Little People have been delighting the internet for some time so it's good so see them in a London exhibition. I had a look last week. It's fab. The book is also a little treasure.
Little People have been delighting the internet for some time so it's good so see them in a London exhibition. I had a look last week. It's fab. The book is also a little treasure.
Morecambe's iconic Jug of Tea stall now has its own Flickr group (photo above by pognophobia). Pictures of one thing over and over again from slightly different angles. I like that. This seems reminiscent of the last days of the New Piccadilly and lately Walthamstow Stadium which was all over Flickr after its closing night. Something so obviously out of place and time (now shown up by the shiny new Midland Hotel) attracts a devoted following, capturing it while they still can.
Eee, I remember when it only cost 99p. That's inflation for you.
Not that I have a thing about public baths or anything but these photos of disused swimming pools at Polar Inertia are swell. More info at Gigi Cifali.
"Bees invade Mark Poulton's Punch and Judy booth" by Paul Russell who consistently takes great seaside photos.
New, from the makers of Little People: a tiny street art project which photographs miniscule people on the streets of London comes Inner City Snail: a slow street art project. I love Little People - so tiny and animated. There's a book due out in September. Not so keen on snails but nice to see them doing something useful for a change.
Michael Prince, who took those great photos of the George Hotel has been on a cafe tip lately. He has superb photos of Boni's Cafe in Clarkston, near Glasgow and The Ritz Cafe in Millport. They're both real favourites of mine and feature on the second set of I like postcards. They won't be there forever so enjoy while you can.
This great photo, of Mount Baths in Northampton, comes from Played in Britain, a wonderful website documenting "sports-related architectural gems, sporting landscapes and waterscapes, relics and curios of a sporting persuasion". It's beautifully put together with the enthusiasm of a true fan and the weight of an academic volume (it's backed by English Heritage). The galleries are gorgeous, often arresting because these places are so familiar yet few people take the time to look at them properly. If you want to read more there's an excellent booklist, including Liquid Assets: The lidos and open air swimming pools of Britain plus various regional guides.
It's always nice to find people who make money from their writing giving it away for nothing. So here's Unmitigated England, a blog by Peter Ashley who wrote the (essential) book of the same name. His books are a must for fans of old signs, local colour, small shops, everyday architecture and other quintessential symbols of Britishness (plus lots of Len Deighton at the moment). The strapline "a country lost and a country found" sums it up in a nutshell (thanks Gareth).
Found in the Finisterre (and Geoffrey Fletcher's London) Flickr group, this great set of colour photos show London in all its swinging glory. The 1950s set has a rare pic of the famous 2I's Coffee Bar in action. The 1960s are even better - it's hard to pick a favourite although I love this bit of spiky modernism, and the Post Office Tower when it was brand new. There's a lovely imperfection about them all.
The Library of Congress Flickr stream (via Coudal) releases thousands of beautiful photos onto the web. In particular, there are lots of wonderful photos of American life from the 1930s and 40s. Was the world really a different colour then?
Turn yourself into a famous album - the new craze, spreading faster than the norovirus (via The Skinny).
I got this lovely book, Shutting Up Shop: The Decline of the Traditional Small Shop by photographer John Londei. Taken over 15 years it documents all kinds of wonderful emporia - corner shops and general stores, milliners, drapers and lots of peculiar little specialist places like cork stores and this condom shop in Stoke. The shops are beautiful in so many ways and what's even better is the proprietors. Seeing them together gives a glimpse of a disappearing world. At the back there is an update on what happened to them all. Sadly, few survive which makes the photos all the more precious. The Still Open pool on Flickr documents those still going strong.
This is quite a find - a beautiful Flickr set of The George Hotel in Glasgow's Buchanan Street. It was a ropey looking place, in one of those big sooty sandstone blocks that stood out like a sore thumb as the rest of Glasgow's buildings were sandblasted into cleanliness. I walked past it most days and wondered what it was like inside, before it was gutted to become the Virgin Megastore. It's great to see how it looked, and lovely to know it has been captured somewhere. Claim to fame: this bedroom was where the end of Trainspotting was filmed. Check out more decayed and decaying places from Michael Prince and the Disappearing Scotland pool.
Artefacts from The Museum of Snapshot Photography are on view in Morecambe Winter Gardens for one week only (12-20 May). The museum will be:
"... the first exhibition space in Britain solely dedicated to the snapshot, the photography of everyday life. It will house an extensive archive of People’s Photography from the last 100 years. The collection includes black and white and colour photographs, slides, negatives, Polaroids, home movies and other photographic ephemera.The Museum celebrates the art of vernacular photography whilst fully embracing current digital technologies. There will be an online gallery and website where images can eventually be donated digitally. The museum will thrive on local community involvement and have an international profile via the website and online gallery.
Images will be collected from various local sources, eventually moving out nationally. There will also be a drop box in the gallery where photographs can be anonymously donated. The gallery will exhibit both donated and borrowed images, using a mix of original and digitally reproduced work."
It is looking for a permanent home in Morecambe. For more information contact the curator Sonja Campbell.
Fans of industrial archaeology/Cold War architecture/Stanley Kubrick/obscure buttons and dials may enjoy these photos from Inverkip Power Station. The slideshow is particularly pleasing, full of wonderful details like solid old rotary phones and ghostly log books.
From Wikipedia:
Inverkip Power Station is an oil fired power station built in the 1970's which, by the time of completion, was already uneconomical to run owing to the rising cost of oil. It only reached peak capacity during the miners strike of 1984 and has lain disused since it was mothballed as a strategic reserve in 1988.Plans are underway for the dismantling of the plant, although no decision has been reached as to a subsequent use for the site.
It's not far from Glasgow on the Clyde Coast. Who knew such wonders lay within.
I thought this was some crazy sci-fi set but it's Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, from the astonishing Stuck in Customs which is full of amazing, hyperreal travel photography. Trey Ratcliff, the owner, is currently photographing Chernobyl.
I'm off to Bangkok at the weekend. Any hints or tips?
From Little people - a tiny street art project. Like minimiam with London instead of cakes.
Gallery of LA 99 cent stores. One of many good things in the new Polar Inertia.
