Elsie Magazine - Giveaway

Elsie

SAMPLER EDITION

I found this hanger in a car boot sale...weird!

Hello...

Welcome to this free sample edition of Elsie Magazine.

There’s always a lot going on in Elsie Magazine, which makes it a bit difficult to explain. So, I thought the best way is to let you experience it for yourself.

Please dive it, kick the tyres, take a look under the bonnet and then take her for a spin - I hope you enjoy the ride!

Subscribing to Elsie is easy and you can do it for just £4.99 per month - even less if you sign up for twelve months.

If you’d like some more info on Elsie and all the ways that you can get involved, please check out the website: www.elsiemagazine.co.uk or drop me a line at: hello@elsiemagazine.co.uk

In the meantime, here are some of the things you’ll find in each edition of Elsie Magazine...

FOUND STUFF Found stuff is a big part of Elsie - found notes and shopping lists, found typography, found objects...even found discarded industrial gloves. It’s amazing what you can find if you tune in and keep your eyes peeled. Here’s a few examples...

I found this in a branch of Paperchase - collaborative art at its best.

Pencil tester

re-

imagined posters

big, bold, hand-painted signs on the side of the road proclaiming a forthcoming local event...I love them. And so...

I stop, I snap, I open in photoshop, I layer and I play.

Not sure they’re an improvement on the original, but they’re good fun.

The source photographs

Car boot sales, village hall functions, fêtes sporting clubs, community events, roadside sales - they’re all the source of fantastic public typography and, if you’re lucky, some homemade art. They’re too much of a pull for me - on regular occasions I find myself heading for the next roundabout or safe place to do a U-turn, so I can get back to a sign I’ve just passed.

I do feel slightly self-conscious as I stand snapping away, but the rewards are so good, it just has to be done.

Of course, they’re beautiful things in their own right, but I enjoy taking them into photoshop and just messing about until something pleasing emerges.

The one on the right uses a range of signs for a car boot sale just outside Wrexham in North Wales, I passed them as I was travelling home from giving a lecture to the design and photography students at the local university.

I photographed this double-sided A-sign for a car boot sale when I was on a weekend staying in a yurt in Malvern. I drove past it and it immediately caught my eye - so I turned around at the next roundabout and went back to get some shots.

I often wonder what other drivers might be thinking when they pass me taking a number of shots of a random sign.

What I particularly like about the typography on this sign is the pre-pencilled words that should have acted as a template for the painted version, but seem to have quickly gone out of the window.

There’s a facebook page for the Monksfield Car Boot, so I sent them a picture of my alternative poster - they were so impressed they didn’t bother to respond!

Another double-sided sign and a little goldmine!

It’s for a community café in a village called Silverdale, which is about seven or eight miles from my house. I must have passed it before, but never spotted it. It’s a lovely example of homemade typography and food art (more of that later). The original sign is predominantly monochrome, with a hint of faded red, but I decided it needed a bit of colour adding to bring it to life a bit.

I love the naivety of the original design and have tried to maintain that in the re-imagined poster.

Bonfire night is a great time of year to spot some homemade signs and this year was no exception.

I drove past the sign below a few times before the level of traffic behind me was safe enough for me to pull over and go back for a few shots.

The source of this simple graphic was the window of a charity shop in Bournemouth on the south coast. I’ve kept very much with the spirit of the original - and I particularly like the ‘W’ and the ‘A’.

GREAT INTERVIEWS Every edition of Elsie Magazine has inspirational interviews with really interesting creative people talking about their work, their careers, their processes and what makes them tick.

His recent retrospective, ‘Only Human’ at the National Portrait Gallery was a huge success and he has recently opened a new Foundation gallery and archive in Bristol, where he lives.

Martin kindly agreed to a short video interview for the first digital Elsie Magazine.

Left: Havana, Cuba, 2000 All photographs in this article: © Martin Parr Collection / Magnum Photos

MartinParr

Interview Martin Parr has chronicled British life for over fifty years and is now recognised as one of the world’s leading documentary photographers.

His photographs capture the contradictions, absurdities and mundaneness of every day life in a style that is uniquely his own.

‘‘

My relationship with Britain is quite therapeutic, whereby I love the place and I dislike it at the same time.

How would you describe your ‘job’, what role would you say you fulfil?

Well, there’s the primary purpose of being a photographer and that involves doing personal and commercial work and getting it out into the world. But, what’s becoming increasingly important to me is the Foundation that I set up in 2017 in Bristol.

We’ve assembled a great team and we put on shows, talks and seminars that reflect the depth and strength of British documentary photography as well as featuring overseas photographers as well.

How did the Foundation start?

Well I formed the charity a few years ago. We wanted to find a building and we found a plot of land at Paintworks in Bristol which is in a really bohemian part of the city, about a mile from the centre, and we built it exactly to our spec. Your readers they can go and check it out at: martinparrfoundation.org.uk I think, what I was driving at is…when you do your photography, is it something that you do purely for yourself or do you have a sense of an audience and some sort of duty to that audience? Do you feel you’re fulfilling a wider role.

Left

Leningrad, St Petersburg, Russia 1992 2017

Well, the desire to get out and photograph is still very much there, particularly during the summer when everybody is out and about, though that’s going to be difficult this summer.

But of course, there’s a documentary responsibility and after fifty years of shooting, I have a pretty substantial archive of life, not only in Britain but further afield as well. I want to add to that and to show meaningful things as they happen in our society and to reflect that in this archive.

Do you feel that, behind your personal work, that there are specific points of view that you want to put across, or are you happy for that interpretation to be with your audience?

The point of view is often a contradiction. For example, my relationship with Britain is quite therapeutic, whereby I love the place and I dislike it at the same time. Britain is neither good nor bad and I’m trying to highlight the contradictions and the ambiguities that define my relationship with the country, which is a complicated one. So, I want to include all of those contradictions into my work.

‘‘

You just have to be bold and get out there and do it. It’s never easy to photograph people without their permission.

If you’re intimidated by that and you can’t get over it, you’re never going to be a street photographer.

You might as well give up and go and be a landscape photographer.

Top:

Bottom:

St Ives, Cornwall, England, 2017

Porthcurno, Cornwall, England, 2017

How would you describe your process, is it generally driven by a concept?

No, I’m always looking for things to shoot - events, happenings and then I go along and I shoot.

Of course, there are times when things come together and coalesce around a particular theme but how that happens is often difficult to predict. If you go to large event, there are lots of opportunities to photograph people, but even smaller events can be just as stimulating and rewarding.

Since you started your career, how much do you feel the landscape of photography has changed?

Well, it’s changed enormously.

When I started back in the late sixties, there were no photography galleries in the UK, they started to spring up in the early 1970s.

