Old Photographers Don't Die They Just Go Out of Focus

I've just had 24 hours in Morecambe staying with a friend who has restored an old seafront house. It’s a beautiful reinterpretation of the building, combining the best of the old with big picture windows and a modern spirit. Quite inspiring to wake up and be able to stare out at the watery horizon and the Lake District across the bay, with the light literally flickering and changing every few moments. I managed a short explore before the wild weather stepped in to stop me. I’ve written before about the battle British seaside towns have to reinvent themselves and Morecambe has a lot of people including me willing it on, but there is a long way to go still. However I like hunting down fragments of curious beauty tucked away in the neglected back streets.

The title of this blog comes from a mug my Granddad (a photographer) had when I was young, and I can remember him laughing at the sentiment. It came to mind as Saul Leiter died this week just shy of 90 years of age. I felt sad for a moment or two and then really heartened that he had in the last few years received recognition for his pioneering colour photography work and his beautiful unique way of recording the world. If you’ve not seen it there is a very watchable, warm film about him that was shown on BBC 4 this year called In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life with Saul Leiter. It paints him as an ego free eccentric with a very positive outlook enjoying a late burst of adoration and appreciation. A few of images from Mr Leiter as I tip my hat to him:

All images © Saul Leiter

Comments

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.

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

Exquisite Corpse

I've gathered this project together here, although it really just started as instagram posts and me keeping myself entertained/ creative through the early weeks of the pandemic. On reflection, although it looks visually different from my usual work (black and white rather than a focus on colour) the themes that emerge are similar. This is how I've made sense of it: These images are inspired by the exquisite corpse parlour game first played by the surrealists around the time of the 1918 pandemic. In my interpretation each picture is a self-portrait made up of my silhouette and graphic elements found on my Lockdown daily walks in the suburban landscape around me. Living alone I soon realised the only human form I was seeing on a regular basis was my own shadow. I started making these images using my phone camera and a selection of simple apps at the beginning of the first Covid Lockdown and continued until things returned to some kind of normality in mid...

Marc Provins

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