This is my photo stories blog. I don't make money out of this site. I am in it for the stories. Please do comment via email to me (see 'Get Involved') or do use the 'Leave a Comment' box at the end of each blog post. Ethical and privacy concerns are important to me. I am a retired research Professor, see my Research Approach. Also see my Research Gate page.
Part 1 - Old photos and stories from the coastal edge (1958-1976). My Part 1 project brief was to get hold of old photos and stories from my past (of visits to the coastal edge of the UK in the time period 1958-1976) and to then connect them to new photos and stories of these places. I also wanted to capture photos and stories from others if their memories were jogged by my blog posts or if there was news of the places and people in my stories.
Well, sometimes by chance, or by design, or by a play on words, photo stories present themselves but they are outside the above Part 1 brief. And yet, I deem them to belong in this expanding collection of my 'Connections with the Edge'.
Part 2: London in the '80s - Life on the edge of society. At the age of 22 in 1980 I decided to move to London to play in bands and squat with friends. This was life on the edge of society for me and as such this episode of my life has Part 2 devoted to it here on my photo stories blog. I am convinced that the creative people that I encountered at this time really shaped me and helped me to become a successful, but outsider, research Professor and a good father. I acknowledge that most of these excellent photographs in Part 2 were taken by others, particularly my old friend Halvdan Wettre, who has kindly granted me permission to use his photos. I was too busy playing in indie bands, drinking beer and falling in love. I am lucky that you guys took the trouble to snap away. An abstract on this work, submitted for the Subcultures Network International Conference, was been accepted in March 2023: A final draft of the accepted abstract is now in Research Gate:
Cook, J. (2023). Indie music milieu: London in the 80s squatters network. Subcultures Network International Conference, 13-14 April 2023, UWE Bristol. UK. See also relevant blog post.
Blog structure/plan
Part 1 - Old photos and stories from the coastal edge (1958-1976) - I lived in 10 places up to the age of 14
- Completed, see first 20 blog posts: dated in the post title in the range 20 July to 2 October, 2022; plus one the 13th Nov 2022. Or look in 'Categories' right-hand sidebar and click on Part 1 – Old photos and stories,
Part 2 - London in the '80s - Life on the edge of society
- Look in 'Categories' right-hand sidebar and click on Part 2 – London in the '80s,
Part 4 - Outsider Academic - As a Gamekeeper's Son I have travelled a long way
Parts 5 to 7 - Portfolio of John's Photos
Issues emerging
Public vs private stories, how different age groups prefer to respond ...
Links
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnnigelcook/
Endnotes
- Had a session with a photography tutor called Charlotte Sams from Bristol Photography Club and got her to comment on my blog site. One thing she said was that she liked my documentary style. As a researcher we do inquiry anyway and follow an ethical frame, but I see the comparison and I like it.
- I don't postprocess photos, apart from occasional cropping and enlargement of parts of a shot. In fact for now I don't use filters on my lens. I use a Sony A7 IV camera. Specifically: (i) Sony a7 IV (Alpha ILCE-7M4) Compact System Camera (a full-frame hybrid mirrorless camera) with 28-70mm Zoom Lens, 4K Ultra HD, 33MP, (ii) Sony SEL24105G FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS Zoom Lens.
Acknowledgements
- Thanks to my daughter Meghan Kinnison-Cook for creating the 'UK and Ireland silhouette' graphic and my business card for me, see https://www.citrusstudios.co.uk/
- I developed my site using the Mira WordPress Theme
- Thank you Frances Neale and Paul Boniface for encouraging comments as I developed this blog and for providing me with their own stories.
Copyright on this site
CC BY-NC Attribution-NonCommercial
This Creative Commons license lets you remix, adapt, and build upon my work non-commercially, and although your new works must also acknowledge me and be non-commercial, you don’t have to license your derivative works on the same terms.
