Tag: street photography

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MYLDN 1730

All shots this week part of my ongoing series: “R u talkin to me“. Now that I am back out and about I am currently getting all my info from the street which are when you think about the original information super highway (that really looked like it was gonna be a keeper for a while). Why don’t I look online or read a newspaper like everybody else? Well this is because I have essentially cut myself off from all news sources, firstly by necessity but now by choice.

For the most part of the last 18 months or so I have been unable to read more than a couple of lines of anything before my brain capsized. So consequently my ability to stay up with current affairs drastically diminished. I quickly went from being a voracious news hound to a lackadaisical (such a good word, really don’t use enough) uniformed mutt.

At first it was incredibly frustrating but overtime a positive emerged. Namely I had been liberated from the doom scroll. I was no longer being relentlessly bombarded by the daily horror show and my mood instantly improved. I felt calmer. More at ease. Less angst ridden. Well not by the news at any rate. I was blissfully ignorant and found I was filled with less daily dread yet as my cognitive ability improved I started glancing back at the headlines. I couldn’t help myself. But every time I did my mood plummeted and it also affected my health. It just made me feel, why am I even bothering to get better? It killed my will to improve and so in the interest of self-preservation I am now keeping the relentless feed of misery at arm’s length. I can’t let it back in yet, not while I am just starting to find my feet again..

I used to feel you had to be informed, it was some sort of moral obligation and that the old ostrich approach was what has got us into all this mess in the first place. But the way I see it is that the things that really need to be happening aren’t happening, so why do I need to pay attention? Why should I check in just to watch the powers-that-be not doing what they should be doing? And then having to listen to the relentless bullshit as to why they continue to ignore the all encompassing tidal wave that is coming towards us. And obviously this isn’t the first time. They have been ignoring the advice of experts on a multitude of matters for a very long time..a few examples incoming..

When our Government was informed that inequality was the root cause of most of the society’s problems and that equal societies were better for everyone did they listen? did they act? did they fuck..

When our Government was informed that excessive testing harmed young children’s educational development did they listen? did they act? did they fuck…

When our Government was informed that it would be better across the board to legalise drugs did they listen? did they act? did they fuck…

When our Government was informed that we must phase out fossil fuels and invest in renewables immediately to have a chance in hell of maintaining a liveable planet did they listen? did they act? did they fuck!

They ain’t listening to the information being fed to them so why should we waste our time listening to them? They clearly aren’t paying attention to what needs to be done so what’s the point of paying attention to them? They are not concerned with our well being. Or our future. I mean, anyone who wants to ban wind farms in the middle of a cost of living/energy crisis when it’s the cheapest cleanest energy available in this country is not someone who is woking with your best interests at heart It is someone you need to remove. As well as every other elected twat protecting the oil industry instead of the people they represent.

It’s like getting in pest control to fix your rodent problem only to discover they’re in cahoots with the rats. As I have said before our leaders are not leading the way, they are in the way. They are problems not solutions and their actions infuriate me to a level of anger I cannot still currently deal with so until I can I will avoid avoid avoid. Although as you can see I am getting my rant back on so feeling better ;)

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MYLDN 1729

I’m trying, I’m trying!

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MYLDN 1728

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MYLDN 1725

And so the other day, I bring my camera out for the first time in months as I finally feel well enough to go out once more in search of the ultimate picture and as I hit street level (not literally, I didn’t fall over, this isn’t a tragic story) I am met with this glorious sight…the low winter sun beaming straight down onto the pavement in front of me, literally lighting up the path ahead of me, beckoning me forward and ushering me safe passage through the darkness..did I take it as a sign? Fuck yeah.

Having been housebound for so long and not been able to get further than down the road and back I feel like someone who has just got out of prison..again. The air is crisp, the colours are beautiful. I have a large unbreakable grin on my face. I can walk further and faster than I have done for months and that is nothing short of magnificent. I gaze in wonder at everything around me, like a child mesmerised by even the tiniest of things. I will never take this for granted. It is glorious.

I’ve had enough of being on the subs bench, watching life from the sidelines. I want back in. And I’m not going to stop till I am fully ensconced back into the land of the living. Yes the world is full of horror, chaos, injustice and anxiety but being part of life is a rare and beautiful privilege and you gonna spend a fuck load of time not in it so you might as well soak up as much as you can…

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MYLDN (1724)

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I am back on the streets..MYLDN has returned!

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#MYLDN (1720)

And so here it is..the moment you haven’t been waiting for..the big reveal as to what all the photographs over the last 3 weeks have in common which will now surely be highly anti-climatic as I’ve dragged it out for so long but anyway here goes..drum roll puh-leeease…

They actually don’t just have one thing in common. They are connected in a multitude of ways. They are bound together by location, time, technology, intention and they all very personal to me.

Firstly they were all taken within the same geographical space. More specifically within 600 steps of my flat. This is because at the time I literally couldn’t walk further than that in any direction. I would venture just once a day outside and shuffle around at a snail’s pace (literal not metaphorical). I have always taken most of my photos locally, especially in the last two years but these are all within a super specific area, namely how far I could get from my flat without tanking out.

Secondly they were all taken within the same 3 month period last year when I was probably at my worst physical state due to long covid and chronic fatigue.

