Blog Post #46

Another Day out in London

As the weather was looking rather good in London last weekend I thought I would take myself off to “The Smoke” for another day of street photography. I had also noted though that there were two good exhibitions in town so I decided to pay them a visit too. Having travelled down to Milton Keynes the night before, on Saturday morning I headed for the 9am train into London.

After arriving at Euston station and then onward by tube to Oxford Circus, I discovered that The Photographer’s Gallery didn’t open until 10am so I did a few laps of the block to kill time. The exhibition I had gone to see was the Chris Killip Retrospective. Chris was an excellent photographer but sadly passed away a couple of years ago. A native of the Isle of Man, Chris had always been involved with photography but it was time spent in New York looking at other photographers work that inspired him to return to his Manx roots and document his island in the 70s and 80s. He also spent a good amount of time in the north east of England documenting areas such as Skinningrove that were feeling the hardship of the miners strike, de-industrialisation and unemployment biting hard. Another collection of his work that I found incredible is his “Seacoal” photographs. Seacoal is gathered by people along the Durham coast and he found it very difficult to gain their trust, often been driven away. A chance encounter at the Appleby Horse Fair meant Killip had gained that trust and he was allowed on to the camp to take his photographs, especially as he lived on the beach with them in a caravan!

Another of his collections “In The Days of Inflagrante”, depicts a very difficult time in our country’s recent history with the emergence of the punk era meeting the cultural norms that it challenged.

Of all of the photographs I looked at in the retrospective collection there were a couple that stood out to me, and I am sure they were co-located on the wall that way to make a point.

The two images shown here were taken in 1982 in Skinningrove, Yorkshire. This is my interpretation.

The top image depicts four elderly gentlemen in their flat caps and muted clothing. They are probably chewing the fat over past experiences and there is a certain proud, confident look about them. These guys have obviously put in a shift over their lifetime fighting a war and earning a living whether it be at sea our down a pit.

On the other hand, the image below it has an air of depression about it. Their faces look sad and their body language looks defeatist. They are probably an angry collection of young men who feel the need to rebel and create a new culture that they hope will be for the better. They have a different ideology from the old boys. Chances are they are unemployed and dont see any future for themselves in Thatcher’s new vision for Britain.

Next up was a trip to Park Lane to visit the David Bailey retrospective exhibition. The address given for the venue was 45 Park Lane so on arrival I was surprised to see it was a hotel, and given the address a very posh one too. On enquiring where the exhibition could be found I was told around the ground floor and the mezzanine level. It was strange, I found myself trying to view the photos on the wall, peering over people that were at tables in front of them having drinks or lunch. I had to make my excuses a few times but having seen what I came to see I left, probably leaving behind a few people wondering who I was. The photos were of stars of music and theatre from the 60s to the 90s mainly. The were stunning, large and most in Bailey’s favoured square format.

So what else did I get up to? I knew that there was a demo organised for the afternoon called “The March of The Mummies”. I headed over to Trafalgar Square just in time to catch the march starting to head down Whitehall. The march had been organised by women’s and mother’s groups to protest againt the governments policies on child support, health care and the raw deal that working mothers get trying to support and educate their children. They were a very friendly but noisy lot and got their points across very forcefully. I have added a new gallery of shots taken on the march to my portfolio section and it can be accessed with this Link, but here are a couple to be getting on with.

After the demo I walked around the usual haunts, Brick Lane, Shoreditch, Leicester Square and Soho. By about 5pm the light was fading fast and it was time to head back home.

So what does a typical day out in London taking photographs entail? I need to drink lots of fluids, take rests now and again and most importantly dress properly and wear good footwear. It can be draining constantly scanning for photos and then stalking your prey at times to get the photo you want. I checked my watch as I headed for the station and this is what it showed. Now to recover!

I hope you have enjoyed this blog post and thank you for reading it. If you want to comment on this blog post please do so below or you can contact me by using the “Contact Me” facility in the website header.

Pete