Committee Meeting, 510 Centre, North Paddington 1978
In the spirit of archivism, I'm making accessible an article I wrote
for the British Journal of Photography in 2010 to mark the demise of
Photoworks Westminster (formerly North Paddington Community Darkroom), a
community-based photography project that I set up in the 510 Centre, a busy grant-funded advice
and community centre at 510 Harrow Road, in 1976. A PDF of the piece can be downloaded
here. A PDF of my book, That Was Then, This Is Now, which describes North Paddington context in which the project evolved, can be downloaded here.
This archival impulse has been prompted by a request from the Four Corners project in Bethnal Green which, in addition to documenting the heritage of its own film work, is creating a new archive exploring the photographic practice of its onetime neighbour, the Half Moon Photography Workshop (later Camerawork), from its creation in 1972 to its closure in 2004.
The travelling exhibitions, workshops and, above all, the roughly quarterly issues of Camerawork magazine (1976-85), were hugely influential at a time when a wave of community-based photography projects were springing up in various parts of the capital and elsewhere. As a self-taught photographer working in uncharted territory, the opportunity to read about and discuss the work of those with greater knowledge and experience was invaluable. I contributed what I could, but learned a lot more.
For those wishing to explore this bygone world further, there is now also a North Paddington Community Darkroom Archive at the Bishopsgate Institute, which includes a collection of laminated exhibition panels dating from the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Meanwhile Gardens, North Paddington 1983
Dominica Democratic Association meeting, 510 Centre, 1977
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