I started out, in the mid-'70s, taking photographs of rock bands that I liked but not because I really wanted to photograph… — Derek Ridgers Band Copy Share Image
That's one of the wonderful things about the whole process of photography - eye contact can be very revealing. — Derek Ridgers Contact Copy Share Image
The reason why so many of my photographs in the book were taken in stairwells and corridors was that that was the… — Derek Ridgers Available Copy Share Image
When I gave up my office job and became a full-time professional photographer, my fortunes certainly improved markedly. We moved away from… — Derek Ridgers Council Copy Share Image
Anyway, the fetish crowd, compared to some of the people that hung out with the skinheads, was all pussycats. — Derek Ridgers Crowds Copy Share Image
My parents, though very loving, were not what one would ever describe as outgoing and therefore when I was young I was… — Derek Ridgers Approach Copy Share Image
When I was starting, I was very much influenced by the straight up, eyes to camera style of August Sander. He is… — Derek Ridgers August Copy Share Image
Once I became a photographer, it stopped me being scared or intimidated by gangs of young men of whatever stripe. Initially, I… — Derek Ridgers Behinds Copy Share Image
The big downside to the global village that the Internet has created is that nothing has time to grow out of the… — Derek Ridgers Bigs Copy Share Image
Nowadays everyone has a camera and the Internet means everything is instantly accessible. Unlike some photographers, I don't see this as a… — Derek Ridgers Cameras Copy Share Image
Things are very different now because a lot of those little clubs don't exist. In Soho for instance, where nearly half my… — Derek Ridgers Clubs Copy Share Image
Many nightclubs from this era were very loud and very dark. Plus some of the best ones were incredibly crowded. To begin… — Derek Ridgers Crowded Copy Share Image
I went from being an underpaid ad man to quite a successful photographer in a very short time. Success breeds confidence and… — Derek Ridgers Ads Copy Share Image
It's more about subtracting every single buck from the tourists that still flock there. Gentrification and the need for developers to maximize… — Derek Ridgers Areas Copy Share Image
Only a very small proportion of us take those excesses with us into later life. In the age before everyone had a… — Derek Ridgers Age Copy Share Image
To me, the counterculture was always what I grew up with the hippies in the late '60s. But, however you define it,… — Derek Ridgers Counterculture Copy Share Image
I preferred that option, where my camera (and by proxy, me) could look them straight in the eye. The way they reacted… — Derek Ridgers Cameras Copy Share Image
In the age of social media, you have the selfie and some people - not always young people - seem obsessed with… — Derek Ridgers Age Copy Share Image
