This image was taken on good old fashioned film, 35mm Ilford and developed and printed by my own skilled hands. It was taken in 1982 using a Pentax MX with just a straightforward 50mm lens, and no filters or other nonsense. All I’ve done to the print is use a very extinct paper called Agfa Record Rapid – a fibre paper which took ages to develop and even longer to wash and dry.

Back in the Eighties there were more street artists on the Mound, the High Street etc – anywhere you were able to draw a crowd to watch you perform. Eddie Izzard was still a nae’bdy then and could be found in all weird places doing his thing.

Those that could would have hundreds of tourists and even locals like myself watching their every move; that is, until the hat was passed around for ‘donations’ as this is how these guys made a living.

I always felt sorry for the ‘chalk artists’ as not only did people walk over their work once it was gone, but they were always fighting against the Scottish elements, peeing dogs and pigeon poop.

Some were canny enough to cover their work with plastic sheets, which allowed them to continue the work the later or the next day. That is, if the council street cleaners hadn’t done the dirty deed and removed all evidence of their handiwork.