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The Cracker is a wasteland between two estates near Sandwell & Dudley railway station. I was commissioned by the community arts charity Multistory to do a year-long project anywhere in the Black Country. I decided to photograph the young people who live in nearby Tipton.
I’d met these guys a few times on the Cracker. I think it was one of the boys’ haircuts that caught my eye. We started speaking. They looked interesting and were friendly. They had a lot of energy. So we made plans to meet up for a shoot.
Like with all of the young people I work with, I didn’t know if they would turn up. But they did. The tall boy in the middle, with the smoke, that’s Callum. He is such a character. He brought everyone together – Fern, Ash and Sophie.
We walked around, and I chose this backdrop. This section of the Cracker was quite feral and varied in texture, with beautifully contrasting layers of colour: stark yellows, browns, greens mixed with black. I think this was just after the summer. A lot of the land had burned – kids had set fire to it, out of boredom.
The light was really in my favour that day, really flat and transparent. It’s what I call Tupperware-lid light. Sometimes I’ll plan out an image to construct a tableau of sorts. I wanted to capture the moment. I wanted to wait for Callum to blow out smoke and be facing a certain way so that the smoke would drift with the wind.
The project lasted more than a year: I spent months hanging out with these kids. And I realised how little there is for them to do, especially in the winter. This is a very deprived area. There are swimming pools and leisure centres, but if you don’t have any money, you can’t do those activities. So even when it’s cold, they still go outside all the time.
One day, it was raining and everyone was really bored. Then one of the boys said: “Let’s go and catch some pigeons.” I was, like: “What?” And he said: “Yeah, let’s go catch some pigeons.” So that’s what we tried to do for two hours. They knew where to go – down by the canal, because “that’s where they hide … under the bridges”. I asked what would happen if we caught one. And they told me: “We’ll put it in our garden – we’ve got a pen.”
The community is this striking mix of suburban culture and something more rural. Many people have horses in their back gardens. Some families have horse and carts, or they do horse fairs. Sometimes they ride them on the Cracker as well.
When I’m working, I’m very aware of my presence and obvious about it. I’m there with a camera – I’m not going to sneak around. And people get used to my being there. They are either in the moment and they forget I’m there, or they interact with me. One day, I met a boy called Josh. He was lying down with his girlfriend and he said to me: “Do you like dogs?” You know that line in Snatch, where Brad Pitt’s like: “D’ya like dags?” It reminded me of that.
He asked me again if I wanted to photograph a dog, and when I said yes, he went to get it. I watched him come over the hill, with a dog the size of a horse. And then he said: “If you like dogs, maybe you like snakes?” And I thought: I definitely want to photograph your snakes. So the next day we went to see his snakes. He was brilliant with them. He clearly knew how to handle them.
I loved how these kids were so comfortable with each other, and so relaxed in front of me. There was no acting up to the camera, no posing. Mostly just a lot of banter. They were really smart kids, and amazingly creative. Once Callum found an old recorder on the ground, and started blowing vape smoke through it. It looked amazing. It was one of those moments where people can be so resourceful and entertaining. They were great company.
Laura Pannack’s CV
Born: Kingston, 1985.
Training: Fine art foundation at Central St Martins; BA Photography at University of Brighton; internship at Hotshoe magazine.
Influences: “Too many to mention … I assisted Simon Roberts and he’s been a mentor to me, an epic support and an inspiration. I’ve also always been influenced by Taryn Simon, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Gregory Crewdson, Joel Sternfeld, Sally Mann and Vanessa Winship.”
High point: “Winning the World Press Awards in the portraits section in 2010, and then judging the awards a few years later.”
Low point: “When I feel stuck for ideas and hit a wall.”
Top tips: “Remember that time is the greatest gift. Only compete with yourself – encourage and support other passionate creatives. It’s about learning and being curious. And lastly, be nice.”
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