subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 4 April 2020 27
DANIEL MEADOWS
A picture with a life of its own
THE PICTURE on the front of Daniel’s book shows an 11-year-old John Payne, a pigeon in hand and
surrounded by two of his friends. Taken in 1974 while Daniel embarked on his Free Photographic
Omnibus project, he shot just one frame of John and his friends.
Yet it is this picture which has been used time and time again and become one of his best-known
pictures. It featured in the book 1001 Photographs You Must See Before You Die and has been used in
posters, books and various exhibitions over the years.
It was used in The Times as the photograph to accompany an article about Arts Council-funded
projects, and it has even been turned into a painting currently held by the National Museum of Wales.
Jenny Donnison’s poem ‘Three Boys and a Pigeon’ was even inspired by the shot, while the fashion
house Burberry also used it as part of a series of photographs that inspired a recent collection.
Its protagonist, John Payne, was tracked down by The One Show in 2018, then in his mid-50s, who
reunited Daniel with John for the opening of the exhibition at the Bodleian in Oxford.Mexican expert in digital
photography, we are saving lives in
Madisonville, Kentucky!” I thought
from then, the future of journalism
isn’t about one-way storytelling, it’s
about this interaction with the
audience, that is only complete
because this secondary person has
got in touch with me and I
absolutely loved that.’
At this point in the recording of
our interview – 45 minutes in – I
interject to remind Daniel that I
haven’t actually had a chance to ask
him any questions yet. That gives
you an idea of the enthusiasm and
joy that talking about the subject
still brings him all these years later.
Rewinding back to the 1970s, it
was basically this approach that
Daniel had been favouring and
pioneering, perhaps without even
realising it. While a student at
Manchester Polytechnic (where he
was a contemporary of several who
have gone on to have impressive
careers including Peter Fraser,
Brian Griffin, Charlie Meecham,
Kate Mellor and Martin Parr), he
rented a shop on Greame Street in
Manchester’s Moss Side. There he
offered free portraits to anybody
who cared to drop by. Inspired by a
lecturer who showed him the work
of Irving Penn, Daniel felt that a
room of his own could lead to some
interesting work. At the time, Moss
Side was home to a huge number of
low-income and immigrantcommunities, and was also
undergoing huge changes with
buildings being knocked down and
regenerated. As such, renting an old
barber’s shop – even for a student –
was a cheap proposal. ‘People would
just wander in and chat to me and
ask what is this all about – that set
up a practice that lasted me a long
time throughout my life – setting up
random encounters with strangers.’
After this experiment had worked
so beautifully, Daniel had the
idea to put it on wheels. Thus,Top left: Residents
of June Street,
Salford, 1973.
Daniel worked on
this project with
Martin ParrFar left: Charlie
Sutton, 1976Left: An interview
with Charlie
appears in Daniel’s
latest book