British photographer Shirley Baker captured these fabulous portraits of punks on the streets of Manchester, Stockport and London’s Camden Town in the early 1980s.
Shirley’s daughter, Nan Levy, spoke to the Museum of of Youth Culture about her mother’s work as part of an exhibition at the Working Class Movement Library. When Shirley was starting out in the 1960s being a professional photographer meant entering a man’s world. to get. To get a press pass you had to join a union which only could join. “She has said that the men, the approved photographers, will be busy photographing the rich and the famous. She preferred to photograph the more trivial aspects of life,” says Nan.
Three punks in Stockport Town Centre. Photograph by Shirley Baker Date: 1983
A goth/punk street jewellery seller in Camden, London. He is selling ‘Bad Earrings for Bad People’ for 50p per pair or three pairs for 1 against a backdrop of theatre and concert bills. Photograph by Shirley Baker, 1986
Boys with punk hairstyles in a shopping centre. 1980s
A group of punks loitering on the road in Camden, London. Photograph by Shirley Baker, 1986
A group of young people on a pavement in Camden, London, 1989
Stockport, Greater Manchester. 1983
A stylish young lady in punk attire of black satin dress with spiked shoulder pads, wild white wig, heavy make-up and gold and silver bangles, stands on a Camden street as shoppers hunt for bargains in the market behind, 1986
Young punk woman with bright pink hair in Market Street, Manchester, 1985
Two punks in signature uniform of battered leather jackets, studded belts, string shirts and tight denims, stand overlooking shoppers in Stockport Town Centre. Photograph by Shirley Baker Date: 1983
Buy Shirley Baker Punks at Cafe Royal books.
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