The other side of the Chinese Arch.

I spent yesterday walking around Liverpool. Fantastic day. Cold but when you get to see things like this it’s so well worth it.

In 2004 it was determined that the Madrid Calle 30 motorway was a barrier to the urban areas it ran through. So they put it underneath those urban areas. The above photograph is the result of the Madrid Rio Project.

26 miles of motorway have been placed underground. Above ground there is ​​1,210,881 square metres of new park land with 33,623 trees and stunning river views. Instead of Madrid’s busiest road people can now jog, run, cycle, meet, hang out, or simply enjoy a nice sunset. It cost €3.9 billion. The park areas were only just finished when we stayed in Madrid. There’s a promotional video on Youtube that really details the project.

It’s nothing short of mind blowing. It’s incredible that they even came up with the idea. Incredible that they developed, funded and actually made it work. It’s simply incredible to see people putting the overall health of a city above building new apartments or offices. They felt that trees, places to go running and places to enjoy ice-cream with your kids were the most important things to provide. Well done Madrid.

Martin Parr has brought together 2 great photographers and some photos he has collected from flea markets in New York to produce a show about celebs. It’s a really interesting show and I must admit that I when I first saw some of the work I didn’t like it. I’m not a fan of celebs so I quickly dismissed it. However, upon hearing the photographers discuss their work it’s changed my mind. I understand and like it now.

Richard Simpkin has spent 23 years taking photographs of himself with other celebs. His plan is to continue for another 2 years and end it. When I first saw it I thought it was simply photographs of some crazy fan who stalked celebs for most of his life. I was wrong to judge it because it is really not that simple.

Richard started in 1989 when he was inspired by a friend’s Dad to photograph himself with famous people. He isn’t an actual fan of celebs or the culture. He takes these photos because he wants to attach himself to history. In 100 years these people will still be famous, still hold some value to society. He felt that was important so he started to photograph himself with famous people. After about 5 years, at age 20, he realised that it was more than a little thing he had been working on and was an actual project with some real weight. He could see just how much he had changed over the first 5 years of the project. He kept going. Celeb after celeb and after 23 years he has over 2,000 photographs.

If you look at the body of work you would be hard pressed to find any reality TV stars. Richard views them as “disposable” celebs. They’ll be famous for less than 15 minutes. It’s perfectly understandable when you see that he’s been photographed with people like Nelson Mandela. Real people who are famous for doing great things.

His work transcends age groups. Grandparents can take their kids and they’ll both spot people that the other hasn’t a clue about. There’s fun in seeing people like Kylie age over the years. It’s interesting seeing

It’s an interesting project. Richard goes to great lengths to photograph himself with these celebs. It takes a lot of planning and handwork to track them down, get access and then a bit of luck in getting the shot. You’ve got to give the guy credit for sticking to the project all these years and for putting in the hours to build it.

The Guardian ran a competition as a tie in for this where you had to send in a photo of you with a famous person. The winner would get a free train ticket to the opening and a night in the Malmaison with a free bottle of champagne. My girlfriend, Sam, entered and we joked about winning. Spending the night in a hotel in Liverpool seemed surreal, especially one where we could see our house from. Hilariously though she won the prize! The overall winner could not be contacted so Martin Parr chose another and it was Sam. We stayed at the ‘Toffee Suite’ which was thankfully not overly Everton FC themed and enjoyed our free £55 bottle of champagne over dinner. Thank you Suggs. You can see the winning photos on the Guardian website.

Simone Lucek has produced a series of photographs of women who perhaps feel that they’ve missed their golden moment to step into the limelight. She advertised on Craigslist for mature women who wanted to have their fantasy, their idea of glamour photographed. 150 responded and she picked the most unique ideas to shoot. Everyone did their own makeup and wardrobe and most people were happy with the results. Some were a little surprised by the reality of the image. They were expecting something a bit more romantic I guess. Due to the mature nature of the subjects their ideas of glamour were quite removed from a modern day image. They connected more with people like Bridget Bardot.

Martin Parr is also exhibiting at the Open Eye. If you know of him you’ll know he’s a collector. He’s been collecting old photographs from New York flea markets. These old photographs have the markings on them where photo editors would crop to. It’s an interesting behind the scenes look at editorial photography before Photoshop. There’s a classic photo of John and Yoko with Yoko crossed out. Clearly someone isn’t a fan.

It was interesting meeting Martin Parr. I can’t say I’ve ever understood his work. People said his photos were funny. I didn’t see it. Perhaps I never gave it a good chance. They had signed copies of his book, ‘The Last Resort’, for sale at the Open Eye so I got one. I figured if I was ever going to get a copy that’d be the one to get. After reading the intro and properly looking through the book I must admit that I kinda get it now. I live in New Brighton so there’s the historical aspect to his work but also the comedy of the place. People sunbathing by construction diggers for example. Amazingly the doughnut shop that my girlfriend and I visit a couple of times a year still exists. It’s in a photograph in his book. In this economy a doughnut shop survives.

