Photography:
On my way out of Queens Square I came across a group of people. They asked me to take a photo with their iPhone. Don’t worry I said, I’m a photographer, I’ve got this. “What kind of photographer?” they asked. “Oh, portraits and so forth I replied”. I also took a couple with my own camera. Okay, it was only a couple of minutes at the absolute most, I tried to organise them in some kind of group, but again I’m totally out of practice. The backlight issue didn’t concern me at all apparently, it as though I’d stepped back in time and knew nothing. I might be a little harsh on myself, it was spur of the moment, but come on John, you can do better. My exposure was clearly out and I doubt very much they would believe what I’d told them.
It’s not all bad news. A couple of days ago I got an email from 500px. Remember them? A photography platform that I left many a few years ago. I was still receiving newsletters and eventually decided to read one. There was mention of competitions, they call them “Quests”. Well, we’re not interested in competitions, they’re so subjective. Who’s judging or curating makes a huge difference. Some want to charge an entry fee. No way! The prize is often gear that you don’t need or want, worse still they offer ‘exposure”. Hang on though, these are free to enter and there’s a cash prize. I decided to upload some images to my old profile. The email began “ Dear John..”, no matter how you dress it up that’s never a good start to a letter. Of course I’ve had a lot of them! This one continued. “Congratulations you’ve won the Black & White Portrait Quest and $150”. I may have sold out to the dark side, but if Darth Vader offered me $50 I’d take it at the moment. Under the current economic climate that $150 equates in Sterling (GBP) to around twenty quid! Okay, maybe a little more than that. Here’s the winning entry. My beautiful and wonderful 90 year old dad just after he’d emerged from almost three months of confinement. Here’s the link if you’re interested Black & White Portrait Quest. Secretly I’m going to allow myself to be quite pleased.
Back to the Streets of Bristol. Really there’s no choice than to shoot scenes. Besides there’s a huge amount of awareness and suspicion, no getting in close for some layers or expressions. That said if you can position yourself take a shot before you know it along come two of our friends from the Queens Square group shot:
Makes for a much better photo in my opinion. Although the reverse can sometimes be said. Before heading a home I stood for a couple of minutes in front of a building I quite like. No reason really, it just appeals to me. I tried some layers, you only get one chance especially with the very few people around, I really must get out and practice more. Tomorrow I might head for Bath or another area of Bristol. Undecided at the moment. Anyway, in this case I preferred the more minimalist approach in the end which, all things considered, is just as well. There’s going to a much more minimalist, uncluttered approach to Street Photography over the next six months. Purely out of necessity of course with Covid, I’m almost finished reading “The Street Philosophy of Garry Winogrand” and the details are what make his work so compelling. One of his quotes I can’t get out of my head “The challenge is to always make pictures more interesting than the things in it”. Food for thought and I need to work out just how I’m intending to go about that.
A little bit all over the place with this blog post, sorry about that, I know you’re used to my ramblings. More good news to end with though. The children went back to school after almost six months! Amélie is delighted, Louis, well let’s just say not so happy. Here’s Amélie upon her return, hardly containing her excitement at beginning her final year at Junior School and another one for her mum (Sam) from six years ago when she didn’t even bother trying to conceal the pure joy she felt at starting school life. That girl is always happy, happy, happy.
I took a walk across the fields after dropping the children to school that morning. Dottie displaying how Sam and I felt, finally they were where they should be on a weekday:
Despite the doom and gloom there really is a lot to be happy about. I sat down to type this and felt a little down if I were being honest, I’ve finished feeling as prescribed by my wife. As my dad always says whatever the problem might be…”In the end it’ll all be okay, you’ll see”. I’m surrounded by optimists and that’s a good thing, I can’t help but feel optimistic myself.
To end here’s another Youtube video/slideshow I posted with some family portraiture if anyone is interested please take a look:
As always my sincere thanks go to anyone taking the time to read this blog.
All images can be opened by clicking on the thumbnails and are taken using a Leica M with Summicron 28mm Lens fitted. Apart from Amélie in 2014 which was was a Canon 5D with 24-70 Lens.
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