Cornwall: Mines, Bands, Carnivals

[Paul L]

So, I was in Cornwall last week with my family and captured some images I thought would be good to share.

One day, we managed to accidentally trespass onto the Cornish version of the house in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, complete with outdoor lavatory - literally.







A friendly horse.

[Paul L]

Giant fuggin' seagulls!



Creepy houses on hills.


Are boats not vehicles?


Autobots hiding in Cornwall.


'Tackle shop'... Oo-er.

[Paul L]

A chip shop protected by a Dalek.


A smuggler's grave.


A man trap (I think this is the same one used in Straw Dogs).


Town band.


A girl heaving up after tasting something at a carnival!


Not sure what this young lady is doing with her shoe.


A chap chillaxing.


A man in a canoe at the southernmost point of the UK.


Lotsa abandoned mines.

[Dom D]

I grew up in Cornwall. Not my best years, I've always blamed that on Cornwall but truthfully puberty probably more than played it's part. Those photos are so familiar to how I remember the place that it makes me feel vaguely disquieted just to look at them. Particularly the sea and breakwater ones...

For these kind of shots do you just snap away or do you ask peoples permission first? The girl with the shoe for instance seems very aware you're taking her photo.

[agent999]

Doesn't look like much has changed in the 25 years since I've been there. Isn't there supposed to be a sizeable drug problem down that way now due to hardly any jobs being available?

[Paul L]

I grew up in Cornwall. Not my best years, I've always blamed that on Cornwall but truthfully puberty probably more than played it's part. Those photos are so familiar to how I remember the place that it makes me feel vaguely disquieted just to look at them. Particularly the sea and breakwater ones...

I've been down there occasionally for the past 35 or so years, as I have family down there and it was the only place we ever went on holiday when I was a child. In all honesty, very little has changed in that time - for the better or worst. The price of regional foods (eg, Cornish pasties and ice cream) has shot up immensely, owing to the boom in second home purchasers I guess - which is a big problem 'down that way' nowadays, my cousin tells me. Plus they do fancy pants pasties for tourists (with weirdo combinations like steak and cheese).

For these kind of shots do you just snap away or do you ask peoples permission first? The girl with the shoe for instance seems very aware you're taking her photo.

I do a lot of 'street' photography (as it's trendily termed nowadays) and have done since I was a young 'un. If it's a 'street' portrait, I'll ask permission; but if it's a candid reportage-style shot, I usually don't bother. As it's non-commercial, permission isn't required. You have to gauge the situation, of course, and a smile goes a long way in most circumstances. For instance, the girl with the shoe knew what I was doing. I smiled as I took the shot and nodded afterwards; she smiled back. I make a point not to take candid photographs of the vulnerable (in particular, children), for obvious reasons, though some of the best documentary photography features children (eg, William Klein's images of kids playing with guns, and Shirley Baker's photographs of children playing in the streets of Salford). If anyone asks what I'm doing (which is rare: usually they'll just smile back), I give them a business card and I always carry a proof of one of my books to show them the kinds of photographs I take. If anyone asks me to delete an image, I'll swiftly comply and apologise. No harm, no foul.

About the only time I've been uncomfortable in years was when we popped to the village of St Buryan, where Straw Dogs was filmed. I popped out and took a few photographs of the church, the village square, the pub and the shop (all of which appear in the film, of course). There was an Eastern European dude that was watching me all the time; then he headed to some other people and had a conversation with the in what sounded like Russian. I was careful not to photograph him or his companions, but it was an awkward situation nonetheless.

I really like the photograph of the girl with the shoe. She's obviously dolled herself up, but then on the other side of the frame you've got the 'Spudweiser' van. Plus the very fact she's taken her shoe off (we might ask why) and is waving her foot around in a strange way adds mystery and narrative to the photograph.

Doesn't look like much has changed in the 25 years since I've been there. Isn't there supposed to be a sizeable drug problem down that way now due to hardly any jobs being available?

In some parts. My cousin lives in Penzance and that's got it's share of drug/crime-related issues, as have some of the larger towns. The carnival I went to (in Marazion) seemed awash with people who were hopped up on goofballs or something similar.

[agent999]

They should do another remake of Straw Dogs, they could booby trap the house with used hypos. Always wanted to retire down that way, house prices were so cheap down there in the eighties. No chance of that nowadays! Getting nostalgic, maybe I should visit again.