Martin Parr talked about his collecting habit. In the picture he is wearing an Obama shirt. He felt that his Mugabe shirt wouldn’t have gone down as well. He has over 90 Sadam watches and is trying to build a collection of Gaddafi watches. He also has over 12,000 photo books. 12,000!

At the end of the day this is why I love the Open Eye gallery. It puts photography in front of me that I’d never normally look at and it makes me think. Here’s to 2012.

In September 2010 my girlfriend and I visited Les Machines de l’Ile in Nantes, France. I posted a few photos from that trip but I feel that a complete set really tells the story of the place. It’s a magical place where a giant hand crafted wooden elephant roams around and in a few years time a multi story sea themed carousel will be built along with an incredibly beautiful tree that you can walk up for stunning views over Nantes. These guys don’t think small.

Rideable sea creatures as part of the sea themed multi-story carousel.

An intricate model of the huge tree they plan to build in Nantes. It will have plants living in it with a sophisticated watering system running all through the structure.

A beta test of the tree system built over the gift shop. You get a great view as the elephant walks past.

I was looking at the website for the upcoming ‘Giant Spectacular’ event in Liverpool that is set to eclipse La Machine from 2008. So I started looking at my old photos of that fantastically stunning event. After a few minutes it became clear that they needed reprocessing. I felt that the processing was the story instead of the story itself. At least the processing may have got in the way of a good moment I wanted people to see. So one afternoon later and here we are. A 5 day event that took the city by storm.

2011. Newcastle. Blackpool. Cambridge. London. Brighton. Paris. Madrid. Valencia. Liverpool. My camera and I travelled last year. It was a journey both physical and mental as I started the year writing a book about digital HDR photography and ending by hugging a 35mm film scanner. I travelled last year.

January. I started the year with some photos taken inside the new Museum of Liverpool. The start of my travels took me to Newcastle which was cold but fun.

Febuary. I went down to London, photographed people on the tube and did some street photography. I also photographed inside an old plane.

March. Street photography month. My girlfriend and I went to the launch weekend of the Format Festival in Derby which focused on street photography. It was easily one of my highlights of the year. I launched my Rezz project looking at how we interact both online and offline. March saw a terrible tsunami devastate Japan. Matt Thomas, Dan King and I setup the Print Aid Project to raise money for those affected. In total we raised over £1,100.

April. I went to Brighton to do some street portraiture. I really like Brighton and the people there are very interesting. April also saw the Royal Wedding so I documented a local street party.

May. Rezz opened at the Bluecoat and to good reviews too. My first solo exhibition since 2008 and my first solo exhibition that tried to say something instead of just show pretty pictures.

June. A quiet month of mainly street photography. I was in London on the hottest day of the year. I also posted photos documenting the construction of the Museum of Liverpool.

July. I photographed the inside of the Lady Lever Art Gallery for my HDR book. My girlfriend and I visited Cambridge. The Museum of Liverpool opened and the Macula Spectacular was pretty spectacular.

August. Rioting on the streets of Toxteth. I went out and documented the aftermath which ranged from burnt out cars to community cleanups. I officially started documenting the local RNLI as part of my marathon run. I met lots of people showing their support for Liverpool Pride and took a relaxing trip to Wales.

September. My photographs were used as part of the new “It’s Liverpool” campaign. I went to Derby for the Derby Feste. My second time in Derby that year. Great fun. I photographed more RNLI volunteers and also the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship in Liverpool. Lastly I did some more street portraiture but in Liverpool this time.

October. After the marathon, which I ran in 5hrs and 28 minutes and raised over £1200 for, my girlfriend and I went to a beach in Valencia. Being architecture fans we visited the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. Stunning. While in Spain we saw a random semi-naked man holding a sign. Very odd. I also travelled to Blackpool to photograph Alice through the Winter Gardens.

November. My new HDR book hit the bookshelves. This time around I actively tried to reduce the processing in each photo. The idea simply being that you should use HDR when your camera can’t capture enough detail. I use it on my iPhone a lot without producing the cliched ott HDR that is popular. In November I published more photos from Valencia. The stunning Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias.

December. A quiet month. I published a photograph of Dr Christoph Grunenberg who used to be the director of Tate Liverpool. I also posted some more street portraits but from Lark Lane this time. The Queen visited the Museum of Liverpool and the second phase of the museum opened.

So that was 2011. I relaunched this blog but it still requires tweaking. I relaunched my portfolio and I’m happy with that. Hello 2012. What have you go in store for me?

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone. I’ll see you in 2012 with my favourite photos from 2011.

This year has been tough on venues. The long standing Masque announced it would close. I shot my first gig photos there many years ago. That was quite a shock. Just as shocking was the news that the CUC would also close. There’s a good article on Seven Streets about what the closure of a means to Liverpool. It’s been just over a year since the Conservation Centre closed. Another shocking closure. The Conservation Centre was one of Liverpool’s dedicated photography exhibition spaces. The other being the Open Eye which recently re-opened to huge success. I saw some fantastic photography there in recent years. It’s loss to the city was huge and saddening because they focused on Liverpool through photography. Where do you go for that now? Oh well. Here’s to 2012 and hopefully better days.