I graduated in 1973 and I managed to get an exhibition very quickly in 1974, so I managed to get into that scene very early on.

I suppose the biggest change we’ve seen in recent years has been the growth of the internet and the arrival of photographic websites such as Instagram. Instagram has provided everyone with the opportunity to show their work - you don’t need a gallery or a publisher - so, I suppose that those platforms have made photography more democratic. Of course, there’s a lot more rubbish out there as well, but that’s a price we have to pay.

And what about the arrival of digital photography?

Yes, that’s made a big difference.

I got into digital photography relatively late with the arrival of full frame digital SLRs around 2007. Going digital has helped me enormously - especially around photography that I do at night I can increase the ISO to levels that weren’t possible with film, I can up the flash and I can see immediately what’s happening on the camera screen. Before digital, I was using a medium format camera so I was changing films every ten shots now I can put a card in and shoot 500-600 shots and without all of those horrible chemicals we had to use to develop films before the arrival of digital.

You’ve influenced many photographers over the years, but which are your influences?

Well, I was very interested by documentary photographers of the seventies - people like Tony Ray-Jones and then the generation of American photographers, Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank, Gary Winogrand, they’ve always been very influential in terms of how I put together my pictures. And there have been many others since, with the introduction of colour William Eggleston, Joel Meyerwitz, Stephan Shaw.

Left and below: New Brighton, England 1983-85 From The Last Resort

‘‘

Your desire to be a street photographer has to override any fears, issues or intimidation

Do you have any hints or tips for anyone looking to start or improve their street photography?

It’s easier to photograph an event than say, a normal shopping day.

But really, you just have to be bold and get out there and do it. It’s never easy to photograph people without their permission. If you’re intimidated by that and you can’t get over it, you’re never going to be a street photographer. You may as well give up and go and be a landscape photographer.

Your desire to be a street photographer has to override any fears, issues or intimidation So, how are you dealing with and reacting to the strange times we find ourselves in with the Covid-19 crisis?

Well, I’ve done some pictures in the house. I’m also going through some old contact prints from the eighties and seeing if there’s anything missed at the times.

Time has a good effect on photographs. Going back you can see more clearly what was good and what was bad. Generally speaking, I think I got it more or less right. However, there are few that I’ve discovered that are well worth looking at, so we’ll get them scanned and add them to the archive at the Foundation.

It’s interesting to see stuff that you might have rejected at the time that has now become so much more intriguing because of the clothes, the fashion or what people were doing.

So, what’s in the pipeline are there any new projects or exhibitions we can look forward to?

I’m working on an Irish book about my time in Ireland. I first went there in 1979 for the Pope’s visit and I ended up living in the early eighties. I’ve been back many times since and it’s a remarkable transformation that has happened in Ireland over that time, so this book will look at that. So, that will keep me occupied over the coming months. The exhibition is going to start in Roscommon and then go to Limerick and Dublin and then we’ll bring it over here to the Foundation.

When you look back on your long career, is there one project that sticks out,the one you are most proud of?

I guess that, even though it’s many, many years ago, I suppose ‘The Last Resort’ is still my best selling book.

When I get to the pearly gates and they say, ‘just one book please’ - I’ll probably drag that one out. We’ve just reprinted the seventh edition of that…it just seem to keep on trucking.

You can see more of Martin’s work on his website:

www.martinparr.com and check out the Martin Parr Founbdation at: Left: St Petersburg, Russia, 1991

www.martinparrfoundation.org

I’ve been an admirer of Marion Deuchars’ work for a number of years, so I was delighted when she agreed to an interview for an edition of Elsie Magazine. We chatted earlier in the week via a video link that was, shall we say, a little temperamental. But we got through it and Marion talked about life in lockdown, her approach to her art and her growing portfolio of books that encourage children and adults to explore their creativity.

I feel like we are creating moments and memories that will be with us forever.

Previous page: Making Art Makes you Happy From It’s Nice That Lecture series ‘HERE’ This page: Do one thing well Limited edition silkscreen poster for ‘The Do Lectures’

Hi Marion, what are the best and the worst things about working from home during lockdown?

I’ve actually never worked from home before. When I left college I went straight into a studio. I’ve always believed that getting away from your domestic space is a good thing.

It’s easier to make work when you’re not worrying about what’s in the fridge or whether the kitchen floor needs washing.

There are too many distractions always an excuse not to work or get started. That’s why I’ve always like the routine of getting up and out of the house and ‘going to work’.

So lockdown has been interesting.

I’ve had to adapt and learn to be less fussy about what’s happening in the house. I’m working in our dining room and my husband (Angus Hyland, Partner at Pentagram) is working next to me and he’s often on the phone or Zoom having meetings, and that can be very distracting.

Then I’ve got two teenage boys who seem to want to eat every five minutes. That said, the three meals a day thing has been one of the lovely things about lockdown.

We’re all eating as a family a lot more. We’ve also created a little gym in our garden and we’ve been doing some fantastic bike rides.

The roads are a lot quieter and we can be in Trafalgar Square in fifteen minutes. I feel like we are creating moments and memories that will be with us forever.

It’s really made me realise that with getting up and going to work every day, I’ve never really enjoyed our house and we’re lucky to have a lovely house.

Below: If you don’t care/be heard D&AD 2015 campaign

I think art responds very well in a crisis, because there’s something very tangible to work with and react to.

Is the crisis and lockdown influencing your work at all?

I remember thinking when the lockdown started that a lot of people would turn to art and I think art responds very well in a crisis because there’s something very tangible to work with and react to.

And yes, I can already feel the crisis is having an impact on what I’m doing, especially on the publishing side of things.

I’m starting to feel that I should develop a much stronger online presence.

However, the online stuff doesn’t come naturally to me. It’s not seamless. I think the younger generation create work and show work and share work in this lovely, seamless way. Whereas, I tend to make work and think I should

really do something with it.

I have got myself a little set up now where I can put a camera over my desk and record myself working and that’s quite a fascinating thing - to watch your own creative process.

I feel like I’ve got so much material that I could and should use and I really need to find a way of putting it online. It is just a different platform, but it feels very relevant and I don’t think I can ignore it any more. I’ve been saying to myself ‘just start - just get something going and things will emerge.’

Perhaps I need to find someone with all the technical skills I’m lacking to help me. I’m not sure I’ve got the time or energy to learn lots of new tech skills.

Right: Good is not good enough D&AD Judging Campaign 2015

What’s your approach to your work, do you have a specific methodology?

Like everyone else, I have good days and bad days creatively.

On a good day, I do believe that I have something to offer and on a bad day it can all come to a screeching halt and I can lose confidence.

