Theft central.

Dating from 1852, the Victoria and Albert Museum in west London houses what may be the greatest collection of stolen arts and crafts in the western hemisphere. The English excuse this act of plunder as ‘Colonialism’. I call it theft. The colonies are now gone but the V&A remains.

Still, morals apart, there was always something of interest to be found there when these images were snapped in October, 1975.

Nikon F, 28mm Vivitar, TriX, ‘scanned’ with the Nikon D800.

Nothing like a good blaze.

A fire is guaranteed to bring out the pyromaniac in all of us, even though few carry matches. There’s something irresistible about watching a good blaze. This one was in a clothing store on Kensington High Street in October, 1975:

Leica M3, 35mm Summaron, 50mm Summicron, 90mm Elmar, TriX ‘scanned’ on the Nikon D800.

Last days for the trendy.

You can read the sad story of hubris that was the Biba boutique here. What was a trendy small boutique clothing store selling cheap schlocky fashion over-expanded into huge former department store premises on Kensington High Street and went spectacularly bust a couple of years later.

It was so dark in there you could barely make anything out, which seemed to me to deny the first rule of retail: Show the merchandise.

This was the first roll of TriX in my newly acquired Nikon F. This was a true beater, very much on its last legs, acquired for all of £50, but the charisma of the bruised, battered and worn body got me through the day, paired with a half decent Vivitar 28mm f/1.9 lens which was actually not half bad at full aperture, which is how these snaps were made in September, 1975.

** George Best was a drunken lout of an Irishman who was also the best attacking footballer of his time, playing for Manchester United, then the best club. He died of alcoholism, aged 39, in 2005.

Nikon F, 28mm f/1.9 Vivitar at full aperture, Tri X, ‘scanned’ on the Nikon D800. I sure could have used modern ISOs in this settting!

Posh.

The Serpentine Gallery in London’s Kensington Gardens opened in 1970 and by August, 1975, when these snaps were taken, was in full swing. The order of the day on a sunny weekend was for ‘happenings’, displays of thorough silliness enacted by art students.

This one focused on Victorian sports dressing and cricket, though the inclusion of women batsmen in the ensemble remains anathema, for this cricket fan, to this day. Women in cricket is just not …. cricket.

I had finally upgraded from the modest 50mm Leitz f/2.8 Elmar with its poor ergonomics (the collapsible lens mount was a useless nuisance) to what was then the ultimate 50mm lens, the early chrome 7 element Summicron, designed by that genius among optical engineers, Walter Mandler. Later versions tend to an acid-etched rendering in contrast (sorry!) to the far gentler results to be had with this wonderful piece of optical engineering.

Leica M3, 50mm Summicron, TriX, ‘scanned’ with the Nikon D800.

The seat of power.

Today’s Prime Ministers invariably prefer Number 11, next door – traditionally the home of the Chancellor of the Exchequer (UK Treasury Secretary). It’s considerably more spacious. Number 10 is the place if you want to swig an illicit bottle or two of booze while the rest of the nation is in lockdown. It has a larger garden for you and your scofflaw friends.

Anyway, good luck getting anywhere this close today. That would result in confiscation of your camera and a stretch in the slammer. Snapped in August, 1975:

Leica M3, 35mm Summaron, TriX ‘scanned’ with the Nikon D800.