Perous Secret Diary - Keep Out: April 26, 2006

bakewell tart road trip

seemed like a good idea at the time...

in fact, still had a great day.
crispin came round to the factory for noon.
decided to take the perou-mobile as getting trains back from bradford in the evening was a non-starter.

drove me, crispin and frances north up the m1.
frances slept most of the way.
decided to swing off for a pub lunch near derby on a suggestion from the good pub guide 2005, that said the 'bear inn' was 'off the beaten track but worth finding'.
i was amazed how only 100 miles north of london, we were into a foreign looking country(side).

got lost down lots of tiny roads called things like 'bent lane', 'knob lane' and 'jackass lane' (which is how we felt) and finally found the pub opposite a large field of cows which stank of cow urine: 'fresh country air'.
fortunately inside the pub wasn't smelly and we all had the most incredible lunch.
the chips were the best i've EVER eaten.
soooo good.
worth the drive easily.
it's in alderwasley (01629.822.585) make sure you ring in advance for an evening meal: they're fully booked a month in advance.
(but they say they have a helicopter pad available if you let them know).

cris noted that bakewell (the birthplace of the bakewell tart) was but 14 miles further away from the M1.
as we all thought it was rude to not have pudding there, and having several spare hours, drove west some more.
i feel sorry for the young ladies of this town: such stereotyping.

we were 55 miles cross country from bradford but the satnav was saying it would take 2hrs.
we were 77 miles from bradford heading back to the m1 and the satnav was saying it would take 1.5hrs.

but obviously the satnav was wrong unless i was only going to average 28mph: we'd make it quicker cross country and we'd have a nice scenic route accross the peak district/ pennine route thing (or whatever it was called)...

the satnav was NOT wrong.
curses.
took us a very beautiful route but that wasn't made for american trucks with soft, bouncy suspension and only 2wd.
had a very interesting (scary) blast cross country past beautiful scenes we didn't have time to stop and photograph (sadly) and tore through bradford town making it to the national museum of film, tv and photography JUST in time for the talk elliott erwitt was doing.
fortunately he was a few minutes late on stage.

good to hear him speaking about his work but it was such a short talk, was it not for the bakewell tart and good lunch, the drive might have not been worth it.
after the talk, the audience were invited to ask questions.
but this was REALLY frustrating: i just wanted to have a chat with the man, without the rest of the 200 or so other people there.
(selfishly, of course).

there were some interesting points touched on.
i asked if he enjoyed colour photography (as all his personal work is black and white).
but i didn't get the opportunity to follow his answer with a further question to clarify why i had asked the question.
this inhibited conversation annoyed me.

elliott said that 'digital manipulation is killing photography'.
in fact he has t-shirts with that on it, that he gives to people.
i wanted to ask him if he considered black and white not to be a manipulation then, as it's not how we see the world.
if 'reality' was so important shouldn't he shoot in colour?
i also wanted to ask then, if all of his prints were completely 'straight': as i assume he burns in and dodges parts of his pictures for dramatic effect: the darkening of a sky or the lightening of a face.
surely that's manipulation too?
etc...
he also disregarded a lot of what i would consider to be lesser photography to his, but still important to the world.

it was interesting that we all only know his personal work and that is what he is remembered for, but most other photographers i can think of, we know their commerical work more than their personal (or amateur as elliott calls it) work.
there was a lot to be discussed (that wasn't).

i also wanted to discuss with him things like:

was he ever approached by the american secret service to work for them?
(what with him speaking a bit of russian, being attached to the white house and getting those exclusive pictures of the soviet missiles etc...)

was he welcome back in russia (during the cold war) after he sold pictures of their missiles all over the world)?

did he think that having to photograph everything all the time was an affliction?
does he ever go away without a camera?

etc...

he's a hero of mine: i'll try and catch up with him on a more one to one basis in the future.
going to a talk like that was a first for me.
i didn't really like the format.

bizarrely i think i might have photographed him in 'le louvre' in paris.
someone shot me on a leica thinking i hadn't noticed and i whipped out a camera and photographed them back.
i was quite young but spoke to him then a bit and he said he was a magnum photographer.
i have to dig out the picture to see if it's him or not.

boosted straight back to london after the talk.
made 200 miles in 2 hrs and then 10 miles in 1.5 hrs along a ridiculously knackered north circular.
dropped ms.hood home.

bonkers but good day.