Early Work

I first tried colour slide film in the early 1970s. I suppose it would have been Kodachrome, though I seem to remember changing to Fuji eventually. The cost of shooting colour really put a crimp on one's style: You would have to arrange and consider each picture before you pressed the shutter. If you reached frame 28 out of 36, should you buy another film for today's outing, or would those eight frames do for the day?

Therefore even simple images like this one from 1972 would take some consideration.

How times have changed. These days we take as many pictures as we want. In fact I think we maybe take too many, and we don't think long enough before pressing the shutter (clickclickclick  there go ten shots in burst mode...).

Anyway, here is another nice simple shot: A still life from 1971. My dad was quite a wit, and I guess it has rubbed off on me. He once sent me a packet with a letter saying that his watch had stopped and he was having trouble repairing it. Could I have a go?  This was what was inside the packet....

This was probably taken with a Praktika L with the lens reversed. Even though it dates from so long ago, I still rather like it.

Now a minimalist picture, this time from 1974. This confirms that my compositional tastes have not changed, I still take rather odd pictures... Less is more.

It's not just photography that has changed. Fashions, cars, street scenes all change with time. This parade down Canterbury High Street in 1974 looks so terribly dated now. A monochrome shot from my empoverished days as a student, which might look better done in sepia.

At least we had a grant cheque each term and didn't leave university with a huge debt around our necks.