For my 21st birthday my sister bought me a camera, which was a very generous present but probably not appreciated as much as it should have been by the 21 year old Mark. The camera in question was a Pentax ME Super SLR:
The year in question was 1983. At the time, Billy Joel was strutting his stuff at No.1 with Uptown Girl, but was soon to be knocked off the number one slot by the Flying Pickets with their accapella version of Only You by Yazoo. They stayed there for 5 weeks and it turned out to be the perfect intro to Orwell's vision of 1984, the year the Miner's strike began, bringing suffering to parts of the UK and a whole new era as many felt their own state had turned against them. A strange era, politicising many but also making others turn their back on politics in disenchantment, many never to return.
What else can I say about November 1983? I was busy trying to master my Pentax, settling nicely into an aperture priority groove.I recall taking loads of photos of Chris and Dave - the other two members of Vortex, photos of a friend Rob who was into body building, plus there are lots of shots of Mick and Tim. It was a period when we were all trying to work out where to go with our lives, searching for direction while the unemployment lines grew ever longer, hairstyles ever curlier and music ever more fake. The Clash and The Jam were long gone by now. Even Paul Weller had foresaken his guitar and taken up making dodgy videos while the Long Hot Summer faded away.
As ever 1983 saw the England football team cruelly raise expectations only to fail to deliver, by missing out in qualifying for the '84 European Championships. Xmas '83 also saw a cruel IRA bombing campaign in London, targeting shoppers. For me it was an end to a part of my childhood, as our (fairly) regular shopping trip to London for last minute presents was cancelled in the face of terror on the streets of the capital.
As 1983 ended I was soon to start signing-on in Stevenage, one of Maggie's millions, or one of the 1 in 10 as UB 40 put it. My years at the Garden Centre working with my Dad were over (much to the relief of the gardeners of Stevenage) and a life on the dole lay ahead. Strangely they were also happy days, as some good friends were also unemployed and we got to hang out a lot together. Lost but together! During this time I read a lot of books about the Vietnam War, with Rumour of War by Philip Caputo, Dispatches by Michael Herr and Nam by Mark Baker being among my favorites. But I was particularly drawn to the photo journal called Nam, by Tim Page, the British photojournalist (portrayed by a crzed Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now). His photos and his life story captured my mind and imagination. The road of a photojournalist remains one I wished I had travelled, but alas.
In 1985 I headed off to Israel with Vanessa, Julie and Cath for 3 months on a Kibbutz. It was a journey that changed my life and opened up the world to me. Sadly I dont recall taking my Pentax with me. I guess I was travelling light. The journey ended by meeting Mick in Greece and a tricky few weeks trying to hitch-hike back to Stevenage. To this day I find it hard to understand how so few cars stopped to pick us up?!! The journey took us through Yugoslavia, which a few years later would disintegrate in a viscious and bloody civil war as the country fell apart along ethnic lines. I would return in 1997 to help organise the international observation of the elections. It is impossible to over stress how such a possibility was so far removed from my life in 1985! Truly bizarre.
In 1990 I did remember to pick up my camera while packing my rucksack. Tanya and I bought one way tickets to Bangkok for a five month journey around Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia (I consciously always try to forget the awfulness that is Singapore). My Pentax didnt let me down and I managed to get some great shots, including in the hills of northern Thailand, Tioman Island (notwithstanding the renewed attempt of the England football team to destroy my morale by losing on penalties to West Germany at Italia 90), and in the rice fields of Java and Bali. Taking photos among the rice fields, watching life gently ebb and flow and capturing the electric but soft green of the rice is magical. During this journey I maanged to virtually boil my Pentax on the overheating floor of an old mini bus as it struggled to get us up Mount Bromo in East Java. Thankfully my trusty Pentax sprang back to life to enable some nice shots on the lunar-like landscape around Bromo with Tanya posing artfully.
In 1992, Tanya and I headed to Jordan to begin a fabulous 2 1/2 year journey, living in Amman and travelling around Syria, Palestine, Israel, Egypt and even Cyprus. A fantastic experience and one on which my trusty Pentax came along. I dont have the photos anymore, as Tanya kept them when we separated, but I recall some gorgeous shots of Syria. So tragic the country is suffering so badly now. My memories are full of the creeking wooden water wheels of Hama, the voluminous Bazaar in Aleppo, the Roman arch and ruins in Palmyra and the Old City of Damascus with its spices and rugs and cafes. A true tourist paradise - and the buses always seemed to run on time! And all this for just £5 in an American Graffiti-styled cadillac from downtown Amman. Heaven. My Pentax spent much of its Jordan experience focusing on the rose red city of Petra in the south of the country. Close-ups of the patterns and colours of the petra rock remain some of my favorite photos. There is a life in the multi-coloured grain of the rocks as they capture the startling sun. Just imagine the stories these rocks could tell, the empires and armies they have seen come and go. So many epic stories, so many tragedies but always beauty and sunshine. Stunning.
