Instagram Takeover: Derek Ridgers

Derek Ridgers takes over our Instagram account during Photo London to show us behind the scenes at the second edition of the photo fair, May 2016.

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Derek joins a list of guest editors including Eleanor Macnair, Cristina de Middel, Lorenzo Vitturi, Sian Davey, Alma Haser, Juno Calypso, Phil Toledano, Jason Larkin, Federica Chiochetti and many more.

British photographer, Derek Ridgers has documented the perennial youth ritual of dressing up and going out since he first picked up a camera in 1973, and has been drawn to virtually every subculture London has spawned, from punk to the fetish club scene of the present. From early on his photographs attracted the attention of both cultural institutions such as London’s ICA and music and style publications such as the NME and The Face.

When I was younger, I used to love to photograph people at rock festivals because, unlike street photography, one’s subjects never have anywhere to go. This is from the Acid Daze Festival in Finsbury Park in 1987 originally shot for The Face magazine. #derekridgers #igtakeover #instagramtakeover #photography #rockfestivals #acid #ageofaquarius #subculture #london #theeighties #the80s #documentaryportraiture

A photo posted by Photoworks (@photoworks_uk) on May 20, 2016 at 2:48am PDT

Clapham Common, London 1985. #derekridgers #igtakeover #instagramtakeover #photography #blackandwhite #the80s #theeighties #blackandwhitephotography #portraiture #‎monochrome

A photo posted by Photoworks (@photoworks_uk) on May 19, 2016 at 12:40am PDT

Derek will be signing copies of his book 78-87 London Youth at Fernandez & Wells, Photo London , 1pm Thursday 19 May 2016.

More images from my archive of documentary street portraits. Sharon, Brixton 1983. #derekridgers #igtakeover #instagramtakeover #photography #blackandwhite #the80s #theeighties #portraiture #streetphotographers #streetportrait

A photo posted by Photoworks (@photoworks_uk) on May 18, 2016 at 3:41am PDT

His latest book, Punk London 1977 will launch at Paul Smith, Albermale Street, London, 9 June 2016.

This is @derekridgers taking over the #photoworks_uk instagram for a week. #igtakeover #instagramtakeover #photography #blackandwhite #the80s #theeighties #blackandwhitephotography #portraiture #‎monochrome It will be a trawl through my 40 year long archive. Mostly documentary street and club portraits + maybe a few unseen images from my years as a professional rock photographer. If it’s sunny and warm, I may even go out and shoot something new. Thank you. This is ‘Smiler' photographed in Soho in 1984. He emailed me a year or two back telling me that his real name is Wayne and that he was 17 when this photograph was taken.

A photo posted by Photoworks (@photoworks_uk) on May 17, 2016 at 1:16am PDT

A very few archive copies of our own, long sold-out, 2004 publication Derek Ridgers: When We Were Young have now been released for sale in our online shop.

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For more of Derek’s work, click here.

To see some of our other takeover’s, click here.