Tamp Culture Speciality Coffee

I enjoyed chatting recently with my two favourite baristas - Josh and Marcus from Tamp Culture. You might have seen their coffee cart outside the Oracle Shopping Centre across from the back entrance of John Lewis in Reading town centre.

Josh and Marcus are great guys, always friendly and pleased to see you. The fact that they make some of the best coffee in Berkshire doesn't hurt either. Drop by and say hello if you are in the area.

Mortimer Station

Going through some papers in my Dad's office a few weeks ago, I came across a large format negative sandwiched between the pages of a book. I couldn't make out much detail in the negative and it was only later when I scanned it that I was able to see it was a photograph of the railway station in nearby Mortimer. It's not an original photographic negative (the materials used in the 19th Century were very different to the conventional photographic films of today), rather it looks like a copy of an original print.

Mortimer Station was built in 1848, part of the Great Western Railway network, the station buildings were designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The vintage photograph shows the roof of the far platform waiting room (on the right of the image) still being completed so I guess that this image might be from 1848/1849. Photography only became viable in 1839 so it's really a very early photographic image. It could be from a bit later - perhaps someone who is more knowledgeable about 19th C fashions might be able to date it more accurately from the clothes.

It would be cool to find out who some of the people in the photograph were, but it's probably an impossible task. I would imagine the railway workers on the tracks were posed by the photographer for the shot (along with the station staff at the back) and the other people were either locals, or waiting for the next train into Reading. If you know anything about railways, or can shed any light on the image do let me know in the comments.

Edited to add: check out the comments below for some insightful information into the date of the photograph!

Jackson's in Reading. The last day.

If you venture into Reading for shopping or leisure you might have heard about the demise of Jacksons department store just off Reading town centre.

It has been on it’s present site since 1875 and is truly one of Readings last great retail establishments. If you’ve dropped by, or even looked in at the window displays whilst passing, you’ll know that it hasn’t changed since around 1972. The last time I was in there, receipts were still hand written, paperwork sent to the accounts office by a ’60’s pneumatic tube system and the establishment staffed by a  curious mix of anachronistic, fastidious and very polite assistants.

The store closed on Christmas Eve and today was the day when all the fixtures, fittings and assorted items were auctioned off. Unfortunately I was in town without my camera and had to resort to my trusty iPhone to record the last day that the public were allowed in to the store. There were hundreds of lots to be processed and leaving the main action behind me, I took a walk through the many empty departments, along myriad corridors and passageways (to more than a few dead ends) and up into the surprisingly spacious and numerous stock rooms and staff rooms on the top floors of the building. I got lost more than once, the building had a bit of the Tardis effect about it, I don't think I managed to see half of it.

Given that Jacksons had occupied the same site for for 138 years, it’s not surprising that these deserted rooms were redolent with atmosphere of a times long gone and past. If you were being critical, you could say that the store had long outlived it’s welcome, and that high street retailing had left establishments like this long behind. It was certainly a unique place, I can’t remember ever visiting anything like it in my travels. There is a great Facebook fan page on the site with photographs of the window displays, signs and objects that filled the shop.

Check out this fun and informative video! 

Here’s a few iPhone images to record the passing of this iconic Reading store. Do you have any memories of shopping there? Do you think that the shop inspired Grace Brothers? :)  Do let me know in the comments.

There was a surprisingly large turnout for the auction today at Jacksons in Reading.

This ledger dates back to 1920 - hundreds of handwritten entries in beautiful copperplate writing.

If there's one thing that I'll remember about the store, it's the hundreds of notices. Everywhere.

Staff graffiti on the back of one of the miles of shelving. Sophs and Rach are probably well into their forties by now.

1972 called. They want their hosiery department back.

Happy Legs

Cruella. A locally famous mannequin (sorry....demon child) that occasionally
appeared in the shop window display.
Reached a whopping £700 (!) in today's auction.

The Craft Department.

Dozens of shop dummies in the basement. Terrifying :)

A bottle of ink and a bottle of err....writing fluid(?)

I had to wonder when these irons were last used.

Ladies - measure yourself! This sign must be from the forties, judging by the sketches.

A forgotten room, right at the top of the building.

Bye bye.

The Riseley Lending Library

I love the idea of using old phone boxes as lending libraries. I saw this one appear in Riseley recently, opposite the pub. Check it out next time you are passing!

Lee

This is Lee, a Big Issue vendor. His patch is on Broad Street, opposite Boots. He's been selling the newspaper for 12 years now.

The day I photographed Lee it was raining lightly but persistently and the pedestrians were few in number. Years of working the streets had given Lee a cheery demeanour, I was impressed by his optimism and his proactive style. Ignored by the vast majority of pedestrians, he carries on regardless, starting at 7am and finishing late. Say hi to him next time you are in Broad Street :)

"Can you take a photograph that will make my wife love me forever?"

One thing I love about being a photographer is the variety the work brings. I am primarily a portrait photographer, I love photographing families together to produce images that will be so precious in the years to come. I spend most of my time with couples on their wedding day or with families who have chosen to spend some time together and celebrating that time with portrait photography. Each event  genuinely is different due of course to the locations, the lighting and of course the lovely families who have decided to trust me with their photographs.

Occasionally over the years I've been asked to photograph something out of the ordinary (and had some pretty weird requests from time to time as you might imagine!)

Last month I received an email from Peter who wanted to commission me to photograph a tree that his wife passed every day on the drive home. Lindsay had always loved that tree since she was brought up in the neighbouring village, not far from Silchester and had made her home there after getting married.

For her birthday this summer, Peter wanted to commission an original image to give to his wife and after finding me online sent me an email which said "Can you do something with this tree that will make my wife love me forever?"

I checked the location out on Google Streetview and at first glance I was tempted to decline - the dead tree with it's long spindly limbs was almost completely overwhelmed by a huge oak tree a couple of meters away. I could see how it would make a striking image if it was on it's own on a desolate hillside for example. To make it more difficult it was right by the road and bordered on the other side by a high hedge and surrounded by nettles.

I visited the site during the daytime and from a photographic point of view was a bit underwhelmed by the scene. With this kind of photograph, the time of day is really important and I realised immediately I would have to return later that evening.

At dusk, the light was a lot lower and the colour in the sky had started to come out. In order to make the image visually effective, I had to make the dead tree prominent in the scene and somehow separate it from it's lofty neighbour. I decided to light the tree with portable flash equipment and it took a while to get exactly the correct angle to make as much of the tree as possible stand out.

At that moment, as sometimes happens on a shoot, everything came together. The light levels in the sky matched the flash illumination, the colours of the fading sunset appeared and then a bird flashed into frame, on it's way back to it's nest. "I'm stunned, said Peter, "you've completely exceeded my expectations…"