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Photographers Stories 2013 – Chris Johnson.

John Bell – 5-0.

In the middle of June last year, I joined the Unabomber crew as they headed over to Montpellier, France. I hadn’t been on a street trip to France before and was looking forward to checking out what the city of Montpellier and the surrounding areas had to offer. In an attempt to avoid the distractions of the sometimes 18-30’s spiral that a hotel slap bang in the middle of the tourist trap can become, team manager Daz found us a private house out in the sticks.

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by two days of torrential rain, which left us with little else to do but go on a spot hunt around town and eventually give in to lure of cheap wine. Whilst on our second day of rain, the boredom set in and claims began to be made. We walked past this spot a number of times and every time John would become more and more enthusiastic about its potential.

With a few sunny days behind us, the cobwebs were well and truly blown away and the memory cards began to bulge. We headed out to a hubba spot alongside a marina under the guidance of ex-pat Kim who was showing us around for the week. With the sun beating down on us, John and a few of the others who weren’t skating the hubba had enlisted the help of our good old friend Mr. Bière whilst cooling down in the shade. For John, the refreshing brew was not enough and via some pretty shoddy advice from myself, he sent himself flying into the depths of the marina. Unfortunately for John, the sand laden slipway that became his escape route from the murky depths was covered in razor sharp clamshells. So basically, three days in and John had sliced the sole of his foot in half, writing himself off.

As the week went on, John became more and more fixated on a last minute attempt to get a photo and with each day that passed, he found more successful ways to glue and tape his foot closed. On our final day in France, we headed straight to the riverside ledge to bank and with just about enough gaffer tape and bandages to hold his foot together, John bolted the 5-0 to potential river dive within a few goes.  I’m not the first to say it and I’ll in no way be the last, John Bell is the embodiment of going for broke, no matter what physical limitations attempt to stand in his way.

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