John 'jumbo' Taylor.

John R J Taylor featured in 'The Art of the Garden'

2012-01-29T13:21:00.000-08:00

An eighteenthirtyseven promo.

John R J Taylor featured in 'The Art of the Garden'

On Amazon here

Taken from my book here

Jumbo has joined Deviant Art

2012-01-21T07:55:00.000-08:00

Its called Deviant Art because there is a lot of weird stuff on there , but there is also normal stuff like mine.

be Deviant

Exciting new project for 2012

2012-01-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

I have been invited to contribute to eighteenthirtyseven a well cool website run by Mel Simone Elliot (Mel's work) an ex Royal College Of Art Student. The site sells art prints printed and dispatched by Mel's own company.

Take a peek, its well worth it!! Happy and creative 2012 to all my friends!!!

Picture of the day.

2011-10-06T03:06:00.000-07:00

I have lived in London since 1980. I have been taking pictures in this place for all of those years. I am working on a book which I hope to publish 2014. Here are a tiny selection of images from the series, from now and from a long time ago, in young style and mature style.

Jumbo's website.

John 'jumbo' Taylor.: Rushdie, lest we forget.

2011-10-05T17:13:00.000-07:00

John 'jumbo' Taylor.: Rushdie et al, lest we forget.

Rushdie etc, lest we forget.

2011-10-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

Quote - unquote Khomeini.
"I would like to inform all the intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled 'Satanic Verses'. . . as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, are hereby sentenced to death. I call on all zealous Moslems to execute them quickly, wherever they find them, so that no one will dare to insult Islamic sanctity. Whoever is killed doing this will be regarded as a martyr and will go directly to heaven."

Quote, unquote Jumbo.

'If we are all born sinners and live a lifetime of guilt trying to be pure and live up to the teachings on the bible (I don't cuz I'm an atheist) then why didn't god make us all pure to start with?, he is the divine and the infallible designer and creator is he not?. The answer is of course that religion and the bible is man made. I read that Jesus had never been heard to ask for religions to be created or places of worship to be built in his name. If he could see the terrible dangers facing the world because of extremism in the under educated crazily reactionary and suppressed parts of the world then I'm sure Jesus would say a very big no to intolerant mad-dog (dogmatic ) religion.
Can you imagine the Taliban with nuclear capability? Afghanistan? Syria? Pakistan? Israel? Palestine? Iraq, Iran? Libya?. Well some of these either have or are very close to having the capability now. If you do not subscribe to their religion its their god given right to kill you, all infidels must be destroyed. If they can fly into the twin towers. If they can go to a free and civilised country (Denmark) because of a wee cartoon and kill people (they have killed 3 people so far I believe), if they can put out a contract on Salman Rushdie for a book they are incapable of reading (Khomeini the dangerous lunatic who issued the Fatwa after seeing people on telly protesting about it in another country, never even read the book) They can very easily press a red button and inflict glorious and cleansing Armageddon on the world.. This is much more dangerous than the cold war ever was. I'm scared.'

secular humanism- noun.
any set of beliefs that promotes human values without specific allusion to religious doctrines.

