Salford, 1962.
Kirkby, Liverpool, 1973.
“An iconic collection of photographs spanning five decades which exposes the true character of Northern England. Sefton’s trademark style of poignant photojournalism edged with humanity and a black Northern humour utterly captures the changing soul of the North.”
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These are a selection of photographs taken around Salford and on Lower Broughton Council Estate (which is soon to be demolished). This is the result of a ‘path finder’ scheme intended to attract private sector investment to improve housing stock and demand in the area.
“Where the children once played, the street are desolate. Metal grilles have replaced front doors while bay windows are bricked up”.
Hatton Avenue, Salford.
What becomes more apparent to me when photographing this empty estate is how there are still actually one or two people living here. There’s an interesting article on the BBC website: “Living in Ghost Streets” that actually shows an interview with one resident who says: “We’ve lived in this area for 50 years and it was a superb community. There’s no community now, no children. All they’ve done is knock down houses, grass over the land and put little railings around. [...] There are times I can’t bring myself to walk up there. It’s distressing to see the shocking waste. These were perfect homes.”
Filed under Alternative Photography
I’ve been spending a lot of time volunteering at Windsor House homeless shelter in Salford and have been interviewing some of the temporary residents there.
I don’t wanna go too much into it but here are a few portrait shots and a summary of what one of the residents, Billy told me about his life. I’m hoping to get these images printed to A2 size but I’m having major difficulty sorting out how to get the correct DPI and image size on photoshop. If anyone has any ideas of a good place to get them printed in Manchester and how I can make them more detailed/’punchy’ on photoshop, please share!
Billy, 47. Billy is a recovering alcoholic living in temporary accommodation in Salford; U.K.
Billy loves David Bowie, although his record collection was stolen after he got in a fight after being drunk and playing his music too loud in a temporary residence. After returning from hospital with a fractured skull all his belongings had been stolen and sold.
Billy has lived on the streets for 4 years and has been in and out of temporary homes for the past 20 years.
Billy’s mother (78) passed away from a heart attack, he didn’t find out what had happened to her for almost a year because he was too embarrassed to visit while he was unsettled. Billy started drinking when he was 16. He has been fighting alcoholism since he was 19.
Billy’s brother who lived with his mother is a heroin addict. He was too involved with drugs to sign the tenancy agreements and after three weeks of his mother passing he was evicted from the home and made homeless as well.
Billy would love to work in business administration but he can’t get on to a course because he lacks the qualifications.
Billy was on a college course but gave it up after he was given a £50 incentive bonus for attendance and spent it all on alcohol, after a three-day binge he missed his classes and didn’t feel like he could go back. He still regrets this.
Billy’s been receiving incapacity benefits since 1991 and at the moment is settled in a council flat and says he is happy spending his money on food, paying the bills and spending what he has left over on a few beers and cannabis that usually lasts him three days of the week (Thursday –Saturday).
This month he has been slipping because he hasn’t paid the bills and has spent the money on alcohol instead. He hopes he will get back on track next time he receives a payment.
Billy’s ex-girlfriend left him because he drank.
Billy misses her.
Billy lives alone and likes his flat but doesn’t like his neighbours who are drug dealers and cause a lot of fight.
Billy has taken heroin, crack cocaine and speed but says he chooses to avoid them because they are too expensive to get hooked on and he’s seen the effects the drugs have on people.
Billy believes the treatment homeless people face is unfair.
He’s had a few jobs that have included packing, washing up and has tried to attend a catering college but was dismissed for not engaging.
Carl, 44.
John, 54.
This project I’m working on has taken a photojournalistic approach and I have became intrigued by the culture of the ‘underclass’ in Salford, or the ‘Lumpenproletariart’ as Marx would put it. The underclass is defined by as a class beneath the usual social scale consisting of the most disadvantaged people, such as the unemployed in inner cities.
Levens Street
Milnthorpe Street, Salford.
Lower Broughton Council Estate.
I’m attending a conference at the University of Manchester on the 16th May which I’m really excited about. I’ll be updating again them with a write up of the talks on ‘Transforming Manchester’.
Filed under Alternative Photography
Hello gang,
I’m working on an article for Ideastap based around different people’s studios or work spaces. I’m looking to feature a few people from maybe three or four different specialisms (e.g, photography, fine art, writer, film maker etc.) showing images of their space and a short interview.
Ideastap is a great site with over 60,000 creative members and of course I’ll include any links to your blogs/portfolio. Whether you work from a corner of your bedroom, or in a 10ft studio space I want to see!
If you’d like to take part please email over some images of your space an let me know what your discipline is.
Thanks, if you have any more questions leave them below :)
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Sorry I haven’t updated AGAIN in forever, I’ve been busy working on a new project for my degree show. I took a series of photographs in Lower Broughton council estate featuring some people who were hanging outside the homeless shelter. They were so lovely and funny, despite their first suspicion when they heard my accent and thought I was from ‘Scriverpool’.
Anyway, I took a few snaps of them and got to find out a bit more about them, it was clear that they all had been through a lot. Some of them were ex alcoholics and drug addicts and had been living on the streets on and off for months.
I took a few portrait shots and printed them off and tried stitching into the photographs printed on A3 paper. Here are some of the results. Technically they’re not brilliant but I think this is going to be the starting point for a new series of work.
'Billy'.
'Billy' close up.
installed in the project room.
Miss White, from Toxteth.
II.
project room 2.
As always, let me know what you think. I welcome all feedback, good or bad. I’ll get the rest of the photographs up soon.
Filed under Alternative Photography
A few photographs taken with the camera trap around Salford. These images were influenced by the work of Martin Parr and Samuel Seftons photobook ‘Northerners’ which I’ll update about at a later date.
The trap captured over 200 images but most of them were too blurry or distorted, I think next time I use it I’ll have to find a way of keeping the camera still when trying to capture an image.
P.s, Seven by Five published one of my articles about using the camera traps in my work. You can view the story here: http://www.sevenbyfive.net/hardware/camera-trapped/
Hankinson Way, Salford
Cash Machine, Hankinson Way, Salford
The Precinct, Salford
The Precinct, Salford.
Pendleton Way, Salford.
Levens Street, Salford.
Abandoned Houses, Salford
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