I was genuinely upset today to see this post on X. It is a few days old, but I felt really sad, it marks the passing of an era.
I've known Peter for donkeys years. Not only that, but over the years he took many pictures of me and my band, The False Dots, as well as all manner of events which I have been involved in and that the Barnet Times covered.
Below are some of my favourite pictures of the band, taken by Peter.
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| 1980 - Our first outing in the press! |
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| November 1983 - Our classic line up |
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| 2004 - Celebrating 25 years of the False Dots |
There are plenty of others in my collection, but these all tell a special story for me. Peter covered all manner of events for the Barnet and Hendon Times. When I first met him, he had the look of a dapper mod, fresh out of a gig at Ronnie Scotts. We were just snotty teenagers, in a punk rock band. You might think that a local photographer, turning up at Harwood Hall in Mill Hill on a freezing night in December, to watch an unknown bands first gig would be a chore. None of it! Peter said "For all anyone knows, you lot might be the next Rolling Stones, and I'm taking your first press picture". Over the years, I got to know him far better. He was always interested in the band. When he turned up to take the picture for our 2004 gig (above), I said "I bet you don't remember our first picture". He said "Was that at Harwood Hall, you were all far more serious then!". We'd often chat about various local issues. Peter was the soul of discretion, but a wry smile would usually tell me all I needed to know. Photographers are like furniture and often people are indiscrete in their company.
As I got into politics and blogging, Peter took all manner of pictures of events for the Times. Sadly, I didn't keep copies of them, as I did for the band, but I'd scour the paper for them. They always had excellent composition and he had a brilliant eye for detail. The internet is awash with pictures taken by Peter, sadly, most people posting his pictures, don't have the courtesy to credit the Times newspaper and so most are unaware that the great pictures are his work. The Barnet Times printed a wonderful obituary to Pete. Many of the Hendon Times pictures are on the wonderful Mempics site. Sadly these don't have a name on the pictures, but I am sure many are the work of Peter. They are well worth a look.
So next time you see a post on Facebook, with an uncredited picture saying "I've been doing internet research and I found this amazing picture of Mill Hill from 1983" just think for a second, it may well have been Peter who took it. He would have had to jump in his motor, go to the site, take 20-30 snaps, go back to his darkroom and develop them and then pick the best one. It took a lot of talent and a lot of time. It's just a shame that he will get no credit at all for his work from these 'Internet researchers'.
Here's a few pics from the Hendon Times website that I rather like. RIP Peter, legend and top bloke.
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| Borehamwood in the snow 2014 |
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| Olympic flame Harrow 2012 |
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| The Moon over Barnet 2015 |
All pictures courtesy of the Barnet Times
