“As a photographer, my principal subject was – and remains – the British people, I’m not interested in celebrities, just ordinary folk”
– Daniel Meadows
David Stephenson, Conanby, Yorkshire, 1973
In 1973, Daniel Meadows toured Britain in his 1948 Leyland Titan PD1 double-decker bus. He met he met circus performers, holidaymakers, pigeon fanciers, fishermen and and tattooists. For 14 months, stopping in 22 locations he offered people a free print of themselves in return for having their portrait taken. This was a project for people many of whom had never owned a camera or posed for a picture. When Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin turned up one day to be photographed, Meadows turned him down. This was for all of us – the ordinary people, each with a story to tell…
Boat trip, Weymouth, Dorset, 1974
Temple Newsam Park, Leeds, 1973
Attercliffe Sale and Exchange, Attercliffe Common, Sheffield, Yorkshire, 1973
Haafnet fishing, near Port Carlisle, Bowness-on-Solway, Cumbria, 1974
“I’d been there five minutes when I saw these blokes out on the mudflats on the Solway, very low tide, so I walked out to them and they were haafnet fishing which is a form of fishing you do with a net, three or more of you in a line [eight men on this occasion], and they catch salmon and trout on the flow tide. It was a very rainy afternoon. Very blustery sort of day. Had a long chat with these guys and spent most of the afternoon watching them. No fish were caught. Towards evening I got a lift back to Carlisle with them’”
– Daniel Meadows
Florence Alma Snoad, Southampton, Hampshire 1974
Ron Ackers, tattooist, Portsmouth, Hampshire 1974
‘Ron Ackers, tattooist, 38 Henley Road, Southsea. Excellent guy. He learned tattooing from his grandfather in Chester and has travelled all over the country and Europe, tattooing people. He spent seven years travelling round Europe in a converted van, tattooing the army and the navy and anybody who came along. He was very critical of the moral and artistic standards of many tattooists saying that they charge very little (less than a fiver) and produce something that’s very bad’”
– Daniel Meadows
Bingo Hall, Haltwhistle, Northumberland, 1974
John Payne, with pigeon Chequer and brothers Michael and Kalvin White, Portsmouth, 1974
The Derby, Epsom, Surrey, 1974
Opening of a hypermarket, Telford New Town, Shropshire, 1974
Bell ringing, West Lavington Church, Wiltshire, May 1974
James O’Connor and David Balderstone, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, 1974
Pylon Painters, Great Washbourne, Gloucestershire, 1974
21-year-old Daniel Meadows and his Free Photographic Omnibus, 1973
Afternoon of gas-conversion Sunday (town gas to North Sea Gas), Newcastle upon Tyne, 1974
Daniel Meadows: Free Photographic Omnibus, 50th Anniversary is at the Centre For British Photography until 17 December 2023.
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