Frozen moments amidst a sea of transience this week…
The guy who owns the red van in this shot drives around pumping bubbles into the sky just for people’s pleasure..they call him the Bubble Man and his work is never done…
and there ain’t nothin more transient than a bubbble…well as well as life, the universe and everything..obvs.
Sandwiched somewhere amongst the headlines this week was the scientist’s final warning on climate change to the leaders of the world: act now or it’s too late. For decades they have been saying “before it’s too late” and now we are almost at the moment when there is no before..it’s just too late. Was this information greeted with alarm or urgency? Did they drop everything and leap into action? Ehh, not so much.
Most people barely noticed it. It got lost in the noise like everything else. And politicians certainly didn’t flag it up. And so there it is..facing a threat to our very existence the human race simply ignored it and went about their business. And we so limp towards this calamitous destiny ..not with a bang or even a whimper..just with a collective shrug of indifference…and possibly with just the vaguest hope in the back of our minds that some sort of miracle will somehow save the day..although none of us exactly know what that might be..a superhero possibly? Godzilla? The climate fairy? Who’s going to be our knight in shining armour? It certainly ain’t gonna be anyone in power cos they would’ve stepped up by now. So who? Actually the messiah is apparently due for a return so maybe we’ll be ok after all…let’s go with that..
Monochromatic tributes to people who have died this week. I know a lot of people can’t handle the death thing but it is in fact the only guaranteed part of life. It seems strange to ignore it completely. And yet we all stumble on as if it’s never going to happen when we know for a fact that it is. It’s a bit like recycling. We know it isn’t really being done but we still do it anyway.
And so even though it happens every day we are always surprised and shocked to hear when someone has died. Even if you didn’t know them that well. And if you knew them and cared for them and loved them it is beyond brutal and the hole they leave behind will never truly be filled. But if you have lost it means you have loved which means you have truly lived.
And in some ways the beautiful thing about life is that it continues no matter what whether you are in it or not. New lives, new dreams, new everything…constantly evolving, adapting, growing…as each and every living thing on this planet works their arse off to survive and to thrive and flourish.
I was going to use the shots this week to make a comparison to my own current situation (no I haven’t died, it just kinda feels like it) but after banging on about it on Wednesday for Long Covid Awareness day I think I’ve probably said enough about all that for now.
So I will just leave you with this picture of me (taken by my mum) which I was going to use to illustrate me clinging on for dear life..and I guess it still does.
Steve Mackey tragically passed away last week. I met him when I was hired as a production photographer on a couple of music video shoots he was directing alongside Douglas Hart. As a massive Pulp fan I was delighted to be working with him and they say you should never meet your heroes but he was the loveliest man you could imagine. And he was also ridiculously talented and the ultimate renaissance man.
Pictured here with Sworn Virgins on their Searching for Hiro video.
I have been playing the album Separations by Pulp every day since I heard the sad news. It was the record Steve joined the band on and it took them in a new direction, introducing the electronic element to their sound. It is a superb album and have got completely and utterly immersed in it. They were still relatively unknown when they made it and it was not one I had really heard before as joined them on his n hers like most other people. It was actually recorded in 89 but not released till 92 and for me is a true undiscovered gem and think it truly deserves to stand alongside the records that followed.
James Righton shoot for Release Party
Steve will most definitely live on in his music and his photography and his films but also in the hearts and minds of everyone who knew him. My deepest condolences go out to his family.
