This is me aged 19 or 20, on the train travelling between my parents house and University

It wasn't until I sat down to write this that I realised I'd only produced one other entry in the last month. I've been busy with lots of work, writing, taking photographs and working on various sites.

Last week I finally got my film scanner. I don't think I've been quite so excited about buying something since I bought my first cine (film) camera when I was 15! I was quite literally dreaming about getting this.

My next-door neighbour says that's a bit sad, but I prefer to think that it shows the passion that I feel for photography ;-)
 

I took this photograph almost exactly twenty years ago. It was one of the first I took using a 35mm SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera. Up to then I'd just had very basic snapshot cameras and was more into movie-making than still photography. I've always liked this shot: I suppose you could say that placing this disgustingly-large cake ad right next to one appealing on behalf of people who don't even have clean water, is insensitive. Though, of course, it gives the water ad so much more impact. I'm not sure how well the cakes did though. Certainly this brand isn't around now!

You may be asking 'what's a film scanner'? Well, instead of scanning a print on the more normal flat-bed scanner, now I can scan a negative or slide directly.

So, what's so great about that? Well, it means much better quality scans, plus I have immediate access to the many thousands of images that I've shot over the years.

Whenever I move out of somewhere I take a few shots to remind me of the place. This is the kitchen of the first home I bought in 1983. It was a flat in Manchester. I was a student at the time, with virtually no spare cash to spend on decorating, so I had to use a lot of ingenuity.

It's magical seeing some of these images come up on screen. I've never been much interested in projecting slides -- they were mainly taken for my magazine work -- so I've tended to look at them under a magnifier.

Many of the black and white shots have never got further than a contact sheet, perhaps not even that.

Jerry, my tom-cat. Sadly no longer around.

 
I never much liked the darkroom and messing about with smelly chemicals. I might shoot a roll of black and white film and print up one or two of the best-looking shots. So the other negatives have just sat there in storage for the last ten or fifteen years.

Up until last week, I'd never seen this shot of me from 1990.

Most magazines switched completely to colour about nine years ago and, since then, there has been little demand for black and white. Though, personally, I love it.

The other thing that has been breathtaking, has been scanning 25-year-old colour negatives and discovering the quality that is there. Quite a surprise when all you have ever seen are faded 6x4 inch prints that weren't even that good in the first place.

Drag at the August Bank Holiday jumble sale 1990, which became Manchester Mardi Gras and now GayFest.

Now right up to date again...

I've continued working on my 'project' in the living room. It still isn't quite finished yet, but its getting there.

Yesterday I added the computer equipment to it.







With the amount of time that I spend at the screen, it's not going to be practical having my main PC here. A bar chair ain't that good for your back! The idea is to get a second system and network them. So this is just a test out for the moment. Pity, as I think it looks good.

I'm also about to varnish the bedroom floor, so I need to clear that room for a while.

Well, I'll finish by saying thanks to those of you who wrote to ask where I was :-) Stand by for more diary entries in the remainder of October.

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