Gatecrashers are not all bad , sometimes they can make a ordinary pic better !
This picture is from my Another Day Off series , it was taken at Durham Miners Gala , a place that Tony Ray Jones photographed almost 50 years earlier when Durham still had active coal mines . The Gala has become a celebration of coal mining , trade unionism and working class culture nowadays and is still a great day out , especially if you have not witnessed this event before …
The original intention of this capture was to capture the lady siting on the grass against a background of cartoon characters , I had noticed the silhouettes of the children playing on the inflatable too , I would of been happy with that scenario but serendipity intervened !
One of the hardest lessons I had to learn from Street Photography was to accept less control within my frames , in the past I would wait until gatecrashers passed through my frame before making the capture , I wanted everything on my terms , not now , I have learned to let risk and serendipity into my process , good things happen if you allow them to occur , enjoy the freedom of losing control and going with the flow …
This uninvited “Random Stranger” entered the frame and unified this composition with a fist full of leaflets entitled UNITY , you couldn’t make it up , the cartoons all appear to be welcoming him into the frame and the lady on the grass is blissfully unaware that she has been visually decapitated by propaganda proposing higher levels of solidarity ?
The bottom line is you have to get out there, be ready and receptive and see what happens , you have to believe in life the universe and everything , give up trying to micro manage the frame and just roll with the moment …
The Durham Miners Gala takes place on the 9th July 2022 , its definitely worth a look !
This series of blogs is based around pictures from my archive , I hope the words that accompany the featured pictures offer a level of context , insight and inspiration to readers .
“The Foto What I Took” blog title , is a comedy reference borrowed / inspired by the Morcambe and Wise “The Play What I Wrote“ sketch …
MORE…
If your blessed with a bit more time feel free to visit highlights from my Another Day Off project , The State Of Britain series , The Testing Times pictures or the “In Progress” , “Living” In Limbo… , they represent the most turbulent years in modern British history and ten years of my life…
Many more Foto What I Took Blogs are available too …