Thirdly they were all taken on my iphone as this was also the first time in nearly 20 years that I had left home without my camera. I was too ill to focus on anything (no pun intended) so the last thing on my mind was taking photos and I was too weak even to have the added weight of the camera in my pocket. But I did have my phone on me because I was using it to count my steps so I didn’t go too far. For the record these are the first photos I have ever shared that were taken on a phone.

Fourthly (is that right?) these shots are all moments that I was unable ignore, moments that I felt I had to record, moments that I felt would disappear into the ether if I did not try and encapsulate them. And they all had a poignancy for me. Something that spoke to me. Maybe they mirrored how I was feeling, maybe they reminded me of a life I once had. Whatever it was, the feeling was strong, strong enough to penetrate how shit I felt and make me want to take a picture. Even in a dire state I still had a compulsion to document. And that they gave me hope as they all ignited a dim spark within my fogged up brain to show that I was still in there somewhere. The lights were still on..just, well, mebbe just one.

Fifthly (pretty sure that’s wrong too) they reminded me of photographs that I used to take. Inanimate objects. Abandoned toys. No people. Moments of apparent meaning amidst the chaos. Are these extraordinary photos? Not necessarily. Could the world have coped without their existence? Of course. But my need to capture them hopefully gives them resonance. And I realised recently (hence this series) if if I did not then share them and explain the story behind them there would have been no point in taking them in the first place.

I think ultimately photography is a futile attempt to preserve what is about to disintegrate. Everything passes and at some point evaporates forever and yet photography manages to slightly cheat death by keeping what should have disappeared visible and present. It’s basically black magic. Just as this presentation of these photos is an illusion because what you are looking at are just 0s and 1s. And yet my desperate gesture to save these moments from instant annihilation has succeeded in your observation of them, however fleeting…

Grant Morrison said: “All I’ve got to offer is that I am a witness to the events of my life.”

And maybe that’s all we can do…

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#MYLDN (1719)

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You remember when I said I was going to reveal all this week as to the connection between all these random photos I’ve been posting…well I hate to break it to you and I know you must be beside yourself in anticipation and I’m sure you haven’t slept since this began just wondering, contemplating, analysing what it could possibly be but I’m afraid you are going to have to wait one more week…soz.

p.s apologies for sending a few multiple emails this week. I have been trying to get to the bottom of why my photos don’t appear for some people in the body of the email like they used to. One photo suddenly appeared the other day and I got all excited but it only works if its a photo that comes from my phone rather than my computer which makes no sense.

I finally found out its to do with certain mail programmes blocking remote content from loading (yes apple i’m talking to you) and not in my control. Apparently its a security ting to stop spam but its a little over zealous and my pics have been ensnared in the process. There are forums dedicated to this shit I swear and there are ways to disable but very hassely and sure you aren’t gonna wanna bother. If not I will keep trying to see if I can fix this end somehow, but in meantime you might just have to click on title of the post to see these frankly unmissable pictures..;)

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#MYLDN (1709)

Joanna Bumley apparently…

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This week I have featured people who I have taken multiple shots of over the years. I rarely take more than one picture of someone but there are some who I have continued to capture over the years as find them particularly interesting to photograph but also because I see them regularly. After I posted shots on Monday of Christine (bless her) it made me realise that there were others who I have collections of too…

I know it all sounds a bit stalkery but I’m not following these people I promise. I just run into them a lot. And they all seem to have a story. There are many locals who I have seen over the years and never spoken to but have always wondered who they were and what they were like. But it’s difficult to bowl up to people and say, seen you around..how’s life? Wanna spill your story? It just doesn’t really happen.

I have been in this hood a long time and have pottered up and down Portobello Rd for decades so have seen a lot of the same people day in day out. As a result I am on nodding terms with tons of them, smiling terms with many, stop and chats with a handful and those I would call friends just a few.

This guy for example I have just seen around a lot and think he has a great look and seems very cool. I will call him Monsieur Moustachio..because I can. On appearance he looks French or Italian, could easily work in fashion, probably moved to London so he could be himself and loves Krautrock and tangfastics. This is obvs entirely made up and I really have no idea who he is or what his story is. I just observe and project. I imagine what people’s lives might consist of, yet know full well that my assumptions are just fiction and probably nowhere near an actual fact. Still as I often quote the great Herzog..”the truth should never get in the way of a great story”. Here’s to the mind machinations of the imagination and all that they bring.

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#MYLDN (1704)

This is Bass Man (another highly imaginative name). Most thursdays you can find him on the steps of this property playing an unplugged bass to music he is listening to on his headphones or on a tablet. Or sometimes he is just playing along to a song in his head.

He is always deeply focussed with his eyes closed and rarely looks up when “playing”. It is difficult to tell if he can actually play because you cannot hear him. And yet skill set aside, he is extremely dedicated as is out there almost every week.

I don’t actually know if he lives there or not as have never seen him come in or out. He is just on the stoop, using it as a stage. He seems to be really enjoying himself. Everyone walking past watches him with the same fascination as you get the sense, in his own mind, he is performing to a devoted audience of thousands.

I confess I have never spoken to him (yes, I’m shy) but have heard him speak and he talks with an incredibly high almost cartoon like voice and is mostly subdued until he interacts with people then becomes very animated.

He is another great character than inhabits this neighbourhood and the world is a better place for him in it.

Maybe one day I’ll talk to him and find out what his story is. If I do I’ll let you know. In the meantime we can but wonder..which is maybe better.