Fashion Guru Gok Wan paid a visit to W.H. Smiths book shop in Meadowhall Shopping Centre, Sheffield today as part of his book tour promoting the autobiography “Through Thick and Thin”. On his arrival the “How To Look Good Naked” took a few minutes out to walk down the large cue of thrilled readers waiting to meet him before sitting down to Sign copies of the book and pose for photos with fans.
If you want to know what Gok had to say about Sheffield check The Real Gok Wan on Twitter
Lytham held the first of what could turn out to be a very good annual event on the weekend of 21st and 22nd August 2010. The 1940s war weekend was a celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and to help raise funds for a memorial to the members of the RAFs Fighter and Bomber Command which, when erected, will stand on Lytham Green where the event took place. The weekend which kicked of on Friday evening with a 1940s dance held in the park pavilion, included Re-enactors from The Northern World War Two Association who put on excellent living history displays and a battle re-enactment. There was also full size replica spitfire complete with aircrew waiting for the call to scramble, period military vehicles including a German Sd.Kfz. 251 Auf C half-track and a mini assault course for the kids. The period atmosphere was helped along by re-enactors from the North West Military Colletors group, live 1940s music and dancing all in period costume during the Saturday and Sunday bringing in crowds of sightseers. The whole weekend was topped by a flypast on the Saturday by a Dakota of the type that would have dropped allied paratroops into France on D-day and Arnhem later in the war. Sundays fly past was by the last Hurricane ever built, PZ865 was finished in summer 1944, there were 14,533 of them built throughout the war. She bares the inscription ‘The Last of the Many’ on her port and starboard sides.
There is also a video report here from the weekend from
It now seems there are some possible doubts about whether the Ansel Adams glass negatives are actually by the great photographer or not. An 87 year old lady from Oakland California saw the story on a TV news show and spotted that one of the images is almost identical to a photograph hanging on her wall. That particular photograph she believes was shot by her Uncle Earl, who was an amateur photographer living in the Fresno, California, area around the time experts say the glass negatives were made.
This turns the story into a real world example of images becoming “Orphaned” (a situation where the creator of an image or images cant be identified) to some degree an extreme example of how orphaning can effect the perceived value of a photograph. If they are by Ansel Adams they’re worth an estimated $200 Million Dollars if they are by Uncle Earl they’re worth….. well your guess is as good as mine but you can bet good money its significantly less than $200 million, yet they are still exactly the same photographs as they were when I posted on the 27th of July.
Covering the recent funeral of Trooper James Leverett, at Sheffield Cathedral last week, reminded me that back in February of 2010 I was invited to Salisbury Plain military training area to attend the 4th Mechanised Brigades press day. The day was held to demonstrate some of the training and equipment the unit would employ during their forth coming deployment to Helmand Province which was to be in April of 2010. Amongst the troops who put on the display for us were members of the Royal Dragoon Guards. Below is a slide show of images I shot on the day…
The funeral of Trooper James Anthony Leverett from Rawmarsh in South Yorkshire took place at at Sheffield Cathedral on Thursday 29th of July.
Trooper Leverett of D (The Green Horse) Squadron, The Viking Group, The Royal Dragoon Guards Killed in in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province of Afghanistan when the vehicle he was travelling was hit by an IED explosion on July 5th 2010.
While the devaluation of images produced through modern digital photography is making it harder and harder to earn a living as a professional photographer it seems people still value the work of great photographers of the past.
Some old glass negatives by Ansel Adams, the legendary American photographer best known for producing stunning landscapes, inventing the zone metering system and founding the f64 club have turned up in garage sale. They were thought to have been destroyed in a fire along with 5000 others back in 1937 their current estimated value $200 Million
I wonder just how many images of today’s nationally and internationally published will stand the test of time and be considered truly outstanding in 70 years time.