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power dynamics

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Maybe i was daydreaming when my current human relationships assignment was set but until I read a classmate’s blog post I had no idea that trying to capture negative emotions or situations was part of the brief. Unless I witness some toddler tantrums or tellings-off when I spend time with a family next week, the relationships I photograph are likely to be quite convivial. But thinking about this got me wondering what I had shot in the past which would have fitted the bill, and one place springs to mind: Palestine.

I spent four weeks in the Holy Land in 2008 – three based in the West Bank and nine days based in Jerusalem. I happened to be there during Ramandan, Eid and the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. I was invited several times to Palestinian homes for iftar – the breaking of the fast – which was lovely. I also spent the last two Fridays of Ramadan at one of the main flashpoints between Palestinians and the IDF during the Muslim holy month – namely the Kalandia checkpoint. From very early in the morning here, especially on Fridays at this time of year, thousands of Muslims try to cross from Ramallah into Jerusalem to pray at the Al Aqsa mosque, the third most sacred site in Islam. Of course they need permits to do so, and men aged over 16 and under something like 60 aren’t allowed to go at all.

It’s absolute bedlam and the tension level is very high. The soldiers split men and women into separate queues and make them wait for hours in the blazing sun. People appear to be arbitarily refused access, even when they have the correct permits. Others chance their luck without the correct paperwork. People lose their family members, faint, get upset, are routinely humilated by the soldiers, and lots of tears are shed. Dignified, elderly people are made to wait around for hours on end. As the morning wears on people get more stressed and upset because they want to get to the mosque for afternoon prayers, and many end up saying their prayers next to the barbed wires and ugly concrete walls of the checkpoint. It’s distressing to watch and encapsulates all that is wrong with the power dynamic between an occupying force and the people they are colonising, and in this case humilating on an almost daily basis.

Tony’s

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One of the great things about having started this photojournalism MA is that it suddenly gives me a reason to turn some of my ideas into reality…I am too often all talk and little action.

I’ve lived in the Levenshulme area of Manchester for more than five years now and one of the most distinctive buildings here is Tony’s Barber – if nothing else than simply for the fact that it’s half falling down. Part of a terrace on the main road, a developer is trying to bully Tony out of his building for low compensation and the shops on either side have been pulled down and left to rot.

That’s kind of interesting on its own, and in 2007 I ended up writing a story on the situation for the Manchester Evening News.

That was long before I’d started taking photos, but once I got into photography I started thinking that Tony’s would make an interesting photo story – but of course didn’t do anything about it. I thought about using him for the first ‘at work’ assignment but held off because I actually thought that would be a bit of a waste. Anyway, I bit the bullet and spent a couple of hours in his shop this morning for the current ‘human relationships’ brief but I think there’s definitely more mileage – and even an audio slideshow – in there, so I am going to keep returning.

Tony is Italian and the shop has been in his family for more than 50 years -some of the customers I met today have been coming to have their hair cut by him for two or three decades. It’s an old-fashioned barber’s shop on the inside – and its walls are plastered with Manchester City, Manchester United and Italian national football team posters; Viz cartoon posters and model motorbikes.

It’s also, I discovered, a hub for the older men in my neighbourhood – particularly the Italians – who just come to hang out in his back office, drink espressos and smoke. Definitely somewhere to keep going back to…hopefully with time they’ll let me into what they were calling their ‘mafia room.’

street fighters #2 – Bootle

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TRANSCRIPT

I have to say, I find it quite unbelievable that these Victorian homes in Bootle, Merseyside, are being condemned to demolition to make way for boxy little new builds (having seen them I can attest that some are truly hideous). But it’s happening and the few remaining residents were served with Compulsory Purchase Orders about 10 days ago.

The three I met – Pat and John Dunn (pictured above) and their friend John Gillespie (below) are determined not to be bullied out of homes they have lived in for decades and raised their families in. For them the issue is not so much financial – they simply don’t see why their homes should be snatched away from them under the Housing Market Renewal scheme. Before Christmas, the plans for the area were criticised by the Commission for the Built Environment (CABE).

