Episode 3 Britain in Focus: A Photographic History


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Transcript


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'I am Eamonn McCabe.

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'In the 1970s, I cut my teeth as a sports photographer

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'on local newspapers in the East End of London.

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'Trying to capture the drama of events like this

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'made me fall in love with photography.'

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Boxing has always been my favourite sport to photograph.

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The noise, the energy, the smells, the tension.

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And it's a dangerous place to work, beside that ring.

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Anything could happen.

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'I had to follow the action so closely,

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'it really sharpened my instincts.

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'In the '70s, my job was all about rolls of film and darkrooms.

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'But in today's digital age, the way I work is completely different.

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'Now photography is instantaneous.

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'During my career, there's been a revolution in photography.

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'And that's what I want to explore in this programme.

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'From the colour explosion of the 1960s...'

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You can't simply go out and take the same picture

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that you would have taken in black and white.

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'..to the sensation of Instagram today.'

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It's just what I do all the time.

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'And it's a chance to celebrate

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'some of the most influential photographers of my lifetime.

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'John Bulmer, with his pioneering colour work.

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'Jane Bown, who brought new depth to the celebrity portrait.

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'Fay Godwin, who gave landscape a fresh, political edge.

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'And Martin Parr, with his acute and satirical eye.

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'Their unique visions have defined

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'how we've all seen Britain in focus over the last 50 years.'

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It's that idea of, you know, light from out there, almost God's light,

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comes down and hits you, bounces off, into my camera, onto the film

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and then there you are.

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MUSIC: Apache by The Shadows

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It was at the great British seaside that I discovered

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the power of photography.

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"Having a lovely time but the weather is terrible.

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"Hope you're enjoying yours. Amy."

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I first came across these little postcards

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when I was on holiday in Britain in the 1960s.

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Like Amy, writing from here in Instow in Devon,

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it was always wet and miserable,

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but the postcards were vibrant and colourful.

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After years of post-war austerity,

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Britain was learning to enjoy itself again.

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And black and white really didn't reflect this new-found optimism.

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But one forward-thinking entrepreneur caught this new mood

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by transforming the ever-popular picture postcard

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from monochrome into vivid colour.

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With scenes from every corner of the British Isles.

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The Britain pictured on a John Hinde postcard

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certainly looked a lot more fun.

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But how did he conjure up such magical scenes?

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'Here on the beach at Instow, I want to see if I can create

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'my very own Hinde postcard

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'by restaging the original 1960s shot.'

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Nice to see you again. Hi. Thank you for coming. Lovely to see you again.

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-We rehearsed all this last night.

-Yeah.

-You know your positions?

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Don't look at me, the most important thing, don't look at me,

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because I want you to pretend to be playing.

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This beautiful beach, look at this lovely weather.

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Look at that sea!

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Perfect day. It was worth waiting for. OK, get into your position.

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MUSIC: For Your Love by The Yardbirds

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'I'm going to use the same equipment as the Hinde photographers.

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'This is a high-quality German Plaubel camera.

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'It might look cumbersome now

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'but back then the Plaubel was top-of-the-range.'

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OK, everybody, that looks great. Going to put it on F6.

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'It would have been loaded with the latest Ektachrome colour film,

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'which had been introduced to the consumer market after the war.

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'And because the camera took a large negative film,

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'it produced high-quality photographs.

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'So this is my effort.

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'The camera has certainly caught some of the depth of the original.'

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But the Hinde look didn't just come from his equipment.

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John Hinde had made colour picture books before the war

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and after a failed attempt at a circus

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he went back to colour photography

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and began his postcard business in 1957.

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Hinde now set out to bring the technicolour glamour of cinema

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to the humble postcard.

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And like a Hollywood movie mogul, he personally defined the house style.

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For Hinde, it was all about colour.

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He was a technical innovator and perfectionist.

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To get exactly the right look,

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Hinde worked closely with cutting-edge printers in Italy.

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They painstakingly separated out every colour layer

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from the original film.

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Then, by hand, they accentuated and changed the colours

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in the image.

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Hinde himself oversaw this laborious process.

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I find it fascinating to see how the original

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differs from the final postcard.

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The colours of the clothes are clearly heightened

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in the end product.

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Now let me go to Filey.

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'John Hinde's postcards have been a lasting inspiration

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'for one of Britain's most important documentary photographers.'

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The colours are so vivid.

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Absolutely. You can see where my own palette and interest

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in, erm...

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in the colour pictures came about.

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It's pretty much down to you that we're remembering

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these John Hinde postcards.

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-Why do you think that is?

-Well, I think they're great images.

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Not only do they show a place at its absolute best,

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all the staging that Hinde was doing then has become, if you like,

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the common language of much of contemporary art photography.

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So, in a sense, although he was doing it innocently

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to make postcards, he was ahead of the game in terms of the techniques

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and the way he would take a whole situation and stage it.

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You know, it's perfect. And when you look at these pictures,

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they tell us about another era so accurately.

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The clothing, the architecture, it's all there, down in one postcard.

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And the great thing is they become art, if you like,

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with the benefit of hindsight, forgive the pun.

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And, erm, you know, they're great images.

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'These little explosions of colour came onto the market

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'just when people were starting to have more cash in their pockets.

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'Everything to do with colour photography - cameras, film,

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'processing and accessories - was becoming more affordable.

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'And throughout the 1960s, the vivid colours of Hinde's postcards

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'would gradually seep into everyday snapshots.'

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Remember this?

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MUSIC: Shakin' All Over by Johnny Kidd & The Pirates

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The slide show.

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A domestic ritual that emerged with this new technology

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of colour film and projectors.

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# When you move in right up close to me

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# That's when I get the shakes... #

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These slides belongs to my wife Becky's parents.

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Her father took them.

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# Quivers down the back bone

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# I've got the shakes... #

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Her family often gathered on a Saturday afternoon for a showing.

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But then another technical development widened the appeal

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of colour photography even further,

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doing away with the need for projectors and screens.

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'In colour, of course!'

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Kodak were the pioneers.

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# Shakin' all over... #

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In a blitz of advertising in 1963,

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they introduced the cheap Instamatic camera onto the market.

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It was a piece of Swinging Sixties technology in your own hands.

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I remember, when I was 13,

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I had an Instamatic and it was so simple to use.

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The Box Brownie of its time.

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You just slotted in a small cartridge

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rather than fumble with a roll of 35mm film.

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Then you sent the cartridge off

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and you got your colour prints back by post.

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It's estimated that over 50 million of us worldwide

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were using these cameras in the '60s.

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Soon, colour photos began to replace black and white ones

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in the family album, bringing a new richness

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to how we recorded our lives.

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MUSIC: Body Beautiful by The Ronnie Scott Orchestra

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But some aspects of British life

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just didn't seem to lend themselves to colour photography.

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This is a classic view of the North,

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and in the 1960s you would have expected it to have been shot

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in black and white.

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Black and white were still regarded as the proper medium

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for serious documentary work.

