When I mention that my hobby is taking pictures of the Milton Keynes most people look at me really strange and normally reply - Why would you want to take pictures of concrete or roundabouts?
Well they've got a point, why would I want to take pictures of Milton Keynes? After all its got no history and all the houses look the same don't they? Well thats not strictly true there are many different designs of homes and offices in Milton Keynes, some of them broke the mould of design when they were conceived under the guidance of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation. To be honest I just want to document my home town, I want to take pictures of the ugly bits, the run down streets and the abandoned cars. Of course I also want to celebrate the great achievements the early town planners strived for and got and also the ones which missed the mark by a couple of degrees. I'm not the only one either it turns out, over the past five years since my random hobby really started i've met some amazing people. Some have produced books about the new town such as Vicky Lamburn (http://vickylamburn.com/milton-keynes/ - I'm in this book by the way) and also others choose to share their images on website such as flickr - https://www.flickr.com/groups/miltonkeynes/ At the last count i've got over 3k images of Milton Keynes, at one point I was trying to find a particular location used in the famous adverts so started walking/driving down every road over a period of 4 months. So if your looking for a particular image why not get in touch with me? /get-in-touch.html
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I spent some of this evening searchIng facebook for people who were in a photo taken back in1987. While doing so it dawned on me that had the picture been a taken today on a camera phone the chance of it being around in 30+ years would be very thin. It would have been deleted because either the Harddrive or phone memory was running out or more likely the format had become obsolete. Thats where a traditional printed photo is amazing, if looked after correctly they will last for 10s of years. I'm about to embark on a mini project to digitise my family photos, but at the same time I'm going to give some thought to printing out some of my digital images. It would seem that not all films based in Milton Keynes are light hearted or portray the new town in the best light. I once found this short 15min by director Richard Oliver while searching the internet for films based in Milton Keynes. Its about a pair of young con artists who steal money from their elderly victims, the only connection I would hope with Milton Keynes is it was chosen as the location to set the film in. Written by Richard Oliver, Paul Watson and Matt Cook and it is based in 1997 and was used by 'ACTION ON ELDER ABUSE' to highlight the stark reality of abuse within the elder members of our community. The film was screen at an event hosted by Baroness Greengross, back in 2009. Filming locations used in the film include, The Railway Station, Coffee Hall, The Lakes Estate and the 'Home Retail Group' Building. Its interesting to see how the makes have chosen to combine different areas of the new town. For example the lead male character seemingly walks into Phoenix House but the actual inside shot is the central reception in the Home Retail Group building. Dominic & Debbie are hopelessly in love. They live with Granddad but dream of a place of their own. We see their nervous excitement as Dominic prepares for the biggest day of his life...an interview, which - if successful - will give them what they have always wanted. But what will happen to Granddad? Increasingly frail, he shows signs of losing his faculties and we wonder who is to care for him as his health deteriorates? Set amidst New Labour's 1997 election victory, this is a film about love & aspiration at the expense of morality in post Thatcher Britain. - Written by Anonymous Warning - The film contains adult subjects. A fellow Milton Keynes history buff and local personality Lee Scriven has over the last few years produced some fantastic books about his story of coming to the new town, under the name of '3 Curly Wurlys and 106 Roundabouts'. But did you know his also produced a film of the same name - here is the trailer. Lets hope soon he will have another public showing soon! |