My Town Liverpool by Matt Hart

Liverpool is my town..

Well it is now, I have only lived here in Liverpool for eight years. I was born in Hammersmith  London in the sixties and spent the bulk of my life in Kent moving around the county with work.

I relocated to Liverpool for a girl called Jane and have been here ever since. It was quite a lot to adjust to at first but now its growing on me more and more every day. I used to live in quite a big house in a village by the sea before I moved here but getting used to a small terraced house in a busy city was quite an adjustment on its own.  Even though I have always loved shooting people, I was going through a landscape phase when I moved and just wanted to get away from the world and shoot wide open vistas with no one in sight. I still like to get up to Scotland to shoot landscape but to this day I feel my landscapes are missing something – might just be people !

I am falling in love with Liverpool and all it has to offer! My Dad used to say about most City’s “they will all be great when they are finished” it still makes me laugh to this day, we all know there will always be crane’s working away over every city in the world, building or repairing something probably until the end of time, they will never be finished. But that’s what makes them all so interesting. New buildings give a photographer something else to shoot. It also brings in new people to the area and that means new interesting people to shoot.

Sometimes we don’t even notice new buildings or renovated buildings, we stumble in to them by accident. I take quite a few people to the Liverpool Central Library when they visit the city now, this building still amazes me how they have mixed the old reading rooms with the modern style hidden in the old building. Its also a great place to shoot people.

Liverpool is famous for the Beatles and also its Three Graces and its amazing waterfront.

But I like Liverpool for the events and the people. I have never been able to keep up with what is on in this city. It hosts so much every year. Most of the time if you visit the city there will be something going on somewhere. I used to live quite a mad party lifestyle so the fact I moved to one of the biggest party city’s in the world, and stopped partying still makes me laugh. The Scouse people are very, very proud of their city and you can see why when you live here. It has its moments and one thing is for sure these guys stick together in times of trouble, and quite rightly so.

Liverpool has some great green spaces and my Favorite is Sefton Park, its a great place to relax and unwind but even better every year it hosts Africa Oye and LIMF (Liverpool International Music Festival) which are my favorite festivals and they are right on my doorstep and free! What more could you want. Africa Oye is Europe’s largest celebration of African Culture and music and my favorite festival every year.

Liverpool has an amazing capacity to welcome people from all over the UK to its events and last year we had a million people come to the city to see the Giants, I think that was over a million extra cameras in the city as well.

When I shoot street I feel at home on the streets of Liverpool, its a strange feeling you get when you are out and about.

I returned to Kent the weekend before Christmas and went out in Maidstone, Kent’s County town, it just did not have the same feeling Liverpool does. Liverpool is quite exciting and for a street photographer that’s what it needs to be.

One of my favorite streets in Liverpool for street photography is Bold St and the streets that run off it. Its got that quirky feel to the buildings and the people in the shops cafes and just walking about are so relaxed.

So this is my town, its not a small town its a city, its not a great big city its quite a small city, but its a friendly city and it has a lot to offer its visitors all year round. If you love street photography it has so much to offer. If you love history, music and the Beatles then this is the place to explore. Keep your eyes open for some big events and come visit my town.