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So if you were a photojournalist sent to the North in the '60s

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on a mission to photograph this world of mills, chimneys

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and cobbles, it seemed the only way to get the gritty reality

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of the place was in monochrome.

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As you can see in this fantastic photograph by Ian Berry.

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But one photographer was to challenge this cliched view

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of the North in an amazing set of colour photographs

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commissioned by the Sunday Times Magazine.

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John Bulmer had ambitions early on to be a photographer.

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He was even kicked out of Cambridge

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for taking photographs for Life Magazine.

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Here you can see he's not only using colour film,

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but he's mixing natural and artificial light.

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I'm meeting John to find out how he made such striking photographs.

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When I was given the assignment, I thought long and hard about it

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because nobody had ever really photographed the North of England

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in colour before. It was considered a black and white subject.

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-Don McCullin and Neil Libbert and people like that.

-That's right.

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And I'd done my own share of black and white North, cobbled streets.

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But I realised in colour that if I went and did it on a sunny day

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it really wasn't going to work.

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It wasn't going to get across the atmosphere of the place.

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I deliberately chose to do it in winter

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and then I also tried to work in rain and fog

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and situations like that, which would mute the background

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and give the whole thing a softer approach.

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I felt that it would give a better atmosphere of the North.

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-And did it change the way you worked?

-Yes.

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Erm, colour was different.

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And the thing is you can't simply go out and take the same picture

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that you would have taken in black and white.

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It gets too fussy. There's too much in the frame.

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When you take any photographs,

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effectively it's a form of abstraction.

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You're trying to simplify this complicated world

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into something that's simple enough within a frame

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to give you some sort of emotional kick

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and not set your eye spinning in every different direction.

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And if something in the background is the wrong colour,

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it can take your eye away...

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it takes your eye off the ball in a way.

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Tell me why this picture is shot in colour.

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Well, I think that it actually works better in colour

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than it would in black and white and that's very important.

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If a picture is better in black and white

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it should be done in black and white.

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And I think this picture would be a bit flat and uninteresting

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in black and white.

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Whereas the blocks of colour are strong enough

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to give you an interest

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but not distract from the woman's face that you want to look at.

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And this is a wide-angle shot, these lovely ladies in their scarves.

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What I love is the way she's looking at you.

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I remember I was walking around the streets

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and I saw these two walking across the bridge in the distance.

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And I did take one shot at a distance

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just to sort of test the waters almost.

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And then as they got closer to me

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I pretended to be photographing the building over to one side.

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-That old trick.

-The old trick.

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But at the same time I got my focus and my exposure and everything ready

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and just as they approached I swung the camera round, up to my eye,

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and clicked the shot and you can see she's just noticed me.

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And her friend is smirking a little because she knows what's going on.

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Well, I think her instinct was to sort of look away

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and her instinct was to see what's going on.

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But when I met her years later, she said at the time they thought

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I was fooling around and I didn't have any film in the camera.

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But then they did a few weeks, a few months later,

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see the picture in the Sunday Times

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and then years later I met the lady and I gave her a copy of my book

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with her on the cover and I think she was quite touched by that.

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'John's pictures fitted into the great tradition

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'of the British photo essay.

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'But the Sunday Times Magazine had the technology

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'and the budget to showcase its reportage in colour.'

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So when you get back with all these pictures

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that you've taken over three weeks or whatever,

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they put this on the cover and now tell us a little bit about

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the inside, how they used it as a spread to tell the story.

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Well, I mean, one of the great things about the Sunday Times

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is they did have the courage to run pictures

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as a double spread like this.

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And sometimes they had lots of little ones

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but they would vary it and they did give good space to pictures.

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And they were brave.

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Ten years later, at the Photographers' Gallery

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they had an exhibition on magazine photography from the '60s.

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And they had one room with half a dozen or a few more

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of the well-known photographers like Don McCullin, David Bailey,

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Terence Donovan, Lord Snowdon and myself.

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I was the only person to put any colour photographs on the wall.

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All the rest had only used black and white.

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Although, by then, all of them were working quite a lot in colour,

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they didn't really regard colour photography as serious then.

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One of my greatest heroes from this era

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was resolute in her refusal to shoot in colour.

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She worked for the Sunday Times' rival,

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my old paper, the Observer.

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Her black and white photographs gave new depth to the 1960s'

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most colourful figures.

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She captured a moment when Britain was the cultural epicentre

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of the world.

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Her name was Jane Bown,

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and although her use of black and white was practical

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as much as an aesthetic choice,

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there's an emotional quality to her work.

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Her photographs reveal character.

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For me, Jane Bown was one of Britain's finest

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portrait photographers,

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and I was lucky enough to work alongside her.

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She was a huge influence on me, both as a photographer and mentor.

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I've come to meet Jane's friend and archivist Luke Dodd

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to look through her portraits.

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'Jane used two different cameras,

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'the Rolleiflex and the 35mm.

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'Luke's going to show me how these cameras shaped her style.

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'Here's a great example of a photograph Jane took

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'with the Rolleiflex.

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'It's of Rudolf Nureyev, the Russian ballet dancer.'

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This is an absolutely uncropped image that Jane took

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during the year after Nureyev had defected.

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A session with him and Margot Fonteyn

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at which she was actually using both cameras.

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And, interestingly, the Rollei stuff has all this formal quality.

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This absolute perfection about it.

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Every bit of the frame is considered and works.

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The positioning within that frame is so strong.

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And the use of the big white lights as well,

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which some people would find they get in the way,

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but she uses them to very strong effect.

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And wonderful that the hands are slightly out of focus,

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because he's moving them. They give a real energy to the picture. It's an absolutely stunning picture.

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But that shows you how on the edge technically she was.

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She wouldn't trust fast speed, she wouldn't trust fast films,

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so she would go into a foyer like this at the Royal Opera House

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and make it work.

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Because I remember her coming back sweating over stuff

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and it was always there.

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But I remember the nerves, you know, she was always nervous.

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There's two things. One is she needed the nerves.

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She talked about time and light being her enemies.

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And she needed that buzz in order to work

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and to master and marshal all of her extraordinary capacity.

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But, at the same time,

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she didn't like it to go into unknown territory.

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That's why she couldn't bear colour.

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Because she couldn't control it to the same degree and she, you know,

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you had to send the films off to be developed.

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She said no matter how bad a shoot went in black and white you could

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salvage something, but in colour it was taken out of her hands.

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And there was too much tension.

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This was a very macho world, the leather jackets,

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you know, the fast lifestyles.

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But Jane was the complete opposite of that. Very quiet, unassuming.

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Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

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Well, Jane kind of had a schizophrenic life.

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She lived in the country and worked for a Sunday newspaper

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which meant she only came to London one or two days a week.

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That kind of split suited her very well.

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And in the country she was known as Mrs Moss,

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and then had this other life two days a week when she came to London.

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And she really, she talked about enjoying the milieu

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in the office and she liked going to the pub.

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But, again, almost as an observer.

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She was never part of that scene or that set

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and famously she rarely knew who she was photographing.

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Two of the biggest heroes of the '60s are Lennon and McCartney.

