(clockw&s( )rom ,o- l(),)
Pat O’Sullivan, Supervisor of distribution of extras; Alison Neville, Volunteer; Lorraine Villada, Volunteer; Lynne Stone, Food Bank Manager Bow Food Bank, 2018
(clockw&s( )rom ,o- l(),)
Bow
I! was a j&u()ey ,nding, meeting and photographing these women and each workplace was a completely di-erent experience and some were more dramatic than others, this was especially true when I was invited to go out on the beat with WPC Helen Taylor in her car. I was sitting in the back seat when we went into an emergency response with the blue lights .ashing and screaming through the streets at breakneck speed, it was absolutely terrifying and hard to focus and take photographs. In what seemed ages but was probably about ,ve minutes we reached the estate where I had to wait in the car whilst she and her colleague went to investigate, and when they returned, I was able to take some pictures. And as part of the general public it was interesting being able to encounter this part of her work, although mostly her work is dealing with day-to-day problems at the station and in the community.
As there are few ,re,ghters who are women, it was great to ,nd Liz Hollingsworth in 1991 and Evie Spray in 2022. Although by 2022 there were far more hoops to go through in getting permission to photograph Evie who was particularly passionate about her work not just about the actual ,re,ghting but also the importance of her commitment to being part of the community where she is stationed.
ere’s something very powerful about this aspect and ethos that is combined with the physicality and fearlessness of their work.