Found photography (in a Preston car park)

Other people's photographs can be very dull. If you've ever had to endure someone showing you an album of holiday snaps, you know what I mean.

But photography can also be brilliant - especially when you find it in a supermarket car park.

I found this outside the legendary Home Bargains in Deepdale, Preston, Lancashire.

And what a fascinating find, I'm sure you'll agree. A young girl in a traditional dress. An old man, possibly her grandad uncomfortably slumped asleep on the sofa. There's an old gas fire and a coffee table full of bottles and other hard to identify items.

When was it taken? It looks like to could have been the 1980s. Or it could be an old house in the 1990s. Is it as old as the 1970s. Only the little girl in the photo can tell me.

If you know who this is and would like to help me reunite this photo with its owner, you know what to do.

@gazcook

Penwortham Town Gala (2013)

Parade! It's parade season in Britain where communities come out in force to watch floats full of kids, brass bands and outrageous self-promotion by local businesses.

I ignored the children wearing estate agent's signs and, as usual, focused on the crowds. Most of these images were taken on Cop Lane and Hurst Grange Park, both in Penwortham, near Preston, Lancashire, England.

Third Proclamation and Trades Procession

This was the Third Proclamation at the 2012 Preston Guild, plus the Trades Procession which followed shortly afterwards.

Preston Guild 2012 First Proclamation

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Preston Guild is held once every 20 years.

It's the only Guild celebration in the country. 

The Guild was first started in 1179 by local traders, craftsmen and merchants. Known as the Guild Merchant, the organisation used to control trade in the town.

The Guild Merchant's trade control ended in 1790 but the Guild celebrations continued.

This was Saturday, August 18, 2012.

Morris Dancers are obligatory at every Preston Guild.

Preston Guild 2012 Photography Workshops

PP: Photography Preston
Produce the images of a lifetime at Preston Guild 2012
Since the mid-19^th century, documentary photography has been used to record major historical events.
Preston Guild will have more cameras focused on it this summer than at any time other time in its history.
PP: Photography Preston will help you get the most out of your camera during Preston Guild – and push your photography skills to the next level.
This opportunity happens just once in a generation - this workshop will inspire you to capture Guild 2012 in all its glory.
Workshops will cover technique, project aims and the law with regard photographing in public. Our aim is to allow you to gain confidence, successfully deal with the public and produce great images from the celebrations.
We will also arrange special access to several locations in Preston to allow participants to produce unique documentary images.
Whether you are an aspiring amateur or a keen snapper, whether you own a digital compact, SLR or medium format, the course will help you produce documentary images which will form an important record of one of the city’s most important events.
Participants will attend workshops, be guided on location and will have their work reviewed as the course progresses. Assistance in editing of the final images will be given at the end of the project. Some of the images produced could then go on to form an exhibition at The Continental.
All workshops will be held at The Continental, South Meadow Lane,
Preston PR1 8JP. www.newcontinental.net
Workshops: maximum number of 10. Minimum number of seven participants required.

KEY DATES:
Saturday, Aug 18, morning (before First Proclamation)
Workshop to deliver technique, themes and aims. Two hours
Saturday, Sept 1, morning (before Final Proclamation)
Workshop to review images taken so far, discuss ideas for Guild Weekend. Two hours
Saturday, Sept 15, morning (week after final Guild weekend)
Review of images, editing. Selection of images for possible exhibition at The Continental. Two hours

Cost:
£120 for three two-hour sessions, plus assistance during events on the Aug 18 and Sept 1.


For more information and to sign up to the workshops contact:
Garry Cook on 01254 822 179 or 07976 579 522
E-mail: gazcook@hotmail.com

Preston Bus Station versus the Nazca lines, a short essay in history

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One of my favourite historical sites, Preston Bus Station and Car Park, has been listed as one of the world’s most threatened cultural heritage sites.
Which of these two sentences are correct?

The answer, of course, is both.

The mysterious Nazca lines have for a long time held a great fascination for me. However, I see a lot more of Preston Bus Station. 


The 1960s brutalist masterpiece is the city's most iconic buildings. For years it has been on the list of buildings to be demolished as part of an unfinanced plan to redevelop one of Britain’s wettest cities.


But the non-profit World Monuments Fund have included it in a list of 67 treasured structures in 41 countries that are in danger, either through erosion, tourism or, in this case, a huge steel ball swinging from a large crane.


It’s fair to say that Preston Bus Station and Car Park – it is the latter which forms the most striking part of the building’s design – is as equally despised as it is revered.

For me, this concrete concourse with complimentary car park is now a beacon of 1960s design. It was built in 1967 by Keith Ingham for Building Design Partnership, with Ove Arup and Partners taking care of the weight-bearing structural curves on the upper levels.

As with all fashions, the building was hailed as revolutionary when it was built, then despaired of when tastes changed and now is revered as a design classic - by some people anyway.


Like Gateshead Car Park and, to a lesser extent, the now demolished section of Blackburn Shopping Centre, it has become an iconic building, its uniqueness battling with its ugliness for public acceptance.


The Secretary of State turned down an application to make it a Grade II listed building several years ago when a development company called Grovesnor applied to pull it down. Their plan has subsequently stalled.