Right ive not got much to say about the subject, but have done some drawings, more concepts and ideas will come on, once i have been inspired. (Well i hope!!)
Thursday, 18 December 2008
More about the Working Mens Club's
People and the places they have lived and the way they have lived gives me much thought, and gives me a sense I can identify with, as people do, and especially up North!
I did think of my own family at first, older people like my grandma/grandad, what have they done, what have they achieved, why when ever its someone’s birthday do we have parties, and my grandma makes a buffet, with pork pies, sausage rolls, everyone comes together, much like something in the war, a sense of togetherness!
Northern life, Traditions, communities that all come together, styles and places,
People who have issues and stories to tell, who are they, what are they all about? I find this somewhat interesting this is how Working men’s clubs came about, the idea of older men who have been going to the same pub/working men’s club for years, talking to, getting to know, who drink a pint of mild and smoke pipes, wearing flat caps! Working class people, as it was, People seemed to have made do with what they had, actually this gave me a sense of identity.
My inspiration was numerous photographers, and even TV programs and Films. Photographers included Shirley Baker, Don McCullin, Gary Winogrand, Humphrey Spender and many more. I found Northern films would have a massive impact on me in particular, ‘East is East’ and ‘Brassed Off’.
Working Men’s Clubs had a complex place, it’s a space connected yet distanced from working life on one side and family life on the other. Many photographers feel what they do is not quite work. Perhaps its because a photographer steps outside of things of peoples lives even when the aim is to connect with them.
Hopefully my images have a connection upon you, as they have to me, and are really all about the people I have spoke to and met. I am really interested in the Working Class, and feel it on a personal level, and feel it ever so more when I went into Working Men’s Clubs, which seemed to give me a sense of belonging. Photographing other people always involves a social bond – it can be more collaboration or even permission, this I found easy to come by.
To get the photographs I would want, I sat down and would talk about the situation of the Working Class and its history, also the present, I found while talking that people are very knowledgeable. I found out that the Working Class seem to be dying out, pretty rapidly. They are losing traditions and the younger members are not coming through or even seem to care.
I did think of my own family at first, older people like my grandma/grandad, what have they done, what have they achieved, why when ever its someone’s birthday do we have parties, and my grandma makes a buffet, with pork pies, sausage rolls, everyone comes together, much like something in the war, a sense of togetherness!
Northern life, Traditions, communities that all come together, styles and places,
People who have issues and stories to tell, who are they, what are they all about? I find this somewhat interesting this is how Working men’s clubs came about, the idea of older men who have been going to the same pub/working men’s club for years, talking to, getting to know, who drink a pint of mild and smoke pipes, wearing flat caps! Working class people, as it was, People seemed to have made do with what they had, actually this gave me a sense of identity.
My inspiration was numerous photographers, and even TV programs and Films. Photographers included Shirley Baker, Don McCullin, Gary Winogrand, Humphrey Spender and many more. I found Northern films would have a massive impact on me in particular, ‘East is East’ and ‘Brassed Off’.
Working Men’s Clubs had a complex place, it’s a space connected yet distanced from working life on one side and family life on the other. Many photographers feel what they do is not quite work. Perhaps its because a photographer steps outside of things of peoples lives even when the aim is to connect with them.
Hopefully my images have a connection upon you, as they have to me, and are really all about the people I have spoke to and met. I am really interested in the Working Class, and feel it on a personal level, and feel it ever so more when I went into Working Men’s Clubs, which seemed to give me a sense of belonging. Photographing other people always involves a social bond – it can be more collaboration or even permission, this I found easy to come by.
To get the photographs I would want, I sat down and would talk about the situation of the Working Class and its history, also the present, I found while talking that people are very knowledgeable. I found out that the Working Class seem to be dying out, pretty rapidly. They are losing traditions and the younger members are not coming through or even seem to care.
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Derek
So this is Derek, who is 70.He joined the Navy in 1958, and went in the Merchant Navy for 7 years. Once he got married he moved to Peterlee, County Durham, and then moved again to Easington, County Durham where he is currently living. Once he moved to Easington in the eary 70's he worked down the pitt as a miner until it closed. He told me he comes in the club every morning for a 'tut of rum' then goes down the road to the other pub the Flatship' for a 'couple of pints', then goes home. He said, 'I drink to much to drive!'He also keeps greyhounds and races them as often as he can, and is also a Newcastle United fan, and attended his first match in 1948 when he was 10.
Working Mens Club's!!!
Right ive chosen the subject 'Working Mens Clubs' for my photojournalism brief, if anyone has any stories or old pics etc, give us a shout!!This is what i have at the moment!! Also i think this is good, as its giving me some sense of identity, which i find interesting, and also the way of being a true, 'Northener'!!
Making your own entertainment and this varied on how old you are. The games played in the streets during the late 1940's and into the 1950's especially at night when it was still safe to be playing outside. The clubs were the entertainment at that moment in time, Dads would have played Billiards or snooker and when the children was grown up would also join that same club, much of a family tradition. Also in that era people went on coach trips everyday, many streets and clubs in the town would hire coaches for trips which were like big family outings. Coach boots were filled with partly rusty buckets and spades, and if the kitchen sink didnt quite go, there was plenty of crates of beer, particually if it was a club or pub trip. After the war years, the youth of the country struggled to come to terms with the return of normal family life, it was something which had almost been forgotten by children born before and during the war. Families had been split up with the need to evacuate.
Many brothers and Fathers had been away for years and returned as virtual strangers, so it was vital people joined clubs and organisations to bring back that community sprit.
Also bit of info on Coppull Working Mens Club, nr Chorley, Lancashire People used to go every weekend, Good acts, Bigger hall, Dancing,Always packed - Saturday/Sunday Bingo It was a way of life, The simple way of lifeAlso Tap Rooms, (just for men) played dominos, snooker, darts, drinking a couple of pints, women used to stay in the main part of the club then the men came back in and asked their wives if they wanted a drink! The men had rough lives, characters always the same in the club, After time drinking etc, also Ken Dodd did stand up!
About me!
Hello, im Josh, a Photography student from ELIHE at Blackburn College, i have a massive passion for photography, from the first thing i wake up to the last dream in my sleep all i think about is image-making!!
I have a passion for photo-journalism and documentry, in particular peoples lifes and the way they lead them etc, also have a keen interest in Sport photography.
Anything else my images are on,
www.flickr.com/photos/joshvosper
I have a passion for photo-journalism and documentry, in particular peoples lifes and the way they lead them etc, also have a keen interest in Sport photography.
Anything else my images are on,
www.flickr.com/photos/joshvosper
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