Blog Post #27

Let me tell you a story!

I have been away from home for most of the week so haven’t had much time to prepare this weeks blog post. Because of this I am short on time so thought I would recall some funny situations I have found myself in during my photography journey.

The Glasgow Barras in the 70s and 80s was a lively place for photographers to capture but it didn’t come without its risks. This shot for example looks innocent enough but what happened after I took it was not. Many of The Barras traders and hawkers were doing this on the side for cash in hand and had full time jobs during the week. This made them wary of photographers. When taking this photo the chap was asking me if I was from The Department for Social Security. I said no of course but he wasn’t convinced. When I turned around I was confronted by a couple of “heavies” who continued with the interrogation. One of them had threatened to take my camera off me and the other wanted the film. After having explained what I was doing, they stepped aside and I continued to take photos but they were never far away.

Another time I found myself in a tricky situation was in Soho, London. I saw a group of people congregating at the end of a side street and heard a commotion. I ran over camera at the ready and was shocked at what they were watching. A gang of men were smashing up a very expensive looking car with baseball bat type clubs and chains. In no time at all a second group of men descended from the flats adjacent armed to the teeth and a big fight had broken out. I elbowed my way through and took up a great position. I raised my camera to my eye, and simultaneously a hand from behind me gently pushed it back down to waist level. I turned around and this monster of a man said “I wouldn’t advise that mate!”. Turns out he was one of the gang’s look outs and it was all pre-meditated. He stood beside me to make sure I wasn’t tempted again. This was in the days before mobile phones so I was easy to spot as a photographer. These days it would be live streamed by people with phones and be on-line in seconds.

Back in 1981 I knew someone that worked in the Daily Record newspaper offices in Anderston, Glasgow. He told me that they were going to blow-up the disused cranes at the the Glasgow General Terminus and would I like a prime spot on the roof of the building to capture the event. I jumped at the chance and arrived with great anticipation of the shots I was going to get. I was surprised to see that the rooftop had no barrier around it, only the track for the window cleaner carriage so I had to take great care. I decided to lie down near the edge and wait for the blast horn signal. As I didnt have a power winder or motor drive on the camera it was one frame at a time. I felt I had got some great shots and started to stand up when the dust from the explosion started to envelop me.

It was like a white-out and I could see nothing. Remembering that the building had no edge barrier and I was totally disorientated I decided to sit down and put my head inside my jacket waiting for it to pass. After much coughing and eye-rubbing it finally cleared and I was safe to move about again.

Back in the 70s and 80s I spent many hours in the darkroom processing film and making prints. I used the darkroom at Penilee Community Centre, home of Penilee Camera Club. I tended to do a lot of this work at the weekends when I had time and when the community centre was quiet. This situation happened on a few occasions but one in particular remains fresh in my mind. The darkroom is at the far end of the building, away from the caretaker’s office. On arrival you would sign in and get the darkroom keys, repeating this process to sign out. On this Sunday afternoon I was working away and noted the time was about 4.30pm so started to get tidied up as the centre closed at 5pm. Having cleaned up and locked the darkroom doors I headed back to the caretakers office to sign out. As I walked through the swing doors in the corridor all the alarms went off. The caretaker had knocked off early and forgot I was in the darkroom. I waited in the corridor to be rescued as all the other doors were locked. After about 10 mins I could see the police at the front door with the caretaker. He opened the door and this big policemen grabbed me by the chest and pinned me to the wall calling me a few choice names. I tried to explain myself but it wasn’t until the caretaker entered the corridor and vouched for me that they let me go. It would not be the first time I would be locked in but it was the most memorable.

You may have seen my photographs of Celtic manager Jock Stein’s testimonial and wondered how I managed to get so close. It was all part of a pre-determined plan I had for a friend and I to get on the pitch that night posing as photographers. I had noticed that many of the photographers wore red cagoules of the Adidas type. As it was before tightened security there was no accreditation or wearing of numbered bibs etc. We bought these cagoules and entered the park through the turnstiles as usual and the made our way around the back of the terraces to where the blue disabled persons cars got onto the track behind the goal. We walked down this driveway adjusting our cameras and talking to each other and the police cordon parted to let us through, we were on the pitch! We made our way round to the players tunnel and started taking pictures and then wandered on to the field for the events before the game and nobody confronted us.

We knew that half time was going to be tricky as the photographers all went up the tunnel for a cup of tea and we were worried that we may get rumbled so we just stayed out and prepared our position behind the other goal for the second half. This would be very difficult to pull off in today’s high security environment but it’s great when a plan comes together!

I hope you have enjoyed my stories and thank you for reading this blog post. I’m sorry but I don’t include a “Like/Dislike” button. If you want to comment on this blog post please do so below or you can contact me by using the “Contact Me” facility in the website header.

Peter Degnan