A Tuesday to go down in Folklore

It’s been 22 years since Arsenal last won the title. I’ve seen enough posts showing what was around 22 years ago; the iPod, MySpace, Highbury… a lot has changed! On Tuesday night, a very impressive Bournemouth held Manchester City to a 1-1 draw. This meant 115-charges FC were to finish second in Pep Guardiola’s final season.

I was at a work dinner in West London, nowhere near home (Islington) but something magical happened that night. With no planning or organisation, something erupted in the hearts of all the Arsenal fans across London. A higher calling, a simultaneous understanding that this momentous occasion had to be shared, together with fellow Arsenal fans, with family.

I arrived back at Highbury and Islington at 11pm, thinking I would have missed any celebration that might be occurring but boy was I wrong. I hadn’t been checking the socials but as I came out of the station it was chaos. Horns blaring, people draped in red and white cheering, shouting, singing in all directions. I quickly hurried home, careful not to wake a sleeping baby, dropped my work bag, got changed and bounced back out to the Emirates.

15 minutes later I was one of one-hundred-thousand.

What do you do when you get there? Nothing was organised but the spontaneous hugging, chanting, cheering was erupting everywhere. Led by a topless drummer I recognised from the Ashburton Army, the streets pulsed to his beat.

*The beat of the drum goes round and round*

I’ve never experienced anything like this. The closest comparison I could make is the numbers and busyness of Notting Hill Carnival, mixed with the singing and chanting of people on the way back from a gig, high on life (and maybe other things).

With work the next day, I headed home at 01:30 but it was very much still going at that point. A night I will never forget. On Sunday we have the final game of the Premier League, where Arsenal will raise the trophy at Selhurst Park but I am pretty sure we will see a repeat of that Tuesday night at the Emirates. Gunners who were too far away to join in would have seen this and I imagine they will heed the call and join in again. Looking a week ahead, we have a Champions League Final and the next day a trophy parade. I don’t want to talk about the Champions League Final (I don’t want to tempt fate) but rumours are suggesting a record-setting 1 million people will attend the trophy parade on Sunday. I’ve always maintained Arsenal are easily the biggest club in London and I don’t think anyone can say otherwise.

From shooting to shooting

It is said to shoot what you’re passionate about as you have a different insight into the topic versus an outsider. As I mentioned in previous blog posts, I’m very much focused on project work vs. General street photography these days, a decision further compounded by increasing responsibilities restricting shooting time.

This all makes sense, but it has raised a challenge that I face on my Arsenal project but also at Glastonbury (if I ever get tickets) and Notting Hill Carnival; with photography you usually have some distance from the event, but when you’re deeply part of it yourself, how do you photograph it? I’m always wondering what I’m missing by being too drawn into the moment. What am I undershooting? What subjectivity am I bringing to the work? What moments disappear because I’m too emotionally involved to even raise a camera? In a way shooting what you are passionate about is easier but also more challenging.

Hopefully you weren’t expecting an answer to this challenge as I don’t have it. Instead my mindset is just to do as much as I can, balancing being in the moment with taking a step back to observe. With some events like Notting Hill Carnival, these happen every year, so I’m never too disappointed about missing things as I always have the next year. However, this particular period with Arsenal, this is not the case. Even if we win things again, this moment, an explosion following a 22-year drought, may not occur again. If you can get to Islington on Sunday 31st May, I would highly recommend it.

A game of two halves

Life has a way of keeping things in balance; Yin and Yang; Chalk and Cheese, Henry and Bergkamp. With all of the amazing highs Arsenal are bringing right now, there are equal lows. My father is very ill and unlikely to make it much further. It’s a difficult time trying to understand how to balance it all, how to feel. You can feel like two people, each on the end of a spectrum, but I suppose that’s life.

If anything, we are fortunate. My father is 75 and when you see what’s happening in the world, from Ukraine to Palestine to Sudan, there are people in much worse situations. Perhaps it even is for you, dear reader. But feelings aren’t rational and life goes on. I’ve been shooting for some time now but it saddens me that I didn’t shoot enough, or didn’t properly look after older photos, meaning I don’t have many photographs of my father in his better days. So if there is one takeaway from this post, it is to shoot your friends and family. The sooner the better. Up the Arsenal!

Photographing what you love

17% through the year already?!