大象传媒

"The Photographic Society has been going about 50 years, coming up shortly. Now of course the big thing is digital photography. The youngsters can get into it, I like that side of it, it brings a younger element into the club. The traditional side is slowly dying out, and I think will probably become an art form in the end. It鈥檚 all about making pictures at the end of the day".

"You can use any camera you like, it doesn鈥檛 matter, the interest is the important thing. I mean we have people who have limited budgets but they still enjoy the club. The problem is club photography has a bad image, people think it鈥檚 a bit snobby and it鈥檚 not like that at all. We鈥檙e one of the few clubs which stays open 12 months".

"We have a lot of competitions based on different subject matter. We hold exhibitions regularly. We have lecturers throughout the year. There鈥檚 a tendency in club photography that because there are cups to be won, people gear their photographs specifically. I always say that you should do what you want to do, and if the judges like it, that鈥檚 a bonus. I鈥檝e always been a people photographer - a street photographer - always walked around the city with a camera. I suppose the biggest change is the outlook to photographers as you walk around".

"For instance, when I was doing the Liverpool series, I did that forty years ago, maybe more, never a problem, used to speak to all the locals, photograph all the kids, but you can鈥檛 do that now".

"The area鈥檚 changed a lot, the Transporter Bridge, when I was younger, I used to photograph that, it鈥檚 gone of course now. Some major changes in the city, all around the tunnel has changed, it鈥檚 changed everywhere and the problem is it goes gradually and it鈥檚 only when you look back at your pictures that you say "oh, that was different a couple of years ago". All of a sudden the whole city landscape has altered. Really you could do a survey of the city every ten years and you鈥檇 get a different picture".

- Ted Baker

Click on the images above to view Ted's latest work.