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Portraits from the Free Photographic Omnibus

"The Free Photographic Omnibus is a fascinating combination of countercultural values, socialist principles, organisational and financial acumen, photographic and literary experimentation, some naivety and a considerable amount of courage. It succeeded because it was highly original and attractive to its sponsors, its participants and to its eventual audience. A brilliant idea of the 1970s, its appeal has not diminished."

Val Williams: Daniel Meadows, Edited Photographs from the 70s and 80s, p 149 (Photoworks, 2011)

The itinerary

Yorkshire: 22 September – 4 November 1973: York; Selby; Silverwood Colliery; Goole; Doncaster; Sheffield; Attercliffe; Leeds; Huddersfield; Ripponden; Sowerby; Bradford; Baildon; Keighley; Bingley; Middleham; Todmorden; Middlesbrough; Staithes; Scarborough; Lebberston.

The Midlands: 28 November 1973 – 20 March 1974: Nottingham; Market Harborough; Wellingborough; Goyt Valley; Clay Cross; Kimberley; Stoke-on-Trent; Shrewsbury; Telford; Bakewell; Burton-on-Trent; West Bromwich; Wednesbury; Cradley Heath; Stratford-on-Avon; Malvern; Blists Hill.

The South: 26 April – 7 June 1974: Portsmouth; Emsworth; Shoreham-by-Sea; West Lavington; Devizes; Chippenham; Oxford; Southampton; Staplefield; Brighton; Horsham; and Epsom for the Derby.

Great Washbourne: 1–14 July 1974 where, with the exception of my own family, I photographed everyone who lived in the village.

Dorset: 15–28 July 1974, Weymouth.

Cornwall: 7 August 1974, Newlyn Fish Dock.

Norfolk: 14–21 August 1974. Fakenham; King’s Lynn; Walsingham and Binham.

The North (i): 9 September – 28 September 1974: Bowness-on-Solway; Haltwhistle; Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Hartlepool; Backworth; Easington; Darlington; Alwinton; Lindisfarne.

The North (ii): 14 October – 2 November 1974: Workington; Barrow-in-Furness.

Time between trips was spent in Manchester where I used the Polytechnic's facilities to plan the next leg of the journey and to make sets of exhibition prints to fulfil obligations to my various sponsoring organisations.

See video  r/t 5 min., 14 sec.

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Bodleian Libraries Links >
Middlesbrough, Teesside. October 1973
Hulme, Manchester. February 1974
George Bowen, National Front parliamentary candidate, West Bromwich. March 1974
Stratford-on-Avon. March 1974
Stratford-on-Avon. March 1974
Mrs. Byford, Stratford-on-Avon. March 1974
John Payne aged 11 with his pigeon Chequer and friends the White brothers: left Michael, right Kalvin. Portsmouth. Friday 26 April 1974
Chippenham, Wiltshire. May 1974
Left David Leigh, right Tommy Kemp, Southampton. May 1974
Left Ken Emery, right Ed Murphy, Southampton. May 1974
Mother and daughter, May and Melody 'Molly' Gower, Southampton. May 1974
Martin Lyle, Southampton. May 1974
The Brasher sisters: left Lyn, right Stella, Southampton. May 1974
Southampton. May 1974
Florence Alma Snoad, Southampton. May 1974
Mother and sons: left-to-right Dave, Maggie and Steve Summerton, Southampton. May 1974
Phil Thompson, Southampton. May 1974
Brighton, Sussex. May 1974
Brighton, Sussex. May 1974
Brighton, Sussex. May 1974
Mother and son, Susie and Peter Gatesy, Brighton, Sussex. May 1974
Brighton, Sussex. May 1974
Brighton, Sussex. May 1974
Brighton, Sussex. May 1974
Newcastle upon Tyne.  September 1974
Newcastle upon Tyne.  September 1974
Mother and son, Mary and David Ingram, Hartlepool, Cleveland. September 1974
Identified as: left Paul Vicente, right Luis Armstrong, Hartlepool Cleveland. September 1974
Mary Clarke, Hartlepool, Cleveland. September 1974
Hartlepool, Cleveland. September 1974
Identified as: Michael Lawn, Hartlepool, Cleveland. September 1974
Brother and sister, Martin and Debbie Pout, Hartlepool, Cleveland. September 1974
Darlington, Co. Durham. October 1974
Identified as: the Weldrake brothers, left Steven, right Anthony, Hartlepool, Cleveland. September 1974
Workington, Cumbria. October 1974
Workington, Cumbria. October 1974
Workington, Cumbria. October 1974
Workington, Cumbria. October 1974
Identified as: left James O’Connor, right David Balderstone, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. November 1974
Mother and son, Maureen and David Wade, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. November 1974
Right Mike Comish, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. November 1974
Daughter and mother, left Karen Cubin, right Barbara Taylor, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. November 1974
Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. October 1974
Left John Helling, right Brian Grafton, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. November 1974
Twin brothers, left Michael McParland, right Peter McParland, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. November 1974
Left Lauren Harris, right Frances Evans, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. November 1974
'Bootboys': left-to-right Brian Morgan, Martin Tebay, Paul McMillan, Phil Tickle, Mike Comish, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. November 1974
Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. November 1974
Friends, left Christine Staunton, right Christine Laughran, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. November 1974
Left-to-right: Angela Hendley, Dot Rooney, Kim Hillman, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. November 1974
Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. November 1974

 

Back to Portraits from the Free Photographic Omnibus, 1973-1974

Bodleian Libraries Links

Bodleian Libraries | Archive of Daniel Meadows, photographer and social documentarist (CMD ID 12752, 17418, 17823, 18768) | Meadows' photographic archive of negatives and contact sheets, 1969-1986, Nov 2014

Bus A Yorkshire, 22 Sep-31 Oct 1973

Bus B East Midlands, 29 Nov 1973-19 Jan 1974

Bus C West Midlands, 3 Feb-20 Mar 1974

Bus D South, with papers, colour negatives and prints of Penrith Avenue, Sale, Cheshire, 12 Apr-15 May 1974

Bus E South, with negatives and contacts of the bus by Allan Andrew, 18 May - 29 Jun 1974, 18 May 2002

Bus F Great Washbourne and South West (part 1), 30 Jun-25 Jul 1974

Bus G South West (part 2), 25 Jul-25 Aug 1974

Bus H North East, Sep-Nov 1974

Also:
Bodleian Libraries | Archive of Daniel Meadows, photographer and social documentarist (CMD ID 12752, 17418.17823) | Free Photographic Omnibus project, Mar 1972-4 Sep 2020, n.d.

Works in progress with cuttings, slides and articles relating to the Free Photographic Omnibus, 1972-1978

 

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Contact Daniel Meadows

Email: daniel@photobus.co.uk

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