Manchester Pride 2025 – Street Photography in the Thick of It

Manchester Pride 2025 – Street Photography in the Thick of It

Canal Street. Manchester Pride 2025. Robert Watson.

Manchester Pride 2025 Street Photography.

On Saturday I went out to photograph Manchester Pride, something I’ve done for the past few years. Last year was frighteningly busy along Canal Street. It was so packed that it barely felt safe. The crowd was moving so slowly that I found myself wedged in with nowhere to go. But oddly enough, that’s when the pictures came alive. Being shoulder to shoulder with people gave me just a fraction more time. Saying that, I mean a second rather than half a second to make a candid frame before someone noticed me and posed. The results were some of my favourite photographs I’ve ever taken at Pride.

As always, I shoot on film, which means I don’t get the instant feedback digital photographers rely on. I have to wait until I’m back in the darkroom, hands in the chemicals, to see if I caught the moment. That uncertainty is part of the magic for me.

This year, I wanted to push myself further. I shot the daytime as usual, but I also took a flash out at night to see what might happen. Shooting with a 28mm lens means I need to be close…very close. And with flash, that can feel intrusive. The last thing I want is to unsettle people without reason. So it was a real blow to discover, after developing my films on Sunday morning, that the flash hadn’t been syncing properly. Almost everything from the night before was just black frames.

Rather than give up, I decided to go back out on the Sunday. I’d never photographed Pride that day before, but from what I’d read it was still lively, just not quite as overwhelming as Saturday. This time, with the flash working, I shot six more rolls of film. And finally, the pictures I’d been hoping for came through.

The Sunday night work is some of my favourite photography I’ve done at any Pride. In black and white, the images strip away the rainbow spectacle you expect from Pride, and show something closer to how it feels rather than how it looks from afar. Gritty, fun, close-up and captivating. They’re full of joy and love, but they could just as easily be mistaken for photographs from another era.

That’s what I love about street photography at Manchester Pride; it’s not about chasing the colourful floats or wide shots of the parade, it’s about being right there in the thick of the crowd. Pressed up against strangers, catching those fleeting moments of laughter, intimacy, or chaos that would vanish in an instant if you weren’t looking. Pride, after all, is about people.

I’ll be sharing more from the series over the coming weeks. For me, these photographs stand as a reminder that sometimes the best work comes out of mistakes, persistence, and the willingness to get back out there. Close enough that the moments can’t escape you.

All photographs ©Robert John Watson. Reproduction in any form is not allowed without prior consent.

Photo London 2025

Photo London 2025

"The UK Photography event of the year" The Guardian

48 Hours In New York

Curated by Carrie Scott and Robert Watson

Photo London is the UK’s leading photography fair, a place where the past, present, and future of the medium meet under one roof. Held within the stately walls of Somerset House on the North bank of the River Thames, it’s a gathering of images and ideas—where the world’s most respected galleries bring work that sparks conversation, reflection, and inspiration.

This year, I’m honoured to be showing my series 48 Hours in New York with Albumen Gallery. These photographs were made in motion—on foot, on instinct, in the unrelenting rhythm of a city that never gives you the same moment twice. They sit, I hope, in conversation with the streets walked by Winogrand and Feinstein, while also tracing their own path through the present. To see this work among the energy and history of Photo London feels like bringing something full circle.

Street photography is the defining lens through which we experience the energy, rhythm, and character of New York. From Garry Winogrand’s frenetic captures of mid-century New York to Harold Feinstein’s intimate portraits of life at Coney Island, the tradition is built on immersion; on the photographer becoming an extension of the street itself. For Robert Watson, his 48 hours in New York was both a challenge and a homage to these masters, a test of endurance and instinct as he navigated the city with 27 rolls of film and a singular focus: to photograph the city in its rawest form.

Unlike his previous visits, this trip was about full immersion. Street photography, as Watson sees it, demands complete attention; no distractions, no casual strolls. It’s an intense, solitary pursuit, where the photographer must push past initial hesitations to get truly close. Shooting on film heightened the stakes. With no way to check his shots, every frame carried weight, forcing Watson to trust instinct and keep moving.

He journeyed to some of New York’s most storied locations including Herald Square and Bryant Park to wade through the dense currents of pedestrian life, and eventually, Coney Island; a setting so rich with photographic history that it felt almost surreal to walk in the footsteps of those who had come before him. The boardwalk, the sun, the crowds; this was a New York that pulsed with nostalgia and contemporary reality all at once.

Over the course of two days, Watson battled the challenges of new terrain, the shifting moods of the city, and the internal pressure to perform. What emerged is a body of work that speaks to the heart of street photography. It is spontaneous, unpredictable, and deeply human. This is an experiment in both documenting place, and a personal testament to the power of being fully present behind the lens.

Carrie Scott

Art Historian & Curator

London Santacon 2024

London Santacon 2024

When Santa says Merry Christmas, he means it.

How did it all start?

