When I first saw John Baucher’s (a.k.a. Moochin Photoman) through the viewfinder (photographs (and indeed some of his non-Ttv images) I thought they were a bit shit. To me the off-focus, black border, scratches and bits of dust on the lens (or more likely, viewfinder) only detracted what could have been a good image.

In time my opinion changed, just like in the beginning I didn’t appreciate John’s almost straight-from the camera approach to publishing often bland photographs, instead I realised that these were all part of a greater idea, of documenting the “normal” and “ordinary”.

This is what the exhibition looked like. It ran from 5th – 25th July in the Waterfront Hall.

John manages to see things, and has a skill for approaching people; capturing a great side of them in their portraits. In some ways I am reminded of Irving Penn’s Corner Portraits style he adopted in 1948 — by placing his subjects in a tight corner he was able to make them feel as uncomfortable, or nervous, as he felt shooting them. On the other hand, many took his approach in their stride.

After a while I began to see that John takes great portraits, and these are the ones that stand out, and his acquired technique is what makes makes them all the more unique.

I feel rather honoured to have had my own image as part of the exhibition, and grateful to have been able to take it home on the last day, in what was aptly named the “TtV Takeaway”.

I also nabbed the shot of photographer (and my university course director) Paul Seawright:

As well as having over 1000 of his own images on display, John put together a huge number of Ttv images from photographers around the world, these too were up for grabs. Here are a few of those I took home with me:

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