A Bradford Spirit

Yesterday was a particularly dark and miserable day in Bradford so naturally I decided to go out with my camera to take some moody black and white photos. I was on Duckworth Lane looking out for anything that might take my interest and not really finding much when I saw a man walking alone in the rain with his head down and I thought it would make a good photo. I framed up and waited for him to walk into my shot then took a few, which were ok, but not great. A bit out of focus actually.

Then all of a sudden the man looks up, sees me squatting in the street with my camera pointed at him, strikes a massive open armed pose and goes “wahey!”

I was a bit fed up yesterday, not least of all because of the atmosphere of utter lawlessness that seems to be taking over the city and dragging us all down. We’re a city struggling to maintain or rebuild an identity, we’re economically unstable, our high street is in a dire state and we’re routinely described as one of the worst places to live in the whole country. I don’t know who the man in the photo is and I don’t know anything about him but for a brief time he reminded me that no matter how bad things seem here the Bradford spirit still isn’t broken.

Keep smiling. It has to get better, and it will.

Thanks for reading.

John.