The internet is a playground, here’s some of the places I like to go and wander about. This is ad hoc, life is too short to be truly organised. There’s more than a bit of crossover going on in these categories too. A selection not a life map.

Photography & History in the lens

Brian Mace shoots film, he does it beautifully, haunting the haunted, seeking out the lost spaces of Norfolk. You can find him here. Watch the website for more on a project with BRian soon.

Simon Knott, church crawler, historian, Larkin lover, smith’s T-shirt wearer, a legend on Flickr, and indeed up there on the web in general (in East Anglia at the very least). His photostream is an endless flow of food for the brain, from random tit-bits to medieval feasts, ranging from observation via documentary to art, a joy to virtually know. Go and get some.

There is of course George Plunkett‘s amazing and huge collection of images, His son Jonathan has scanned a large percentage of it and uploaded it to internetsville. It’s great if you live in Norwich and is gradually having Norfolk added, go and have a dig about here. Fascinating.

Picture Norfolk is a massive resource run from the Forum in Norwich (by Clare and Rachel who do it pretty much on their own, which is crazy). They’ve been very helpful to me more times than I can list here. It is a fantastic resource, run by Norfolk County Council. Want to find a photo of something in an obscure bit of Norfolk in 1932, it’ll probably be here. You can buy also prints, and that’s how it remains sustainable in our stupid world with our strangely reversed ideas of what has value, anyway… One day everything I have collected will end up here.

Jim Mortram, I lost touch with Jim for 10 years, when I last saw him we were in a band together, he went off and joined more bands, we met again on Flickr in about 2007. Both starting to take photography more seriously at the same time. His dad Gabby was also a prolific gig photographer in the 1980s and 1990s. Jim produces some of the most startling long-form social documentary style photography you are likely to see. Check him out. A camera and a social conscience, I like that a lot. Find him here at Aletheia Photos. here on Posterous. and here on Facebook. Plus his newish website here. Top dollar stuff on the marginalised.

 

Collectors

Drake Goodman is one of many collectors of Great War photographic emphera I routinely follow. He differs in that all of his photos, or the vast majority are of the German army in WW1, fascinating obsessive behaviour, marvellous in fact.

Leo Reynolds is a massive massive collector of images, a visual magpie, he once told me that he’d been on holiday with some friends and when they looked at their photos, it was as if they’d been on a different holiday; The devil is in the detail, Leo has been squircling and taking detailed photos of strange bits of everything in his line of sight since forever. His photostream is a force to be reckoned with.

Daniel Weir is a collector and documenter, I’ve never been sure what he collects as it involves all sorts of stuff, but he’s a jolly nice chap who hides under his own bushel, I love what he does. He’s here at Dig Your Fins.

Kingsley Harris, friend, lager connoisseur, wearer of non-fashion and owner of a huge amount of ephemera most of which is to do with Norfolk and East Anglian Music scene over the last 60 years. It’s not finished, but his website is here in all it’s incomplete glory, You can add to it too.

Poets’ Graves is the work of Cameron Self, he collects dead poets, now that’s something.

 

Conflict

Paul Reed is a military historian and general all round good egg, he pops up all over the place including on the telly and in trenches. He also writes books and guides people through the wars. He has too many websites to list, but here’s his main one which links to various other ones.

Rob Schäfer ist ein Militärhistoriker und allgemeine rundum gutes Ei, he pops up all over the place, is an avid and interesting twitter user and will probably find my use of google translate to try and be funny ‘entertaining’. His website Gott Mit Uns is top notch and it gives a nice clear view from across the wire. Go and look. At the weekend Paul and him stand on either side of a piece of barbed wire and glance at each other with folded arms. They should do a TV programme together, it would be ace.

Steve Smith is a Military researcher and guide, Together we are the Bodgit and Scarper of local military history, he’s the straight guy that does the work, I’m the show off with glasses that falls over a lot. He also writes books usually about Norfolk in the Great War. He hasn’t got a website which I keep telling him off about, but you can find him on Facebook. Steve has helped me with lots of stuff over the last few years, he’s a stalwart of the line and a chum.

Aircrashsites is full of air crash sites it’s run by Ian, you can nosedive into it here.

Blindfold and alone, a blog by Jonathan Ball on those who died under the rifles of their fellow soldiers. Horrifying and educational.

Happy Warriors; the work of Evan Thomas an 8th Air force in the East obsessive, I like obsessives particularly good ones.

Illustrating the Great War (and other things) Tim Godden draws then he colours it in, go see the wonders.

Ghosting and Rephotography

The resurgence of rephotography started here with Sergey Larenkov work in Europe, which is fanstastic and what made me start doing this sticking stuff together type malarky.

Then there’s Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse and her Ghosts of History – same intent different slant.

Stu McPherson works in Norwich too, but he does railway stuff. You can find his M&GN Ghosts here on Flickr amongst other stuff.

Then there’s Keith Jones with his Liverpool Then and Now, Facebook Page slightly different slant again, high output too. There is also some output in the same city focused around the Liverpool blitz there from Neil Holmes (top chap generally) his Facebook page is here. He writes books on the blitz too.