Well, to be perfectly honest, I have no idea. How it started for me though was when I chanced upon a scene on the South Bank of the river Thames last year. It was about thirty or forty Santas outside The Founder’s Arms. They were all rather drunk and I snapped a picture of one being given a drink out of a bottler of Bailey’s.

Who on Earth drinks a bottle of Bailey’s on a pub crawl? Oh…Santa, that’s who.

This piqued an interest so I did some digging and learned about ‘Santacon’.

It’s a Christmas pub crawl where everyone is dressed as Santa. Now, ‘dressed as Santa’ is a very basic description of the dress code. As long as it’s not just a hat and a Christmas jumper the organisers say. Apart from that, it seems that anything goes.

And pretty much anything and everything is drunk too. Although as mentioned above, I’m not sure a bottle of Bailey’s is the ideal companion in your stomach on a pub crawl.

This year’s crawl started off at Paddington Basin at 1100. Very quickly Santa was on the pop. Quaffing copious quantities of whatever was on offer. Each Santa had many provisions. Bottles, cans, you name it, Santa had it. I even noticed another bottle of Bailey’s. Maybe it was the same Santa with a strong stomach as last year.

After many cries of ‘What do we want?…Christmas. When do we want it?…Now.’ Santas were on their way.

One of the more surreal parts of Santacon is that at points, a couple of hundred Santas have to get from A to B. This is sometimes via The Tube. People’s faces as this mass of jolly, drunken Santas were an absolute joy to behold. Everyone we passed had their phones up filming (I don’t know what the collective noun for many Santas is) this Christmas procession.

I had to make my excuses and leave as Santa crossed The Thames from Blackfriars to head onto The South Bank as I had a meeting to go to with my gallery. The party continued on though with Discord alerts telling me that Santa had finally arrived in Trafalgar Square.

Maybe I’ll visit again next year. Maybe I’ll shoot some colour film. All these pictures were shot with my Leica M6 on my preferred Kodak Tri-X black and white film as I’m not a fan of colour. We’ll see.

Thankfully the weather Gods were kind to Santa and I think that much fun was had all around.

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Manchester Central Library exhibition tour and Q+A

Manchester Central Library 2023

It was an honour last week to have a visit from Brandei Estes (former head of photography at Sotheby’s EMEA) to my latest exhibition at Manchester Central Library.

She was particularly taken aback by the quality of the documentary photography on show calling it a ‘Love letter to Manchester’. That it is all shot on film gives it a timeless feel.

Her visit was filmed and I look forward to showing it to you at a later date.

Exhibition Tour and Q&A session

It is also time, with less than two weeks to go, for me to remind you that I have an exhibition tour and Q&A session on Saturday 25th November being held at Manchester Central Library. It will be hosted by Caterina Mestrovich who is an industry specialist and curator having worked at one of London’s top photography galleries.

Robert Watson British Street Photographer BBC News

It’s not every day that you hear whilst doing a BBC radio interview that there is a news article about you also. Click on the image above or the button at the end to read the article.

The last time I was in the press was when Dutch newspaper NRC used one of my seascapes (Blackpool 0630) to promote UNSEEN Amsterdam photography fair last year. That was a surprise also. People were coming to Albumen Gallery’s stand to see the picture and indeed to buy it.

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The above picture - Blackpool 0630 is being exhibited at my current exhibition in my hometown of Warrington in Cheshire. It will also feature at my exhibition in Manchester opening in October of this year. I will keep you posted about that closer to the time.

In the meantime, I’m doing a talk and Q&A session this Saturday (25th March) in the gallery with all my pictures.
It is an Eventbrite ticketed event and it would be great to see you there.

Links below to both the BBC article and free tickets to the artist’s talk I’m doing.

Warrington Exhibition 2023

Gallery 4 Warrington Museum and Art Gallery

What a fabulous honour it is to be asked to return to my roots and exhibit work in my hometown.

This exhibition has been a long time coming after it was found that the roof of the museum needed a complete overhaul. This is no small provincial town museum and the work that needed to be done emptying the place and then a whole year of work was quite taxing.

However, they got there in the end and my exhibition could be rescheduled. And here we are! Opening in Thursday 9th February and running till 16th April, I’m exhibiting my two genre of work.

This is the first time so many of my seascapes have been on a wall together and they look fabulous. So calming and rich in colour. In fact, most people are surprised that Blackpool can look so colourful. Even more so when they find out that non of the colours are edited in any way. These are the exact colours that the camera sees. When viewers don’t believe it, I have a video taken with my iPhone to show them that it is indeed true.

On the opposite wall, is a selection of my documentary photography from London, Paris and Manchester. I have chosen to show the series that I call ‘Lovers’. These are scenes that I come across whilst out on the streets of couples embracing and kissing. For many reasons, these are a challenge to photograph. It makes them very special to me and to finally see a gallery wall and good lighting doing them justice is very uplifting.