I have to use a lot of devices to keep my energy up. If I sat down and analysed it, there are little tricks going on inside my head all the time - things to get me thinking in different ways why don’t you try that or experiment with this?

I like working towards the unknown, I start each day and I don’t really know what I’m working towards, it’s always a bit of a mystery.

You have to trust that if you enjoy what you’re doing and you’re curious about what the possibilities are, then the end result will turn out well.

That’s why commercial jobs are always harder, because they come

with parameters. Parameters can be a godsend, because they give you a clear direction, but they can also stop you from taking risks or making mistakes and we all know that’s where the interesting stuff happens.

How much do you have to ‘feel’ the lettering - are there times when it’s flowing and times when it’s not?

I have days when it’s hard to achieve flow in my lettering. A few years ago I joined a traditional calligraphy course without telling the teacher that I was a lettering artist. She had rubbished the socalled modern hand lettering movement, so I kept my head down.

One of her first drawing exercises when starting the class was to hand draw pencil lines on a sheet of paper that we would subsequently ink our lettering on. At first I used to be so frustrated with this, what was the point! when you could just use lined paper. I soon realised that the ‘drawing of lines’ had nothing to do with not having lined paper and everything to do with to changing our focus and getting us into the correct state of mind required for calligraphy - the slowness - a calm mind.

I start each day and I don’t really know what I’m working towards, it’s always a bit of a mystery.

Left from top: Bob goes Pop published by Laurence King Publishing Colour Particular Books Bob the Artist published by Laurence King Publishing

Over the past few years you’ve become an author, publishing art activity books and now children’s stories. Can you tell us a bit about how that is developing?

I’ve definitely made a conscious decision to widen the age range that my books appeal to, though I’ve always tried to create books that are ageless. I’m curious as to how simple I can make things.

interested to find out about a certain artist or method, they will explore beyond the book. So the books are like starting points.

I try and keep focused on what I’m doing, because, unlike when I first started, there are now a lot of art activity books out there and I find it quite intimidating. I ask myself, ‘does the world really need another art activity book?’

It’s what we do ourselves as artists, we look at a piece of art and we wonder how it was done. I love watching artists at work on the internet, because it de-mystifies the whole magical process - but not totally, because there’s so much magic and mystery in how people make work, but it gives you a little glimpse into it.

I try not to be too dense in how I present things. I think if people are

I think if you de-construct how an artist works and encourage people to have a go - say like a Mondrian - then they’ll stumble across some of his work a year or two later and they’re perception of it will be so much different.

Left & below: Cover & spread Esquire

Most of your hand lettering is black and white - is there a reason for this - does it convey a different message to colour?

I mainly use black ink when making lettering, either Quink or Japanese drawing ink. I love the blackness and the quality of the ink as it dries on paper. It also dries far quicker than gouache (my other main medium).

separated than we have today.

As most of my work ends up going through a secondary process/scan/ photoshop, it makes sense to draw most things in black or grayscale and then colour digitally if needed.

Interestingly, I don’t get asked to do a lot of imagery these days, possibly because I don’t push it that hard. But I do still get asked to do a lot of lettering and that really does amaze and intrigue me.

A lot of the time, particularly in your commercial work, there is a kind of symbiotic dance going on between your lettering and an image, is this something you consciously play to and exploit?

I think I treat lettering like imagery rather than a font. Pictures and words play with each other on the page. I’m trying to achieve a seamless balance.

If you look back at illuminated manuscripts, which is where contemporary illustration references to, you can see the relationship between text and image is much more harmonious and less

Do you ever pinch yourself at the prestigious commissions you’ve had over the years?

I sometimes feel amazed that I’m still getting commissions at all!

Illustration is a very fast-moving, fashion-led industry and you can be relevant one year and not the next.

I love doing commissioned projects for lettering, because they’re not stressful at all. When I used to work for the Guardian, the work was very enjoyable but also very challenging in that I was having to come up with imagery that communicated a powerful message or political comment - the imagery was almost secondary to the idea that was being driven by the text in the article.

But a lettering commission is quite meditative and super-enjoyable.

I love going into the zone of painting or drawing lettering.

‘‘

I think of the audience; I consider the character one might think of ‘behind’ the lettering,is it seducing you or shouting at you...

Left: Set of 6 stamps commissioned to commemorate the RSC 50th Anniversary in collaboration with Hat Trick Design Right: Art & Graft D&AD Campaign 2015

You have a number of hand lettering styles that each have the power to influence the emotional impact of a piece of work. Do you think of your styles as having ‘personality’ traits?

I think my lettering has personality traits. Although they don’t always look dramatically different, how I produce them does vary.

Whatever the subject I have in my head determines whether I’m attacking the paper with a brush or gently stroking it. I think of the audience, I consider the character one might think of ‘behind’ the lettering, is it seducing you or shouting at you?

Each time I paint or draw lettering it’s a one off experience. In the D&AD 2015 campaign for example, the reference was protest posters.

I experimented a lot with this job and not all of it ended up in print.

I used industrial paint, ink, tape, collage, lettering on all different surfaces.

It was a challenge not to make it too pretty, but to feel like it could have been made by the public, or at least inspired by! In my book ‘Colour’

the lettering is much more playful and decorative, enhancing the imagery and illustrating some facts and stories about the history of colour.

In another project; Royal Mail Stamps for the RSC, I used scratchy graphite to write the King Lear text and flowing watercolour for Romeo and Juliet. You can see clearly that this would not work the other way around.

...ultimately, it doesn’t really matter how you label yourself. A friend of mine calls himself a painter and decorator he’s actually an illustrator.

‘‘

Left: Play is a way of working Try to learn Inspiring Words Series of greetings cards for Art Press

Do you see yourself primarily as an artist, as opposed to a designer or an illustrator?

You know, it’s funny you should say that, because I probably do see myself primarily as an artist, but whenever anyone asks me, I always say that I’m an illustrator - because I feel like I’m not an ‘artist’ artist.

What I do is quite broad. I feel like I’m an artist, but I use illustrator as a broader term. Maybe I’ve got a problem with the whole snobby thing that surrounds art sometimes.

Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter how you label yourself. A friend of mine calls himself a painter and decorator - he’s actually an illustrator.

If you could go back and be the assistant for any artist and be in their studio as they were working, where would you be.

Probably in Saul Steinberg’s studio.

Although he did seem like quite a complicated man.

I think his work is so fantastic and so many illustrators are influenced by him. He was also super prolific.

I love the amount of energy he must have had and how much his work was constantly evolving.

What about music? Do you listen to a lot of stuff when you’re working?

I can’t work in silence, I have to have something playing.

According to my Spotify account, my most played record is the Return of the Durruti Column, which I think was their first album.

I also used to listen to The Fall quite a bit. Mark E. Smith was not known as a particularly likeable character, but I love the energy of his music.

