It's a privilege . . .

. . . to be a has-been, and that is something I feel very strongly when I look back at these press cuttings from a local paper more than 60 years ago and thank my lucky stars for the opportunity afforded me straight out of school, by an editor who paid me for the privilege of publishing them in The Brighton and Hove Herald - an English south coast weekly paper now sadly defunct, (but not my fault, as far as I am aware!)

The photographs I took in those early years were mainly of everyday (sometimes humdrum  and repetitive) events such as mayoral activities, school sports days, amateur dramatics and the like, but a constant stream of new things to see or people to meet at all levels of society was mind-opening for a teenager who had been nowhere and done nothing, but suddenly felt that he was on the threshold of something big.

It was mostly 'bread and butter' work, and we all have to eat, but I also had to endure some evenings walking around at glittery showbiz receptions with my camera in one hand and a plate of fish eggs on small salty biscuits in the other, with a glass of fizzy stuff balanced on top. It was hard work, but somebody had to do it!

I still cherish those memories and have the greatest respect and admiration for anyone bent on a similar career route in today's highly competitive world of affordable high quality cameras which have seen the hobby grow phenomenally and the career opportunities limited by the prerequisite of finding a place on an already over-subscribed media studies course, which puts beyond reach anything like the kind of luck I enjoyed more than half a century ago,

Yes, being a has-been is a privilege, but is no reason to stop trying - and learning - even in retirement when the only real value a picture has is personal satisfaction, and of course the pleasure of sharing the experience with others of a like mind!


(Sorry if some of this sounds familiar; memories have a habit of coming back and demanding to be refreshed!)