The title of Alan's talk on Tuesday evening was 'In Search of Charlie Curnow!'.
You might at first ask 'who is Charlie Curnow'? - that's certainly what we did when Alan was booked to speak some time ago! And a quick Google search (other search engines are available!) returned links to some Aussie Rules footballer by that name! Surely this can't be the subject of a photographic talk - can it?
Well, no it can't!
The Charlie Curnow in question it the central character of a series of books written by Cornish poet, dramatist, novelist, editor, academic and lecturer Alan M Kent. I personally have not read any of these books but they are set in and around the town of Cambourne in Cornwall and the synopsis depicts a dark and foreboding time as Charlie grows up in the early part of the twenty-first century.
Alan (Harris) is a Welsh man from the valleys of South Wales and is a proficient speaker of the Welsh language (although, at this point I have to state I am NOT a proficient speaker of Welsh - or any Welsh for that matter - so am perhaps not in a position to say how good or otherwise Alan's Welsh is). It transpires (from Alan's perspective) that Welsh and Cornish share similarities in words and diction which has seen him spend a lot of time in Cornwall even to the point of, on occasion, having a conversation with a native of Cornwall speaking in Cornish and Alan speaking in Welsh .... and both fully understanding each other !!!???
So let's try and get back to photography!
The Search for Charlie Curnow is, in essence, trying to see the places depicted in the books, around Cambourne, Redruth and the surrounding areas as Charlie would see them. To this end, as you would expect from the synopsis of the books, the images presented were largely in black and white with overcast moody skies, street scenes in the rain and generally not the sort of image the Cornish Tourist Board would be keen to present on their website! I say black and white, but in actual fact there was a very subtle hint of colour in some of the greys so the images hadn't quite been converted completely to monochrome.
Non of the images had anything taken out of them (apart from the colour ... ) so if there was a bag of rubbish in the shot then it stayed, if there was a bin in the way then it stayed - simply because they were there at the time the shutter was released and an alternative viewpoint was not what Alan wanted.
Some of techniques were described so I think we shall see images along similar lines presented in our competitions throughout the year. They say imitation is the sincerest form flattery so I hope Alan will not mind.
If you get a chance to hear Alan speak I hope you will come away with some inspiration even if it is to explore his extensive range of influences but I'm sure you will.
25 September 2020
Here is a short piece from Alan about his search for Charlie.
In Search Of Charlie Curnow - A short Personal Photographic Project by Alan Harris
2 Comments
Hi Jim,
I’ve only just got around to reading this but I have to say that you’ve done a great job of conveying what Alan Harris gave us. Given that he was new to presenting to camera clubs, I booked him with my fingers crossed but overall I think he was good value, even if the quotes and references he gave us probably equalled the photographic content!
The blog is a great idea, so keep up the good work.
Thanks John, his approach was a bit different but I think that’s what photography should be about! There is more than one way to ‘make’ a picture.