Nick Wynne began photographing Liverpool and Merseyside while studying photography at Wallasey in the late 1980s. Still in his teens, he was taught by Fred Edwards and Tom Wood, whose influence changed both his understanding of photographs and his confidence when approaching people.

Wynne arrived at Wallasey with a portfolio consisting largely of fields, sheep and landscapes. Naturally shy, he had avoided photographing people. Wood introduced him to the work of Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand and Diane Arbus, discussing how individual photographs worked and what gave them meaning. He also invited Wynne to accompany him while he photographed on buses, in Liverpool markets and around New Brighton.

Watching Wood at work gave Wynne a practical way past his shyness. The camera became a reason to approach people he would otherwise have found difficult to speak to. As Wynne later explained, “Photography has given me, an incredibly self-conscious, shy person, a voice.”

Made across Liverpool, these photographs document lads playing football on Silvester Street, young people gathering in the city centre, workers on Dock Road and everyday life around Bold Street and Kensington.

The closeness of the pictures reflects Wynne’s growing confidence. People acknowledge the camera while remaining engaged with their friends, work and surroundings. The photographs form one of the earliest bodies of work in an archive that Wynne has continued to develop for more than three decades.

The same formative period also produced his sustained study of Traveller communities at Shotton in North Wales.