As I have said before, there are few things in the world that get people’s backs up: religion, politics, the EU and Ken Rockwell

His website is an enjoyable read, it isn’t some statement of fact in all cases and apparently using Windows is like living in a Communist country. Well I better go get myself a Trabant and start talking about how good the ballet is in Prague this spring That aside, he’s just published his top ten peeves about amateur photographers.

Now I am an amateur in the sense I am not professional i.e. I don’t take photos for a living (or my main income) but I’m not an amateur with regard to knowing what I am doing, though…

Not quite sure why he gets a bee in his bonnet over it but that’s his own perrogative! A few points though did make me think, eh?!

• Backpacks:

  Number on his list is the backpack. That makes some sense to a degree but it’s a bit naive to assume that most people with cameras lumber around for a couple of miles and then pack it in. I’ve been known to walk 25+ miles in a day and there is no way you can shoot all day without a backpack carrying some supplies not just for the camera but also you. Backpacks may not be a fashion statement but photography isn’t about some fashion statement or looking the part, it’s about the journey and the photography. And if I can do more of the latter because I have water and food, and a stack of film in my backpack then I’m all for that. It’s also a good place to keep a purse and mobile phone as I don’t know of many women who carry their purse in their pockets all day long like a man does with his wallet.

• Camera worn directly over the neck:

  Again I’m not at all sorry if I look a nerd because my M2 is around my neck but for me it works, also walking long distances with a large backpack and the camera slung over one shoulder does not work, the backpack (which if you’re walking over a number of days like I’ll be doing in a week’s time, 135 miles worth) restricts access to the camera. Frankly if you’re worried too much by how you look to others carrying a camera over your neck, seriously take a step back and figure what you’re more bothered about: feeling comfortable taking pictures that work for you, or looking cool. It just so happens that being really ugly I don’t have to concern myself with looking cool

• Lens caps:

  Largely I don’t bother either, I have an 81B on most lenses and that’s the cap. However on my Summar, with its large unprotected easy to scratch front element that’s just been repolished, I’m not going to have my lens ruined by not protecting it with a simple lens cap. As I’m not a sports photographer I have no desire to throw lenses in my bag. Largely because I don’t have a large income, have items sent to me for review or get things sent to me for nothing, but because I have a day job like most and lenses take a large chunk of my salary — I work them hard, but I respect them. Press photographers don’t have this, it’s provided by their employer and if it breaks, they don’t usually pay. If I broke my CV Ultron, it’s me who pays.

That said he also talks some sense. Just like I do on the odd occassion.

The ones I do nod in agreement with though is the assessment that some people freak if they haven’t got every mm of range covered and the old logo on the strap thing is real sucky. In fact the logos on most cameras suck full stop which is why I love my M2 in that the front of it has no daubings at all to identify who made it and what model. All those names and model numbers do is serve as a free advert, it’s not like you wake up some days and think “Ooh now which did I buy again, a Nikon D300 or D700?”

Either way, Ken’s doing Ken’s thing, expressing his opinions — even though some of them are curious. The most amusing thing lately is how his glowing review of a “$15 Olympus 35RC” ended up pushing at least one such 35RC OVER £340 on eBay. In perspective, that’s £40 more than my M2! I’m sure Steve Jobs would be impressed at how Rockwell appears to have managed to get someone to pay way over the odds for something you could do with another camera for about £330 less.

Anyway, keep up the good work Ken, we love you really, although its back to my communist country seeing as my iBook has been stolen.

There’s a chance if you read closely (which is presumably not many) that I have some peculiar or rather different interests. I’m also intrigued by the less salubrious underbelly or overlooked aspects of people’s lives. There was a great quote in Sugar Rush in series one, which aptly described some people living life as though it was a Disney movie, but the reality was closer to a gangster porn flick.

And in some aspects life really is mired in the less than good or aesthetically pleasing.

This is a nagging thought with the Milton Keynes project impression:mk — MK is not necessarily anywhere worse than anywhere else but its new-ness does a good job at hiding the underlying problems of where social deprivation is taking hold, where drug usage is rife (I sadly know about this one first hand) and the built environment doesn’t fit the anticipated of a beautiful impression. These are far from unique issues to MK but they exist like they do anywhere and to ignore them would be doing a greater injustice than showing things as they are, how they appear.

Since I started the project I knew about these issues but had been fighting with myself to exclude them from the project — however I just cannot. To not include them would be defeat the honesty of what I am doing. I’m not trying to sell postcards to Japanese tourists, I’m not producing 1 in a million Bearskin Hat and Double Decker bus souvenirs to send people off with picture postcard memories of Britain or indeed Milton Keynes.

I am attempting to assuage that prevalent myth of the concrete jungle and actually I can do that very easily as its just that, a second-third-hand myth. But to present MK as some kind of complete utopia without problems would be wrong. I can do this without losing the promise of a definite structure to the project which is to be followed in the picture series as a journey in itself.

This final relent over this touchy area was brought about two things: Monday morning and Monday afternoon this week. Monday morning started as normal, go and get breakfast in CMK, take a few photos and generally wander and then plan over coffee what I would do that late-morning/early afternoon. On the way back I took a walk through Downs Barn, Conniburrow and Bradwell Common and I was quite shocked at the state of disrepair on some of the infrastructure. So much so that the things commonly (and rightly) complained about in Worthing and West Sussex look a bit trifling. Whole sections of the polished granite coverings that adorn pretty much every concrete balustrade and parapet were missing in large chunks, masses of dumped trolleys, steps missing 2ft wide sections of the steps themselves… This is pretty abysmal and whilst largely cosmetic it was something I was painfully aware of but had sadly fought actively to avoid, at least on the impression:mk project. That was wrong.

Some could cite these observations as middle England walking with her Leica and looking down at the nose of this. Frankly, it’s not like that at all and you can sod off if you think that, I was born to a working class family and haven’t lost my roots. I drive an old 22 year old banger (more on that in a moment) and I actively engage with people of all walks of life and sad as it is to say it, but the attention people pay to their houses or where they live DOES say something about their life even if its not politically correct to say so. That said, I have known cocaine addicts who have had beautifully kept gardens but they are the exception.

Seeing this and just talking to people seemed to reinforce particularly in Conniburrow that they felt the neighbourhood had changed in the past ten years or more, and not for the best. Does Milton Keynes Partnership (MKP) or Milton Keynes Council conduct the surveys that Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC) did when they were in existence? The results compared could be interesting.

One thing for sure is I can’t fix the Milton Keynes with a few photos but it may draw attention to some of the issues and I feel that a more honest approach will do much in the long run to show MK as a model of largely success but one that has flaws that can be corrected, if they are recognised and stood up to. I hope if not for impression:MK, but for subsequent work to try and engage people in all districts of MK to just talk.

And Monday afternoon confirmed this. Long and short of it my car was broken into and my holdall stolen from the boot with all my overnight bits and peaces. Now in paradise, crime doesn’t happen, and in no way is MK a paradise but it’s a pretty good place overall.

The trip was cut short because of this but I did consider for a while whether the loss of all the rest of it was worth bothering with this project and eventually after the shock, it didn’t take much to realise that it really is.

This might all read a bit of a jumble but it’s hard to write this amount of thoughts in an explicitly organised fashion!