I think it’s very much like art.

When I used to share a studio, we always had to find some music that everybody liked, and that was quite hard sometimes. We used to play a lot of reggae, that was always popular.

Now I’ve got a studio of my own, I find myself tuning into Women’s Hour on Radio 4.

You can see more of Marion’s work on her website: www.mariondeuchars.com

tom hanks and the exclusive interview about lost gloves Ever since I’ve been producing Elsie Magazine, I’ve been constantly surprised and uplifted by the connections I’ve made, none more so than with Tom Hanks. Tom and I share a mutual fascination with lost and discarded gloves. I’ve featured them previously in Elsie Magazine and a friend of mine sent Tom a copy of the issue in which they appear and it’s all led from there. When I sent Tom a copy of the last Elsie, I asked if he would consider doing a short interview, not about his stellar acting career, but about his hobby of photographing lost gloves. He said ‘yes’, I sent him the questions and a few weeks later I received Tom’s hand-typed response. Life moves in strange ways.

The Glove Questions...

1) What first got you into photographing lost gloves?

2) Do you ever consider the back story behind the lost gloves...who they belong to and how they were lost?

3) Do you think the gloves represent any deeper cultural meanings?

4) What do your friends and family think of your obsession?

5) Is there a word for photographers of lost gloves? Perhaps we should invent one?

6) Are there any other things that you are tuned into?

You can find some of Tom’s glove photographs on his Instagram page - @ tomhanks. They are reproduced here (left) with his kind permission.

Interview Angus Hyland

I’m delighted to say that this week’s interview is with Angus Hyland.

Angus is a graphic designer, author, creative director and a partner at Pentagram. He has been named one of the UK’s top ten graphic designers

by The Independent, and has received over a hundred creative awards, including five D&AD silver awards.

We chatted about his work at Pentagram and how the covid crisis has affected the design sector.

The Letraset book was a big influence on Angus before he became a designer, so I thought we might delve back into its pages for some supporting typefaces for the article.

‘‘

Pentagram... it’s mythic - it’s bigger than any of us.

Bookman Oldstyle 58pt on 55pt

On getting into graphic design and being a partner at Pentagram...

I loved music from a very early age. My brothers were a lot older than me, so I had quite mature taste in music, and I was a prodigious buyer of music on vinyl. One of the great things about vinyl is the artwork on the record sleeves and that was almost as important as the music to me. I found myself thinking that I could design that Hawkwind cover.

know why?

Also, for some unknown reason, we had a Letraset catalogue in the house and, for a lack of stimulus other than Asterisk the Gaul and Tin Tin, I used to pour over it and spend hours looking at the lettering and the different typefaces, without ever consciously forming any plan to go into design, but I guess it all seeped in.

In truth, we’re all just passing through - Pentagram is like a self-sustaining conveyor belt. All the founding partners are gone, so if you’re lucky enough to become a partner, you’re on that conveyor belt until you leave. It’s mythic, it’s beyond the people who are actually there, it’s bigger than any of us.

As for being a partner at Pentagram, I don’t actually have ‘partner’ on my business card, I don’t

A bit like playing for Manchester United?

Of course, I’m aware of the status of the title, but I don’t feel particularly lofty. I’ve been there so long - over twenty-oneyears, so I don’t see it with that perspective.

The age of the internet has been very good for Pentagram, because it’s given us all more visibility. But we’re all fairly ordinary.

Yes, but Arsenal.

I SEE IT AS A CO-CREATION BETWEEN MYSELF, MY TEAM AND THE CLIENT - AND IT SHOULD BE ENJOYABLE

‘‘

STENCIL 48PT on 36PT

Right: CASS ART Branding project

On approaching a rebrand project...

First and foremost you have to have an agreed route forward with the client - a mutual goal and that’s normally formalised in the brand strategy, or the creative brief.

I like to get to some articulation - a sentence or a few words that describes who they think they are. That forms a benchmarking device that you can rationalise the design around. Without that, it all descends into a battle of taste - my taste versus your taste.

Quite often that comes to us having already been created, so we like to poke a stick at it, to see if it’s robust enough to move forward. Once we’ve all agreed on that core statement and goal, then

we all have something collectively to move towards.

From there, different designers have different approaches - some like to go in with one very well defined idea, others like to present, almost a wallpaper of ideas - I like to work on three approaches or directions and then they become a funnel that leads to the chosen solution.

I see the whole process as a co-creation between myself, my team and the client - and it should be enjoyable. We should all feel like we’re building something new, so it shouldn’t create anxiety.

On the Covid-19 affect on business...

Like all businesses, we’re learning new ways of working. We’re all getting used to staring into a screen for meetings. I miss the interaction of talking stuff through and pushing bits of paper around.

Of course, we’ve been hit like many other businesses, but Pentagram is quite a robust organisation.

There are now around twenty-five partners around the world. We’re very good at spreading risk quite widely, so when one part of the business is not doing quite so well, another part will be. It’s a very good model for a crisis or a recession actually. Add to that, the fact that we’re a very well known agency with a longstanding reputation, makes us quite a secure partner for other companies to engage with.

But for the smaller agencies, this must be a

very tough time. Those that are more digitally focused will probably come out of this better than others, because they can still access and use all the tools they need.

I think for many parts of the sector say newspapers and magazines - this crisis will act as a fast forward button. It’s like a modern day equivalent of the meteor that killed off the dinosaurs - anything that’s not robust enough or can’t adapt quickly enough will die off, anything that thrives under the new climate with grow quickly - so, it’s probably a good time to be a bicycle manufacturer!

There are new questions that we all have to try and answer as we come out of this, such as how people travel to work or have their lunch and I think that’s going to take a long time, which might mean the re-birth of smaller towns outside of the big cities.

‘‘

Bodoni 44pt on 42pt

THE CRISIS IS LIKE A MODERN DAY EQUIVALENT OF THE METEOR THAT KILLED OFF THE DINOSAURS

Below: Dangerous Experiments After dinner entertainment

THE SCREEN HAS WON

‘‘

Below: Symbol Book Published by Laurence King

Eurostile 100pt on 74pt

On the affect of the crisis...

The sad thing is that many of the things that we did as the antedote to being on a screen are now themselves being forced into that format - galleries, for instance. Exhibitions that we would normally get out of the house to see are now coming to our screens. That debate that every parent has about screen time versus other activities and fresh air, well we’re all now attached to the screen the screen has won. We’re all working through this sausage machine called a laptop.

On design’s role in pulling the companies out of the recession...

Most CEOs come from a financial background - very few come from a marketing background it’s an add on - the icing not the cake.

But the smart ones will realise that the way to make their cake stand out, is to ice it.

