It was in Kayaköy, the village that features (in barely disguised form) in Louis de Bernieres’s novel Birds Without Wings. It was deserted as a result of the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. It was in about 1995. The festival was completely unorganised because it was run by hippy anarchists. It was tremendous fun.

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This was when I was the Biology teacher in a tiny school in the South Australian mallee.

This meant that people brought sick or injured animals to me.

My treatment of the frogmouth was to wrap it in a soft blanket and put it in a dark box overnight. In the morning, I gave it some mince meat in raw egg. Then it sat on my hand until I put it on the ground. After a while, it stuck its wings out and flew into a tree. It was gone after a couple of hours.

It was photogenic when it was on the ground.

The tone drop effect (bottom picture) took hours to do in the darkroom. It would be effortless with Photoshop.

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I was in Grade 3, I think.

The ruler was a wooden Rulex Trueline, an object that will be familiar to anyone in Australian education in the 1960s.

It took me months to eat but I was determined. Towards the end, I had to get a new Rulex Trueline in order to rule lines of sufficient length to pass muster for margins, double underlinings and equilateral triangles.

I’m not particularly proud of the achievement but, as far as I know, It is unique.

Here’s a Rulex Trueline. If I hadn’t eaten it, it appears that it would now be an antique.

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This represents a bit of a come-down for the great Turkish photographer.

A school at which I was working hired him to take photos for its new advertising brochure. School orchestras are traditional targets for advertising material so Ara Bey asked to be shown to a rehearsal. At that time, our school did not have the expected array of tubas, violins and other photogenic objects. He was shown into a shabby rehearsal room where I was putting a grunge band through its paces.

He made an eloquent face, took one picture for the sake of appearance, made his excuses and left.

For those who might not know of his real work, try here.

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I wouldn’t recommend it.

More pictures of the trip here.

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