Selfies From The Past: Celebrating A Birmingham Community’s Selfies From 40 Years Ago

Derek Bishton/Brian Homer/John Reardon/Handsworth Self Portrait Project

A 1979 photography project asked passers-by to take snaps of themselves using a makeshift studio built on a street in a multicultural Birmingham suburb. A new exhibition of the Handsworth Self Portrait images showcases how people interacted with the idea of the ‘selfie’ 40 years ago.

Running on weekends from August to October 1979, the Handsworth Self Portrait project, by Derek Bishton, Brian Homer and John Reardon, saw more than 500 people taking photographs of themselves in a range of poses – from more formal to outright playful.

The Handsworth Self Portrait pop-up photography studio on Grove Lane, Handsworth:

A simple set-up of a 35mm camera on a tripod with a long cable release allowed the subject of the photograph to decide how they wanted to be seen.

Derek Bishton explained that it was the intention for him and the other photographers to have minimal interaction with the shots being taken.

He said: “We did check the framing and focus, but then we stepped away.”

Bishton also explained how the idea of the plain white backdrop was an intentional decision “to show people without the stereotypical inner-city backgrounds – the rundown streets, the clutter.”

h/t: bbc

Derek Bishton/Brian Homer/John Reardon/Handsworth Self Portrait Project

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1970s, Birmingham, community, project, retro, selfies, street, UK

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