On what might come out of the crisis...

Hopefully we will have a renaissance of craft.

People forcing themselves off their screen to do something more physical and tactile.

Because the one thing people have more of now, is time. Of course, the challenge is to make it work from an income perspective when there’s not much money about.

Perhaps it’s about finding cheaper places and ways to live that don’t require as much money, and that’s when places like Southend and Hastings start to improve and become more attractive alternatives to London.

Ultimately, creativity will find a way through.

Pushing down creativity is like pushing down a bubble of air in a carpet it just pops up somewhere else.

PUSHING DOWN CREATIVITY IS LIKE PUSHING DOWN AN AIR BUBBLE IN THE CARPET- IT JUST POPS UP SOMEWHERE

Rockwell Extra Bold 48pt on 45pt

‘‘

ELSE.

‘‘

No...

No...

No...

No..

Ne

Cooper Black : various point sizes

As someone who has worked on many large re-brand and brand launch projects, do you have a sense of your own personal brand?

..

No, no, no, no, never! That would be horrible. I always say to students, please don’t create a logo for yourself, you don’t need it, concentrate on other stuff. So, no, I have no sense of my own brand. I was going to a big pitch a few days ago for a large job and I was working myself up about it and a colleague said to me, ‘just be yourself’, and I thought, ‘well, I don’t know who else I could be’.

ever!

I had no idea of the compulsive nature of doing art

‘‘

Baskerville Old Face 76pt on 62pt

On books & recent paintings...

Books...

I started doing books on illustration and on branding, but a little while ago I thought to myself that I’d like to do something that was quite popular, but to do it really well.

I always used to think about building a collection of dog portrait paintings - good, bad, naff... and then I thought about taking that idea and doing it as a book instead. Pets are very popular, so I decided to put my curatorial skills to something that wasn’t about graphic design - and I really enjoyed it. Since then, I’ve done other books on cats, birds and flowers. The final one in the series is going to be all about trees.

Paintings...

Recently, I’ve become more interested in my painting. I’ve created a series of very simple graphic, geometric paintings using pure colours. The brakes are on at the moment, but I’m going to carry on.

The pleasure for me is trying to be very, very precise with a fluid medium. I’ve been using very pure colour and pigment, in fact, the colours have become bolder and bolder the more simple I’ve made the compositions.

They started off quite decorative, but I’ve been distilling them down more and more, it just seems to have happened that way.

They’ve now become quite compulsive - I had no idea of the compulsive nature of doing art until I got into this project and worked towards an exhibition.

Check out Angus’s paintings at: www.angushyland.com And his books at: www.laurenceking.com

COLLECTORS Collectors and their collections fascinate me. It never ceases to amaze me what people get into. In the latest edition of Elsie we have a guy who has a collection of 4500 different bricks, and the first issue featured a collection of patterns on the inside of security envelopes - you couldn’t make it up.

If you have a collection, you’re more than welcome to put it forward for an article in the future. Here’s one from a past issue...

steve’s matchbook collection

Steve Turnock is a good friend of mine and he has a collection of every Guinness Book of Records that’s ever been printed and I was doing an article on that for the last Elsie Annual. At the end of our session I happened to mention that I’d been looking for someone with a collection of old matchbooks, but without success. “Really?’, says Steve, ‘wait there...’ - and off he goes to his garage.

A few minutes later he arrives back with two old shoe boxes, ‘here you go’, he says, handing them to me. Inside are around two hundred matchbooks mostly from the late 1960s and the 1970s. That’s what you call an added bonus! The collection is very much of its time with images of Concorde, The Radio Times, steak houses and ferry companies. The biggest question is...who was Mr. B. Mosca and what kind of questions could we have asked him?

INTERACTIVE STUFF Elsie might be a one-man magazine, but it’s also a community of creative people who are encouraged to get involved and, at the same time, create content for the future editions. There are lots of ways to get involved - here’s just one example...

5 THINGS

Five things is a regular feature in Elsie Magazine. The premise is simple - one person chooses five things from their home - things that have some meaning to them - and then they share them with us and give a few words of insight into why each item is important to them.

If you’re a subscriber, you can sign up to take part - I’ll pick a person at random each month to provide their five things. The Five Things this time have been provided by one of my best mates, Mark Faulkner.

We met almost forty years ago at art college along with my wife and Mark’s partner Gill. We’ve been friends ever since. Mark and Gill run a really cool ceramics company called Repeat Repeat - check it out.

01

Football Rattle When I was a youngster I was given this football rattle. It was just a plain wooden rattle. I decided to paint it. That’s when I realised that my future lay in art and design.

02

Four tins of Tomato Soup You wouldn’t ordinarily be pleased to receive four tins of tomato soup for your birthday, but when our son got me these I was delighted... because this is not just tomato soup, this is Andy Warhol tomato soup. Just for clarity this was a few years ago, during happier times when buying four of the same item in a supermarket was not frowned upon.

03

Fred the Flour Grader & a Drum Head Robot Fred The Flour Grader was introduced by Spillers (later Homepride) in 1964. More commonly he’s dressed in black.

I assumed this one is white because he was covered in flour - but he’s still smiling. On the shelf, he sits alongside the robot with a drum for a head. Pull his arm and he bangs his own head. The two of them have similar smiley faces, although the robot has more of a grimace which is understandable really.

04

Ceramic Egg Cup

In the mid eighties I was invited to take part in an Egg Cup Exhibition. I said yes, but didn’t know anything about ceramics however, I knew a man that did.

My Dad was a lecturer in ceramics at Liverpool Polytechnic. He made a small batch of egg cups and applied a black glaze and carefully carried them back home to Stoke on the train. I then scratched patterns into the dry glaze - a technique called sgraffito. They went back to Liverpool on the train to be fired. The exhibition was a roaring success and the egg cups sold out - all six of them. That’s when I realised that my future lay in ceramics. Thanks Dad.

05

Three-legged Pig I love this small wooden threelegged pig. It used to have four legs but one ‘fell off’. What started off as a mild enquiry about exactly how it ‘fell off’, developed into the most almighty row our household has ever seen! Ever. Featuring this pig is probably something I may come to regret!

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY Street photography is a passion of mine.

I love the sense of intrigue and anticipation that lies around every corner. Street photography is unpredictable and often spontaneous. Elsie features bits of my street photgraphy and also opens the door for me to engage with leading street photographers from around the world whose work I’m inspired by - like Nick Turpin...

Interview Nick Turpin

I’ve been an admirer of Nick Turpin’s street photography for quite a while. His project ‘On the Night Bus’ (which is featured here), is probably my favourite street photography project of the past decade. So, I was delighted when he agreed to an interview for Elsie Magazine. We talked about his route into photography (that included a major break even before he’d finished his degree) and then his transition into street photography. It’s a fascinating interview...

