End of a Long Month

Hello

It's coming up to the end of January 2018; My Lord, is it that time already?

Ordinarily, Januaries are bad enough months; Christmas has been and gone, pressies used or forgotten, grey days, long nights, cold, either boozeless or habitually too much -- a bottle of red goes nowhere -- and a distinct lack of money. Where did the time go? Where did the cash go? Where did all the goodwill and fellowship go? 

This Jan has been worse than usual from just about every point of view. Not only are the days universally grey but we've been invaded by a virus that has caused through-the-night coughing, sneezing and general fed-upness throughout the family. Yes, I know; us and millions like us throughout the land.

But it's coming to an end. Having sold most of my kit and half my soul on eBay, the bills are paid; Susie has identified the authors of several of the Albumen prints, (contact prints from 15"x12" glass plates) given to me at Salisbury College fifty years ago by John Barker who taught three-dimensional design there, so that we know a) they're not worth millions but b) they're genuine pictures from Italy, Greece and Iran which have a history and a visual value all of their own, and I've found the most interesting area for research in the study of ethnographic diversity. A book dropped onto the mat a week or so ago, accompanied by an invoice for £105 ("HOW MUCH?" I shrieked, before looking more closely at the document to see it said 'No Payment Required; Review Copy') called 'Ethnography, Diversity and Urban Space', published by Routledge. 

Fascinating; a gem of a book; edited by Mette Louise Berg, Ben Gidley and Nando Sigona, it discusses diversity in terms not only of ethnicity but also of class, religion, sexual orientation and all stations north.

I plan to put the practises and principles to use in two immediate areas: first, I've already approached the regional London rugby clubs (London Irish, London Scottish and London Welsh) for permission to photograph some of their players, and second, I've just made an appointment with one of the Devizes Town Clerks to talk with him about the diversity (or lack of it) here in my home town. I don't want to look at the usual targets, you see, like inner-city deprived areas; I want to find out about the people here -- those that I have put into my new 'Standard Class' -- not upper management but not on benefits either, who are our neighbours, friends, work colleagues and family.

And I chose the rugby clubs because I wanted to photograph regional faces and figures -- and where better to find them than where regional people gather -- in this case to cheer on their compatriots on the rugby field. 

Do stay with me; I hope to make cauliflower ears, flattened noses and toothless grins into works of art. 

Well, you have to try, don't you?

Have a good day.

John