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When Jane went to photograph them,

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-would she have even know who they work?

-Erm, no.

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I mean, she really was not part of the Swinging Sixties in any sense.

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And presumably she knew about the Beatles

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and presumably it was an Observer commission.

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But she was sent to West Ham to one of their fairly early concerts,

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I think it's '63 or '64,

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and she spent two hours with them backstage

0:19:060:19:09

because they had to arrive so early, and worked with the Rollei

0:19:090:19:12

and the 35mm, and this is a good time to, kind of,

0:19:120:19:16

identify Jane's evolving style.

0:19:160:19:19

From the formality of the kind of classic portraits

0:19:190:19:23

of all four of them,

0:19:230:19:25

the McCartney one here, sitting having a cigarette,

0:19:250:19:28

to...this shoot is slightly later,

0:19:280:19:32

she's now using the 35mm completely and far greater licence

0:19:320:19:36

and wonderful cropping and wonderful things happening in the image.

0:19:360:19:40

And how did Jane land on her signature style?

0:19:400:19:43

I think it largely happened when she transferred to 35mm.

0:19:430:19:47

There's two very good examples here, both from the mid-'60s.

0:19:470:19:51

Charlie Chaplin and Simone Signoret.

0:19:510:19:53

Very shallow depth of field, blurry backgrounds,

0:19:530:19:56

close-up of the face.

0:19:560:19:58

And in the case of the Simone Signoret, the head cut off,

0:19:580:20:02

which was fairly radical at the time.

0:20:020:20:05

And the eyes were so important to her.

0:20:050:20:07

I remember she always worried about the focusing on the eyes.

0:20:070:20:10

Jane would bring somebody towards the window

0:20:100:20:12

if she were struggling for a bit of light, and do a deal with them.

0:20:120:20:15

Say, give me five minutes at the end.

0:20:150:20:17

And these look like two of those pictures.

0:20:170:20:19

She's brought them to the window where the light is.

0:20:190:20:21

And as you say, using shallow depth of field has knocked out

0:20:210:20:24

all the extraneous tables and chairs and waiters and whatever.

0:20:240:20:27

I saw her at work many times.

0:20:270:20:29

She got into a room, she figured out the light,

0:20:290:20:32

she had some idle banter with the person but nothing of consequence.

0:20:320:20:36

And they were usually bemused. When I knew her she was very elderly.

0:20:360:20:39

And they were always intrigued by this figure with battered cameras

0:20:390:20:44

that had no light meter,

0:20:440:20:46

and looked at how the light looked on the back of her hand.

0:20:460:20:49

And then she prowled - she mooched, as she said.

0:20:490:20:51

And she went round them, round, circling and circling.

0:20:510:20:54

And the famous line would be, "Ah, there you are."

0:20:540:20:57

Jane was unlike most of her contemporaries.

0:21:000:21:04

She never wanted to be part of the celebrity scene.

0:21:050:21:08

And because she was able to see beyond its superficial glamour,

0:21:080:21:12

her pictures have stood the test of time.

0:21:120:21:15

'And proud independence was the hallmark of a new generation

0:21:220:21:25

'of photographers who emerged in the 1970s.

0:21:250:21:29

'Working a world away from Fleet Street, they were driven

0:21:310:21:34

'to tell stories they believed no-one else was telling,

0:21:340:21:37

'documenting their own experiences of a rapidly changing Britain.

0:21:370:21:42

'I've come to Handsworth Park in Birmingham to meet Vanley Burke.

0:21:450:21:49

'Vanley's love of photography was triggered when his mother gave him

0:21:500:21:54

'his beloved Box Brownie for his tenth birthday.

0:21:540:21:58

'And as soon as Vanley came to the UK from Jamaica

0:21:580:22:01

'he began to create one of the most important records

0:22:010:22:05

'of African Caribbean people in Britain.

0:22:050:22:08

'Vanley's pictures show Birmingham's growing black community

0:22:100:22:13

'from the inside, as its members established and built their lives.

0:22:130:22:18

'But he wasn't out to get his photographs in the mainstream press,

0:22:180:22:22

'which he believed was only interested in stereotypes.

0:22:220:22:27

'Vanley wanted to speak directly to the people in his pictures.

0:22:270:22:31

'He showed them locally

0:22:310:22:32

'in churches, schools and community centres.

0:22:320:22:36

'And Vanley continues to add to his invaluable archive,

0:22:360:22:40

'spanning nearly 50 years.'

0:22:400:22:42

What were you trying to do with your photographs?

0:22:420:22:45

What we were having were very negative images

0:22:450:22:47

of African Caribbean people.

0:22:470:22:49

And I felt that...

0:22:490:22:51

..we're not in control of our history.

0:22:520:22:54

We're not in charge of our history.

0:22:540:22:56

We didn't...we are the losers in this battle.

0:22:560:23:01

And the losers rarely get the opportunity to write their history.

0:23:010:23:04

But I felt if we were to...

0:23:040:23:07

..have some fundamental understanding about us

0:23:080:23:12

and our contribution to society, we need to write it ourselves.

0:23:120:23:17

Why have you concentrated on this area?

0:23:170:23:19

Well, I felt that this was quite representative

0:23:190:23:22

of the country, really.

0:23:220:23:23

I didn't need to travel the whole country

0:23:230:23:26

to take little bits of photographs in different communities

0:23:260:23:29

when I have the whole community here.

0:23:290:23:32

MUSIC: Handsworth Revolution by Steel Pulse

0:23:320:23:35

So you feel satisfied that that's your audience?

0:23:370:23:40

-Oh, yes, yes.

-You know, your community is your audience.

0:23:400:23:43

Yes, very much so. For I do respect the people who I photograph.

0:23:430:23:47

They're offering, you know, erm... a lot.

0:23:470:23:51

You know, I kind of equate it,

0:23:510:23:53

a painter uses a brush,

0:23:530:23:56

you're really sort of using human flesh, you know, for your work.

0:23:560:23:59

'Vanley is a self-taught photographer

0:24:020:24:04

'with a natural instinct for arresting imagery.

0:24:040:24:07

'His framing and composition are bold.'

0:24:120:24:15

Now, you enjoy photographing crowds.

0:24:210:24:23

I personally have always found crowds really difficult.

0:24:230:24:26

This photograph, the crowd shot,

0:24:260:24:28

was taken pretty well from where we are sitting, from this bandstand.

0:24:280:24:31

It's just...just over there.

0:24:310:24:33

-Looking down onto the crowd.

-Looking down onto the crowd.

0:24:330:24:36

I think crowds are important because it tells the story,

0:24:360:24:40

it's a collective energy.

0:24:400:24:42

People are investigating that photograph to find themselves,

0:24:420:24:46

and when they found someone else that they know

0:24:460:24:48

they would go away and tell this person or relatives of this person.

0:24:480:24:51

It's amazing how many people come and search for themselves

0:24:510:24:54

in that photograph because they want to belong to that moment.

0:24:540:24:57

Many people say this is your most famous photograph.

0:24:570:25:00

Why do you think that is?

0:25:000:25:02

Erm, I think...

