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Beesley,
who is now a nationally acclaimed photographer, Ian Beesley has
been catching a wide variety of subjects on camera for thirty years.
He is probably best known for the books, exhibitions and even calendars
produced
as a result of the time Ian spent with both Bradford City
FC and
the Bradford Bulls.
Other
exhibitions have ranged from portraits of war veterans who fought
in Burma during the Second World War to local mills and, more recently,
clubbing in Halifax and the Calder Valley.
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| Ian
Beesley at the National Museum of Photography... |
For
most of this time Ian has also been capturing the ever-changing
scenes which occur at the ends and corners of streets, many of which
have been in West Yorkshire. He says: "Street corners are often
the traditional meeting places for many communities, focal points
for advertising and places where kids play."
But
West Yorkshire street corners hold many personal memories for Ian:
"I was born in a terraced house in Bradford and spent most
of my childhood playing in the streets. Street corners and gable
ends formed an important part in my life. My first football match
was played against goal posts painted on a gable end - our gang
always met on the street corner.
"One
of my earliest memories is walking with my Grandma to the street
corner to wait for my Dad coming home from work. Later, when I was
a little older, it was a great adventure to be allowed to walk there
alone and wait for him.
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| "We
had to be careful whose gable end we chose" [(c) Ian Beesley] |
"At
the street corner there were a couple of gable ends; my favourite
was the one which had the posters for the cinema, the Odeon. They
were changed every week and I would eagerly anticipate the change
in the hope there would be a picture I could convince my dad to
take me to see.
"In
winter one of the gable ends was warm, the house fire was at that
end of the house so there was a spot on the wall where you could
warm your back whilst waiting in the cold. In summer we would paint
cricket stumps and, in winter, goalposts. We had to be careful whose
gable end we chose. Some people were particular about their 'ends.'
Many a game of footie included a chase by an irate house-owner who
got fed up of the muffled thuds of a ball against his gable end.
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| Political
graffiti in Marsden: "We were often treated to...often
scathing comments about public figures" [(c) Ian Beesley] |
"There
was always a bit of excitement if we heard of an 'end' that had
been defaced. There would be a rush round to read the offending
words before they were scrubbed off. As they were the most accessible
and public of places we were often treated to amusing and often
scathing comments about public figures.
"The
streets I played in have long gone but whenever I am about photographing
in urban areas I always gravitate towards street corners and gable
ends. I am seldom disappointed as there is nearly always something
happening .
"The
photographs in the exhibition where taken over the last 25 years,
the most recent only a few weeks ago. It is an endless source of
inspiration for me. It is not nostalgia - street corners and gable
ends accurately reflect the life and times we live in."
The
exhibition 'Street Corners by Ian Beesley' runs at the Smith Gallery
in Brighouse from January 22nd to March 19th, 2005.
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