Viva Brighton Issue #71 January 2019

PHOTOGRAPHY
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Alexis Maryon
‘Don’t go in with any preconceptions’
Art was always my
favourite subject, and
I ended up going to
art school. But I was
hospitalised by myalgic
encephalomyelitis [ME]
and when I’d come
through that, I found
I couldn’t draw, the
perspective was all wrong.
A wise lecturer suggested that I give photography
a try instead.
It took me ages to learn my way around the
darkroom, but I persevered, taking a course at
the London School of Printing. I was encouraged
by the fact that a lucky shot I took – of a couple
of my mates in focus, with the background
blurred – got published in i-D Magazine.
I was very taken by an exhibition I saw at The
Barbican by the photojournalist W Eugene
Smith, a great exponent of the photo essay. I’ve
also been influenced by Robert Frank, author
of The Americans. And, when it comes to colour
photography, William Eggleston. Oh, and the
paintings of Edward Hopper.
For a bit I was in a semi-successful band,
The Rhythm Posse, and music has always been
a subject I’m fascinated by. I’ve done over 100
album covers and portraits and publicity shots of
countless musicians. But it’s not just been music:
photography has provided me with a good living
for 30 years, and enabled me to travel the world.
I’ve always felt I needed to explore my
surroundings. My first neighbourhoodorientated
photo essay – which became a book
– was of the Bristol Estate, near where I live in
Kemp Town. It started with a shot I took behind
the hospital while I was walking my dog, and
went on from there.
I spent a lot of my
time on the estate. A
photographer with a dog
seems much less dodgy
than a photographer
on his own. Everyone
got to know its name. It
helped me meet people:
I spent an awful lot of
time chatting.
It’s important to know what NOT to
photograph, when you’re covering a place like
the Bristol Estate. People have preconceptions
about the area, and I didn’t want to accentuate
them. In fact there’s one picture that got into the
book, of a young lad, leaning against a car door,
looking hard. That troubles me, because he was
actually a really nice kid. I was struck, in all the
time I spent on the estate, that there’s a lot more
good than bad in people.
I’ve also published a book of photos taken in
Newhaven, a town that has a brutal honesty and
an intensity of light and darkness that draws me
back and back again to take photos. I originally
wanted to capture the trawlers and the fishermen,
but I started going deeper and deeper into the
town itself, and found it to be a rough diamond,
full of interesting and inspiring characters.
I love the ferry, and hopping across the
Channel. I’m currently doing a project on
Dieppe.
If I have any advice to give other
photographers doing similar projects, it’s this:
don’t go in with any preconceptions, and don’t
judge people. Your best tool? An open mind.
As told to Alex Leith
alexismaryonphotography.com
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