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The concept behind Colchester 24 was simple: capture on camera life in Britain’s Oldest Recorded during one twenty-four hour period in the early Autumn of 2011. It is a social experiment that was first put in place back in 1986. A quarter of a century later seems like the ideal timeframe in which to revisit the process.

Much has changed of course since those mid ’80s days when Thatcherism was about to peak and destroy whatever was left of society. The Westminster macro economic policies provided wealth for some, poverty for others; High Streets had the same paradox – M & S sat uncomfortably with 99p stores. The Big Issue was about to be launched on to our streets.

Same as it ever was, Comrades. Same as it ever was.

And so on Saturday morning I ventured into Sunny Colch to try and capture a personal snapshot of what I could see around me. This was no grand artistic statement – it was simply one man and his hit and miss SLR, poking it around where perhaps it shouldn’t be poked around.

I wasn’t alone.

It seemed as though there was almost an underground army of amateur snappers working the streets of Sunny Colch, all part of the online Colchester 24 network and all now emerging from behind the cover of bedroom darkrooms and going public with their love of digital photography.

For all the recurring themes on the streets of Sunny Colch when compared with those mid ’80s power dressing days of Thatcherite principles, it is the process of photography that is the main force for social change.

The medium is the message, ‘n all that – I couldn’t but help think that Colchester 24 in 2011 is now a much more open, democratic and plain easy task to complete when compared with 1986.

You don’t even need to own a Fancy Dan high end DSLR to take part – many snappers were finding that a camera phone was sufficient, capturing an instant moment that would otherwise be lost in the social history of time as a busy shopping town continues to evolve.

Colchester 24 wasn’t seeking to achieve technical brilliance – it was more about the moment. The true social value will probably only be realised in another twenty-five years when the project can be re-evaluated.

Emphasis was placed upon capturing the mundane. Social historians aren’t interested only in civic occasions and the changing face of the High Street. A personal family moment offering a glimpse of life in 2011 probably helps to tell the social story with far greater image and clarity.

I of course played the easy option and went off wandering down Colchester High Street. Well – not quite…

I did the rat run down Queen Street, Osbourne Street and Headgate, taking risks and being slightly cheeky with my lens. It is a way of working that I have undertook for almost a decade back in South London.

The Way We See It project offered up a similar social history, setting a location for an online network of photographers to document each week. Sadly the project came to a close, and the website is but a shell, hacked to shreds by the spammers.

I did learn fast on my feet though, picking up the social boundaries between the flaneur photographer and his subject matter. Flatter your subject matter; don’t capture images that you would feel uncomfortable with yourself if you were on the other side of the lens. Always look ahead and plot a possible escape route.

It didn’t come to this of course in Sunny Colch on Saturday. There was a lovely understanding between the shoppers and snappers. Many folk were only to keen offer up a pose and chat about the possibilities that the project presents.

I’ll probably be too old to repeat this experiment in another quarter of a century. I returned back to base on Saturday afternoon with a painful reminder that this is a young person’s game. All that squatting and kneeling on street corners left me crocked for the rest of the weekend.

As for the message or story that is there to be told? There isn’t really one to be honest – that’s not the point. The ordinary, the mundane, the continuing procession of day-to-day life in Sunny Colch has had a snapshot of existence captured.

Nothing to see here.

Time to move along.

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