Well, I'm not Cornish but I do have a great-great grandfather who came from Redruth so perhaps I just sneak in. Proper Cornish people are certainly not English, that's for sure, whether they proclaim it or not. Perhaps the best-known Cornish photographer is Roger Hicks, who writes the back page in Amateur Photographer most weeks.
You are right about the clutter, but that just goes with this kind of photography, I think. You can't pose people, or move objects, or influence the scene in any way. You just have to accept what is there in front of you, in terms of subject and light, and then try to catch the moment. Usually you have to work very quickly, otherwise the moment is gone. It's the same with the horsebox shot. I couldn't walk up to her and say "Good afternoon, do you mind if I just close this door behind you because it is a distracting element in my photograph?" I have to deal with what is there. So yes, it is photo-journalism rather than carefully crafted photography like landscape or still-life or even portrait work.
There is, I think, a difference between this and what is called "Street Photography". What I am not doing is allowing myself the luxury of shooting frames which are simply good photographs in themselves, but have no context. And there would have been quite a few of those. All these pictures have to relate clearly to the rally and what is going on, and the people in the pictures have to have a role within the event taking place, either as spectators or participants. Which, of course, makes thing a lot more difficult, but is supposed to give the pictures a purpose. That's because I have never had any interest whatsoever in taking photographs which are interesting images as "art", but don't tell a story of some sort about where I live, what we do and who I am within all this.
Whether I succeed in any of this is, of course, for you to judge. Think "Picture Post", those of you who are old enough. Bill Brandt was jolly good at this sort of thing, although better known for other genres.
And we end up with a large number of reject frames, the ones which really are rubbish. The ones I am showing you here are the ones that made the cut, the least crap ones. I do of course accept that they won't mean a great deal to someone who isn't particularly interested in the strange rituals which take place on windswept fields all over Cornwall in the summer. And they are intended to form part of a continuing project, not necessarily to stand alone.
John
