Beauty in ugly things
By Matthew Strong
8 Feb 2008
Romford is an ever changing historic market town in the county of Essex, the London Borough of Havering and in South East England.
Romford is the kind of town that often gets slated by many people, by either the media, people that have never even been there, but judge it anyway, and finally the people that live there or come from there.
The thing is, a lot of what is said about Romford is true, but its my old hometown and the place holds many memories from my past, good and bad, and for that reason alone I find Romford quite appealing.
As a creative person, the urban environment of this town has been my inspiration for a current long term project I'm working on entitled BEAUTY IN UGLY THINGS, which will be a multi media exhibition.
The love hate relationship that I have with Romford is that its the town that I got well again in after a bad time in my life, some of the images shown here were taken during that time, I didn't feel comfortable going further than the confounds of Romford, so that was the landscape I had for awhile, and I used it to get my confidence back and to slowly build myself up again, before going on my first holiday alone, which was San Francisco, and the year after Vietnam, then there was no stopping me, I was back in full flight, but even to this day, I still fight my own thoughts.
Taking photographs in Romford is never easy, as you have to watch your back quite a bit for dodgy people, and more than likely you get comments from people, or strange looks. Ok I agree Romford, is never going to be like San Francisco, but it has many great locations that many photographers search for, lonely places, amazing skies and light as the sun sets in the East, a rapid market street, bars, clubs, cafes, cinema, skate park etc, all with the famous old East End of London vibe, which is Unique, and when night comes, the life turns to a different side of Romford, the party boys and girls come out in there thousands, dressed in their finest clothes, to drink and party the night away, always under the careful watching eye of CCTV and the local Police. This all makes for some great images, and something I'd like to do soon is to shoot within the throng of Romford's nightlife and show how it really is to all walks of life, Beauty in Ugly things.
As Rakim raps, "it aint where your from, it's where your at".
I currently live in Madrid, Spain, but I never forget where I come from, Romford is in my blood, and I'm proud of being an Essex boy, and I'll continue to take photographs there each time I visit my family.
1 response
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Kathy Hardin gave props (5 Nov 2008):
Nice story and your right we should never forget where we came from for it helps to make us what we are today
