Images of Thame – A Very English Town

MANY people who live in Thame, and others who have regularly ventured into the town, could not possibly have failed to notice a rather striking-looking man in a poacher’s hat, with a very long beard, holding a camera and chatting with the local shopkeepers, market traders and other local characters, with more than just a quizical eye.

Local photographer, John Comino-James has quietly stalked his human quarry, swooping as unobstrusively and quietly as a barn owl at dusk, for several years now, culminating this week in the publication of his latest book of images.
‘In a Very English Town’ is however, different from John’s other works in that, as well as portraits, it includes interviews and candid photographs of town centre shops and businesses with their owners, across a time period, between 2007 – 2008. The book is a sequence representing a meandering walk through the centre of Thame, including visits to the cattlemarket, Thame Show fair and the Tuesday street market, capturing the character and ‘feel’ of a market town through its buildings and business people mostly.

“The accompanying interviews,” say Publishers, Dewi Lewis, “reveal pride in the continuation of family businesses as well as small enterprises both challenged by and benefiting from the increasing impact of the internet.” And so they do.

The launching of In a Very English Town was celebrated last night, in the presence of the Mayor of Thame, Don Butler, and some of the characters represented in the book, at The Book House, in Thame, where the book is available to buy; the perfect Christmas present for anyone, currently or at any time, with an association with Thame, so copies are selling fast.

John’s other three published works are:
Nearly Every Tuesday – photographs of Thame’s weekly street market

Fairground Attraction- looking at the lives of travelling showmen with a particular emphasis on the Thame fairs and

A Few Streets, A Few People – people and surroundings of the Cayo Hueso barrio in Havana, Cuba.

Photo: John Comino-James with Louise Pattinson, Manger, The Book House, High Street, Thame, during a celebration to mark the publication of In a Very English Town.