Homosexuality and the church..... This is true.. sadly. A holy fellow (minister or priest I don't know the difference, except perhaps that priests have more of a tendency to carry a tube of KY jelly in their back pockets) Anyway said holy fellow once or twice a year (and a lot more often privately) vomits out a diatribe against the heinous, immoral and sickeningly perverse practice of homosexuality from his pull-you-in-pit. He cowardly waits til he sees who is in the house that day before he feels on safe enough ground to sound off. He likes a bevy and sometimes after half a bottle of the hard stuff and some holy vino ( Buckfast I think they call it) his vituperative rhetoric reaches a point that would strip the paint off of a door from 40 yards. He doesn't always spout his acidic bilious gay bashing filth himself, whenever posswible he will get a member of the conga-gration or a young acolyte 'just out of theology college' to do it just so he does not feel totally alone. (safety in numbers) Anyway here is the Tarantino-esque twist... he has 4 sons, and one daughter. Son No.3 (this is a secret so don't tell anyone) is tragically afflicted with the 'gay' disease. And daughter number one has a tendency to butch haircuts and doctor martin shoes, but thats a besides. Every-one knows son 3 is gay. Despite daddy forcing him to play rugby, grow a beard, have cold showers, introduce him to as many young (and not so young) ladies as possible (doesn't matter if they are Christians, he'll settle for any female with a pulse interested in son No. 3) and trying to seek other 'cures' like leaving dirty lascivious literature around the place to try and pique his sons interest in the female anatomy the lad remains firmly and happily ensconced in his homosexuality. Interesting situation yes?. This gay son happens to be a Christian, a gentle loving young man who fancies the church as a career. So...Does daddy denounce his flesh and blood as a diseased piece of filth to be cast out and disenfranchised to walk the deserts of middle Scotland forever, or does he look into his heart and examine what kind of christian he is after a long dialogue with the divine and infallible designer on top of the golden mountain who created his son, and the heavens and the earth? That of course is god a divine male. Tough one! I wish all of his offspring were gay, then we'd have a hum-dinger of a homosexual slanted theological debate. Re the girls why does the church never or rarely discuss or use the word lesbianism?

I used to be an agnostic, but I'm now an atheist. (I gave up waiting for god as I entered my 24th year of chronic ill health in a row, I must have been a right bastard in my previous life eh?, so atheism it is.
People have the freedom to follow any religion they want, it is their right (I would say god given but atheists cannot say that) Its a free world and we can all speak our minds, its a joyful and healthy thing to do. Many millions died and are still dying (fighting the execreble and horrific prehistoric Taliban for instance) so we can express our beliefs in total freedom. We must never ever forget that, and never ever..ever take that for granted.
I truly believe the world would be better off without religion, its poisonous and divisive and in some younger countries positively dangerous due to fundamentalism,( especially to women who are unclean and tempt men in the most immoral and outrageous fashion..help!!). The good that religion does, and there is no doubt that it does good things, is outweighed by the bad, the contradictions, the lies, the inculcation of fear in the young and the gullible, the rape and mental torture of children by priests who are profoundly sexually frustrated for want of a good woman (other than a faithful cleaner, rarely a male cleaner).
Remembering the prosperous man who Jesus told to give away all his possessions if he wanted entry to 'the glorious kingdom' and to be pure..blimey where does that leave the holy men in the Vatican and other obscenely ostentatious and £ billion+++ lucre rich religious organisations when their judgment day comes??? Time for an ecclesiastical car boot sale lads,quickly!! People are starving while we hoard..hang on didn't the bible condemn hoarders? I could go on.

Another thing I believe and it is still even more true today is that most believers in biblical doctrine will rarely, if ever, seriously compare their religion to the competition.(creationist versus the evolutionist ?) There is a good reason for this reluctance. It is the same reason why religious fanatics will never seriously study "comparative religions", or any "true believer" will always avoid the alternatives...just in case.

The stronger, more untenable and increasingly irrational their belief, the less likely that person will ever consider arguments or even information that would contradict that belief. (Far too) Many believers have huge "emotional investments" in their faith and the 'good' book. Accordingly, it becomes much too emotionally painful and unsettling for such a person to contemplate (let alone realize) that their now comfortable and deeply satisfying opinion may not in fact be true. To admit that you were wrong, is to accept the fact that your years of "devotion" were ultimately wasted. Most people will do anything to avoid this agonizing experience. "You don’t have to look very far for examples of people holding on to their beliefs in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Thousands still hold to the idea that vaccines cause autism, that all life was created a few thousand years ago, and even that drinking industrial bleach is a good idea. Look at comment threads across the internet and you’ll inevitably find legions of people who boldly support for these ideas in the face of any rational argument.

In a new study, David Gal and Derek Rucker, from Northwestern University, have found that when people’s confidence in their beliefs is shaken, paradoxically they become stronger advocates for those beliefs. The duo carried out three experiments involving issues such as animal testing, dietary preferences, and loyalty towards Macs over PCs. In each one, they subtly manipulated their subjects’ confidence and found the same thing: when faced with doubt, people shout even louder.

