Search for lads in 1979 Handsworth photo project

A photographer has appealed for help in finding two people who took part in a pop-up studio shoot nearly 50 years ago.

Before the humble selfie became popular, in 1979, Derek Bishton, Brian Homer and John Reardon invited members of the community to take pictures of themselves as part of a project to archive inner-city life in Birmingham.

More than 500 people took part in the pop-up sessions, which were set up outside a terraced house on Grove Lane in Handsworth.

Now, as Bishton plans to have the nostalgic photographs printed in a book, he has managed to track down the majority of the participants except two, who were boys at the time.

He told BBC Radio WM: "They must be well into their middle age now. They came along, two lads who were obviously mates, and they took their photo together.

"For some reason, we've never heard from them, nobody seems to recognise them."

Standing against a plain background, the passers-by were handed an electronic clicker that fired the shutter of a 35mm film camera and allowed them to control how the image turned out.

The following week, they were handed free copies of their prints.

The popular project ran at weekends from August to October.

Bishton added: "The idea came about because Handsworth was getting such bad press nationally and locally.

"The people were being blamed for all kinds of problems, we had massive unemployment, the rise of right-wing politics, anti-immigration and so on. We felt this didn't reflect the reality of what Handsworth was really like.

"Rather than let people get kind of portrayed by outside photographers with all sorts of pre-determined ideas about who they were going to meet and what they were like, we thought, why not let people take their own photo? Put themselves in the frame. So that's what we did."

Using social media and exhibitions, the team have been able to identify the majority of the people who were pictured.

A selection of 100 images have been displayed at the New Art Gallery in Walsall until Sunday and others are permanently on the walls at the Midlands Arts Centre in Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham.

In October, the photographer said 24 of the images would be available to view at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Following a fundraising appeal, the Handsworth Self Portrait book featuring more than 200 of the photographs is set to be published.

"When I look at them, I'm still astonished at how well they've travelled through time. They still look amazing," Bishton said.

"I think they're a fantastic record of that period, because that was the moment when Britain was transforming into a multicultural society and those pictures I think reflect that moment perfectly."

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