I also have in my mind that during a harsh winter in Jerusalem, when the snow was falling, my Pentax closed down from the low temperature. My love for the camera clearly didnt extend to actually looking after it! But once more, it bounced back to life and continued on the journey with me.
But it was the last major journey we took together. By the time I went to Bosnia in 1997 I had a compact Panasonic Lumix with me. I love the photos of the Bosnian countryside and parties with Kare, James and Miles and all the observers and characters who came and went over the 5 months we spent in Sarajevo. Happy, crazy, hard and wonderful days. I kept this camera with me as I started my election journey. Looking back i should have made the effort and packed my pentax or moved into digital earlier, but I didnt and somehow I drifted away from photography. Its funny how sometimes we leave behind things we really love doing and suddenly it seems like the past. Elections have been kind to me and my dream of seeing the world and doing work that interested me and somehow seemed relevant and meaningful seemed to come together. And what countries: Cambodia, Guyana, Yemen, Palestine, Ukraine, Bosnia, Macedonia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Palestine, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nigeria, Maldives, Ghana, Mozambique, Bangladesh, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Bulgaria and on and on.
But from 2002 I picked up a camera once more and have taken about a gazillion photos of Elliot and subsequently Rosalie.
Somehow with one's children each time you look through the eye piece you see beauty for the first time. The massive stack of printed photos Nathalie and I accumulated is testimony to that! And now we both have amassed many gigabytes or terrabytes of photos on our respective computers. In each one Elliot and Rosalie look out and in each one their mother and father see something magical, stunning and original.In the last couple of years I started to feel like taking photography more seriously once more. Of course Elliot and Rosalie will remain a key focus of attention, but I wanted to supplement it with photos of places, objects, views, lines and colours. I am not what one would call artistic. My brief forray into music as bass player in Vortex is testimony to that! But I have stuck with the guitar and it is an artistic expression of sorts. But my photography is another outlet and I wanted to take it on again. But now the world of digital cameras provides so many options it is hard to find one's way into it. A few years back I bought a new Panasonic Lumix (they are always very good) and it served me well. But last year the lens opening started sticking, so for last summer I bought the Sony HX50 because it felt so good in the hand and is a great point and shoot camera for holiday photos.
But when I looked around and thought seriously about a new camera it was the Fuji X-e1 which caught my attention. One reviewer recalled how the camera made her fall in love with taking photos again, and I know exactly what she means. Each time you press the shutter it feels substantial! Plus it looks cool, no?
For me what grabbed my attention most of all is how like my old Pentax it is, with the dials on top just a finger tip away and the aperture ring on the lens. Its a stunning digital camera with some old and trusted controls. Just seems like the perfect camera for yours truly. I was recently in Venice and worked on a training seminar with Stefan. It was very funny as Stefan had the Fuji X100s, which is another stunning camera. Seems he was equally enamoured of the Fuji cameras and their qualities and beauty. I just heard he has bought the X-e2 and various lenses. I will have to consider going back into the lucrative world of consultancies! I decided to foresake a zoom and instead bought the X-e1 with a 35mm prime lens, plus took advantage of an offer and got an 18mm wideangle lens thrown in. Every now and then I yearn for a zoom as a particular shot offers itself, but I like the idea of thinking about the shot, making it work and making me move! On my compacts I have tended to overuse the zoom and pay too much attention to it rather than the shot itself. We shall see what the future holds lens wise.
So, now a new journey begins. I am 51, 30 years older than when I got the Pentax from my sister Gill. How does 30 years pass like that?! Also a bit sad that the Tories are back. How did that happen?! But I wanted to start this blog to try to capture some of the photos I am taking with the X-e1. As you will see I have some shots from a gorgeous weekend in Edinburgh, a work trip to Venice (thanks Demetrio for the invite and to Stefan for great company as we strolled around - and drank!), a nice Cuban weekend in Bognor and Arundel (I can explain) and London on a cold and crisp morning as the city and Hampstead Heath awoke. Most unlike me to get up at 6am and go for a walk, but maybe thats what photography can do.
Looking at these photos, in many I can see I am striving for atmosphere, under-exposing the shot for dramatic effect. It feels good to take lots of black & white shots as well. I suspect that photoshop is beyond me, so I will stick with trying to capture the moods through the camera as far as I can. Somehow this seems more honest and original to me anyway.
I hope you continue to follow my blog. I will try to post new photos regularly, looking for interesting angles, dramatic lighting and new perspectives. Its a new journey with a new camera. Who knows where we go to next!
Mark, London
February 2014
PS - For those that have read this far I know what you are thinking: 'tell us what happened to the Pentax'! Well its safe and well. It is sitting on the desk upstairs in the flat here in London. Yes it has gathered some dust but I suspect it is still raring to go. It is like some ageing rocker just waiting for the wheel of trend and taste to turn in its direction once more so it can strut its stuff. But that couldnt happen anymore, could it?
