Blackburn Market

The main focus of my project on the markets is going to be Blackburn Market. Blackburn Market is due to move to new premises in the spring of 2011. This move is causing much controversy with current stall holders due to the market and council's conduct and demands for the 'new market'. Below is the markets statement on the current market hall taken from the markets official website.

"Blackburn Market offers a bright, spacious, undercover environment that has over 300 stalls. The Market has an amazing choice of quality goods on offer. Blackburn Market has everything! Open 6 days a week."

Despite how good they make the market sound they insist on moving to a new, costly premises. Costs which they expect stall holders to make up in 40-60% hikes in rent. Stall holders are then expected to tie themselves down to a contract for at least 18 months.

I have family on the market who, despite the economic crisis we have been in, think the market is extremely successful as it is; possibly the most successful in the area. When I visit the market I can't help but notice that it is a bustling and vibrant market. However, under current plans the market would be changed radically and this seems to be driving stall holders away as they feel there would be no demand for this 'change'.

Below is a letter to the local newspaper by an angry 'market-goer'.

"I AM duty bound to reply to the LT article “Live lobsters can add theatre to market” (LT, March 12) Fifty years ago, Blackburn was a thriving, pleasant Lancshire market town until consecutive Blackburn councils, with their atrocious ideas on design for a new town centre, appalling road routing, abysmal pieces of art strewn here and there, ultimately ruined the town.

Council bosses state that they want a continental style market; they wish to “create a sense of theatre” which will encourage “viveur” type display.

To top all this nonsense they have the arrogance to state on their website that “stallholders shall be neatly dressed and well presented”.

I am certain that a lot of stallholders will be more than annoyed with this statement, particularly in my case when I was invited by a Conservative councillor to a meeting a couple of years ago and witnessed how some of those councillors were dressed and evidenced the almost non-existent etiquette.

Because of the atrocious state of Blackburn which I believe is beyond redemption, I cannot think of a finer, more illustrative phrase than this: “You will never ever, ever make a silk purse of this particular sow’s ear.”

Chris Eggleston, Quebec Road, Blackburn."

This is the view of just one person, now I know through family on the market that he is not on his own. I agree totally with his views on the market and feel that what the market and council are proposing would ruin an already successful market. Below are some links to some of the Lancashire Evening Telegraphs articles.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/5034463.Anger_as_Blackburn_market_traders_hit_with_notices_to_quit/

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/5057693.Live_lobsters_and_duck_eggs___council_s_vision_for_new_Blackburn_market/

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/comment/5063716.Why_our_town_centre_needs_a_vibrant_market/

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/5045622.Marks___Spencer_pulls_out_of_flagship_Blackburn_Mall_move/

John Londei

Taken from www.johnlondei.co.uk

"Whether in colour or black & white, location or studio, John Londei's forte is people: young, old, famous, infamous and all shades in between. His photographs also appear in books and magazines worldwide.

In addition to commercial work for clients he also shoots personal projects on large format cameras. The most recent is a diverse range of formal groups of people. Another project, shot on 10X8 is a series of fast disappearing shops and shopkeepers, described as a definitive tribute to a vanishing era, has been published as a book called 'Shutting Up Shop' Photographs from the book were exhibited in solo exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery and Museum of London. Other projects, also portraiture, concentrate on the individual, often taken with a touch of humour."

Of John Londei's images it is the images from the 'Shutting Up Shop' series that are of interest to me for this project. They follow a very similar idea to the idea I have to document local markets. Below are some of my favorite images from the set.

I would like to capture an essence of these photographs in my images. In my market project I would like to try and focus on the people as the people make the market. Without the people the market wouldn't be like it is. Many people visit the market for the people, they visit the market stall for the name, the name of who owns the stall.

26 Different Endings

http://www.markpower.co.uk/index.cfm?p=10320

Above is a link to the autobiographical essay by David Chandler published with Power's '26 Different Endings Work'.

These are my favorite images from the '26 Different Endings' Series. Below is a description taken from Mark Power's Website stating what this series is about

"The 'A-Z London Street Atlas' is the most popular map of any kind in Britain, selling over 200,000 copies a year.