Gal and Rucker were inspired by a classic psychological book called "When Prophecy Fails"...The case study inspired (Leon) Festinger’s theory of 'cognitive dissonance', which describes the discomfort that people feel when they try to cope with conflicting ideas. Festinger reasoned that people will go to great lengths to reduce this conflict. Altering one’s beliefs in the face of new evidence is one solution, but for... (the "Prophet's") followers, this was too difficult. Their alternative was to try and muster social support for their ideas. If other people also believed, their internal conflicts would lessen.This is where the carrot and stick approach comes in, comfort in numbers.

Festinger predicted that when someone’s beliefs are challenged, they would try to raise support for those beliefs with paradoxical enthusiasm. Amazingly enough, during the intervening half-century, this prediction has never been tested in an experiment – that is, until now.

In all three experiments (described above), Gal and Zucker found that doubt turns people into stronger advocates. More subtly, their study shows that this effect is stronger if someone’s identity is threatened, if the belief is important to them, and if they think that others will listen. It all fits with a pattern of behaviour where people evangelize to strengthen their own faltering beliefs." A person who has been a devout follower of biblical doctrine for say 60 years would be terrified to admit they were wrong, so the put up stronger walls, and batten down ever more impervious hatches. Like a child who does not want to hear, the will cover their ears and shout la la la at the tops of their voices.

Picture of the day.

2011-10-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

Couple of years back in Aviemore the shows came to town. The vehicles and stands were covered in these profoundly sexist but superbly executed spray paintings. I took a lot of photographs of them.

These 2 are obviously nothing to do with Spray Art but I think they are cool images so here they are.

2011-07-25T09:34:00.001-07:00

The Doune Garden.

2010-11-26T13:30:00.000-08:00

Just at the turn off to Loch an Eilan there is a big stone wall. Over the wall is an old abandoned garden which dips down quite far. I know it as the Doune Garden. I spent an early morning in there one January a few years back when I was an art student. It was around 12 below and I swear when I got down into the lowest part of the garden that temperature plummeted even lower.

I had Tara the Mcooks lab with me but she got very fretful about the cold and lack of movement so I had to take her back to the car and put a rug over her until the cold beat me too and we went home for a fry up.

I got a fright when the young laird appeared with a gamie both with shotguns and got told off for not asking permission to enter the garden as I could have been shot by mistake. The young gamie made a dick of himself trying to impress the laird by agressively cross examining me about who I was etc. I gave him a wee look and he gave me a wee look back then he shut up, LOL!

The laird knew my dad so said I was OK to take pics any-time but to ask first in case I got shot.

There are a load more pics than this but I havn't come across them yet. Only a tenner for a lovely frameable print, roll up roll up!! Come on you know you want to.

More of the pictures can be seen here here

Pictures of the Day

2010-11-19T05:29:00.000-08:00

Just came back from a week in Aviemore, autumnal colours amazing. Never noticed this kind of stuff when I lived there as a kid.

Played possibly the last football match on the Aviemore playing field as the new school will be built there. The game was the Scoop Taylor Trophy instigated in memory of my dad.

Spent a day fishing for pike at Loch an Eilan, no luck really need to fish from a boat as its difficult to shore fish there, a lot of obstructions. Colours were amazing, tangled broken pine branches, yellow and orange boggy bits, dark moody bits, could spend a long time working up there especially if the weather is kind.

More cool stuff here. A Scottish Landscape

Top 5 bad taste.

2010-09-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

My son came home from school today and said dad what is bad taste? And what do you consider some to be.
I told him what I considered to be bad taste and here are some of my current ones.

1. Pony tails on blokes, especially bald old fat blokes, and especially especially ageing rock star type blokes.
2. Personalised number plates and personalised clothing.
3. Drag-overs on semi bald blokes, (almost makes me puke)
4. Loud designer clothes especially with metallic logo's.
5. Hoodies, just sooo naff its untrue.
6. People who change their accents on the phone according to who they are speaking to.
7. Pumas on your feet, Addidas on your legs, Nike on your body, all conflicting colours, jeez!!.
8. Footballers wives.
9 Celebrities and celebrity magazines and TV programmes and celebrity culture. I just just don't geddit at all, whats that all about, its so desperately dull?
10 Strictly and other sick TV. How they can flush their dignity down the Toilet so readily and shamelessly is so beyond me its untrue.