Top & bottom Street shots from London

On getting started in photography...

I was in the second year of my degree at Westminster University and I had three projects I was working on. The first was a project about children with leukaemia whose fathers had all worked at Sellafield. I also went to Aberfan in South Wales just as the last pit was closing and finally, I started shooting a project at the Tate (there was only one back then).

I took my projects to show the picture editor of the Independent newspaper, Christopher McCain, because I had to find someone in the industry to crit my work for my degree course.

When I started, I had one camera and two lenses and no car. I had to go to the bank to get a loan to buy a car. On my first day, Brian Harris, who was the chief photographer, took me to a camera shop to buy a second camera. I was completely unprepared – but I was straight into the deep end. Initially, I was doing the lower end stuff, press calls, annual report type stuff. But as time went on, they gave me a wider range of work to do – I covered the Cannes Film Festival, even some football when the sports photographers were on holiday.

He went through my portfolio and he was very quiet, and I thought it wasn’t going very well.

Then he closed it up and said, “I’d like you to come and work for me”.

I was going to the Houses of Parliament every week, but I was so naïve, I’d be on the way to meet some politician and I’d have to phone my Mum to find out who they were. But somehow, I got through and gradually established myself.

Which was not what I was expecting! So, I ended up as the youngest staff photographer on a national newspaper at the age of twenty.

‘‘

...I think that people see themselves in the images, it’s very relatable

On his acclaimed project - On the Night Bus...

On the Night Bus seems to have really resonated with a lot of people, I’m not sure why.

Perhaps it’s because it’s a documentary project but the images are very painterly and beautiful – I think that people see themselves in the images, it’s very relatable.

The pictures were done over three winters between 5.30pm and 7.30pm as commuters travelled home by bus from their jobs. I photographed into the top deck of the buses from a raised platform using a long lens and very slow

shutter speeds. It was generally unpleasantly cold and wet.

Standing in the dark and shooting into the light of the bus allowed me to be pretty much invisible.

The people were in their own worlds – sleeping, reading, thinking or texting on their phones.

I started to get the sense that these journeys were taking place in an anonymous ‘no man’s land’ - a part of people’s days between the colleagues they worked with all day and their families waiting at home.

Below: Shots from ‘On the Night Bus’

‘‘

The act of going out with your camera and letting the world reveal itself to you, is a very particular way of working.

On getting into street photography...

I guess that when I was at the Independent, I would always have a camera with me everywhere I went and I was always seeing things and pulling the car over to get out and take some pictures.

I wasn’t really aware of the phrase ‘street photography’ at the time.

I was into photographers like Elliot Erwitt and his street work, and I was inspired by people like him early on.

Then I met a guy called David Gibson, another street photographer – we had a very similar approach to our work and I started to realise that street photography was a thing and that it had a very distinct approach. It was related to photo-journalism, but it was different.

I’ve been a professional photographer for over thirty years and I’ve covered big news stories, riots, fashion, celebrity portraits, advertising shoots for multi-million dollar advertising

campaigns and still I find that street photography is the thing that I find the hardest to do with a camera – to make something out of nothing in a public place - in terms of framing of the moment, with no preparation and little control.

The act of going out with your camera and letting the world reveal itself to you, is a very particular way of working.

I was also aware that it wasn’t that well represented in the media, so in 2000, I started a website called in-public. com that brought the work of leading street photographers together in one place.

Left and next page: Shots from ‘Auto’ This project, shot in London, features cars with the reflections of advertising displays, such as those in Piccadilly Circus.

Above: Miami Right: London Far right: Joel Meyerowitz’s shot of a fallen man in Paris

On the role street photography...

In 1996, there was a book published called ‘Bystander, a History of Street Photography’ I was asked to take a copy and photograph it for the Independent’s book review page.

Afterwards, I picked the book up and I just devoured it, because it was reflecting everything I was doing back at me and I realised I was a street photographer and also that there was a real heritage of this form of photography going back a long way.

I believe that street photographers around the world are actually creating a very important documentary record.

We’re not just taking pictures of quirky juxtapositions in the street.

A while ago I stumbled across Joel Meyerowitz’s picture of the fallen man in Paris. I decided to look

up that exact location on Google street view. Then I put the two images together. In the new one, there are Japanese tour groups crossing the road, a Muslim lady wearing a hijab – in Joel’s picture from fifty years ago, everyone is white. In the Google image, there is a huge advertising hoarding, a symbol of the commercialisation of public spaces. In many ways, when you look at the Meyerowitz picture today, the main subject, the fallen man, is the least interesting thing.

To me, that’s what’s interesting about street photography. Some of my work is in the Museum of London and I love that, because those pictures are about how we live now and their meaning will change as the years go by.

Left: From a project on the French

On the draw and the act of doing street photography...

It’s just such a huge challenge to try and bring order to the chaos of the street and, at the same time, to bring meaning to the photographs.

I used to go and have lunch with an agent in Camden and between his office and the restaurant, I would usually take four or five pictures. And he said to me one day, ‘do you know, I make this walk almost every day, and I never see anything, nothing ever happens.

But whenever I’m with you, all this crazy stuff is happening’.

There is no bigger hook.

Funny that, isn’t it?

Ultimately, street photography is nothing to do with cameras.

Recording the image is just the last stage.

Seeing it, building it, following it – recognising the potential and being patient, waiting for something to happen or come together – that’s the real skill.

When it comes down to it, the only skill that I have, is, I see things differently to other people. And that’s what’s allowed me to pay my mortgage and my bills over the years. I can’t really do anything else.

For me, street photography is the ultimate challenge because you’re trying to control this random environment that is constantly in flux.

‘‘

Ultimately,street photography is nothing to do with cameras

‘‘

street photography is really hard because it’s so simple

On hints and tips for budding street photographers...

Street photography is really hard, because it’s so simple.

There’s nothing to hide behind – no flash guns, lights, filters, sets, props.

So everything boils down to two decisions – the framing and the moment. Most great street photographs occur when those two things are done really well in the same frame.

something on the street – two people kissing and a dog – I know exactly how far back I’ve got to stand to frame the people on the left, the dog on the right, with the right amount of space around them.

The picture taking becomes automatic, which leaves you time to think about the shot, even before you bring your camera to your eye.

Most people see stuff and then take a straight picture without thinking.

They don’t consider shifting their perspective, or positioning things differently in the frame, or what might happen if they waited a few seconds.

And the last tip I would give is, never leave the house without your camera. There are great street photography opportunities happening all the time. I’m often late for meetings because I’ve stopped to take some pictures.

The other big tip I would give is – stick to the same equipment. Get to know your camera so that you can use it intuitively.

