Looking for a flash of inspiration

Remember the good old days of watch the birdie, say cheese please, Louise, hold the pose now, and FLASH?

Those stiff, fixed poses of yesteryear should be a thing of the past. But two piccies sent to Design Week recently are a bit worrying; if life imitates art then the imitation isn’t convincing.

The Essex and Flintshire Paper Sack Company (right) has produced enough sacks to go around the world ten times. But the staff look as if they have to keep to their positions or they really will get the sack.

And what about Environment Secretary John Gummer and Peter Freeman, joint chief executive of Argent Group, which owns Brindleyplace, a Birmingham “showpiece development”? In a recent photographic opus, they’re pictured turning on fountains, but they’re obviously not turning on the photographer.

A plea, then, to all who would pose, snap or forward such unsolicited and generally bizarre, unusable, staged pictures. Keep them coming!