Send In The Clowns

I love the coast, especially the British seaside. Actually it is better out of season, less people, more dramatic weather and a heightened melancholic atmosphere. So I was excited to visit coastal towns I'd never been to before on our recent East Yorkshire pilgrimage. We managed to fit three places into one day, Scarborough, Filey and Bridlington. They are different sizes and have different ambiences, which could have been partly to do with the time of day we reached each one. It reminded me a bit of a trip we do nearer to home on the west side of the country, Lytham, St Annes and Blackpool. Near together physically but miles apart in terms of the people who visit and what's on offer.

The British Seaside has been a source of inspiration for many photographers and so I spend a lot of time trying to avoid making a Martin Parr or a Tony Ray-Jones influenced picture, which is hard as they are part of my creative DNA.

I really liked the sight of this vintage clown ride with the horizon behind it but I think we'd all agree clowns appear fairly sinister. Apparently some phobia studies suggest an estimated 20 to 30% of the entire population find clowns scary and some of that group finds them frightening enough to trigger panic attacks. The fear of clowns is called coulrophobia which isn't even recognised by my spell checker.

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A Lovely Pair of Pins

I knew the expression 'pins' referring to legs but had to Google what the Cockney rhyming slang comes from. It looks like 'pins & pegs', but there are some great alternatives like 'bacon & eggs' and 'dolly pegs'. I think I might start trying to incorporate more Cockney into my everyday speak, I do have London roots but they are more South (Saff) London than East London, where I think it originates. Anyway this is all to illustrate a new picture that sits quite neatly with an older picture. So brogues, legs and a sea view from my two main muses. This might be turning into a set... Oh by the way the top view is Morecambe Bay and the lower image is from The Wirral looking across towards Wales. The North West of England is a beautiful place, with some stylish residents.

Hold Your Hair In Deep Devotion

At last after a week of being indoors, I walked into the light! I went solo and had a photography day in Liverpool, just what the doctor ordered, as they say. I'm a bit out of words at the moment and was going to include a Philip Larkin poem, but I've been thinking that Alex Turner is my modern day poet hero and this is my favourite track on AM, tucked away at the end. He's in his twenties and yet the words suggest a time before he was born, filling my head with images and memories. I've included a link to the track if you want to listen to The Arctic Monkey doing their thing whilst taking in my pictures... UPDATE Well since writing the above it has been pointed out to me that the song is actually based on a poem by John Cooper Clarke, which makes sense of the time frame (being written in the early Eighties) and the fact that I responded to the lyrics like a poem. Apparently Alex Turner first heard it read by his English teacher whilst at school. So mayb...

Linda McCartney Video Commission

If you'd like to access my cyanotype video workshops, they are still live on The Walker Art Gallery website: Cyanotype prints for beginners Advanced cyanotype prints

Marc Provins

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