0:25:020:25:04

it's because of the whole question of identity and belonging.

0:25:040:25:08

You know, we have the whole story of slavery and colonialism, you know,

0:25:080:25:14

and what brings us here and our relationship with the flag.

0:25:140:25:18

You know, it's fraught with a pretty terrible history.

0:25:180:25:21

So to have this young man with the flag,

0:25:210:25:24

it poses a lot of questions about, you know, who we are, where we are,

0:25:240:25:29

and who we are likely to be.

0:25:290:25:32

And all of those questions are being debated at the moment.

0:25:320:25:35

Tell us about this wonderful photograph

0:25:350:25:38

of a group of men and a few boys on the seesaw.

0:25:380:25:41

This photograph was taken in the park here, just behind me,

0:25:410:25:45

where I used to work as a play leader.

0:25:450:25:47

On this occasion these youngsters, they would come in the park

0:25:470:25:51

because they really didn't have anywhere to...to meet.

0:25:510:25:54

And there were not many youth clubs in those days.

0:25:540:25:58

They were, I felt they were in limbo.

0:25:580:26:01

The idea of them on the seesaw for me was quite poignant.

0:26:010:26:04

And I just quickly grabbed my camera and I went across

0:26:040:26:08

and I took some photographs.

0:26:080:26:10

I love the way the three on the left look like they're floating.

0:26:100:26:13

Yes, yes, I think they were pushing, they were going up and down.

0:26:130:26:16

-They were on the way up.

-Slightly, yeah.

0:26:160:26:19

While Vanley Burke was busy photographing a growing community

0:26:210:26:25

in Handsworth, 120 miles up the M1,

0:26:250:26:28

another photographer was recording his own city

0:26:280:26:31

as it was being pulled down before his very eyes.

0:26:310:26:35

MUSIC: Shadowplay by Joy Division

0:26:350:26:38

In the 1970s, Leeds was changing beyond recognition.

0:26:460:26:51

Across the North, the factory chimneys and the back-to-backs

0:26:510:26:55

immortalised by John Bulmer were being swept away.

0:26:550:26:59

Entire working-class neighbourhoods disappeared

0:26:590:27:02

but photographer Peter Mitchell was there to record the demolitions.

0:27:020:27:06

After Peter left art school in London,

0:27:090:27:12

he moved to Leeds and began taking photos.

0:27:120:27:15

Around the same time, I'd just started as a newspaper photographer

0:27:170:27:21

but there's no way my picture editors

0:27:210:27:24

would have taken Peter's work

0:27:240:27:26

because he just did not operate like a typical photojournalist.

0:27:260:27:29

Peter's photos were gentle and personal observations of people

0:27:320:27:36

in an urban landscape and they were accompanied by diary-like captions.

0:27:360:27:41

"Kingston Racing Motors in Olinda Terrace, spring 1975.

0:27:410:27:46

"Why is the woman with the clapped-out Porsche looking

0:27:460:27:49

"so naughty? The council demolished the lot shortly after this snap."

0:27:490:27:52

"Noel and his lads, the demolition men,

0:27:540:27:57

"at Quarry Hill Flats in Eastgate, Leeds in May 1978.

0:27:570:28:01

"The men complained they looked so small in the photograph."

0:28:010:28:05

But there was one constant in the unrelenting change.

0:28:060:28:10

MUSIC: My Life In Rewind by Eagulls

0:28:100:28:13

The funfair behind Peter's house would return faithfully every year

0:28:210:28:26

and in 1979 he began a series of photographs

0:28:260:28:30

of his favourite attraction.

0:28:300:28:32

The home-made ghost train and its owner, Francis Gavan.

0:28:320:28:36

# A thousand regrets rushed right by... #

0:28:450:28:50

'Over 40 years, Peter has recorded how both the ghost train

0:28:500:28:53

'and Francis have changed.

0:28:530:28:55

'Now he's returning with me to photograph them for one last time.'

0:28:550:28:59

Just a bit different this time, Francis.

0:29:000:29:03

Normally, you just stand in front of it with the skull above you

0:29:030:29:07

-and all the rest of it.

-Yeah.

0:29:070:29:09

But as this is kind of getting to the end of the game in some ways,

0:29:090:29:12

I think, would you just manage, I've brought me ladders along,

0:29:120:29:16

I put them there,

0:29:160:29:18

can you get up into the... into the engine compartment?

0:29:180:29:21

Yeah.

0:29:210:29:22

If I fall off, don't laugh.

0:29:220:29:24

'I'm intrigued to see how Peter stages his shots.

0:29:240:29:27

'He's very deliberately choreographing the picture.

0:29:270:29:31

'As a sports photographer I had to react instinctively to capture

0:29:320:29:35

'the action as it unfolded before me, totally different from this.'

0:29:350:29:40

A bit more across, I think. So you've got to maybe stretch.

0:29:400:29:43

-Over here?

-Yeah.

0:29:430:29:44

-Here?

-Yeah, that's OK,. Yeah, that'll do.

0:29:440:29:47

-Do you feel all right there?

-Yeah.

0:29:490:29:51

It's just the usual business, Francis,

0:29:510:29:53

just looking at me with that slightly quizzical look.

0:29:530:29:56

Yeah, just...just hold it there.

0:29:570:29:59

'I've noticed that Peter is using his Hasselblad.

0:30:020:30:05

'It isn't a typical photojournalist's camera.

0:30:050:30:07

'Shooting onto large negatives, it produces more detail.

0:30:070:30:12

'Peter is using this camera to create his uniquely urban vision.'

0:30:120:30:17

I'm really pleased to see that Francis is A, vertical,

0:30:170:30:21

and B, that he's actually still got it.

0:30:210:30:23

And, as he said to me last time, it just needs a new tyre

0:30:230:30:27

and a coat...a new coat of red and we'll be away again, so...

0:30:270:30:32

-And a bit of a push.

-Slight push, maybe, yes.

0:30:320:30:35

What was Leeds like back in the '70s when you started taking photographs

0:30:360:30:39

-around the city?

-There were great demolitions going,

0:30:390:30:42

great block of flats in the middle of Leeds was being demolished.

0:30:420:30:45

Lots of back-to-backs and so-called slums were being taken away.

0:30:450:30:49

Factories were going bust and being demolished.

0:30:490:30:51

So I kind of got this reputation that if I photographed it

0:30:510:30:55

it wouldn't be there in a couple of months' time.

0:30:550:30:58

Which is patently true.

0:30:580:31:00

Your contemporaries at the time were photographing in black and white.

0:31:000:31:03

Why did you choose colour?

0:31:030:31:05

Colour's the natural thing. It's the way we all look at stuff.

0:31:050:31:08

And I made some effort to always use kind of muted colours and suchlike.

0:31:080:31:13

And this was before the invention of...

0:31:130:31:16

saturated colour work, you know?

0:31:160:31:19

Erm...flash and all the rest of it.

0:31:190:31:22

And I've again retained natural light nearly all the time.

0:31:220:31:27

Making sure usually that I photograph

0:31:280:31:30

on reasonably dull days.

