Introduction
The making of these Harrow cemetery pictures, in 1975, I will always view as the occasion of my Damascene conversion from someone trying to earn a living from photography to someone who tried to 'live photography'.
At this point, I had been making photographs for 10 years, had studied photography at college, and was working as a scientific photographer at the University of Cambridge. This series of pictures, taken whilst on an afternoon stroll after visiting relatives in Harrow-on-the-Hill, comprises just eleven frames of 35mm film, six of which are reproduced here (the others are slightly different angles on the same subjects.)
I can't recall the motivation at the point of exposure, but when I came to print these I remember experiencing a sense of revelation, realising the potential for photography to record more than just the scene before the camera - to go beyond the record. Also, as the negatives were slightly underexposed, I became more aware of the way that exposure and printing techniques could modify reality - or perhaps show a separate reality. Up to this point I had slavishly followed the 'rules', trying to produce that perfect, yet soul-less, record demanded by standard photographic education at the time.
With one exception, all of these are full frame 35mm, uncropped. This was another breakthrough for me, working within the frame boundaries, composing on the fly. I don't class them as 'great pictures', but they evoke a style of photography that was relatively uncommon at the time, and they still have the power to move me by their association with a change in personal vision and direction.
From this point on, I sought out photographic work that illustrated the same vision and outlook; I started to read Creative Camera magazine; I started visiting photographic exhibitions and exploring work published in books. Thirty years on, I am still discovering what it is all about...