I’ve worked with the same 35mm focal length lens for thirty years.

Which means when I see

And with that, we decide to call it a day - Nick’s got some home schooling to do with his children. It’s been a fascinating chat.

Check out Nick’s photographs: www.nickturpin.com

street photography I’ve been getting more and more into street photography over the last year or two. It’s a hugely enjoyable, creatively challenging and often frustrating pursuit.

That said, I think I’m improving what was that quote by golfer Gary Player? - ‘the more I practice, the luckier I get’ - never a truer word said.

I think I’ve got some good shots over the past year and I’m going to share some with you over the next few spreads. I’m also going to share some of the lessons I’ve learned so far, to hopefully inspire you to get out on the streets with your camera and get producing some of your own street photography.

Lesson #1 :

Let the people come to you A great way to build a little project quickly is to choose a spot where you think there are photographic possibilities and then plant yourself there for a while. There are two big advantages in doing this; firstly, you get a set of pictures that are connected and, as such, start to form a body of work; secondly, because you are, in effect, the incumbent and people are walking through your space, there’s a shift in the dynamic a bit in your favour.

If you stand with your camera to your eye as people pass through the frame, they tend to accept that you’re doing something that doesn’t involve them.

I took these shots outside a building in London, I’m not exactly sure where I was, but I was immediately drawn to the strong lines of the building and the bright sunshine. So, I stood towards the end of the building on the edge of the pavement and I waited.

I probably shot sixty or seventy frames, most of which didn’t amount to much, but about one in eight caught a moment or an expression as people passed through the scene. very few of them engaged with the camera and when they did, it added a new dimension to the set.

Lesson #2 :

Be bold

There’s a strange paradox in today’s society - and that is, despite the fact that we take millions more photographs on a daily basis than at any other time in the last 100 years, if you stand on the streets with a professional SLR camera, people’s suspicions are immediately aroused.

So, to be successful at street photography, you need to be bold and learn to dismiss those strange looks as par for the course. There are, however, a few things you can do to mitigate any unwanted confrontations. For instance, if you keep your camera to your eye after taking a shot and after your (human) subject has moved away, it suggests that you were actually photographing something else.

But there’s no doubt, to get the shots you want, you have to be bold, you have to get in there. It gets easier after a time when you realise that, in most circumstances, people who don’t want their photograph taken will either move or turn away, or tell you no thanks - and neither of those responses can hurt you.

Lesson #3 :

Don’t be afraid to ask...

...you’ll be surprised how many people will say ‘yes’ to being photographed. The key is to learn how to strike rapport quickly and get people to lower their defences.

There are a few simple techniques you can deploy here.

The first one is to make eye contact and smile - it’s difficult for people to have a negative response to that, even if they are a bit wary. I then follow up that initial contact with a compliment, a positive statement or a question.

So, I might say something like ‘Wow, you look great there, framed in that doorway with that bright coloured wall behind you’, or ‘What you’re doing there nlooks really interesting is it a hobby?’

Something that is positive and seeks a response. I normally keep my camera out of the way at first, so it’s not a distraction.

Once you have a conversation going and you feel people are relaxing a little, you can choose your moment to ask for a shot or two. Sometimes, you will find that a stranger will be the first to strike up the conversation... never pass up this opportunity.

They might have an interest in photography, or be interested in what you’re photographing, either way, if they’ve made the first move the chances of engaging them and asking them for a photograph are greatly increased.

I’ve included a few street portraits over the next few pages, in each case the intereactions lasted no more than two or three minutes - just enough to engage, strike rapport and get the shot.

I photographed Maizie (above) when I was in Barry Island. She was with her father and some friends and they were just starting a barbeque on the beach wall. I got chatting to her father and took a few shots of the group, but I could see Maizie had a bit of a sulk on and I knew that she was the real shot. I asked her father if I could take a few shots, but I was keen not to jolt her out of her mood, so when he agreed, I quitely approached her and started taking some shots - her father was encouraging her to smile, which only strengthened her resolve not to. It was one of those lovely moments when the excitement rises within you as you’re shooting, because Maizie was such a great subject. As the conversation went on, I asked for permission to take some more shots, but I couldn’t repeat the expression she gave me in those first few that I took.

Both of these shots were taken on the same walk in London. The shot above was one of those occasions where the subjects make the first move. I was across the road taking some shots of some market stalls when Mr. Rahman (on the right) shouted something to me. I missed what he said, but it was the perfect opening to walk across and strike up a conversation. Mr. Rahman’s family had arrived in the UK from Bangladesh in the early sixties when he was a small child and he had lived in the same area of London since then.He introduced me to his friend Mr. Ali. The two friends regularly met at the same spot to chat and pass the time of day.

The photograph opposite is Jack Morley, a homeless guy I met around Shoreditch. He had lost his job and with it, his flat. He was now sleeping on the streets. The shot was taken in a doorway with a plain grey background in the street where we met.

The guy on the left is Delroy, an army veteran who had fallen on bad time. He approached me and asked for some money for his lodgings for the night - I gave him a few quid and we chatted for a while.

Above: I took this shot in Barcelona. I was out with my camera one morning and this guy came up a ramp onto the main promenade near to where I was standing. I approached him, but he didn;’t speak a word of English and my Spanish is non-existent.

So, through a series of smiles and hand gestures, I managed to convince him to stop for a few shots.

His electric buggy had been completely pimped with Barcelona FC paraphernalia including the Messi doll. The guy sat impassive with the stub of his cigar in his mouth - I never got his name.

Right top: This is Jay, he works in a tiny shoe repair cubicle in a narrow arcade of shops in Brixton.

Formally a shoe-maker, he’d worked in the cubicle for over 40 years. He was seventy-eight and was now retired - he came to work just to pass the time of day. Business was slow, but he didn’t mind, it wasn’t about the money.

Right bottom: Mercy owns a fashion stand in the same arcade of shops as Jay.

Lesson #4 :

Seize the moment The beauty of street photography is you never know what’s around the next corner. Scenes appear and disappear in a moment. It can be frustrating when you see a shot and before you can get your camera to your eye, that moment has gone. But the more you stay alert, the more your hit rate increases.

Sometimes it’s about anticipation, seeing the potential shot before it actually comes together. Take the shot of the lady with the top that reflects the crossing she’s on. I’d just passed that crossing and then I saw the lady walking back towards it on the other side of the road, so I quickly doubled back and was standing on the opposite side of the crossing as she arrived.

Sometimes, as is the case with the sleeping woman on the bus, the scene literally pulls up in front of you, it’s then a simple case of seizing that opportunity before it moves away.

Lesson #5 :

Get out there!

You can look at a camera for as long as you like.

