Obligingly, he let me, before saying he’d prefer I saw another one. In 2017 I met Paul, and asked if I could photograph a tattoo on the back of his hand. It is, quite literally, wearing hearts on sleeves… chests, and backs. A patch emblazoned bomber jacket or parka declares, “This is who I am. Patches and badges declare allegiances, loyalties, and past glories - Brighton and Bournemouth, Margate and Morecambe. These symbols, bands, and brands adorn the wearer, transforming them into peacocks for their subculture. Martens, LML / The Happy Mondays, Fred Perry, Lambretta - and any combination of the above. A shared enjoyment of The Who, Ben Sherman, Vespa / Northern Soul, Dr. The RAF roundel is the most notable, speaking to a culture lived through time.

HP5-800-Ilfotec-DDX-Nikon-F100-Matthew-Fleming- Awash with totems After twenty minutes of the ride-in, I’d shot three of my five rolls of film (luckily the Boots adjacent to The Rose and Crown had three rolls of HP5 in stock). I’d use this time looking down a long lens to study people as they advanced up the hill, occasionally using the Nikkormat to dissect, not divorce, details. The ride-in was a humming mass of headlights and two-stroke fumes - I used the 80-200 to search for riders down the road who who exuded the mod aesthetic, then quickly swap to the Leica to shoot again once they were closer. Headlights and two-stroke fumesĪ typically overcast Lancashire day did nothing to dampen spirits. Shooting digital for news/stock and film for my own work, I’d drop my digital gear off at home, quickly upload to the live-news agency then get back out and walk around town photographing until I ran out of film. I’d arrive at Moor Lane, a steep one-way street leading up to the rally’s meeting point at The Rose and Crown, where I’d have a good line of vision down the road to photograph the ride in. A Nikkormat FT3, with an 80-200 f2.8 permanently attached perfect for isolating details and tight portraits, and a Leica M6 with 35 f2 for everything else imaginable. Good shadow detail was important but the ability to shoot in inclement weather was paramount.Ĭamera set up was a classic photojournalist 1-2.

I wanted to emulate the gritty black and white press style of the 1990s (sharp grain and high contrast) developed in fine grain, high sharpness developers (initially Kodak XTOL stock as one-shot, but later ILFOTEC DD-X). At the time I was working almost exclusively with it - normally metered and pushed to 800 in daylight and 1600 at night. It was a forgone conclusion that I’d be using HP5. HP5 -800- XTOL-Stock-Leica-M6-Matthew-Fleming The set up

Black and white 1 mods