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For those of you that are interested, the 63rd issue of Source Photographic review is now available to buy. This issue is of particular interest to me as it features portraits from my Blackpool Gun Club series Our Aim is to Survive.
The reproduction on the images is excellent as is the accompanying piece of writing by British Sports historian Mike Huggins.
My thanks go to John Duncan and the rest of the team at Source for both selecting the work to be shown and choosing it to represent the magazine in the form of two flyers.
As I have progressed through this journey of masculinity and guns, a few things have become apparent. It has always been my aim to dispel myths surrounding masculinity and I think I will continue to do this for many years to come. However what I was not anticipating –when I first got in touch with the Blackpool Rifle and Pistol club- was that I would also face another stereotype to challenge. The normative views on guns, perpetuated through films and mass media and the direct association with them to murder death and destruction is at the forefront of my mind as I work through this project.
The club has many factors attained to it, and yes on certain nights I will see the stereotypical male shooting a stereotypical gun at a stereotypical target (shaped like a man) for a stereotypical self-gratification. However this is not what the club is really about. The club emanates a friendly atmosphere, and the majority of the members are competitive rifle shooters. Anyone who has experienced competitive shooting will know that it requires an immense amount of skill and concentration. The men must reduce there adrenaline levels and keep themselves calm at all times, nothing like the classic Hollywood depictions of shooting.
So without emasculating the men who shoot at this club, I wanted to approach the subject matter with a double-edged sword. On the one hand I want to show men, being men, without the need to play up to any stereotypes and on the other, men using a shooting club as social gathering without any negative connotations.
Here are a few of the images so far, obviously this is still a work in progress, but I think I am starting to make some.
So I have begun my photographic study into what it is to be a man/male/masculine after an essay I wrote on The masculine ideal. To start this project I got in touch with a number of social organizations who, stereotypically are associated with masculinity. The first place to get back to me was The Blackpool Rifle and Pistol Club, an organization who have been running since the 50’s. On my first visit to the club I was taken back by the charm of the place.
The clubhouse and incorporated gun range had been hand built by the original patrons of the club, one of who is still there. I knew straight away that this place had to be documented, clubs like this don’t have a place within the minimalist 21st Century, and is almost certainly a dying breed. It has a raw 1970’s feel to it, with it’s faux wood paneled walls and brown abstract floral patterned carpets, and as with most things from this era a homely welcoming aura. Throw into the mix the interesting back-story of how they nearly went bankrupt after the 1997 amendment to the Firearms act in which a blanket ban was placed on all Pistols along with the competitive elements of shooting and the social elements of the club, we have an interesting project beginning to evolve.
I did a quick recky shoot last week just to try and get a better visual understanding of the place. I went for an on camera flash aesthetic as I thought it would really suit the look and feel of this unique club. My Concern now is how to move forward, documenting this place is only one layer and I need to strip away the surface layers to find the real interest, I suspect this lies with the patrons and members and something only time and a lot of shooting (no pun intended) will draw out.
Here are some of the images:
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