A while back over a beer, Eamon and I discussed going to one of the London markets to take some photographs. The big markets in town are daunting in their size and business and the characters that inhabit them are larger than life, often foul-mouthed and frankly terrifying. Which is to say that they’d make a fantastic photoshoot.
With this in mind, two of us together could provide the necessary mutual encouragement to grasp the opportunity by the balls and take the photos that were waiting to be taken. Eamon resolved to send a letter asking permission of the owners of Billingsgate Market for us to take photographs there one morning.
Billingsgate Market is the largest fish market in the UK. The site covers 13 acres, much of it inside. There are huge walk-in freezers outside and a big parking area where fish are loaded and unloaded from 5am every Tuesday to Saturday. Prepared for an experience, and armed with permission from the Corporation of London I woke up at 530am to meet Eamon and take on Billingsgate.
The first thing to hit you when you get through the gate and enter the main hall is the hive of activity. Men with big pallet-moving trolleys hurl through the place like madmen giving a whistle or a shout to get out of the way. Just as you dodge one, another comes bearing down on you from the other direction. You haven’t even had time to notice the incredible smell of the place yet. A smell that will stay with you all day until you can change your clothes.
Once you get into the swing of things it gets easier. You rapidly develop an awareness of the mad white-coated trolley wielding fishmongers and their stacks of rapidly-propelled fish. Once you’ve mastered that it’s all plain sailing. The stall holders are an array of different people but the most familiar and expected is the archetypal East End trader with their barrage of swear words they use to punctuate sentences mostly filled with other swear words. Infinitely patient with my needs for them to spare a moment to glance at me for a photo, they really made it a unique experience for me. They have a sense of humour that’s readily deployed and at least one of them I talked to is a keen photographer himself.
From about ninety shots, I’ve got maybe ten photos I’m going to upload from the photoshoot. Eamon is going to upload a few of his own, too. I’ll drip-feed them into Flickr and update the thumbnails here. Contemplating a photoshoot in another market elsewhere in London, but I’m not to keen on smelling like fish. Maybe a flower market, this time?
Really look forward to seeing the rest. I’m sure there are lots of great photos ready for those dedicated enough to ask permission beforehand – if only I wasn’t so lazy!
Great portrait and pics – impressed by your resolve and industry in going to Billingsgate; I’ve always wanted to go but just can’t get up that early – also a bit worried about fishy smells before breakfast.
Had no idea you needed permission – I would have just pitched up.
Been to the flower market (for work) – I’d defintely recommend it; but can’t say if you will find the same atmosphere or characters. We were buying flowers for a shoot, so wasn’t concentrating on other aspects. Would be an interesting project, though.
I was a porter in the original Billingsgate Mkt on Lower Thames St in the 1960′s. Looking at photos of the “new” place at Blackwall brings tears to my eyes…Although my life has taken me to many lands , many boudoirs and many marriages, I often crave for a hour or two of yesteryear and pulling a barrow up Monument St !!!
Hi thanks for your fantastic description of your ‘time’ at Billingsgate Market. I’m currently doing a project at uni where my aim is to capture expressions of people – i.e. the way they start off posing to becoming more comfortable with the camera. I thought a market would be a great idea so where better than the biggest fish market in the British Isles? I was going to steam in by myself one morning but having read your story I feel it’s best I seek approval, like you did. But thank you once again…I shall pop down with my Holga and snap away like a merry mad man. Elio.
Best of luck Elio! I’ve been playing with a Holga myself, making a jump into film from digital. It’s a lot of pot luck, at first, but I’ve had a few nice shots out of it. Still too many with the lens cap on, though :)
I was going to suggest you take some fast film – I was just looking at my shots and although the place is fairly well lit by flouro strips, I was shooting f/3.2 at 1/100th on ISO200 (at least for the portrait above) so I guess that’ll pose a problem to the poor tiny-eyed Holga at F/11. You’ll have a great time though, the people there are great.
Let me know if you put the results online, I’d love to see them.
Thanks for the nice writeup. I noticed on the London Corp site that a condition for photography in Billingsgate is that you need to ask permission of merchants before photographing their wares – did you really need to do this, or can you just shoot freely?