Simon Wheatley

Photographer Simon Wheatley spent 12 years documenting grime culture. The shots are from his book, Don’t Call Me Urban! The Time of Grime, which spanned 1998 through to 2010, started as a reaction to the term “urban” – a phrase which became shorthand to describe groups of young men from the black community. I chose to study Wheatley because he seems to capture 

In this image, a woman is laying down on her back, smoking a joint. Wheatley captures the habits and pastimes, that form the subcultures of youth. The significance of the image shows how race and class often forms youths outlets and routines, the image connotes that because of the colour of her skin,  and her ethnicity smoking cannabis is a apart of her culture and heritage, and is generally associated with the poorer parts of society. The image is bright and rich in colour, the angle is very effective as it shows how stoned and out of touch with reality she is because it is from the perspective of her as the subject. She is really well in focus, against the backdrop and what she is wearing.

In tis image, Wheatley shows the significance of making music, the photo denotes a group of boys sitting next to each other looking at sheets of music and one with headphones on listening to music with his eyes closed. Most of the box are wearing snap hats, what they are wearing tells the viewer what sort of music they may make, and from this it connotes rap/grime. The image is rich and clear because of the lighting in the image, because the light bounces on only the main subjects face, meaning that they are the first thing we look at.

In this image, one boy is on a moped and the other is running, they both look like they are in trouble and fleeing from something such as a crime. The image connotes rule breaking, rebellion in youth and illegality. The moped could be stolen as in the context of the image they look poor and desperate, mopeds are a symbol of youth subcultures as it is very popular. I like how the image is very dark because of how the shot is not outside and yet the light from outside, makes a shadow cast from the boy running giving a cool effect.

This image is of a young man jumping over a fence next to a police woman on a walk talky, the image connotes law breaking and petty crime, the onward battle between police and the people. The context of the image shows from what he is wearing and how desperate he appears to get away from the police and therefore we gather he is guilty and of a low class, thieving or doing whatever to get by and stay alive. The image is very airy and light because of the bright lighting, the colours in the image contrast really well for example there is a lot of white in this image, in the police officers shirt on the door and window frames, this contrasts with the black in what he is eating and the black bars of the fence he is jumping over, all the colours really stand out well.


From these images I would like to use some of the contextual ideas of Wheatley's shoots, for example I would like to present the link between how the class or society you grow up in effects the subcultures that youth tends to be involved in. The bright, realistic, documentary style of the shots is definitely something I wish to capture in my own photography.