My name is Wayne Waterson. I was born in 1958 near Victoria Park. In 1963, my family and I relocated to Hackney where I attended school and lived for the next 50 years. After graduating from Shoreditch Comprehensive, I did all those jobs that people from a working-class background with no A-levels and few prospects tend to do – factory work, jobs in the print trade, as well as working in shops and market stalls.
David Bailey
I began taking photos at the age of 14 and loved it for the sense of freedom it gave me. Additionally, I idolised David Bailey, because he was a working-class kid who had made something out of himself. This inspired me, and in the late 1980s, I applied to do a photography course. I had no idea if I would be accepted, but I had nerve, a big mouth, and confidence, and talked my way into a foundation course at The London College of Printing. Later, I went on to study film and have been a casting director for the past 38 years.
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
This is my first-ever photograph that I took. It was taken circa the late 1960s at Riverside Mansions in Wapping, and it’s of my family. When my grandad had this developed and showed me what I had shot, I was fascinated. He later bought me my first camera, a little Box Brownie.
Hackney 1960s-80s
Hackney, between the 1960s and 1980s, was a world of its own. Nobody came in from outside the borough for fear of the real violence that had to be navigated daily, even by those who lived there.
Hoxton was a quite poor place in the seventies with not much money around for much other than the essentials. It was quite common to see kids with no shoes or looking unwashed. As everyone was in the same boat, no one seemed to mind or care.
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
“It’s hard to believe these days but not many people seemed to take photos of individuals who are not either family members or at parties. Therefore, people were often happy and excited to have their picture taken.”
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
The Lion Club
Hoxton was not the playground of the middle classes or fashionistas, as it is today. There were no clubs, bars, or much of anything really – just youth hangouts like The Lion Club or the many pubs that littered the streets. This meant you had to make your own fun. Along with forming a pop group, I picked up a camera and started taking photos of the streets and its people.
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
Brick Lane
Brick Lane and Spitalfields back in those days were pretty run-down, with a high number of homeless people on the streets often drinking window cleaner or other horrible concoctions. It was not a place you would want to be after dark – there was often fighting on the streets, and you had to be careful taking photos as you would get screamed at and chased down the road. It felt like Victorian London at times. Homeless people were commonly referred to as hobos, tramps, or vagrants back then – strange days indeed.
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
Brick Lane Market
The market itself, however, was the greatest market for bargains, and the one place where I would love to invent a time machine. You would see the weirdest and strangest things down there, all of which could be bought for pennies. The first time I ever saw a bear and a tiger cub was at Club Row, and most of my record and music memorabilia collections started here. It was a place I would go to each and every Sunday morning for over 20 years before they destroyed it with hipster bars and high-end retail shops. Dreams were bought here.
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
Conversations
Another strange thing was that people would hang around and sell jewelry, such as watches, gold, and silver rings, and all such things. It was very covert but on the open streets. I never knew if they were stolen goods, people selling their only worldly possessions, or just an excuse to make a little extra money and have a conversation with others. I do know that there were always the same people around for ages, and then they would suddenly vanish.
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
You would see people who were down on their luck selling their possessions on the street. Nobody charged them, so they would often turn up with a box, tip it over, and start selling. I think this guy was once a Teddy Boy and was driven to sell his drape jacket. There were a lot of sad faces around that market.
Priced Out
I photographed the area from around 1974 to 2000, in and around the streets of Hoxton, Shoreditch, and Brick Lane. However, by the late 1990s, the streets no longer belonged to us. Many people had been moved on or priced out. Factories had been converted to commercial studios or high-priced flats, and the youth clubs had vanished. Most of London had undergone gentrification, but it seemed that Shoreditch and Hoxton had been the most affected. I wasn’t really interested in taking pictures of boring hipsters. In 2015, I left Hoxton for Ramsgate. I still take photographs.
Gallery
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
Photo © Wayne Waterson.
Thank you to Wayne Waterson, a casting director, born and raised in Hackney and now living in Ramsgate.
Words and images © Wayne Waterson, all rights reserved. All images in this article are owned by Wayne Waterson and are for use on this site only.
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- Article first published
- July 2, 2018
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