Mr Sultan (Kerényi Zoltán) of Fortepan – Windows on the past – on Flickr  and his website. Mostly Budapest, my Hungarian is non-existent so I don’t really understand any of it.

Gary Mcleod’s SNS Challenger project is a interesting one, as it involves anyone who wants to play, got a camera and happen to be in the right place – then join in here.

Bob Egan’s Pop Spots, fabulous rephotography using Album covers in position (mainly) in New York.

Detroit Urbex and Ghosting, mainly inside a High School. Coolio.

There’s a huge amount more of this going on than when I started (there were four of us as far as I’m aware), so I’ve undoubtedly offended someone and missed loads out, Google it.

Archaeology, palaeontology, genaeology and other related -ologies

Ancient Human Occupation of Britain (AHOB) for all that info on Deep history and the human being on planet earth including near where I live which is nice. Pretty awful website here but at least you get the gist.

Spitalfields Life is a blog site based in well, Spitalfields, it’s part of my family’s stamping ground over the centuries, even if it isn’t it’s well worth reading. Visit the Gentle Author, you won’t regret it.

Norfolk Heritage Explorer, like an encyclopedia of where I can go and stare at stuff that isn’t there, dead handy in a slightly awful interface way. I wish it used google data rather than Bing but you can’t have everything, it’s a gift horse, so I shan’t be staring too hard at it’s face. Marvellous generally.

Megalithic Portal the same really except it’s international, crowd sourced by people who bumble about staring at fields (like me) and full of info presented in a way that makes my brain hurt, still very useful generally as part of the archaeo-armoury. It is here.

The Modern Antiquarian, Yes it’s a Julian Cope thing, no he doesn’t think he’s a city centre anymore. An open access info driven website related to the book of his eight year long odyssey collecting data of Neolithic and Bronze Age sites and I like his records too. Cool eh and slightly bonkers.

Waveney Valley Community Archaeology Group; contains no archaeologists so one of the archaeologists keep telling me. Nice little welcoming thing run by a anarcho-archaeologists and marmalade makers, join up.

Medieval Graffiti; it’s medieval and it’s graffiti and it’s interesting, put together by Matt Champion, it has won awards. You too can become part of the “is it a devil is it a rabbit” saga. Gestalt.

 

Psychogeography

I’ve resisted the urge to label myself as one for ages, because it in itself smells a bit like prime fresh out of the ground, mystic bollocks, with a whiff of cod-academia. So as a Zeitguide it is actually just going for a nice walk and checking out your surroundings whilst doing it, which a lot of us actually do anyway. It is just making yourself aware really. If you want to be pragmatic about it go for a walk and enjoy it; remember to look, smell and use your ears too. You don’t even have to think about it afterwards if you don’t want to. There that was easy, welcome to the small throng. (incidentally, it’s supposed to be an urban thing, fuck that, do it wherever you want).

East of Elveden by Laurence Mitchell, wandering about and stuff.

Particulations – cultural theory and more academic type things.

Institutist – The work of Jemma Watts, shaped by human will.

Landscapism – Eddie Proctor at large.

Clare ParfreeInvestigating the spaces and intersections between humans, animals, landscape and mythology.

Hookland – What can I say really. It’s here anyway.

 

History

Reggie Unthank – He covers lots of stuff in Norwich at Colonel Unthank’s Norwich and it’s grand – go see

Susan Gardiner is a social history obsessed Footy fan, She also likes to mix the two together and has recently launched a combination website here. She also has a blog here which is worth a read.

Hello Historia. A blog from Louvain Rees that covers the Glamorgan area of the bit that sticks out of the other side of the British Isles from the sticky out bit I live in. She’s only a young ‘un and brilliant at it all, thoroughly engaging stuff.

Carol Gingell at Broadland memories shares some really good stuff via her website and does some ghosting too, follow her on twitter too for more stuff from Flickr and her collections of cards and emphera.

Literary Norfolk, another Cameron Self project, a cool one at that.

 

Urbanism

Municipal Dreams: Fabulous blog on Municipal reform, Not a Zzzzzzzzzz.

Dirty Modern Scoundrel – John Grindrod and Concretopia

 

Other favourites.

The Miller’s Tale: Nicola Miller. A brilliant writer and her website.

Put up with rain by Jessikart off of Twitter, ranty history obsessed moo, observational stuff. Funny and touching and odd in equal measures, may feature Ed Balls, you have been warned. Put up with rain.

Norfolk Uncovered is the Work of Chris Richmond, plus a load of other people who help sometimes by falling down holes and getting dirty and stuff. Props also to his Grandad who does the voiceovers. I met Chris whilst trying not to fall down lift shafts in Sovereign House in Anglia Square, he makes interesting films about Norfolk, uncovering bits of it. Seek and thou shalt find.

 John Peel archive. It’s an archive of John Peel stuff, put together by The Pig, the Ravescroft family and various other people some of who I know (DJ78 for starters). John Peel was responsible for more teenage under the blankets fun in my youth than anyone else except possibly those damp jazz mags you found in edges in the 1970s. I cried when he died. Thankfully he lives on a bit here.