{"id":301987,"date":"2025-11-22T18:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T18:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/301987\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T18:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T18:52:10","slug":"bruce-gildens-street-photos-reveal-the-underbelly-of-england","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/301987\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Gilden&#8217;s Street Photos Reveal the Underbelly of England"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>      <img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NYC34023-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two men sitting in a lively crowd at a sporting event, smiling and dressed in jackets and scarves. People in the background appear cheerful and animated, suggesting excitement and camaraderie. The image is in black and white.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" class=\"size-large wp-image-826134\"  \/>ENGLAND. Liverpool. 1979. Soccer fans. | Bruce Gilden \/ Magnum Photos <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe older I get, the closer I get,\u201d says street photographer Bruce Gilden. Now in his seventies, Gilden\u2019s latest book examines photographs he made in the U.K. across the 1970s and 2000s \u2014 when he was very, very close to his subjects. <\/p>\n<p>So close in fact that twice he found himself being removed from a venue, both times essentially for his own safety. On October 16, 1976, Gilden attended a soccer game on his birthday between Liverpool and Everton. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bobbies [police] made me leave the stadium at Anfield when they lined the field near the end of the match because all the little street urchins were trying to pick my pockets,\u201d writes Gilden. \u201cI wanted to stay, but they wouldn\u2019t let me.\u201d <\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NYC136297-2-530x800.jpg\" alt=\"A woman holding a phone and bag eats an ice cream on a city street. A double-decker bus and pedestrians are visible in the background on a sunny day.\" width=\"530\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-large wp-image-826136\"  \/>GB. London. 2012. Bethnal Green. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NYC109652-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"A man with curly hair and a jacket stands in the foreground on a busy city street, surrounded by people walking in various directions. There are shops and buildings in the background and a partly cloudy sky above.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" class=\"size-large wp-image-826135\"  \/>GB. England. Derby. 2010. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NYC31602-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"Two young men in plaid shirts, one with a cigarette in his mouth, pose closely together with arms around each other in a dimly lit room, appearing energetic and expressive.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" class=\"size-large wp-image-826133\"  \/>ENGLAND. Newcastle. 2000. Bar.<br \/>\n <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NYC26720-800x527.jpg\" alt=\"Three older men stand in a dimly lit room with patterned wallpaper; one faces away, one looks through a doorway, and another gestures with his arm. A \u201c50\u201d birthday banner and balloons are visible in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"527\" class=\"size-large wp-image-826132\"  \/>ENGLAND. London. King\u2019s Cross. Summer 2000. Two men in a pub in the King\u2019s Cross area. <\/p>\n<p>About 24 years later, Gilden was in a coal mining region of Wales for the turn of the millennium, while on commission for Magnum Photos. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a fight on New Year\u2019s Day at the working men\u2019s club,\u201d Gilden explains. \u201cOne of the muscle-bound young adults threw a glass against the wall and all hell broke loose. I got thrown out into the freezing cold night with no jacket on, completely soaked in sweat just for being a spectator with a camera. I was smart enough to not take pictures of this because I\u2019m sure everybody would have attacked me.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Despite Gilden\u2019s reputation as an in-your-face street photographer, in his new book, The Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets, he does talk of when to take a photo and when not to take a photo \u2014 using his street smarts to know when the camera should come out and when it shouldn\u2019t. <\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NYC26697-2-530x800.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a heavy coat stands in a phone booth holding a payphone receiver to his ear. His reflection is visible in the glass behind him. The expression on his face appears somber or contemplative.\" width=\"530\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-large wp-image-826131\"  \/>ENGLAND. London. King\u2019s Cross. Summer 2000. A man uses a telephone outside the King\u2019s Cross Underground station. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NYC16332-2-531x800.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing a tiara, tinsel garland, and sparkly dress sits in a crowded room, holding a sandwich over foil-wrapped bread, looking thoughtful or pensive.\" width=\"531\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-large wp-image-826130\"  \/>GREAT BRITAIN. Rhondda Valley, Wales. 2000. Woman eating cheese sandwiches. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NYC16329-2-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"Two men in a dimly lit room; one is drinking from a bottle while the other, holding a glass, looks at him. Both have short hair and wear dark shirts. The atmosphere appears casual and social.\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" class=\"size-large wp-image-826129\"  \/>GREAT BRITAIN. Newcastle. 2000. Bar scene.<br \/>\n <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/NYC16326-2-528x800.jpg\" alt=\"Two men are standing close together in dramatic lighting. The man in the foreground is bald, wearing a ring, and has his hand near his mouth. The man in the background looks slightly upward with a serious expression.\" width=\"528\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-large wp-image-826128\"  \/>GREAT BRITAIN. Newcastle. 2000. Bar scene. <\/p>\n<p>As well as Liverpool and Wales, Gilden visits Newcastle in the North East of England, as well as hanging out with drug abusers in the King\u2019s Cross area of London. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not a romantic England. It\u2019s a place where photographing often wasn\u2019t safe, where street smarts were as essential as the camera itself,\u201d reads the press release for Gilden\u2019s new book. \u201cGilden\u2019s lens turns voyeurism into confrontation, exposing the surreal theatre of public life, moments both violent and tender, absurd and unsettling.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.setantabooks.com\/products\/the-empire-on-which-the-sun-never-sets\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"follow external noopener nofollow\">published by Setanta Books<\/a> and available now for \u00a350 ($66). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ENGLAND. Liverpool. 1979. Soccer fans. | Bruce Gilden \/ Magnum Photos \u201cThe older I get, the closer I&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,172535,460,172536,1208,134,172495,172537,46423,125150,99925],"class_list":{"0":"post-301987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-brucegilden","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-documentaryphotography","16":"tag-england","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-magnum","19":"tag-magnumphotoagency","20":"tag-streetphotographer","21":"tag-streetphotography","22":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}