Zib Edgley, facing the breeze. Frome, Somerset. 1989.Sebastian Mera, Duckspool, Somerset. 1989.
Pt-pd print on 100% cellulose (Buxton paper) from original 8×10 negative.
This photograph of a childhood friend (Zib, her sister Katie and I all finished up our high school years together at Friends School, Saffron Walden), was made during the same Duckspool trip that I photographed Sebastian, and the Bathroom Window. Buxton can be a quirky paper, as is apparent in the highlight tones on Zib’s face. These irregularities have only shown up in certain production batches and may have to do with inconsistent sizing.
Utterly irrelevant, this, but: did the Friends school play hockey against Alleyne’s Grammar in Stevenage? We used to play against a Quaker school in the ’70s, and always envied the obvious lack of uptightness about hair-length, etc. The atmosphere there was rather special, and I’m wondering if it was in fact your school?
Mike
Mike – I think we did. Our characteristic was the slack attitude, for sure. 🙂
I’ll try and find out more details. I was there from 74-76. What a small world.
Well… We were a comprehensive post-68, and really just a bunch of hooligans. I left in ’72, but I have a strong recollection of a lovely February morning at the Friends School in 1971, bright and cold, standing idly as goalkeeper, watching the action at the far end of the field, thinking, “This is a perfect moment in a perfect place; I will always remember this…”
Mike
Wow. Seeing all these pieces from the late 1980’s has transported me back … I am so grateful to you for the magic door you opened for us all : light bursting forth , caressing , shattering , screaming , whispering, undulating , etching , and most crucially:
revealing that which is invisible in the world Allan B Jones , age 46 , still searching for epiphanies in oil paint, and still a student of Mr Malde !
Mike – you are right – FSSW was really magical, and especially the walks around the playing fields. And Allan – thank you, but the feeling about opening doors and minds and hearts is mutual!! 🙂