Skins by Gavin Watson

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Gavin Watson was born in 1965 in Kingsbury, London. Aged six, his family moved to High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. At 13 Gavin bought his first camera, a Hanimex from Woolworths. After seeing his son's interest in photography, his father Richard Watson bought him a Zenit TTL and later an Olympus OM1. "What I learnt as a photographer is what I taught myself.. I became a skinhead because of the music and the attention I received, especially from girls. I loved dancing music and girls, and the Two Tone scene seemed to have it all. It totally spoke to me about my environment which was the new generation of the multi-cultural kids that were coming of age, Jamaicans, Irish etc."

The photographs you see here were all taken with Gavin's Olympus OM1. Back then there was no option to shoot now and edit later, a luxury of the digital age. Money was extremely tight and Gavin had to give careful consideration every single photo he took. His dad, an engineer by trade, got the proper equipment and processed Gavin's negatives at home. "The promise of a rich and glamorous, as-seen-on-TV life was everywhere, the new opium, as against the harsher reality and bleak future that looked incredibly dull compared to what these other people had, you know, these 'perfect people' on the box."

Carrying his camera everywhere, Gavin followed his compulsion to record his friends and their unique scene. "The stories are the most important thing. The stories, the myths, the memories, that's what all this is really about, memories of a time when you were young and didn't give a fuck .. or at least pretended you didn't."

The book is dedicated to Gavin's dad, Richard. There are so many brilliant images here that capture true moments in young kids' lives where they openly share their joy and show no inhibitions. Very different from the hard geezer and racist image of Skinheads which have become the main references. Skinheads as violent thugs and racist ignorant white lads, that's probably become the most common perception. This book shows a different reality. A British working-class youth subculture, boys and girls brought together by a love of music and fashion, and a drive to unite under one code and belong. Black and white, little kids through teenagers and older, established chaps in the movement, and girls too. The photos show the versatility of style under the Skinhead umbrella; as well as the Crombies, rolled up Levi's, braces, Doc Marten's, Fred Perry's and Harrington jackets that we know as standard, capped sleeve T-shirts, Trojan Record T-shirts, tweed caps, tartan bondage trousers, cricket jumpers. This to me is special, it rises above all those cliches and shows how Skinheads took such a mash up of influences from all around them and turned them into something very special.

You can win a copy of the book here.

Words: Marian Buckley

Skins by Gavin Watson, Independent Music Press £12.99, www.impbooks.com.
www.mamstore.co.uk
www.myspace.com/skinsbook