0:31:300:31:32

Hand-held all the time. Never used a tripod.

0:31:320:31:35

Does this labour of love now feel over for you?

0:31:380:31:41

Today's shooting has been excellent.

0:31:440:31:46

This is a special day because I've not seen Francis for some years

0:31:470:31:52

and to find out he was still active...

0:31:520:31:55

..it gives me great pleasure, Francis. Thanks again.

0:31:570:31:59

I still regard photography as...

0:31:590:32:03

almost slightly religious.

0:32:030:32:05

But it's that idea of, you know, light from out there,

0:32:050:32:08

almost God's light, comes down and hits you,

0:32:080:32:11

bounces off into my camera, onto the film.

0:32:110:32:13

And then there you are, you know,

0:32:130:32:15

the speed of light, as I think David Bailey used to say, or somebody.

0:32:150:32:20

Peter captured a changing Britain in a humane and idiosyncratic way.

0:32:220:32:28

We can clearly see the value of his photographs now.

0:32:280:32:32

But back in the '70s his work might have been overlooked

0:32:330:32:36

if it hadn't have been for an emerging network

0:32:360:32:39

of forward-thinking galleries.

0:32:390:32:41

In 1979, curator, historian and champion of British photography,

0:32:420:32:47

Val Williams, exhibited Peter's pictures at her gallery in York.

0:32:470:32:53

Nearly 40 years later, the gallery is still going strong

0:32:540:32:58

and showing Peter's photographs once again.

0:32:580:33:00

How important where these galleries to create a new culture

0:33:010:33:05

in photography?

0:33:050:33:07

I think without them some of those photographers

0:33:070:33:09

probably would have given up because there was no outlet

0:33:090:33:12

for what they did.

0:33:120:33:14

I think they were important politically because they said

0:33:140:33:17

to the Arts Council and to the major museums, you know,

0:33:170:33:20

we're here, we're not going away.

0:33:200:33:22

And the climate in photography was truly dreadful at that time.

0:33:220:33:25

The Tate refused to buy photographs.

0:33:250:33:28

I think it was the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester

0:33:280:33:30

actually had a statement saying it would not exhibit photographs.

0:33:300:33:34

Independent galleries played a crucial role

0:33:360:33:39

in nurturing outsider talents like Peter Mitchell.

0:33:390:33:42

But this new independent scene was diverse.

0:33:420:33:45

It also included publishers and workshops

0:33:450:33:48

and these went on to foster a photographer

0:33:480:33:51

who was very different from Peter.

0:33:510:33:53

One of the most acclaimed photographers of her generation,

0:34:060:34:10

Fay Godwin, worked in that most traditional of genres - landscape.

0:34:100:34:14

Fay struggled to make ends meet as a professional photographer

0:34:170:34:21

but she doggedly pursued her love of landscape photography

0:34:210:34:24

and she finally made her name in 1985

0:34:240:34:28

by publishing a striking black and white collection called Land.

0:34:280:34:32

These were beautiful photographs in a Romantic tradition of landscape

0:34:350:34:39

going back centuries.

0:34:390:34:41

So it's not surprising that her book

0:34:440:34:46

became a coffee table bestseller.

0:34:460:34:49

Land presents a picturesque vision of Britain.

0:34:490:34:53

For Fay, this stood in contrast to her own disillusionment

0:34:530:34:57

with other aspects of national life.

0:34:570:35:00

'I think we're a grotty little country

0:35:000:35:02

'with all sorts of things wrong with it,

0:35:020:35:04

'but that we have some of the most varied and delightful landscape

0:35:040:35:08

'that I've seen anywhere.

0:35:080:35:10

'I love the light here.

0:35:100:35:11

'The weather is often infuriating but it's full of surprises

0:35:110:35:15

'so one can never get bored with it.'

0:35:150:35:18

While Fay was putting together her book,

0:35:190:35:22

she attended photographic workshops in Derbyshire to hone her skills.

0:35:220:35:27

The South Bank Show filmed Fay on one of these workshops in 1986.

0:35:280:35:33

But here, politics was discussed as much as f-stops and lenses.

0:35:330:35:38

'The workshops aimed to bring together

0:35:390:35:41

'like-minded photographers

0:35:410:35:43

'to talk about ideology as well as technique.

0:35:430:35:47

'I've come to Derbyshire to follow in Fay's footsteps

0:35:470:35:51

'and talk with the founder of the workshops

0:35:510:35:53

'that transformed her practice.'

0:35:530:35:56

The time was right with a sort of sense of independence

0:35:560:35:59

in photography.

0:35:590:36:01

A lot of photographers were fed up

0:36:010:36:03

with having only to be, you know, making work

0:36:030:36:06

to illustrate text or sell products.

0:36:060:36:09

-As ordered by a picture editor?

-Exactly.

0:36:090:36:12

And one of those was Fay.

0:36:120:36:13

What she found, I think, from the workshops was about ideas.

0:36:130:36:17

And I think this, you know, was important,

0:36:170:36:20

that it was about her,

0:36:200:36:22

not just about a particular style, you know, or an approach.

0:36:220:36:26

And to be more experimental.

0:36:260:36:28

And to push the boat out a bit.

0:36:280:36:30

I think this gave her the confidence to actually do that

0:36:300:36:33

and obviously the result of that you can see in her work.

0:36:330:36:37

Do you think the workshops freed up Fay's radical spirit?

0:36:370:36:41

I think so, because she could see it was about ideas.

0:36:410:36:43

She could say something with her pictures.

0:36:430:36:45

Really, that's what she wanted to do, she wanted to say things

0:36:450:36:48

about the land and access to the land

0:36:480:36:51

and she was very political in many respects.

0:36:510:36:54

And I think she felt that photography could be a vehicle

0:36:540:36:58

for her ideas but also her beliefs and her opinions.

0:36:580:37:03

Curator Val Williams also attended workshops in the late 1970s.

0:37:050:37:09

And she watched on as Fay's work took a new turn.

0:37:100:37:14

Fay Godwin was an important person in independent British photography

0:37:160:37:21

because she represented landscape.

0:37:210:37:23

And that was thin on the ground.

0:37:230:37:26

She found out a lot of things about the way the land was being used

0:37:260:37:30

and particularly about so much land had been corralled by the MoD

0:37:300:37:35

in the Second World War and then not given back.

0:37:350:37:38

They were supposed to give it back but they didn't.

0:37:380:37:40

So, gradually, as she got to know more about the land

0:37:400:37:43

she became more political.

0:37:430:37:45

In the pages of Fay's follow-up book, Our Forbidden Land,

0:37:470:37:51

you can see the change in her photography.

0:37:510:37:53

Here she works almost like a photojournalist,

0:37:560:38:00

trying to convey a message about how the land is being bought up,

0:38:000:38:03

restricted and controlled,

0:38:030:38:06

and how little influence we have over this.

0:38:060:38:09

Fay Godwin was showing how politics, money and power

0:38:120:38:17

were transforming the landscape.