Picture of the day

2010-09-23T02:58:00.000-07:00

Night time in Gt. Yarmouth. More from my Norfolk series.

website

Picture Of the Day

2010-09-22T01:23:00.000-07:00

I am working on a series called 'Angels In The Undergrowth' I will bring out a book late 2011. Here is one from the series. As I am in the middle of editing there is nothing to see on my website yet.

Picture of the Day

2010-09-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

Jumbo's new Southwold Gallery

Apology

2010-09-18T05:13:00.000-07:00

Just watched the Pope apologise for the abuses of children on the lunchtime news which I am delighted to hear. Do we want the abusers to escape justice or is this enough?
I think they have to be brought to justice as they are criminals. These abusers and the misguided people who offer them sanctuary will take cover behind this apology which is unacceptable to me. Anyway an apology has been made and its a start for people like my friend who still suffers mental anguish whilst her abusers walk scot free.

Papal visit.

2010-09-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

I know this post has nothing to do with photography but as an artist I am shaped by my past so I wish to express myself over the Popes visit.

As far as I'm concerned I hope his visit is safe positive and constructive. To all Catholics who hold him in such high regard I sincerely hope his visit brings them all they desire. I wish nothing but peace and safety to all denominations.

I am an atheist but am tolerant to all religions. I support fully and unreservedly our inalienable right to worship as we see fit and to do so in in safety.
I know a person who was not afforded the privilege of safety in the early 60's, justice was not done at her Catholic church, she suffers still from the effects of the physical and sexual abuse she received whilst 'being cared for' by the Nuns and Priests of her church.

On her behalf I have written this to add my voice to other small voices in order that a crescendo occurs calling for action in the hope that a pure, cleansing and unflinching spotlight is shone on dreadful past events to keep new generations of children safe. If we tolerate the unforgiveable acts of the past then we only nourish it and encourage it to occur again and again in the future.

During the Papal visit my friend will stay indoors with her friends and avoid TV and newspapers as his visit will re-ignite her suffering and pain.

I believe his holiness is sanctioning an enquiry into the abuses carried out by the nuns and holy fathers of the past, I hope he finds the courage to carry out this task unflinchingly and with great thoroughness. As Catholics regard him as gods representative on earth he holds massive power and if any-one can instigate a move to justice for the abused then he has to.
Surely the future of Catholicism rests upon his committment to the task in hand, he could turn out to be a very important Pope if he finds the inner resolve to tackle this.

I was sexually abused when age 17 whilst a member of a Catholic football team but not by the Catholic church. My brother who is mentally handicapped has been sexually abused, again not by the Catholic church. The son of my best friend who is also mentally challenged was sexually abused several times not by the Catholic church but within a different church. Even the very vulnerable members of our society are not safe from the vileness of paedophila, their favourite prey is the the weakest and most defenceless. We must act to stamp out this execrable behaviour.

The first step is to acknoweledge the past.

The Catholic church must do so with great penitence under under a massive spotlight. Sexual abuse is not only occurring within its church, it happens in schools, other churches, sports clubs, in the home and on the internet to name but a few.

If todays Catholic Church finds the courage to change, to purge and ultimately to apologise to its victims then the message to all paedophiles and to all society will be clear, this behaviour is perverse, abhorrent and cannot continue.

Perhaps one-day we will thank this Pope for the difference he has made to our society in this respect. But I'm afraid the cynic in me thinks many stones will be left unturned, large ones at that. I have heard he has stated that abusive priests will not be handed over to the Police, surely any-one else would be brought to book for obstruction to the judicial process.
Cover ups, bodyswerves, fudging of the truth and downright denials have been taking place for years and this sadly continues.In any other sphere the Pope will be sacked, instead he is de-fied. If I was Catholic I would be ashamed.
Articles like the one below do nothing to relieve my worry.

Pope Implicated

Children In Pieces

New Topographics? a contribution from my late father.

2010-09-14T06:10:00.000-07:00

My father was a journalist and had no formal training in writing or photography. He died in 1976 and I am currently digitising his entire oeuvre of mainly 6x6 black and white negatives.

