John Myers - Life As It Is

JOHN MYERS

LIFE AS IT IS

RRB PHOTOBOOKS BRISTOL

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I had my own notion of when a photograph worked. If the negative didn’t match the expectations I had when I pressed the cable release it was a failure. It didn’t work. And a glanced reading of the negative was sufficient to separate those that were to be printed. The rest were never used, most were not even contact printed, just duly bagged, catalogued and stored.

Unused images are the odd ones, the ones that didn’t quite conform to how the world should look or should match a pre-determined scheme.

And sometimes they are that special category that simply ask the question: why did I ever take that photograph?

So here they are.

A tree with its bole surrounded by a mound of turf A stripped bedroom wall that looks like a painting by Clyfford Still Young men carrying pigs A dress on a clothes line A man in his VW An apple tree in front of a house An elegant young woman seated in her father’s pigeon loft The side of a demolished house, Removal vans Roofs being replaced Washing drying Bananas growing Tyres, houses and ice cream for sale.

They are all here.

People and things presented. The fabric of the world being replaced or torn down. Cement hedgehogs for sale and pub decorations that are an accident waiting to happen.

As some Greek philosopher once said: Life as it is

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Girl in hood (close-up) 1973

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House with apple tree, 1979

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Benjamin the rabbit, 1975

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Porch, Redhill, 1979

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Armchair, 1973

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Tessa, 1974

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Chair at Miss Bostins, 1973

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Woman and cat, 1974

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House front, Stepping Stones, 1979

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Mike in VW portrait, 1973

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Copper beech in front of house, 1975

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Front garden, Brook Road, 1974

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‘Annacapri’, 1979

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House for Sale, 1979

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Woman knitting, 1981

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Plant grid, 1975

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Pigeon loft with owners daughter, 1979

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House on Beauty Bank, 1979

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Car compound and house front, 1981

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Roses and bay window, 1979

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Tree, Hagley Road, 1977

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Stourbridge street scene, 1977

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Roundabout, 1981

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Gasometer and housing, 1972

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William Round removal van (No 2), 1979

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Car park, 1974

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Classic Pools, 1979

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Garden Centre, Hagley, 1979

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Garden pools, 1979

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Michelin Tyre stand, 1979

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Bus and telephone box outside County Court, 1979

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Red Hill Driving School, 1979

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Young woman at Skippers, 1973

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Shoe shop assistant, 1974

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Children’s Corner shoe display

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Café interior, Quarry Bank, 1981

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Yardley display unit, 1981

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Pin ball machines, 1981

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Swinford Timber, 1979

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Cornetto Ice Cream display, 1979

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‘This is how the customer sees you’, 1979

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Milkman, 1979

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Butcher’s boy, (No 2), 1973

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Kitchen staff, Nether End, 1973

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Garage brake tester, 1979

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Garage interior, 1979

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Stripped wall, 1979

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Paul and banana, 1973

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John, (No 2), 1974

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Dress, 1977

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Butcher’s boy, (No 3), 1973

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Bath in house on Ring Road, 1973

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Council house, 1979

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Giles Haywood Auction House, 1979

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Tudor house with ladders, 1979

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Wall, Seven Stars, 1975

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Percy with brush, 1972

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Brick wall on the way to the baths, 1973

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Orchard Street, Brierley Hill, (No 1), 1983

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Tunnel under railway, 1977

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The Seven Stars, 1975

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Sid and Mary, (no 1), 1973

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Derelict house, Brierley Hill, 1979

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Demolished house side, 1979

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Pallet makers, Cradley, 1979

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Steve (No1), 1973

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Derelict house and shed (No 1), 1981

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Boat House, 1979

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Ring Road gardens and plague, 1975

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A man in the park, 1973

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Garage 1979

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Clothes line and pegs

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Greenhouse (No 1), 1979

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Greenhouse, (No 2), 1979

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Garden shed, 1979

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Private property, (No 2), 1974

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Cradley, 1979

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SOLD, 1979

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The Swan, 1973

RRB Photobooks, April 2022 Photographs and Text © John Myers Edit and Sequencing by Josephine Atkinson Design by Jessamine Thoemmes-Tondowski Image production by Bread and Butter Studio Printed at Narayana Press, Denmark ISBN 978-1-8382683-6-7 rrbphotobooks.com