0:38:170:38:20

But, elsewhere, another photographer was examining

0:38:200:38:23

how these very same forces were changing us.

0:38:230:38:27

MUSIC

0:38:300:38:32

Is he serious? Is he a satirist?

0:38:490:38:52

Martin Parr's acutely observed images of British people

0:38:520:38:56

have certainly divided opinion.

0:38:560:38:59

But they've also made him one of the most famous photographers

0:38:590:39:02

in the country today.

0:39:020:39:04

I notice when you're working, when you start you're very discreet, you work around the edges.

0:39:070:39:12

And as you warm up and probably as they get more relaxed with you

0:39:120:39:15

you move in amongst the dancers.

0:39:150:39:18

Are you conscious of that way of working,

0:39:180:39:20

that you soften them up a little?

0:39:200:39:22

It's funny, you tell me that, and it's something I'm not conscious of.

0:39:220:39:26

It's something that you do.

0:39:260:39:28

And, of course, you have to watch and observe and see what's happening

0:39:300:39:33

and then find a way of lining up the things to really make it work.

0:39:330:39:38

What attracts you to these old seaside towns like Scarborough?

0:39:440:39:48

When I was a kid I used to come and stay with my grandfather.

0:39:480:39:51

He used to take me here and he's an amateur photographer.

0:39:510:39:54

So in a sense the person that really got me excited about photography

0:39:540:39:57

was him.

0:39:570:39:59

And one of the places we came to was Scarborough.

0:39:590:40:01

But it's the photographs Martin took of another seaside town

0:40:030:40:06

that made his name.

0:40:060:40:08

# Shout, shout, let it all out... #

0:40:080:40:12

In 1984, he published a book of photographs taken in New Brighton

0:40:120:40:16

near Liverpool.

0:40:160:40:18

He called it The Last Resort.

0:40:180:40:20

# I'm talking to you, come on... #

0:40:200:40:24

There's something about these photographs

0:40:240:40:27

that remind me of John Hinde's postcards.

0:40:270:40:30

Martin Parr mixes the quality and colour of commercial photography

0:40:310:40:35

with documentary realism.

0:40:350:40:37

The resulting pictures are hyperreal, almost cartoon-like.

0:40:370:40:42

But some critics accuse him of being cruel, even snobbish.

0:40:420:40:46

Val Williams showed some of his early work at her gallery.

0:40:480:40:53

There was a kind of strange feeling at that time.

0:40:530:40:55

Maybe there was a kind of element of hysteria in it,

0:40:550:40:59

that there were people you were allowed to photograph,

0:40:590:41:02

which was basically toffs.

0:41:020:41:03

You could kind of make fun of them as much as you wanted to.

0:41:030:41:06

But there were other people that you weren't allowed to photograph.

0:41:060:41:10

I think that was a very, kind of, tricky and difficult position,

0:41:100:41:13

which is, erm...

0:41:130:41:15

which really pervaded photography for a long time.

0:41:150:41:18

That kind of discussion about who you could and couldn't photograph.

0:41:180:41:22

And it's an argument that's full of holes, really.

0:41:220:41:26

Parr denied that he was making fun of his subjects in The Last Resort.

0:41:280:41:32

But the criticism must have touched a nerve

0:41:320:41:35

because in his follow-up book he turned his camera on his own tribe.

0:41:350:41:40

# I find it kind of sad

0:41:400:41:42

# The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had... #

0:41:420:41:46

Why did you focus on the middle classes

0:41:460:41:48

for your book The Cost Of Living?

0:41:480:41:50

I mean, previous to that I'd done a project about

0:41:500:41:53

the working-class resort of New Brighton, just near to Liverpool.

0:41:530:41:57

And I decided after that that I should try and do another class,

0:41:570:42:00

a class that actually hadn't been photographed that much,

0:42:000:42:03

and that's the class that I was a member of.

0:42:030:42:06

In order to do this we decided that I had to move from Liverpool,

0:42:060:42:09

about the least middle-class city in the UK, down to Bristol,

0:42:090:42:12

which is where I currently live.

0:42:120:42:14

# Because I find it hard to take

0:42:140:42:16

# When people run in circles

0:42:160:42:18

# It's a very, very

0:42:180:42:20

# Mad world... #

0:42:200:42:22

For me it was partly therapeutic

0:42:220:42:24

because here we were in the time of Mrs Thatcher.

0:42:240:42:27

I didn't like Mrs Thatcher at all.

0:42:270:42:29

I felt quite uncomfortable about her, yet my career was thriving.

0:42:290:42:32

So that sort of guilt that's always associated with the middle classes

0:42:320:42:36

was one of the reasons why I wanted to explore it as a subject matter.

0:42:360:42:39

I went to things that I was part of, such as, you know,

0:42:390:42:43

my partner was pregnant so we went to the antenatal classes

0:42:430:42:46

run by the NCT.

0:42:460:42:48

But then I also photographed things that I didn't feel particularly

0:42:480:42:52

connected to, like craft fairs. I've never been a big fan of them.

0:42:520:42:55

So I went to them.

0:42:550:42:57

So I used my prejudices as almost my starting point.

0:42:570:43:00

So I did both the things I liked and the things that I didn't like.

0:43:000:43:04

How important is humour in your work?

0:43:040:43:06

People are funny. I mean, there's no question about that.

0:43:060:43:09

To pretend that people and what they do aren't...isn't funny and...

0:43:090:43:13

It would be ridiculous.

0:43:130:43:15

But it's not just to take the piss out of people, you know?

0:43:150:43:18

I'm taking, remember, the piss out of myself, you know,

0:43:180:43:21

that's the first thing to say.

0:43:210:43:23

And I'm just photographing people with a sense of mischief.

0:43:230:43:26

And there is a great, sort of, satirical, you know,

0:43:260:43:30

tradition in the UK which I feel I'm part of.

0:43:300:43:33

Martin Parr's eye misses nothing.

0:43:340:43:37

He made a comedy out of life in the '80s

0:43:370:43:40

by scrutinising the most banal of activities.

0:43:400:43:43

This was a decade driven by aspiration.

0:43:430:43:46

How you looked, what you wore,

0:43:460:43:48

and where you shopped wear badges of social status.

0:43:480:43:52

Religiously attending aerobics classes

0:43:520:43:55

or buying the right kind of furniture

0:43:550:43:58

were tickets into a new middle class.

0:43:580:44:00

With his use of colour and flash,

0:44:010:44:04

Parr's photographs look more like glossy magazine shots

0:44:040:44:08

than traditional documentary images.

0:44:080:44:11

This made his satire of consumerism even more pointed and effective.

0:44:110:44:16

I was picking up on the language of commercial photography

0:44:170:44:20

and I wanted to show almost, like, quality of advertising

0:44:200:44:24

with the colour but, of course, I'm applying it

0:44:240:44:26

to my own art situation rather than, sort of, a commercial situation.

0:44:260:44:30

So even now I still use flash a lot because I like the intensity

0:44:300:44:35

that it brings.

0:44:350:44:36

It makes things...it gives them a slightly surreal feel to it.