Subscribers to my newsletter are welcome to come along to the opening night on Thursday February 9th from 7pm till 9pm where there will be drinks and canapés for you to enjoy. I’ll be giving a brief talk about the pictures and the stories behind them as well at some point during the evening.

Some of you may know that I have a passion for photographing dancers. So I’m taking this opportunity to also show for the first time a new series of pictures that I’m working on. The dancer that I photographed will also be there on the opening night. He’s quite a character and appeared in the latest Sam Smith video!

If you would like to come along to the opening night private view, please get in touch via the contact page of my website.

I look forward to seeing you there and hearing your thoughts on these new pictures.

And, as always, thanks for subscribing to my newsletter.

UNSEEN AMSTERDAM 2022

From Friday 16th till Sunday 18th September 2022 the 10th edition of Unseen Photo Fair will take place in Culturpark Westergas. This art fair, devoted to the latest developments in contemporary photography, has been considered progressive, international and of institutional quality since its first edition. A selection of my seascape works will be shown by London based Albumen Gallery. This is my first time being internationally exhibited and I’m pleased to be shown here at UNSEEN alongside such highly respected artists as Bastiaan Woudt who is being shown by Swiss gallery Bildhalle.

I will be there all throughout the show.

Unseen Amsterdam

Friday 16th to Sunday 18th September.

Books I bought this month - October 22

‘Chocolate’ by Marc Lagrange

Preferring analog over digital, and filled with longing and sensuality, Marc Lagrange’s photographs celebrate fantasies and desire, placing beauty and dreams at the centre of his world. Lagrange was born in Kinshasa, Congo in 1957 and died in an unfortunate accident in Tenerife in 2015.

He was an Antwerp based Belgian artist who searched for intimacy and emotion as opposed to artificial effects. His giant polaroids- which have been exhibited worldwide- are a powerful example of his craft as well as his attention to detail. He could display the texture of skin and highlight natural curves that made his models stand out. Lagrange elaborated entire sets to create the images he wanted until he found the exact mood that he wished to convey. From the colour of the walls to the shape of a chair, every single detail counts, underlying his perfectionists streak and his willingness to unfold narratives.

His pictures speak to me in a way that I want all art to. I want them to hold me and make me wonder. And this book is full of images that do just that.

One day, I will have one of his portraits on my wall.

HM Queen Elizabeth II. 19th Sept 22.

Queen Elizabeth with her Leica M3.

If you’re a fan of the Leica family of cameras, the above image (not mine, I may add) will be very familiar to you. She was seen many times wielding it when her horses were racing.

You may know that I use a modern version of this camera to document people and places. So as soon as I heard that the good lady had died, I knew where I would be on the day of her funeral. No, not taking pictures of the procession as there will be thousands of photographs taken of that by photographers with telephoto lenses able to get in much more appropriate spots. No, I would be photographing the people who had made the journey to London, to Westminster to simply be close to the action as a once in a lifetime event happened.

I started the day waking up at 0300 after spending the previous four days exhibiting at ‘UNSEEN Amsterdam’. One of the biggest photography fairs in Europe. My plane was very early indeed and only brought me back to Liverpool Airport. The rush was on to get me from Liverpool to Warrington Bank Quay station where a train could take me in just over an hour to the heart of London.

When I arrived, somewhat tired, I immediately dove deep down in to the underground system to get to Westminster. I thought it would be chaos. It wasn’t. It was quiet, calm and respectful. London was basically shut so the only public about were funeral bound. Bliss.

How strange it was to emerge from the tube to a very peaceful atmosphere. I had already started taking pictures from the moment I arrived at Euston and it was easy to carry on. There were people there from all walks of life. From young to old. Ex servicemen in black suits and black ties with their medals proudly displayed to children with flags. They probably didn’t realise the momentousness of the occasion. One day they might. They can say they were there.

There are a couple of images that stand out to me. A 92 year old lady who must have camped out for hours to be where she and her family were and enjoying a can of Stella Artios to the group of men in black suits outside a pub enjoying a pint after the show was over. How very English.

Another favourite is the woman who, once security around Westminster had been relaxed, immediately took her daughter to see her dad. They look relieved and so very happy. With more security threats that we can think of, it must have been a very happy reunion.

What a day. A festival of tradition that only our little island will ever be able to put on. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that when the UK puts on a show like this, the world stops to watch.

Manchester Pride 2022

As a documentary photographer living in the North West of England, I find it baffling that I have never been to photograph at Pride. This two day event is so full of colour, vibrancy and love from all members of the LGBTQ+ community that it is a dream.

However, as I only shoot my documentary work on black and white film, I thought it would be difficult to convey the atmosphere at the event. How wrong I was…

It’s all about the people there, the faces in the crowd. You don’t need colour for that. In fact the event is so colourful that it distracts from the human element in a photograph. And it’s the people that are the most important part.

I came away with joy, love, warmth but mostly pride. Pride in a city as close to my heart as Manchester and its people who can come together and put on such a show.

I don’t think that a year will pass that I’m not there from now onwards.