"The members of the Stanhope Silver Band, seen in this photograph, were well known in the village. One was a joiner who paid us five quid a month to use our outbuildings as workshop space. I don't know how many of those in the picture are still in the band a fair few, I'll bet. Every second weekend in September, there's an agricultural show in Stanhope which takes place on the south side of the River Wear the village is largely on the north side."
"I realised it could be an interesting shot for me, because I'm usually up close to people. I have a background in sociology, so there was always an element of participant observation in my work. The Silver Band image was a rare example of being able to concentrate on every small detail. This was truly a visual play, unfolding before me on an open air stage."
The photographer joined the Amber Film & Photography Collective in 1983 and focused on capturing working-class life in north-east England. Over nearly thirty years the photographer documented life in the upper Durham Dales in a project called People of the Hills. In 1994 the photographer moved with family into a derelict plumber's workshop in Stanhope, Weardale, living there six years and getting to know many local smallholders through children's friendships. The Stanhope Silver Band regularly gathered in the marketplace and marched to the agricultural show, crossing the River Wear via stepping stones. The photographer used colour film to emphasize bright red jumpers, blue river tones, and seasonal foliage, treating the scene as a visual play and applying a sociological, participant-observer approach to capture small details.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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