Skinheads: 1979-1984

About this book

In early 79 I was already engaged in what eventually turned out to be a lengthy photographic study of the New Romantics (though back then they were not known as such). Id been documenting this nascent scene in the Soho nightclub Billys and one evening a group of about half-a-dozen skinheads turned up. They saw me taking photographs and one of them a guy called Wally asked me if Id like to take some photos of them too. They seemed pretty friendly and not at all camera shy. I took a few snaps we got talking and Wally suggested I go with the whole gang on one of their Bank Holiday jaunts to the seaside. That was what led eventually to five years of photographing skinheads. In those five years I got to know some of the skinheads quite well and liked many of them. --Derek RidgersAll the photos were taken between 1979 1984 in either London or nearby coastal towns.There are over 100 photos including 32 pages of color.