I suppose that title might read “Interesting Times”, we’re certainly experiencing those in the U.K. at the moment. “Testing Times” seems more appropriate or we could just quote Charles Dickens:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
The patience of U.K. citizens is being tested to the brink and let’s not forget all the Covid testing either. I’ve also tested and re-examined my thoughts in the last blog whereby I announced that a photographer should always have a plan before they head out to shoot some Street Photography. We’ll take a closer, albeit brief look at all of that as we progress through this blog post. What’d you mean you’re bored already? Well, you could just skip the writing, I can’t say I’d blame you. Take a look at the photos instead, which were all taken in the last couple of weeks. Some in Bath, others on the coast in West Bay and Weymouth where I took a trip on the motorcycle in an attempt to freshen up my outlook on life, more importantly my photography.
This isn’t a political statement by the way, simply an observation and it’s said in a light hearted way. I voted to remain in the E.U., but the result was announced and I both respected and accepted it, that’s still true. If you were in the U.K. during the referendum for membership of the E.U. you’d have been bombarded with a huge amount of Brexit propaganda, it must be said from both sides of the debate. The Pro Brexit brigade paraded around in a specially painted bus which depicted how much the U.K. would save by leaving the E.U. I can’t remember the figures now, they were possibly made up. They also said that nothing would change, it would actually be better, we’d have trade deals across the globe. Apparently there’d be lots of extra jobs for British people, we wouldn’t have those pesky foreigners taking them. Immigration would be cut. Their slogan was “Take Back Control”.
Interesting then that illegal immigration is at an all time high. The general route is across the English Channel, the 22 miles that divides England from France and continental Europe. They set off from the French shores on a perilous journey across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The U.K. is now paying the French to patrol their coastline to prevent further tragedy and I suspect to keep the immigration figures lower for the Brexit Brigade. I thought we were saving money? No matter we have those marvellous trade deals, that one with the U.S. is really fantastic. Wait. Oh, we’re years away from having one of those with our special friends across the Atlantic, we now hear that in all likelihood there will never be one. There’s a little problem with that Brexit propaganda bus as well. There’s a shortage of lorry (HGV) drivers. So, there’s no one to drive it and even if there was no fuel to put in it. The U.K. government are now actively encouraging E.U. drivers to come over and help us out, practically begging them. I thought they didn’t want them here? In the meantime there are four hour queues at petrol stations, a limit to the amount a car can fill, knives being pulled, fights breaking out. Hopefully you’ll survive a that visit to the petrol station, drive to the supermarket where you’ll be delighted to find the shelves are empty. Oh well, we’re British, we go to the pub for a pint in a time of crisis. What? The pub is closed because they have no workers? Boris Johnson has '“10 days to Save Christmas” according to the newspapers. There’s no one here to process all those turkeys you see, it’s okay we’ll just buy them from France and Poland….at a price to be agreed! Looks as though the Polish are saving are arses again, this time it’s Turkey’s, last time it was pilots to help us win the Battle of Britain during WWII. Not sure how that sits with the “Little Englanders”, they don’t appear to want any foreigners here. From Monday the army are helping with delivery of fuel, after that I suspect with delivering Christmas because unfortunately the E.U. don’t have any spare drivers and if they did what would possibly inspire any of them to come and live here for three months only on a special visa. Basically they’re saying “Please come and help us out, then piss off back to where you come from, we don’t want you here”. I detest any form of racism. I’d like to “take back control”, my slightly controversial plan: If you voted to leave the E.U. you will no longer be able to use a petrol station or visit a supermarket, Christmas is cancelled for you, sorry, but it’s the price you have to pay for putting the rest of us through this crap. As per my caveat at the beginning, don’t take this too seriously, it’s not supposed to be. I do detest racism though, that is a fact. Anyway, I know how all these Brexit negotiations centre around fishing rights, after all it contributes 0.1% to the British economy. Here’s our fishing fleet in action:
I know, I know. It can’t all be blamed on Brexit. Testing Times…Let’s move on to Covid testing very briefly before we get to photography. Here’s some background and it’s quite interesting: Louis has had a really heavy cold for a couple of weeks. Sam tests him regularly using the home rapid Lateral Flow Tests as requested by the school, negative every time. On Monday this week I began feeling unwell as did Amélie, our symptoms were identical and appeared at exactly the same time. We all tested on Monday using the Lateral Flow Tests, they were negative. Sam in the meantime felt absolutely fine. On Tuesday I had the absolutely worst sore throat I’ve ever experienced, high temperature etc. I spent almost the whole day in bed asleep apart from driving with Sam and the children to the Covid Testing Centre where the far more accurate PCR Tests are administered, although actually you still do them yourself. Amélie in the morning had a positive home Lateral Flow test hence are reason for going, everyone else had a negative result. Sam now had a headache. The next day we received our results. Sam: Positive. Amélie: Positive. Louis: Negative and me: Negative. Despite spending two days feeling rotten, sleeping for hours, shivering, but no Covid. Sam had us all do another Lateral Flow test. The results were the same as the PCR tests. The U.K.’s Track & Trace team phoned Sam with lots of questions and orders of what she’s not to do, fines and so forth. They also insisted that I should take another PCR test, but they would send it to me in the post. It’s as though I have to take tests forever until they get the answer they want (a bit like the Scottish referendum, that one’s for British readers!). When it arrived the next day I did a rapid Lateral Flow Test at the same time. Negative. It’s hard to believe that I don’t have Covid. Four Lateral Flow Tests and two PCR Tests. Sam’s suggestion is that I’m not conducting the test properly. Well, I almost vomit when I tickle my tonsils with that swab on a stick and twice I’ve given myself a slight nose bleed from sticking it up my nose too far. The jury is out on this one, but it’s fascinating. Have I merely got a heavy cold at the exact same time as everyone else in the household has Covid? I’m with people who have Covid for 24 hours a day. If I didn’t have any symptoms I’d think the vaccine must be working well, but I do have them, why aren’t either myself or Louis testing positive? Besides the tests I’m banking on science to gets everyone through this. I’m a little concerned that Sam quickly gets better, she cements this family. Let’s talk about photography…
Last time I wrote that we should have a of plan when we go out to shoot some Street. Then I said perhaps numerous plans. You know, looking for layers, light and shadow, juxtaposition, colour matches and so forth. I‘ve had a rethink. There is a point to all that, whereby if you go looking for something in particular you’ll often find it, almost like magic. For example you’re focussed on gestures, you’ll see them.
I decided that although having a plan or something to be looking out for might help if you’re just starting with Street Photography. However if you’re a little more seasoned and been plodding the streets for a few years then really it is limiting. Your eye has been trained, it’s automatic. Sometimes you can’t explain why you clicked something, that’s possibly because you’re working at a subconscious level. Of course all this was confirmed yesterday as I was reading “The Ongoing Moment” by the brilliant Geoff Dyer. He was writing about the early documentary photographers, particularly those American photographers in the 1930’s employed by the FSA (Farm Security Administration). The FSA had decided it wanted a photographic record to argue human reality and economic decisions. Roy Stryker the man in charge gave lists to the photographers:
“People standing in shade of trees, open windows on street cars and buses, sun on water, beach umbrellas, sailboats, gas stations, people sat on front porches, men working, sign painters, advertising bill boards…”
and on it went, very specific. Dorothea Lange who was one of those photographers said: “to know ahead of time what you’re looking for means you’re then only photographing your own preconceptions", which is very limiting”. As far as she was concerned it was “fine for a photographer to work completely without plan and just photograph that to which he instinctively responds”. Robert Frank who in the 1950’s set out to photograph “The Americans” agreed: “the project I have in mind is one that will shape itself as it proceeds and is essentially elastic”. Incidentally, Robert frank two years on the road to photograph and produce work for that book. Note to self: Two years of photographs from an ultra talented photographer, I don’t think that mere mortals should get upset because we went into a city for an hour and came back with nothing! Anyway, I decided that I was wrong and got the backing from Robert Frank and Dorothea Lange to prove how wrong I was. Here’s a few more from the last couple of weeks:
Finally here’s a link to a YouTube slideshow featuring my work from September 2021:
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 made using a Leica M with Summicron 28mm Lens fitted.
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