Permission denied. No photographs by Garry Cook in this post

Taking photos of people, mostly without pre-arranged permission can be fraught with difficulties.

People don’t like cameras pointing in their faces. You have to tread carefully.

I always look for danger signs of people looking uncomfortable or agitated.

But when it comes to friends and family I’m a bit more dismissive of their objections.

Sadly for me, I get far more objections to being photographed from people I know than those I approach on the street. Greg Boyd, Anna Byrom, Russell Peplow are frequently annoyed with me.

I took some photos of Boyd at his unusual home in Argentiere in the French Alps in March 2009. He was rather annoyed. I took the photos anyway. He got more annoyed.

Getting the cooperation of those I photograph has always been an essential part of my work. So essential, in fact, that I have not even been able to bring myself to look at the photographs, never mind show them to the world. Six months on, perhaps I should ask him.