How did you become involved with photography?
That’s difficult. I got involved with photography although I wasn’t interested in photography, because I was interested in making films! As a schoolboy I made 8mil films with no sound. Aged 15, I wrote a script which won an award for ITV and I was allowed to direct it so this was it: ‘Hollywood here I come!’ When I left school I didn’t go to university, I just tucked a film cam under my arm and went around saying, ’this is what you’re all waiting for. I’m here,’ and no one was interested, obviously! So I gave up and went on holiday to try to work out what I was going to do. My parents were very much against the film business being keen on the establishment, back in the 50’s. While I was away my father phoned up and told me he had got me an interview for a job. I said, ‘what’s that?’ and he told me it was for an assistant photographer working for the government; the ministry of public building and works. I was pleased because photography was almost filming, being media and my father was happy because it was a civil service job. It was the best of both worlds. I had a proper job and was doing what I wanted to do.
When did you actually start out properly in the business?
In ’69, the era of the big celebrity photographers who were like rock stars; Bailey and all that, so I associated that in my mind and was happy, even though I was a 19 year old school boy!
Did you have any official training or did you pick it up as you went along?
I remember the very first day I reported to the boss of the department. He sat and chatted to me across the table and said, ’you don’t know what you’re doing do you?’ I said, ’No.’ He asked, ‘Have you ever taken any still pictures?’ and I said, ‘No.’ He had been on the interview panel and said, ‘I knew that but I thought it was worth taking the risk. I think we can do something with you. Have you got any money on you?’ I said, ‘No.’ ‘Well look, here’s a fiver (taking £5 out of his pocket.) Get a taxi and go over now to Regent Street Poly (polytechnic, which is now the University of Westminster) because I know they’re enrolling for the institutes 3 year course. Go and sign up now and use this money to get you there.’ - Which I did. I did a sandwich course, one day a week and finished up 3 years later with the equivalent of a degree in photography. I don’t know how relevant that was. I can photograph an egg and I can photograph a Hoover from 50 different positions but I’ve never done that in real life. These courses aren’t real life!
RIGHT: Frazer Ashford
In that case, is it a question of having ‘the eye?’
I know people say they can’t take pictures. I don’t know why because to me it’s natural. Some people say they can’t sing, but a singing teacher says everyone can, so it’s a question of having the nerve to do it. If you had a bit of training you could sing but you would never be Pavarotti, so I guess it’s the same with photography. People just don’t try.
How come you started photographing events at the Fairfield Halls?
Strangely, it was due to a bit of a design flaw and that’s not a criticism; it’s a fact. The Ashcroft Theatre adjoins the auditorium with a concrete wall and in the 70’s you had the David Bowie tours, the Elton John tours and they were loud! I remember my wife used to come with me and she wore ear plugs even in those days. I used to have whistling in my ears for years afterwards and you could feel the sound. Unfortunately that belted through into the Ashcroft, so if you had a play and were doing a Shakespearian piece, when Macbeth got up to say his main speech you would get Elton John’s bass wafting through and it was a disaster. So the only time they could have the really big concerts, luckily for me, was on Sundays when there was no theatre. At that time the Advertiser’s photographers didn’t want to work on a Sunday night for whatever reason. I was great friends with them all but they said, ’we don’t want to work on a Sunday so you do it.’ So every Sunday I was employed as a freelancer to photograph the concerts. That went on year after year.
You were invited to work specifically with the Ashcroft Theatre weren’t you?
Yes, the Ashcroft said one day, ‘we’re doing our own production of Aladdin this year for Christmas, would you like to do it?’ For me, taking pictures of Aladdin was the same as a rock thing so that’s how I got into theatre. My Theatre work developed from there so I got a reputation for that.
How do you feel about being asked to cover this special 50th anniversary year for the Fairfield?
The bottom line is I absolutely love it. I decided a few years ago that I wanted to pack up, I won’t say retire, but pack up and do what I wanted to do which involved working on my negs (negatives.) When I was much younger I kept saying they were my pension, these negs, because archives are worth a lot of money. But there was no way to actually realise that at the time. So luckily I buried them away thinking ‘one day.’ Of course, no one knew that digital was going to appear. So I took these pictures out and I got myself an agent. I had about 130,000 pictures to digitize and after 3 years I have digitized 1000 (laugh,) so I’ve got a long way to go but I’m working on it. One day my agent said, ‘we love your old pictures but how about getting some new ones?’
How did you come to follow it through?