0:44:360:44:40

So even though I often don't need flash, I will have it on the camera

0:44:400:44:44

and include it because it just helps to, sort of, detach it

0:44:440:44:48

from the reality that we're looking at

0:44:480:44:50

and it makes it clearer that it's an interpretation of the scene

0:44:500:44:53

rather than just a depiction of it.

0:44:530:44:56

There's an absurdity in this book which is just wonderful, I think.

0:44:560:45:00

And I think probably it's his most autobiographical book

0:45:000:45:04

because he was in exactly that same position, as we all were.

0:45:040:45:07

You know, we'd stopped being very young

0:45:070:45:09

and we were trying to work out who we were and where to go

0:45:090:45:12

and how to deal with, kind of, all this stuff.

0:45:120:45:15

And I think that it's a kind of growing up book, I think.

0:45:150:45:18

And I've always loved it because of that.

0:45:180:45:20

In his photographs, Martin Parr shows us a parallel reality.

0:45:220:45:27

One that's instantly recognisable but somehow ludicrous.

0:45:270:45:31

A kind of Parr World, if you like.

0:45:310:45:34

And his pictures appeal, I think,

0:45:350:45:37

because they show that everyday life

0:45:370:45:40

can be both humdrum and boring

0:45:400:45:43

but at the same time incredibly strange and surreal.

0:45:430:45:47

Since the publication of The Cost Of Living,

0:45:480:45:51

Martin has been keen to embrace whatever new technology

0:45:510:45:54

can improve his practice.

0:45:540:45:56

Today, I see he is using a digital camera

0:45:560:46:00

to photograph the dancers.

0:46:000:46:02

The advances of the technology in terms of digital

0:46:030:46:06

have been quite profound in the sort of nine or ten years

0:46:060:46:09

since I've been using digital.

0:46:090:46:11

And the quality you get now is quite staggering.

0:46:110:46:14

It's just mind-blowing when you see the big prints you can get

0:46:140:46:17

from a 35mm DSLR.

0:46:170:46:20

But unlike Martin Parr, I'm a little bit more sceptical

0:46:230:46:27

about digital photography and what it means for my own work.

0:46:270:46:30

BELL RINGS

0:46:310:46:33

Today I also use a digital camera

0:46:330:46:36

that can take thousands of high-quality images,

0:46:360:46:39

some of which can be sent over to picture editors in seconds.

0:46:390:46:43

And these cameras are more like computers.

0:46:460:46:49

Focus and exposure are automated,

0:46:490:46:52

which certainly makes photographing fast action easier.

0:46:520:46:56

But my worry is now that the camera does so much of the work

0:46:580:47:01

that less consideration goes into the actual composition

0:47:010:47:05

and framing of the picture.

0:47:050:47:07

And, of course, everybody's a photographer now.

0:47:070:47:11

In the mid-1990s, it was estimated that 20 billion images

0:47:130:47:17

were being taken worldwide.

0:47:170:47:20

And by 2013, that figure had doubled.

0:47:200:47:24

So, in this vast ocean of images, how are you supposed to take

0:47:260:47:30

a really great photograph - one that actually stands out?

0:47:300:47:34

Though I've got my doubts about digital,

0:47:420:47:45

I know it has opened up fresh possibilities

0:47:450:47:48

for a new kind of photographer.

0:47:480:47:50

I've come to Manchester to visit someone

0:47:500:47:52

who's exploring the new frontier of photography.

0:47:520:47:55

Mishka Henner makes startling pictures using material

0:47:560:48:00

he finds on the internet.

0:48:000:48:01

'But in his studio there's not a camera in sight.

0:48:010:48:05

'Mishka uses satellite imagery to access forbidden places

0:48:050:48:10

'such as these areas of industrial farmland in Texas.

0:48:100:48:14

'Now, it strikes me that Mishka has something in common with Fay Godwin.

0:48:140:48:19

'These are very different kinds of images

0:48:190:48:22

'but both try to reveal how the landscape is used and controlled.

0:48:220:48:27

'Mishka is following on from Fay by pushing the limits

0:48:270:48:31

'of this oldest of photographic genres.

0:48:310:48:33

'So I've asked him to follow her and create a new set of photographs

0:48:350:48:39

'revealing secret parts of Britain.

0:48:390:48:42

'Places that she could only dream of accessing.

0:48:420:48:45

'And I want Mishka to show me, step-by-step, how he works.'

0:48:460:48:51

So, what do you think this is?

0:48:520:48:54

Well, to my eye, I think this is an industrial park of some sort.

0:48:540:48:59

I imagine, by looking at this, a series of buildings

0:48:590:49:03

that are interconnected, which are quite big and quite important.

0:49:030:49:07

Well, an industrial park would be, yeah, an interesting take on it.

0:49:070:49:11

It's a map of Britain.

0:49:110:49:13

And each colour represents a different zone

0:49:140:49:18

that is restricted or hazardous for one reason or another.

0:49:180:49:21

So the red areas are danger areas where military activity takes place.

0:49:210:49:26

The grey areas are the flight corridors

0:49:260:49:29

used by commercial and non-commercial aircraft.

0:49:290:49:33

And how do you find this information out?

0:49:330:49:35

This is a map that's available online.

0:49:350:49:37

It's a map that any pilot or would-be pilot would use

0:49:370:49:41

to know where they can and can't go in the British Isles.

0:49:410:49:45

The minute you start to find restricted areas

0:49:450:49:48

you're already on to something

0:49:480:49:50

because the fact that it's restricted means

0:49:500:49:53

there's something there that is being hidden away, if you like.

0:49:530:49:57

And then what do you do with it next?

0:49:570:49:59

There's a reference document that goes with the map

0:49:590:50:02

that tells you the exact co-ordinates of these areas.

0:50:020:50:05

So what we would do is we would take those co-ordinates

0:50:050:50:07

and put those co-ordinates into a basic satellite image

0:50:070:50:11

piece of software like Google Earth

0:50:110:50:13

and see the aerial imagery of that area.

0:50:130:50:15

So we can take... we'll take this one here.

0:50:150:50:18

MUSIC: Sun by Caribou

0:50:180:50:21

So this is a site in Essex called Fingringhoe Ranges.

0:50:300:50:34

It's a site used by the military to...

0:50:340:50:38

As a...as a live firing range.

0:50:380:50:41

It's also, as it happens...

0:50:410:50:44

A Site of Special Scientific Interest

0:50:440:50:47

and a special protection area

0:50:470:50:49

and there's a nature reserve in there as well.

0:50:490:50:51

It's the kind of place that is full of all of the contradictory elements

0:50:520:50:57

that make up Britain.

0:50:570:50:59

This is the area that we were looking at on the screen.

0:50:590:51:02

So what I've done is, I've taken the boundaries

0:51:020:51:05

set by the aerial chart

0:51:050:51:07

and I've superimposed that over the satellite image.

0:51:070:51:12

So you've got the exact co-ordinates of the location,

0:51:120:51:15

which the boundary marks.

0:51:150:51:17

And then you've got the name of the site itself.

0:51:170:51:20

Now, is this documentary photography?

