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| I love Leeds. I love its green parks. I love the variety of its geography (from the Dales in the West to the flatlands to the East). I love the ease with which I can get to the city and get about in it. I love its arcades and its shops and especially its cafes. I love its dynamism and the friendliness of its people. At the beginning of 2006 I decided to embark on this photographic study of Briggate. Digital cameras have meant that the costs of taking and sharing photographs have been dramatically cut. This has allowed me to apply to my adopted city my lifelong interest in 'street photography' and city experience. Leeds became my home in 1987 when I moved to take up a position as Senior Lecturer in Media at Trinity and All Saints College, where I have worked ever since. |
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| Before that I had been a Teacher Advisor in the borough of Wigan, running a darkroom for teachers, running courses in video and photography and working alongside teachers using a variety of media in classroom. |  |
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| My photographs being studied by pupils in a school in Wigan. As part of the project they did with me they took really creative portraits of one another. [1986] |  |
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| Although I have been interested in photography almost all my life, it is only digital technology which has 'liberated' me by allowing me to take as many photos as I wish. This project has allowed me to apply my knowledge of 'street photography' which I first practiced with great seriousness in South Africa in 1981-2 after buying my first decent camera (a Canon A1) | |||||
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A quiet Sunday afternoon in Yeoville, Johannesburg. [1981] | |||
| I was lucky then - as a beginner - to have the help and support of my friend, the Paul Weinberg, a professional photographer who has made a huge contribution to photography and, through it, to 'social change' in South Africa. From the outset, I had a sense that photography could be pursued with a serious and social purpose. | |||||
| Find out more about Paul Weinberg on his website www.paulweinberg.co.za |
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The photographer Paul Weinberg, snapped in his dark kitchen in Johannesburg, [1982] | |
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| Paul Weinberg's son listens to stories of the bad old days in South Africa. [New Years Day, 2005] | |||||
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Lloyd Spencer |
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