On 9th October 2011 I ran the Liverpool Marathon for the RNLI. It was an experience like no other. If you’ve been following my progress over the past few months you will know that it hasn’t been easy.

After my first 15 mile run I could hardly walk. I had breathing issues due to a lack of electrolytes and I threw up. Right there and then I was ready to quit. I felt that my body was at its limit and I had made a stupid arrogant decision by entering the marathon. I spoke to the doctor and she knew exactly what was wrong with my breathing. I added electrolyte based drinks to my training and carried on. The next run was so much better and I felt like I could do the marathon.

Over the next few months my long runs were tough and I pushed my body on each one. I came back thinking “That was agony and I have to do so much more!” It was just a tough long slog. Weekends became all about one thing, the long steady run. I’d carb load on Saturday and run on Sunday. My diet was marathon focused, my reading was marathon focused, and my stress levels were constantly high due to not knowing if I was doing the right thing. I had guidance from friends but every long run made me think I wasn’t doing enough of something to make it easier.

Eventually though I resigned myself to the fact that 26.2 miles is an incredibly long way and well it’s going to hurt. Once I accepted that I kept plodding on. Mile after mile. Every time I passed 13 miles my legs started to ache and then hurt. Almost every long run resulted in me throwing up after. Eventually I hit 20 miles and that was the longest I would have to run in my training. I was happy… sort of. I could run 20 so if I needed to I could walk 6 miles of the marathon and be done. I wanted to do it in under 4 hours 30 minutes but after training I wanted to do it in under 5 hours. After a while I was happy with the idea of just doing it.

9th October. Marathon day. Oddly I wasn’t massively nervous. I had a good nights sleep, nice breakfast of bacon and pancakes and felt ok. I spent 4 months training for this day. Here it was. We arrived an hour early, just like the half marathon, but found it was so much busier than the half. I was never the sporty type in school and I was thinking “If only the kids from school could see me now.” Incredibly I bumped into one, who was the sporty type at school. We had a quick chat and wished each other good luck.

After a 50 minute delay we were off. I was running a marathon. It took a while to find my pace due to a huge amount of people running at various speeds but I settled into a grove. I’d set my watch for a time of 4hrs 55 mins which meant a pace of 11 minutes 15 seconds per mile. I could handle that, and I did for a while. The course took us through Birkenhead towards Seacombe where my girlfriend, Sam, had ran from the start to meet me. That was an amazing sight. After I settled in for the long run towards New Brighton. It was a strange run. Random people I had never met before were calling my name, saying “G’wan Pete.” and cheering me on. It was incredibly uplifting. Every other minute someone would personally cheer me on. Kids, parents, old people, cliched tracksuit wearing youths, everyone. Amazing! Along the way I saw Kay and her family and Richard from Fab Collective. I ran past the New Brighton RNLI station and waved to the people I was raising money for. I felt proud to be wearing a RNLI top. Onto New Brighton prom and I ran past Mark & family and again Sam :) Next stop the Birkenhead tunnel.

2 miles underground with no-one cheering you on. Hard work. But as they say, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Heading towards the Liver Building exit I could hear the Batala drummers getting louder and louder. Shades back on, bright light, lots of cheering and I was back riding a high. On to Castle Street with huge crowds, people cheering my name and again I see Sam waving. Yeah! Half way through.

Upper Parliament Street. I run a bit then walk it. I want to finish so I accept there are times when I have to walk. At the top I run again happy that the hardest climb is over. Sefton Park was very very very long. It felt like I was in there for hours and it rained. I was glad to be out. By this point I was tired and walked miles 22 and 23. I wanted to run to the finish so I needed that break.

Princes Avenue, mile 24. I could feel the finish line. 2 more miles, just 20 something minutes left to run. I could run that no problem. I’ve ran for 20 minutes before now. It’s easy. I ignored the fact that I’d just ran 24 miles, picked my legs up and ran. I ran down Upper Parliament Street with people cheering and calling my name. “Go on Pete!” Mile marker 25 and I nearly burst into tears. The final mile. Onto the home straight. I can see Liverpool One, the Albert Dock and the crowds became thicker. “Nearly home now Pete!” I was so incredibly moved by the support from strangers. It really carried me home. I get to Mann Island and see Tracy & Matt cheering me on, and also a photographer I know working for the event. I turn the corner to the finish line hoping to see Sam. The crowds were so thick it was hard to see her. I see her just before the finish line. Best feeling ever.

Across the line in 5 hours and 27 minutes. Under 5 and a half hours. I was happy with that. I had just ran a marathon. I wasn’t in pain. I hadn’t thrown up. Ok so I was a little stiff and finding it tough to walk but oddly running a marathon had been easier, or at least less painful than any of my long runs during training. I was riding such a high from finishing. Amazing.

So in total I raised £1,260.00 for the RNLI. Thank you all for your support. I couldn’t have done this without your donations, your cheers and without the amazing support from my girlfriend Sam.