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Ken Coton
Why Fulham?
Blame my Dad – and his
Dad! Both originally lived in Fulham. By the time I was old enough to go
to football, my parents had moved to Whitton, an outpost on the Southern
Region line, but with quick access to Putney Station. The die was cast.
First Fulham pictures?
I'd been interested in photography since my early years when my aunt
brought me a Kodak 'Baby Brownie' camera back from Canada. I still have
that camera. Once I had got a better camera, I took it to Craven Cottage, starting with reserves matches, and then proper matches. That
was in the early Sixties.
Involvement with the club?
It came about by happy accidents. One of the people who worked in Dad's
office (he worked in Fulham for Fenning & Company, a supplier of marble
and granite) was a mate of Johnny Haynes. Dad gave some of my action
shots to his colleague and he showed them to Haynes – and, well, I
ended up going on to the pitch in front of 30,000 fans to take a
portrait of the great man. Within a short time I was taking pictures
especially for the club to put into the programme. Fulham were one of
the first clubs to use action pictures in this way.
Up and down the country?
During the following years I travelled up and down the country,
photographing my favourite team and supplying pictures for the
programme. I experienced it all – mid-week matches, tight
programme deadlines, a trip to Wembley, getting soaking wet, arriving back home in the
early hours but having to immediately process my films and produce
prints. It was hard work - but a joy! I had early on become
self-employed, but I still had to take into account the demands of other
people I worked for. However, they knew my priorities, and everything
fitted in well!
Photography then and now
In those days, of course, it was all film cameras, and after taking a
picture the film had to be manually wound on. No five pictures a second
here! Usually one shot of a goal attempt was all that was possible.
Floodlights for night matches were not very bright and, with ordinary
films not very 'fast', I often resorted to using a special product
called 'recording film', designed I imagined for spying and other
nefarious purposes. Pictures were very grainy, but at least I usually
got a picture. Of course I didn't know whether I had any usable pictures
(or indeed any pictures at all) until I had developed my films –
hence my hesitation when fans asked me when leaving a match whether I'd
got the goal!
Why the name Ashwater?
It's a nice name, isn't it? I used to visit long-standing friends in the
middle of Devon, near Halwill. Nearby was a tiny village called
Ashwater. Other friends nearby had a small farm and they let me dig up a
small ash tree to take home. So it had to be Ashwater. The ash tree is
thriving still.
First Ashwater book?
It wasn't a Fulham book. For some reason, at the beginning of the
Nineties I had the desire to learn proper printing with a printing press
and print my own books. I knew nothing about what was involved, but
bought a Rotaprint printing press. I soon found out that printing is
fiendishly difficult, but I managed to print and publish a book about
photography, a basic guide called Happy
Snapping. After a few more ventures I realised that printing
should be left to the specialists!
First Fulham book?
When in 1992 Dennis Turner came around suggesting we should co-operate on
a book featuring my Fulham photos, I had learnt enough to be able to
prepare the book for printing – though to be printed by proper
printers not by me! The book - Fulham's
Golden Years - was a great success and set Ashwater on a long
career of producing Fulham books.
Since then?
Ashwater has produced over 20 books on Fulham Football Club, latterly
with Martin Plumb on board. The early books were produced in association
with the club or with their support and encouragement. There were book
signings at the club and copies were available through the club's shops.
This began to change during the production of the Johnny Haynes
book. For about a year we worked on the book in conjunction with the
club, but they suddenly withdrew their support, leaving us in the lurch.
We have no idea why. Subsequently hardly any of our books were
available via the club. However we are pleased to say that recently the
club has taken copies of our last few books for the club shop. |