I wish them the best of luck in their fight and will be watching carefully as their battle moves towards a public inquiry.

burned

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“I have never been a hit-and-run type photographically, despite the appearance of many photographs being quickly snatched. With my way of seeing – it has been pretty consistent across the music work.. I do not separate life, friendships and photography because they have been one.. every weekend new faces n new places for more than 10 years – it became easy quite soon to tell the unusual from the commonplace, photographically….the longer the project and the more visits to a place, the more layers are peeled back.. it´s only over time that i´m aware of just how many layers there are, and the more rare photographs present themselves. i like rare photos.. uncommon exposures of common moments which all can relate to.. :ø)”

My very talented friend David Bowen had some of his photos featured on BURN magazine earlier this week and there’s a really interesting debate underneath – one of the more intelligent discussions I’ve seen on there for a while. I’m always interested in why people choose to photograph what they do and he writes as honestly and lucidly as he snaps – refreshing in an industry so full of egos and bullshit. David has spent the past 10+ years photographing cultural events, particularly the electronic music scene, on commission, both in the UK and abroad. These three photos are from Derry in Northern Ireland, where he and I worked together on three separate occasions when we were both still earning our crusts from the music press…he has been there many more times than that though. I can attest to the fact that there are few more welcoming places in the world…I too hold the people I’ve met there in very high esteem. Since I picked up a camera David has both encouraged me and challenged my thinking in a very positive way. I think his work – and words – deserve more recognition so if you have time, check them out.

street fighters #1 – Derker

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TRANSCRIPT

Maureen and Terry Walsh are pensioners from Derker in Oldham. They’ve lived in their house almost all their married life but learned a few years ago that their terrace was going to be demolished under the government’s Housing Market Renewal scheme, which aims to tackle what ministers and some academics say are failing housing markets in areas of the North of England. The couple – not natural activists by any stretch of the imagination – were part of a group which challenged the Compulsory Purchase Order in the high court on various grounds where they believed mistakes had been made. They reached the end of the road in October when their case was rejected. They must now start looking for places to move to, but like many in their situation – especially those who have paid off their mortgages and are now retired and on a fixed income – they complain that low compensation payments will put them back in debt, or into social housing. This is a common complaint: why can’t we get a house for a house.

still whistling

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I have to say, it’s still one of my favourite stories that I’ve worked on and it’s certainly one of the most enduring. Since I broke the story in the short-lived North West Enquirer, the £150m ‘whistling tower’ which dominates Manchester’s skyline has entered local folklore and been covered by everyone from the Daily Mirror to New Scientist. The drone the Ian Simpson-designed Beetham Tower emits on certain windy days – when the wind blows from a particular direction and at certain speeds – causes problems with the filming of Coronation Street just a few streets away. A couple of years back when I was working at the Manchester Evening News the developers thought they were going to fix it. Almost four years on from the original story, it continues to run. Today’s MEN reports that another attempt to sort it is now going to be made.


(view from the top of Beetham Tower)

Who cares

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I’ve just watched documentary-maker Nick Broomfield’s first short film, Who Cares (thanks Sheridan for the tip) and got the most overwhelming sense of deja vu.
In it, Liverpudlians talk about the experience of being rehoused from inner city terraces to high-rise estates. Their streets become derelict, homes are boarded up and trashed by thieves and vandals and finally demolished.
On his website, Broomfield says: “[It was] the first film I ever made. Borrowed the camera, got ‘short ends’ of film for free and set out with my friend Pete Archard to Liverpool. Pete is a sociologist and knew the subject really well. Took three months to shoot…”
The film was later used as evidence at the Royal Commission on Slum Clearance and Rehousing.
40 years later, some residents are saying very similar things…history is repeating itself.
You can watch Who Cares on YouTube, HERE

Edgy lane

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I thought the Edge Lane/Edge Hill area of Liverpool was desolate enough during the day but yesterday was the first time I really walked around it at night.

Empty street after empty street of boarded up homes, just sitting there waiting to be demolished. There’s something quite melancholy about walking around a ghost town that was once a busy community.

It won’t be long before nothing’s left of this area. Once grand but now dilapidated Victorian terraces and smaller family homes are going to be flattened to clear the way for the planned widening of Edge Lane. At some point, new homes will be built.

Those who fought so hard for their homes – and a fair compensation deal – but finally lost last year are now reluctantly packing up their belongings and moving on. There’s a lot of bitterness about the way things turned out.