In the Spring of 2003 Power was enjoying a picnic somewhere to the west of London. Leafing idly through his own A-Z, he noticed the stream in front of him ran along the very edge of the atlas and the field beyond was off the page altogether.

The coverage of the map changes with each new edition. Someone somewhere decides, year by year, where it should end; which parts of the periphery of London should be included, and which should not.

This project is about the unfortunate places that fall just off the edge. The title, '26 Different Endings' is the name of the book , while the touring exhibition, an extended version of 56 pictures, is 'A System of Edges'."

Overall I think this series is an example of Mark Power's best work. I feel that I can almost relate to some of the scenes in the images. They seem to be very dull, bland and quiet scenes which almost remind me of my hometown on a typical weekday. There seems to be a lot dereliction, something which occurs a lot in my town. The images are composed in a way that emphasizes how dull the outskirts of a place can be, they are very statically composed. Also, in a time where images tend to be very highly edited these images seem the opposite. The colours seem very bland and plain. Did he do this on purpose to make the images seem even more boring and if you want, 'life-like'?. In my view this work is a very successful piece of work.

Exhibition Review

The exhibition that I liked most and felt was more beneficial to me on our trip to Manchester was the Don McCullin, Shaped By War exhibition at The Imperial War Museum.

Whilst I don't see myself doing what Don McCullin did in my career he is probably my favorite photographer. I found this exhibition particularly interesting because as well as showing some of his best images it gave the viewer a great, in-depth look on his life and career. I thought it was fantastic how there was an original print of his image of a shell shocked soldier in Hue, Vietnam (Below), with all the notes he had made on how he would edit in the darkroom etc. Another highlight of the exhibition for me was the rather large print of the mentioned image. This for me is one of my favorite images of all time but to see it on such a large scale was brilliant. Another thing I found good about this exhibition was rarely seen colour images by Don McCullin. Whilst his colour work is good I don't think it is quite as effective as his black and white work.

Overall I thought this exhibition was brilliant and made sure I bought the book to go with it.

Accrington Market

As a starting point for my idea I decided to go to my local market as, one, it's easy to get to and two it is quite an interesting one. I went in the old Victorian market hall as the outdoor market wasn't on. The inside market is undergoing quite significant refurbishment so perhaps this is why there isn't many occupied stalls. Or is it because of the big chain stores in the area? I photographed the place on a whole and focused more on the building and stalls rather than the stall holders. Here are a selection of my favorite images from the shoot.

Mark Power

Mark Power is a British photographer most famous for his work on the Shipping forecast. His love for photography came whilst studying a fine-art degree at Brighton Polytechnic.

His most famous work is his shipping forecast work. He traveled to all 31 locations in the UK covered by Radio 4's shipping forecast. This work has similarities to the work of Tony Ray-Jones. Between 1997 and 2000 he was commissioned to cover the construction of the Millennium Dome in Greenwich. This along with his '26 different endings' work is my favorite of his work.

Power now works predominantly with large-format and colour film.
Taken from the Mark Power wikipedia article.

This is my favorite of his images of the Millennium Dome. I love the lighting and the perspective in this image. I also like the 'geometricity' to this image.

This is from his Shipping forecast work. I love all the different tones and the contrast in this image. I really like the simplicity.

Idea

For my places brief I have decided to focus on the 'dieing' trade that is local, community markets. Everyday markets lose trade to 'big' supermarkets and high street stores.

One of my biggest inspirations for this project is the change of location and 'commercialization' of Blackburn Market. There is massive controversy over the move and prices of rent etc. I have family who trade in the market and they feel as if they are being driven out of the market due to the council's demands. All this with the economic crisis the country is or has been in really has affected local markets.

It is a personal view of mine that these stalls need help; they are a vital part of local communities up and down the country. There would be a massive gap in these communities without markets.

One photographers work I will be looking at is the work of John Londei. He is most famous for his work along a similar sort of line to do with small, corner shops closing.