As a young punk from Broxburn in West Lothian, Graham MacIndoe started on his creative path studying painting at Edinburgh College of Art. That all changed when Graham developed a serious passion for photography, documenting street life around 1980s Edinburgh and creating intimate portraits of ordinary people going about their day-to-day lives.
Ordinary People
Graham would go out every weekend when he wasn’t in the painting studios at college, taking lots of photographs. He wanted to document the real Edinburgh, the lives of ordinary people in the working-class parts of the city, away from the tourist attractions portrayed worldwide, places like Craigmillar, Wester Hailes and Pilton.
Photo © Graham MacIndoe.
“My photographs were a bit of a backlash against Colin Baxter, who did all the picture postcard stuff. It wasn’t the Edinburgh that I associated with.”
Stills Gallery
Murray Johnson, the former director of Stills Gallery, had started a photography department at the art school. He took Graham under his wing and introduced him to photobooks by Robin Gillanders and Murdo MacLeod. Graham carried his Olympus RM1 everywhere, taking pictures of student protests during the Thatcher era. “They cut grants and made life difficult for everyone”, he said. In contrast, he would take photos of young families enjoying amusement arcades in Portobello.
Photo © Graham MacIndoe.
Graham has lived in New York for many years and now works as an associate professor of photography at Parsons The New School in New York City. He continues to document the current political climate in New York City and is the long-term photographer for the acclaimed band The National.
Gallery
Photo © Graham MacIndoe.
Photo © Graham MacIndoe.
Photo © Graham MacIndoe.
Photo © Graham MacIndoe.
Photo © Graham MacIndoe.
Photo © Graham MacIndoe.
Photo © Graham MacIndoe.
Photo © Graham MacIndoe.
Photo © Graham MacIndoe.
Photo © Graham MacIndoe.
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