Wish We Were Here: Liverpool
Now I’ve been two jabbed, my post-pandemic plan is humble and local: I want to get back into Liverpool where the Tate has a Don McCullin exhibition running until September.
McCullin was the first photographer whose work pulled me into street photography, which is why I’d also hope to have a decent camera in my pocket (my trusty old cheap Fuji died recently). I’m no more than a flâneur when it comes to photography, but I love the challenge and surprise of finding interest in the ordinary. Give me something unbalanced and askew by Daido Moriyama or Garry Winogrand over any well-composed banality. On that basis, Liverpool isn’t a great city to engage in street photography. The centre where you find all the people is too clean, the grubby historic parts too empty. Manchester, by contrast, has a vibe closer to that of London. It’s an uglier and less friendly city, but easier to lose yourself in, though increasingly plagued by security guards patrolling the privately owned public spaces.
I’d probably hit my favourite spots on the waterfront first. This is where I took one of my favourite pictures a few years back (I can’t explain it, beyond it’s weird and makes me smile). I’d then head back into Liverpool One shopping centre and go to Waterstones for coffee, books and maybe a sneak peek of the photos I’ve taken. After that, if my legs could handle it, I’d head across to the Walker Art Gallery, take another break in the new library, and then head back to Lime Street for the hour-long journey home.
Like I said: it’s a humble plan but, given the year I’ve been having, it is as ambitious as it is unlikely.
Things to do:
Visit the Tate Liverpool
And see the Don McCullin exhibition; more than 200 photographs of Liverpool, the north and international conflict, captured over the last 60 years. The exhibition runs until 5 September 2021.
Explore the funfair
The funfair on the waterfront around the Royal Liver Building is always good for some kitsch in summer. Taking pictures around there makes me feel a bit like Bruce Gilden photographing Coney Island.
Take a break at the Liverpool Central Library
Originally opened in 1860 and later bombed during the Second World War, the newest reconstruction is a five-story building with a domed atrium.