I had been doing a few landscapes and messing around but I hadn’t really owned a camera for years. At that point I was asked to cover an event by someone in the council because they knew I used to take Motown pictures. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were appearing in Lloyd Park at the summer festival. I thought, ‘I’ll try that out and see what it’s like, because I’d quite like to see Martha after all these years ‘and they were one of the top female Motown groups and I had never photographed them. I really loved it but the problem was I was about 4 times older than all the other people taking pictures and you have to jostle for position. That was the only mass concert I did. After that the Ashcroft talked about covering this year so I am back doing concerts. The difference is, I kind of have sole rights as I am the only person taking pictures of these events. I am here 3 times a week and photographed ‘The Osmonds,’ a few weeks ago. I absolutely loved it, I’ve gone right back and have reverted to my youth. The only difficulty with all this will be choosing the pictures for the exhibition!
What kind of camera did you use in the old days and what are you using now?
I have always been a Nikon person and when people say,’ what do you think of Cannon?’ I say, ‘what are they?’ To me there’s only one camera and that’s a Nikon. When I was about 20 I bought my first Nikon, an F1, which at that point was the first single lens reflex camera that Nikon had ever produced and it suddenly took the professional world by storm. Before that it was rolls of film and plate cameras but suddenly it became acceptable to use 35ml film. I bought a succession of Nikons after that. I have never thrown away a camera or a lens. I have still got films and when it went digital I started to buy Nikon digital. The latest one I am using is a Digital, Nikon D300 which copes with the poor light; my big worry. Shooting with film was bad enough, but would digital be able to cope with the concept of staging? As you can see the results are excellent, technically therefore I have got no worries about that. That’s why I have always been a Nikon person.
I know you have touched on Landscape photography which is quite a contrast to stage shots. Do you have a preferred style or do they just inspire you in different ways?
When you are taking pictures in the pit you are battling for position. When I started this project I liked doing it because there is no competition. With landscapes I can go to an Irish lake and be on my own there and I can wait all day for the light to be right. It is totally the opposite of stage photography. There’s no one telling you what to do; no publicity man instructing you and no one complaining. I can just sit there. When you go into a dressing room sometimes you’ve got 5 minutes max to get what is supposed to be an exhibition quality picture, whereas if you’re doing a landscape you can see something and think, ‘that’s terrific but unfortunately it’s a bit cloudy.
How did you go about selecting the pictures to use for this exhibition?
First of all I had digitized 1000/130,000 so that made it quite easy and I used pictures I knew would work. Secondly, pictures of named people however with Elton John I have probably got 50 pictures so it was just a question of really looking at them. I could choose what I liked and chose people who were influential then. Actually, I have just given an interview to the Advertiser and she was amazed at the David Bowie pictures. She said, ‘what was it like being at the birth of new music when David Bowie came along? It was a new era starting and an iconic moment in history.’ But it wasn’t. It was a Sunday afternoon where I came up and took pictures, so you don’t think of it like that. I have been trying to look back and think of iconic moments, Arthur Davison obviously, being very connected here. There’s a bust of him on the wall but at the time he was Arthur and he used to pop over to my house, collect his pictures and have a cup of tea. That was Arthur, but here in these circles there’s a kind of reverence towards him. He started a series of concerts right back at the beginning I think, called, ‘The Arthur Davison Family Concerts,’ which were mainly for children and whole families rather than high brow concerts. That’s still going today and I took pictures of the latest one a few weeks ago because his son now runs them, Darrell Davison. It’s been going for 22 years or something so that’s iconic.
Which pictures are your favourites?
There’s a picture of Doctor Hook that’s a favourite of mine. If I’m being honest and commercial I would say the ones that have sold the most! Rory Gallagher, he’s always been my top seller, or Alex Harvey: they’ve sold more than any others. They’re not exactly household names like David Essex or Elton John. It’s the latest one I have discovered that I like the best because I keep on discovering pictures I haven’t seen before!
Is there anyone you would love to photograph if you had the opportunity?
No. Quite a few people ask me who’s the most famous person I have photographed, especially looking round this exhibition. It’s difficult but I would think Charlie Chaplin. Two or three years before he died he made a secret visit to the UK and I took some pictures of him. I have always maintained that the brand of Charlie Chaplin, especially the Silhouette of the tramp, is up there with Coca Cola, Nike and MacDonalds. Kids all over the world recognize that image; everybody recognizes that image. I have photographed the Queen, but do people in Russia know the Queen? They know Charlie Chaplin. Some of these people are big stars, take Sir Cliff Richard for instance, but he’s not known in America. The Osmonds are big and Elvis... but worldwide? I would say Charlie Chaplin and of course his films will go on forever.
A huge thank you to Frazer for his time & sharing his pictures... wonderful!
If you are into art, photography, modelling, fashion or anything that would make for a great interview contact: itsbraap@live.co.uk
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