Danny is from Jakarta, Indonesia. He has a great face. It reminded me of the huge stone heads that were discovered in the Mayan jungle. This was to be his last voyage as he planned to start a business selling used cars when he got back home
I'ts not often that I am allowed anywhere but the deck of the ship. I'd been 'below' only once before. This was the first time I was allowed to take a photograph below deck. The engines are huge. I saw some spare pistons and they were about six feet tall. We are actually below the water line here and it is dim hot and noisy; like Hell without the flames. unfortunately, I didn't get the name of the mechanic.
I TOOK THIS PICTURE BECAUSE JOE TOLD ME THAT THE TWO OF THEM WERE THE OLDEST REMAINING MDIIC EMPLOYEES. THEY HAD BEEN WORKING THE DOCKS FOR ABOUT 30 YEARS.
John is a Cutter. That is he cuts metal with a torch. This photograph for me is one of those 'once in a lifetime' shots. The men in the background fitting a shaft bearing, the light, the diagonal bar, everything worked. The men are fitting a shaft bearing on to the Mersey Venture.
FirstI should explain that Kim is not his first name. The Koreans and I think most people from the Far East always put their last names first had in fact are generally called by their last name. Even his wife calls him Kim. Kim was another visitor to my house. He's a pretty intelligent guy and was doing really well with the English language. He is very proud of his rank, (2nd in command) and a picture I made of him on deck shows that. I prefer this one in his office though. I like it because it confirmed my perception of the neatness and sparseness of Oriental spaces. I also liked the Oriental style table, the map and ink painting.
Kuame was a Deck Cadet on the M/V Keta Lagoon out of Ghana. I never really pictured an African dressed for the cold Liverpool winter climate. So it was his Russian hat the caught my attention and made me want to make his photo. He is a pretty intense guy and I think I caught that in his portrait. The smells wafting from the kitchen on this ship are wonderful. I haven't yet been able to reserve a seat in the dining room though. The Africans, like the Russians are always anxious to take stuff back with them.
Milton is from Goa, India. He's the 1st Cook. I've eaten lots of Indian food, but his is the best. I've tried to convince him to ove to liverpool and open a restaurant, but without any luck!
This was to be Milton's last voyage on the Amer shakti
Ned and Mike were the tow 'clowns', always joking and trying tog duck work. I made this picture on Mike's birthday and he was looking forward to seeing what his girl friend got him for a present.
This was Newton's last voyage. His family was from a fishing village had he was going back to earn his living as a fisherman. This shot was made on board the C.S.V.A. Tolten which was formerly the Amer Shakti and now had a new owner. Newton had seen some of the photos Id made of the crew and asked if I'd do one of him. It's not as successful as I' d hoped. The cigarette smoke he was exhaling didn't photograph well. I do like the structure of the picture though.
Rahul is from Bombay. His ship the M/V Amer Shakti was one of the friendliest ships I've been on. I've had many a good curry and some excellent carrot halvah seved up by my friend Milton, the First Cook, (see photos elsewhere). At first Rahul didn't trust me on the ship. Finally I said, "Look. I'm not a spy, or a thief!" To which he looked me in the eye and said, " Well now, a spy does not come out and say that he is a spy. A teef, (sic) will not come out had say that he is a teef now will he"?. What can you say to that? We're all friends now. I gave everyone photos and have since been on the Amer Shakti many times.
Robert was a real gentleman and had such a kindly face that I had to make his picture.He's the ship's carpenter and electrician.
Mr Srikanth really wanted his picture taken, so I followed him around for a while and made this shot of him tidying up these big coils of rope. I liked the stack next to him because it looks like an invisible man with a hat from a Magritte painting
These two men work in the salvage business.Here they are breaking up a huge condensation unit to salvage the copper tubing. These machines like most of the rest that you an find resting in the mountains of scrap all come from the dying British industrial core. At first I wasn't sure if all the scrap had been imported, or if it was being exported. "No", they said, "All this stuff represents lost jobs. What happens is that the Orientals buy a lot of the scrap, take it back to their country and melt it down. Then they mask stuff like automobiles and sell it back to us."
