This Is England
By Simon Fox
17 Oct 2009
We are constantly being told by the media what makes up England - what's wrong with it and what we should think about it.
I decided to document the England I see through my lens - the real England - full of the people and places I have encountered.
I love candid shots of people and I believe we can tell a lot from just one photo. The clothes we wear, the make-up we put on, the activities we participate in, all say something about our character in the public domain.
I always try to aim for photos that speak for themselves and say a lot about the subjects, be it two suited gents sharing a joke during a wedding in Cambridge University or a ferret on a lead looking up at his mistress as she begs for spare change on the streets of Newcastle.
Portraits, too, are a chance for someone to shine. I've never known a drag queen to shy away from a camera, and the picture included here of Lucy Lastic, I believe, shows her personality beaming through.
Pursuits, too, say a lot about us. Cricket is synonymous with what it is to be English, and punting on the River Cam harks back to hazy days of yesteryear - that perhaps mythical vision of England we are told doesn't exist any more.
Through this story, I aimed to show the class distinctions. In one photo, a gentleman chats on his phone on the river bank, and juxtaposed in the same collection is a scene from a gypsy encampment of a dog and a washing line.
Many today in England are concerned with the encroachment of Police powers on civil liberties in the aftermath of the War on Terror. Here, this is represented by a bit of Police tape draped across the traditional cobbles of a marketplace. The old and new incongruous when side by side. It's a sign of the times.
So on this damp little island in the sea, life is marked out by old traditions, the birth of new lifestyles, class and diversity.
This Is England.
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