Throwback portraits of the UK’s first punks

By the mid 1970s, the UK was facing economic hardship. High inflation, widespread industrial action and unemployment saw disaffection among the population, and particularly the country’s working classes. While the Queen’s Jubilee loomed on the horizon, a new generation saw the words ​“No Future” written on the wall. It proved fertile ground for anti-establishment ideas, and in particular, the punk movement that exploded and took on a life of its own after its seeds were sown across the pond in New York.

Against that backdrop, Wayne ​“Spike” Large rebelled against his parents and enlisted in the British Army regiment in his hometown of Leicester in 1976. He landed in Belfast at the height of The Troubles, and began making photographs, casually at first, until he decided to purchase a proper camera in 1978. Inspired by legendary fashion photographer David Bailey, he turned his eye to the emerging punk scene springing up across the Midlands, Birmingham, and London. 

In 1979, his Army superior took note of his ever-present camera and made Large an offer he could not refuse: regimental photographer. ​“I was living this double life while I was in the Army,” Large says. ​“In my spare time, every weekend I could afford it, I was going straight onto the punk scene. I would go home on Friday, dye my hair pink, spend the weekend in the Midlands, Birmingham, and London taking photos, go back Sunday night, and then, on Monday morning, dye my hair brown again.” 

• Read next: In Birmingham’s punk underground, hardcore is queer

When Large left the army in 1980, they offered job placement assistance: ​“We can get you straight into the police or you can be a security man. Tell us what you want to do, and we’ll make it happen.” He told them that he wanted to be a photographer. They didn’t say a word. 

Large was on his own, undeterred, setting a singular course that has come full circle with the publication of Punks 1978 – 1980 (Café Royal Books). The book brings together works that he made at the outset of his life, a time when street portraiture went under-recognised. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who strive to document a scene without disruption, Large is entirely too personable, curious, and gregarious to play ​“fly on the wall”. Instead, he recognises an opportunity for connection that extends beyond the picture itself. 

“If I stop somebody in the street, I end up speaking to them.” he says. ​“I get permission. I ask them about themselves. I don’t like capturing people’s photos without knowing what their story is. I end up speaking to them more than I actually take photos. And I’m not a shy photographer either. I really love to be in front of the camera as well as behind it and will set the camera up, hand it to somebody, and say, ​‘Here, take a picture of me.’” 

• Read next: A life in colour: Capturing the punks of 1980s Britain

Pointing to a self-portrait made at a Leicester bus stop, Large remembers the freedom of traveling around the country, doing as he liked back in 1979. ​“I purposely break all the rules,” Large says. ​“Photography shouldn’t be about doing the same thing and getting the same results. It should be something different every time and I welcome the opportunity.”

Punks 1978 – 1980 by Wayne ​“Spike” Large is published by Café Royal Books.

Miss Rosen is a free­lance arts and pho­tog­ra­phy writer, fol­low her on X.

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