Bakers this week

An old-fashioned bakery sign in Fowey in Cornwall back in August 1989 (image 666-7)

After last week's set on shoe shops, the picture feature this week continues the retail theme with a look at bakers. The Bible called bread "the staff of life", but there's a whole lot more in bakery windows than simple sustenance. Apart from bread, which now comes in infinite variety, there are all those buns and cakes, pies and rolls, biscuits and muffins. The price of bread has recently shot up, even in the big supermarkets. Marie-Antoinette is famous for saying, during a much earlier episode of food price inflation, "Let them eat cake". Nowadays it's more likely to be "They should try the brioches". The pictures in this set were taken in England, Wales and France..

Last week's pictures looked at shoe shops

Last week's picture set featured shoe shops. No special reason beyond the fact that the picture library is strong on retailing and there is continuing coverage of many different types of shops and shopping. Shoe retailing has a long history and great variety, from bespoke bootmakers to cheap-and-cheerful market stalls. Footwear fashion ranges from the fetishistic to the fuddy-duddy traditional, from fuck-me heels to green wellies. Trainers, notoriously, come in countless brands and styles but all end up producing the same singular and awful smell. There are shoes for every conceivable occasion and taste and the shops and stalls that sell them are equally diverse. The pictures in this set were taken in Brighton, London, Birmingham, Cambridge and Ardingly.

Other recent pictures of the week

Two weeks ago, the pictures were about scooter decoration. The first scooters were produced over a century ago by the French and called "Auto Fauteuils" ("Motor Armchairs"). It was an appropriate name - scooters are for easy travel around busy towns, not speed on the open road. Easy Rider on scooters would have been ridiculous. Enthusiasts of both scooters and motorbikes love to decorate them, but the styles are very different. Major themes of motorcycle decoration are speed and death, often with a grim humour. The riders of Vespas, Lambrettas and Piaggios, on the other hand, go for a cheekier, more playful style. They also love mirrors and lights, reflecting the fashion-consciousness of the Mod era. Most of the pictures in this set were taken in Brighton, which of course has a firm and continuing place in the tradition of British mods and their scooters. You might also like to see the earlier set on motorcycle art. 

The picture feature three weeks ago looked at telephone boxes, specifically the public pay-phones owned by British Telecom, formerly part of the Post Office. The classic red phone box originated in 1926 with the design by Giles Gilbert Scott of Kiosk Number Two (K2). K1, the first standard British phone box, had appeared in 1920 and, unlike the cast-iron K2, was made of concrete. For over 80 years, the red kiosks have been a reassuringly familiar feature of our landscape, much like red pillar boxes and, at least in London, red buses. Now, of course, all that is changing. Mobile phones have hugely reduced the usage of pay-phones and British Telecom has only kept its network because it was under a legal obligation to do so. Now the European Union proposes abolishing this legal requirement and the days of the remaining red kiosks look numbered. That is a great shame - they are a community service and they look great. And if the mobiles are eventually proved to have been frying our brains, we'll miss those lovely old red boxes for more than just their looks.

Brighton's statues, the subject of the picture feature four weeks ago, have been in the news. On the plus side, a statue of Max Miller (the risque music hall comedian) has been unveiled in the city centre. More negatively has been the recent theft of a statue of Steve Ovett (the Olympic runner) from Brighton's Preston Park. The police found, fittingly, one of Ovett's legs, but the rest of him was melted down for scrap. This is very sad, since Brighton, despite having some fine statues, does not have as many as the place really deserves. Where, for example, are Laurence Olivier, Aubrey Beardsley and Patrick Hamilton - all with strong local connections. In fact, with Nelson Mandela now on a plinth in Parliament Square, it seems you don't even need to be either dead or have lived somewhere to be commemorated there. Of course Brighton can't lay claim to the undeniable greatness of Mandela, but it could certainly have a better display of famous residents in its streets and parks.

About the site and picture library

There are now almost 50000 images in the library and they can all be keyword searched from the picture search page. New or updated subjects include bakers, shoe shops, scooters, telephone boxes, statues and graffiti art. The site has several ways to help make relevant and fruitful searches, including index pages for both subjects and events & places.  There is also a useful search guide and information page.

A good showcase of the type and range of photography available can be explored in the pictures of the week series. Published on the site since December 2001, this now totals more than 2700 images. Every week there is a set of ten pictures about a particular place, event or theme. Almost all the library's pictures are available for personal or commercial reproduction. Digital files can be delivered by email or CD, prices start from as little as £8 and there is further information on the prices and terms & conditions pages. You can also contact David Gray for quotations and availability for new photography commissions.

A new Polish shop preparing to open in Brighton in September 2007 (image 2740-1)