Alternative platform: Jon Adams

Tuesday 7th

Spend day involved with grant applications. In eve go to the informal CIBAS Creative champions meeting, conveniently held in a pub local to the Art College. Good meeting, spend most of the time composing answer to the council about the current cultural strategy. After able to just talk. Like all artists we are prone to get tired and low and meeting others for mutual support really helps…..

Monday 6th

Will not be writing much today.

Today my word and thoughts are dedicated in memory of those 10,000's who died at 'Hiroshima' in 1945.

'43 seconds' is all it took for the bomb to fall

What would you say?

what would you do in 43 seconds if you knew that was all that you had left?

'we all have fallen'

Sunday 5th

Totally exhausted.

So spent some time in garden but unable to do much other than paint one wall. Spent some time with new camera manuals and updating this…….Deliberatly uneventful.

need space to think, hone ideas and prioritize next few months…

Saturday 4th

Spent most of day intimately involved with camera manuals in garden. Hot. I was taught how to use a camera at the age of 7-8 by my father. he was photographer in the Navy so always had a camera in his hand, from my earliest memory. My very first camera was a box Brownie which although the first film taken (at the zoo) was well exposed all the exposures were doubles as i had clicked twice on the 'lever'. My first camera was bought with a fiver i found on the way back from school when i was 9! I was taken to Portsmouth and was bought a secondhand 6×6 Agfa for £3. I used this until my first SLR a Russian Zenit. Because they were all manual i learnt the relationships between shutter speed and aperture. Even used a light meter. Since then i have been through all-sorts. plate cameras, roll film, Minolta SLRs etc. So back in the 80's i always dreamed of having a pro-amera let alone thought of 'digital'…. Had pictures published for a while but gave up in early 90s after six months as a wedding photorapher…so it nice to get back to some 'creative photography' with possibility.

Dropped emergency 3 submission off at Aspex and caught train to Hove. Had received an invite to a private view a few days before. (3rd space) The work was displayed in the basement of a Georgian townhouse in Hove, and very interesting. One of the artists was involved in one of the other Art Plus 07 awards project. Thought the 'wings' were themed very geological, intimate and moving. balmy evening, quite hot.

Train was full heading back with visitors to Brighton, so had to stand part of the way. In at 10 and spent more time with manuals……….very tired.

Friday 3rd

Long Day….

Left for London on the Victoria Train at 9:30, needed to be there at 12. Got off at East Croydon and headed to London Bridge. Fist, walked via Bough Market to Tate Modern, very full but wanted to see the Dali expo. I then needed to be in Islington, near the Barbican for a meeting with my project worker from UnLtd. (CODA project funders) Met with U and explained how far i had got with preparing. Went well and left for the Barbican Centre. Back in 1982 i had worked as a gallery attendant there. This was the first time i had been back since then. (Spent a year there, so happened to meet a few famous people who visited the gallery of theater.) It felt very strange yet uncomfortable familiar too. My most vivid memory was 'Friedrich Stowasser' sitting on a humus toilet he installed in his show. It was deserted, empty, resonant, so sat a while, then visited the gallery level and left out on that level and started for Morgate station.

Found some 'hidden' work. (see pic)

Headed over to the West end to get a lens and Flash gun for my new camera. It went smoothly and somewhat financially painful, was very hot so sat in pub with Cider n ice before leaving at 6 for Tate Britain. Late at Tate….

Meet up with J and C from Caravan Gallery.. They were very busy all the time i was there. caravan looked smashing parked out front. Headed inside and after looking around for 10-15 minutes 'left' a word 'somewhere' in there…….tried to take picture but was unsuccessful. Went back out and met with J and R from Aspex gallery. Spent time with them but had to leave at 8 to get train from Victoria home.

Very tired on train and in allot of pain. When i get tired my ME (or CFS) plays up and i feel it worse in my legs and hands. Sometimes am unable to hold pencil and draw. Takes its toll. Need a rest….. Respite on journey! There was a guy on the train who walked up n down the carriage asking for tickets, brought some humor as he wasn't the conductor but did comic 'performance'. In late….