My Fathers Work

His photography was simple and to the point, he was a journalist and was interested in the facts. The pictures I am currently working on deal with the construction of a new housing estate in my home town of Aviemore in the early 1970's. The estate is still in existence and I lived in it from aged 12 to aged 18. My house can be seen in one of the images.

These pictures bring to mind a photographic movement which had a great influence on me when I was studying photography.

"New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape" was an exhibition that epitomized a key moment in American landscape photography and one which shaped and informed my own photographic practice.
New Topographics

I have some examples of my fathers work below and I find their simplicity of thought and execution very satisfying and uncomplicated. They were intended to be records of a construction work in progress recorded for posterity, nothing more nothing less,nothing fancy. My father had no aesthetic axe to grind, no creative philosophy to expound therefore these pictures are a pure form of documentary practice where objectivity is at its maximum. Because of this I find them very satisfying pictures.

Featured Artist

2010-09-13T06:13:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite printers Salt Of The Earth who do fantastic giclee prints have featured me as an artist of the month here Gallery Two John Taylor.

I would like to thank John and Jude at Salt Of The Earth for putting my work up, excellent taste both of you!!

One of the images features a portrait of my son Struan (in Gaelic this means 'little river') in front of an extraordinary painting by an artist called Angela Gladwell who's website is well worth a visit.

Its thanks to Salt Of The Earth's professionalism that Angela was tracked down and given the credit she deserved.

My Hastings images are not yet on my website but I will provide a link when they are.

The Line

2010-09-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

The drudgery of the unskilled worker. Do we sympathise? do we care? I took these pictures on assignment in the 1980's and they seem to be compelling to me now. Children read your books!! study or peruse here your fate!!.
The sequence of seemingly identical images near the end are in fact all different photographs.

The Line

London 1980's

2010-09-07T14:40:00.000-07:00

I am scanning my old black and white negatives from my early days in London, its fascinating to look back and remember the massive impact this immense slab of a city had upon me. Its also interesting to see how naive my picture making was at that time of learning and how rooted in the decisive moment type of black and white documentary it was. All I did when I arrived in London was walk and walk and walk getting lost all the time but always with my camera.

London 1980's

John Taylor Artist/Photographer.

2010-08-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

The Aldeburgh show is being very well received, I have been up to Snape Maltings Concert Hall where the show is 3 or 4 times since mid August and getting to know the A12 and Suffolk quite well.

I am currently looking for other Suffolk and Norfolk venues to show the work. Also working on a new improved (and cheaper) edition of the book which is currently available from Blurb. I am not wholly a fan of digital publications, not as convincing as traditional offset litho, so the new edition will be the latter.

Aldeburgh blog

Aldeburgh the entire series.

I have joined Photoshelter as the base for my website and I like the format very much.

John's website

Now working on a book of my fathers work, take a look here
Scoop Taylor Archive

Scoop Taylor Blog

I have lived in London since 1980 so obviously a large amount of my output is London-centric so I have started this blog's imagery with a tiny selection of London pictures from my website.

Sainsbury's Highlands Village, Enfield.

Shopping Mall Enfield Town

At the Grammars, Southgate.

Paintballing Demonstration Enfield Summer Show

Marks & Spencers London Colney

Macdonalds Enfield Town

Shop Sign, East Barnet Village

Pub Toilet Enfield Town

John 'jumbo' Taylor.

John R J Taylor featured in 'The Art of the Garden'

Jumbo has joined Deviant Art

Exciting new project for 2012

Picture of the day.

John 'jumbo' Taylor.: Rushdie, lest we forget.

Rushdie etc, lest we forget.

Quote, unquote Jumbo.

secular humanism- noun.any set of beliefs that promotes human values without specific allusion to religious doctrines.

Picture of the day.

The Doune Garden.

Pictures of the Day

Top 5 bad taste.

Picture of the day

Picture Of the Day

Picture of the Day

Apology

Papal visit.

New Topographics? a contribution from my late father.

Featured Artist

The Line

London 1980's

John Taylor Artist/Photographer.

secular humanism- noun.
any set of beliefs that promotes human values without specific allusion to religious doctrines.