You can think about and talk about doing some street photography until the cows come home, but at some point you have to pick that camera up, close the front door behind you and get out there. Yes, it’s a bit scary and a bit daunting, but there’s no alternative to grasping that nettle...so the sooner you do it, the sooner you’ll be over that barrier. Why not start with some shots that don’t include people - inanimate objects, reflections, buildings - anything that get’s you on the street and shooting away.

Left : Marathon runner having complted the New York Marathon Above : Street scene in Barcelona

Lesson #6 :

Tune in...

You’ll find as you get into street photography that themes start to emerge...this is good. Building a body of work around a particular theme shifts a few individual shots into a project with added gravitas. I have a number of themes that I’m tuned into and each is progressing at its own speed - skips, graphic street corners (see page ??), street portraits, handmade signs and graphics...the list goes on. The key here is to have the themes you’re building in the back of your mind at all times. If you’re tuned in, you’ll start to spot the opportunities and anticipate where additions to your project might arise.

Lesson #7 :

Keep snapping!

I read a quote from one of my photographic heroes, Martin Parr, the other day - he was talking about street photography and he was saying that most of what he shoots is rubbish (not what you’d expect one of the world’s greatest photographers to say), but he went onto say...‘the basic theory is, the more rubbish you take, the better the chances are of a good photograph emerging...so keep taking the rubbish’. I couldn’t agree more - street photography is all about shortening the odds in your favour - sometimes you have to shoot around a subject, because you never know when that interesting composition comes together. I took the photos on this spread in a square in Barcelona - I probably shot 100-150 frames over a period of about 45 minutes - I got a few decent shots, a lot of rubbish and the shot above, which is my favourite.

COLLAGE CLUB I’m a recent convert to collage, I got into it at the start of the first lockdown. Since then I’ve done hundreds of collages and I’m still developing my technique and style.

Every Elsie Magazine has a section called the Collage Club, featuring new works and interviews with leading collage artists from across the world. We also have two monthly collage challenges that subscribers can get involoved in.

LOCKDOWN COLLAGES On 23rd March 2020 as we entered into the first lockdown lockdown, I gave myself a brief to create a collage every day about the Covid-19 crisis until it was all over. I found a stack of flattened cardboard boxes that had once contained Elsie Magazines and I decided to use them as base boards. Content was easy - I would buy three newspapers every day and raid their pages for images, headlines, text and graphics - add in a few rolls of tape and a bag full of old acrylic paints and I was good to go. Here aresome of the results from three months of daily collages.

The collages varied in style and content - some were serious, some were a little more light-hearted and reflective of the different activities that people were taking up during lockdown. The collage on the left probably took the longest of all the ones I did - building a kind of patchwork rug of positive words and phrases that were featuring in the daily newspapers.

THE ELSIE QUIZ Every edition of Elsie has a devilishly difficult quiz to get your synapses firing!

Work out the answers, send them in and you could walk away with a cool prize.

Here’s an example quiz - just for fun.

290

Whe

029

ere?

It was a cold day and the c were stri what?

bright in April, clocks iking...

façad

señor

Can you name these

(without revert

de fête

r über

e diacritical marks?

ting to Google)

HOM

Which is th

MES

he biggest?

Chicx

Bye Bye

xulub

e What?

Bath Linw Meth Irvine Post it.

hgate wood hil e

Dúirt mé raibh mé

é leat go é breoite

JIMI HE AMY WIN KURT C

What’s the

ENDRIX NEHOUSE COBAIN

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Mmm. I lo I mean, re Hey, every Come and good I look

ook good. eally good. yone! see how k!

Quiz Answers

29029

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking... what?

Mount Everest. The world’s highest mountain is 29,029 feet high.

The clocks were striking thirteen - it’s the first line of George Orwell’s novel - Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Where?

façade fête señor über

Huron Ontario Michigan Erie Superior Which is the biggest?

From top to bottom - a cedilla, a circumflex, a tilde and an umlaut.

The biggest is...Lake Superior - it’s an acronym for the great lakes in North America.

Chicxulub Bye Bye What?

Bye Bye Dinosaurs! Chicxulub is the site of the crater caused by the giant meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs. It’s buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite

Bathgate Linwood Methil Irvine Post it.

Easy one - towns mentioned in the Proclaimers song - Letter to America.

The famous Gaelic inscription on the headstone of the comic genius, Spike Milligan. It translates as: I told you I was ill!

JIMI HENDRIX AMY WINEHOUSE KURT COBAIN What’s the number?

The number is 27 - it’s the infamous age that they all died at.

CONNECTION? The connection is that George Harrison was sued for plagiarising the Chiffons song He’s So Fine in his song My Sweet Lord.

‘‘

Mmm. I look good. I mean, really good. Hey, everyone!

Come and see how good I look!

It’s the first spoken line of the film Anchorman.

As a subscriber, you can win work from from the wonderful creative people featured in each issue!

•

From me...

I thought I’d start proceedings for this month’s subscriber prize draw with the collage I made from an old Walkers Chipstick box.

• From

Toby Binder

Toby has donated an 8” x 6” limited edition signed print from his project - Wee Muckers - the Youth of Belfast. 4/50

•

From me...

I’ll also be making one lucky subscriber Member #0001 0f the newly formed Discarded Industrial Glove Appreciation Society. I shall reserve #0002 for myself.

•

From John Mata

John has sent a really cool Apollo moon landing print 9cm x 7.5cm

Every person I interview for Elsie Magazine is asked if they would consider donating a piece of their work as a prize for Elsie subscribers. The vast majority say ‘Yes’. Here’s what was on offer from the first digital issue...

•

From Anne Kernan

We worked with Anne to create this exclusive print featuring Anne’s collection of saws.

•

•

From Lisa Hochstein

Lisa has donated this beautiful original collage. It’s petite and perfectly formed. 9” x 12”

From Dave Henderson (in his own words)

Limited edition So Old magazine with re-imagined vinyl (now sold out), Delreys Incorporated’s ‘Destination Unknown’ (see point one of five things), Disco Zombies’ vintage ‘Drums Over London’ single, exclusive art print and a CD compilation made especially for this prize, plus anything else that will fit into the envelope.

•

From Martin Evans

How cool is this - a free lifetime membership to the Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society - with certificate, Martin’s book - there’s even a pencil and a badge.

Elsie

Get on board!

Well, there you go - a little glimpse into the world of Elsie Magazine...

That said, what you’ve seen is just the tip of the iceberg - there’s so much more to discover, enjoy and get involved with.

If you’d like to find out more - head over to the website and when you’re ready, click the subscribe button and get on board, it would be great to have you along.

Cheers and thanks for taking the time.

Les

www.elsiemagazine.co.uk