Film

What happens when you see a good shot but have forgotten to carry a camera. These days the smartphone comes to the rescue. But it is such a part of everyday life that we often forget that it‘s there and that is can produce some remarkable results.

Last time I went to the cinema at 10 o'clock in the morning was with a bunch of my ten-year-old peers anxious to catch up on the perils of Flash Gordon and the evil Emperor Ming. So I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I was invited to a special screening of a 1928 silent film inside the impressive art deco vastness of the Odeon Leicester Square. We were no longer short-trousered hoodlums with chewed gum and catapults in our pockets. We had all aged gracefully (or otherwise) and there was a whiff of geekiness that didn't exist back in the days of Flash and Princess Aura. This was the film buff's equivalent of a steam train outing to Carlisle. Such things I find fascinating and I donned my very best anorak for the occasion.

John experiences the darkest hour and rummages around for some topical photographs.....

Don Morley was on hand to record the funeral of Winston Churchill and the electioneering of Young Winston....

Kostas Balafas has been a leading name in Greek and world photographic circles for over 70 years. His artistic work is universally admired and much has already been written on this subject. Yet it is also interesting to learn a little more about the man himself. By understanding something of his personal philosophy, as he lived, as he drew his own inspiration, we are better able to view his work with new insight and within the context of a tumultuous century in the history of the Greek nation.

William has been out and about with his latest acquisition, a Rolleiflex. Just what is it about 120 film he asks?

Analogue lust is alive and well, from film cameras to writing with good old-fashioned fountain pens in good old fashioned notebooks. But would we really be happy without our new digital toys?