B .....

..... D3.


As part of the Bradford photo group we go out in pairs each month to photograph various parts of Bradford. This month myself and Shaun were set the challenge of photographing BD3 just off the Manchester road. Before going, BD3 had been described to me as the Bronx of Bradford and although it wasn't quite the Bronx, it wasn't the most welcoming of places I've photographed.

There is a lot of suspicion of strangers in the area and myself and Shaun easily stood out as not from the area and were challenged about taking photos on numerous occasions and at one point Shaun was told by one man to delete the photos he had taken outside the mans house. After a long chat the guy realised we weren't doing anything wrong and we understood a bit about his concerns and it all ended up with an amicable handshake when we said goodbye.

There's a large Muslim community in the area as well as a lot of Eastern European immigrants and a white working class community, the three groups don't appear to mix and there are lots of barred windows and security camera signs everywhere and obviously a lot concern about crime by the residents.

After an hour or so of wandering around myself and Shaun braved going in to a local social club that had bricked up windows and three blokes stood outside drinking bottles of beer. When we walked through the door we could feel all eyes looking at us and I suspect we were the first non regulars to go in there for a long time. The club was a bit like the Idle working men's club that I photographed last month but a lot rougher around the edges ( both the building and the people in it ).

We eventually got chatting to a few of the regulars who turned out to be really friendly once they realised we weren't the police and they explained that the windows were bricked up as they were constantly getting smashed. There was talk other about members of the local community wanting to buy the building and their fears of loosing the club. Shaun handed out a couple of his cards and will hopefully be going back to take some photos.

It's been an interesting and challenging day where I've learnt a lot more about community, segregation, distrust and fear and although it wasn't easy to take photos I've added a few from today here and I'd like to go back to the area and hopefully build up a bit of trust with some of the locals and record the area a bit better than today. So today's blip is .....


..... BD3.


Better larger.