‘Melanie was my then wife – I couldn’t earn enough from photography, so we got a bank loan and opened the shop, with Janet as a partner. My photos from that time feel important now because that community is gone’
T
his picture was taken in our beauty shop in Bradford, called Shade. Janet (right) was a friend of my then wife Melanie (left). I’d spent a good two years taking photos and I enjoyed it, not that I thought my work was good enough to be shown in an art gallery. I couldn’t earn enough from photography to cover the costs of the materials, so we decided to get a bank loan and open the shop instead, with Janet as a partner.
I first got into photography in 1983, aged 28, after I was made redundant from my truck-driving job. I had a friend who did photojournalism and I used to go and watch him develop black-and-white photos in his darkroom, where you have a red light on to see what you’re doing. So when I heard about someone who was selling a colour kit, I jumped at the chance. I thought my friend was going to help me learn how to use it but he didn’t know how to develop colour photographs. It was only when I started teaching myself that I realised how difficult it is.
My photos from that time feel important now because that community is gone. They took down the flats, and the whole community spread out. In the summer there used to be a congregation of African-Caribbean people outside the Perseverance hotel or the Young Lions cafe. There was always music on and people who knew me. One of my photos is of a guy with a ghetto blaster – there was always someone with one. In the cafe there would be one on the shelf, belonging to some customer or other. There was also a pool table, and there were always people sat in there, whether they were eating or not.
