Feature
The photographers documenting the high street before it changes
A loose network of amateurs is photographing every shopfront in their towns, one street at a time. Local archives are starting to ask for copies.
Film critic
7 min read
One volunteer has photographed the same parade of shops every March since 2011.
He photographs the same forty shopfronts every spring, from the same spot, at the same time of day. In fourteen years only six have kept the same sign.
What began as a hobby is turning into the most complete record many towns have of their own centres.
A street at a time
The method is dull on purpose. Stand square to the building, include the pavement, note the date. The value is in the repetition, and in the fact that nobody else is doing it.
Nobody photographs a phone repair shop. In thirty years that will be the picture everyone wants.
There are now groups in more than sixty towns, sharing a simple set of rules and a common way of naming files. Three county archives have agreed to take their work.
What the pictures show
Laid side by side, the photographs show change that feels sudden to residents but arrived slowly: a bank becomes a café, the café becomes a nail bar, the upper windows go dark. Planners have started asking to see them.
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Kenji Moreau
Film critic
Kenji has reviewed more than two thousand films and still sits in the front row.