0:51:200:51:23

Well, I think it's trying to make things visible

0:51:230:51:26

that are, for the most part, I think, kept hidden away from us,

0:51:260:51:31

which is what I think all good documentary and art does.

0:51:310:51:35

There is a photograph in there that's in the world

0:51:350:51:39

that I have changed the context of

0:51:390:51:42

but there's also a combination of lots of other elements

0:51:420:51:45

such as the graphic element which comes from the chart,

0:51:450:51:49

the text element which comes from research documents.

0:51:490:51:52

So, in a sense, it's...

0:51:520:51:54

You can think of them as samples, different samples...

0:51:540:51:57

-As in music?

-Like, like, that's right, yeah.

0:51:570:52:00

As a musician might work today, taking samples of different things

0:52:000:52:05

and then putting them together to make a new composition.

0:52:050:52:08

You know, we're living in a time where

0:52:080:52:11

there's an absolute abundance of material.

0:52:110:52:13

And to not work with it, regardless of whether you are

0:52:130:52:18

the original author of the original sample seems...

0:52:180:52:22

it seems absurd.

0:52:220:52:25

The digital revolution hasn't just profoundly changed the way

0:52:280:52:32

we make photographs, but also how we present and share them.

0:52:320:52:36

MUSIC: The Look by Metronomy

0:52:360:52:39

Instagram fuses two aspects of the digital world -

0:52:420:52:46

photography and social media.

0:52:460:52:49

And 16-year-old Molly Boniface from Huddersfield

0:52:510:52:55

is one of 500 million Instagram users worldwide.

0:52:550:53:00

With her smartphone,

0:53:030:53:05

Molly takes snapshots and shares them instantly online.

0:53:050:53:08

This clearly isn't just a hobby for Molly.

0:53:100:53:13

Look how many photographs she takes.

0:53:130:53:15

Molly expresses herself through photography every day of her life.

0:53:220:53:27

The medium has never been more alive

0:53:340:53:37

than in the hands of someone like her.

0:53:370:53:40

'I've come to learn a little bit more

0:53:430:53:46

'about its role in Molly's life.'

0:53:460:53:48

Tell me how important photography is to you.

0:53:540:53:57

Right, I think, for me personally, it's really important

0:53:570:54:00

because I've always liked art

0:54:000:54:03

and I think photography's the most instant way of doing that.

0:54:030:54:07

And all the time, like, wherever...

0:54:070:54:09

If I go out, that's what I look forward to.

0:54:090:54:12

To taking pictures of whatever I see.

0:54:120:54:15

Since I've got a phone as well,

0:54:150:54:17

that's something that I can just use all the time.

0:54:170:54:20

-And that's always there.

-So the camera is always with you?

0:54:200:54:24

Yeah, yeah, it's just what I do all the time.

0:54:240:54:27

I don't know.

0:54:270:54:29

And, essentially, are you having fun with photography?

0:54:290:54:32

-Is that what it's really about?

-Yeah, yeah.

0:54:320:54:34

It's a social thing as well, like.

0:54:340:54:36

Me and all my friends, sort of, that's something that we bond over,

0:54:360:54:41

it's the photos that we take and...

0:54:410:54:43

we share them and it's cool.

0:54:430:54:46

Do you have any idea how many people are looking at your photos?

0:54:460:54:49

Well, I have on my account about 1,300 followers.

0:54:490:54:54

So, that's quite a lot of people, I think.

0:54:540:54:58

More people than I could show otherwise.

0:54:580:55:02

There are people that follow me that I don't know,

0:55:020:55:06

they don't know me,

0:55:060:55:08

we never speak, you know, they could be from anywhere.

0:55:080:55:11

But they've just seen my pictures and thought that they like them.

0:55:110:55:14

Are the photographs of you on Instagram really you

0:55:140:55:17

or a version of you?

0:55:170:55:19

I think it's very much a version of me that I choose to show everyone.

0:55:190:55:23

Because I am aware that I have a lot of followers

0:55:230:55:25

and everyone can see that.

0:55:250:55:27

And I think it's kind of like a public diary

0:55:270:55:30

that I think looks nice.

0:55:300:55:32

So I choose to show everyone.

0:55:320:55:34

And when I look back it's like a refined version,

0:55:340:55:38

whereas I keep other stuff, other pictures, just for me.

0:55:380:55:41

MUSIC: The Look by Metronomy

0:55:410:55:44

What makes a great photograph for you?

0:55:540:55:56

Well, I actually took one of my favourite ones on my Instagram here.

0:55:560:56:00

I'll show you.

0:56:000:56:01

It was my friend taking a photo of this view.

0:56:010:56:05

So you're taking a picture of your mate taking a picture?

0:56:050:56:08

Yeah, yeah, basically.

0:56:080:56:10

I just...I really like this one because I really like the symmetry,

0:56:100:56:13

you know, and I like the contrast of her jumper, you know, and bag,

0:56:130:56:17

it's so bright against just green.

0:56:170:56:20

And can you show me how you worked up to this picture?

0:56:200:56:23

Well, yeah, I took a few others but that was the only one I posted.

0:56:230:56:26

You know, I took, like, panorama ones because it's nice.

0:56:260:56:30

This place is so spooky, isn't it? Look at the mood of that.

0:56:300:56:33

Yeah, it's quite dark light.

0:56:330:56:35

-What would you do with the rest? Would you keep them, or...?

-Yeah.

0:56:350:56:38

I mean, I've kept them all and I think I've printed a few off.

0:56:380:56:42

But, yeah, that was the only one that I chose to put online.

0:56:420:56:45

So that's gone out there to all your followers around the world.

0:56:450:56:49

That was the one that was worthy!

0:56:490:56:51

'Taking photos is central to who Molly is.

0:56:570:57:01

'And it's the self-portrait that dominates her pictures.

0:57:010:57:05

'For her and many others,

0:57:050:57:07

'it has become THE photograph of the 21st century.

0:57:070:57:11

'So the most important subject for the everyday photographer

0:57:110:57:15

'is now themselves.'

0:57:150:57:17

MUSIC: Dayvan Cowboy by Boards of Canada

0:57:190:57:22

I've travelled a long way since my journey began

0:57:280:57:32

in front of a window in Lacock Abbey

0:57:320:57:34

where the first British photograph was taken more than 180 years ago.

0:57:340:57:40

I've seen the changing ways we've pictured ourselves.

0:57:400:57:44

I've learned how science and technology

0:57:460:57:49

have shaped the course of photography

0:57:490:57:51

at every stage of its history.

0:57:510:57:53

And how great art has come from the camera,

0:57:550:57:57

with every era producing its own photographic masterpieces.

0:57:570:58:02

And looking at all of this,

0:58:050:58:07

I can only marvel at the genius photography has for reinvention.

0:58:070:58:12

And that makes me optimistic for the future.

0:58:120:58:15

Because my profession has always shown itself ready and willing

0:58:160:58:20

to find ever more extraordinary ways

0:58:200:58:23

of bringing Britain into focus.

0:58:230:58:26

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