Top image: Adam Ant, photo by Derek Ridgers

Renowned subcultural documenter Derek Ridgers has always been at the forefront of cultural epochs. From punk to Ibiza hedonism via the late 70s skinhead movement, Ridgers’ eye for counterculture movements is second to none, presenting a peephole into the zeitgeist mindset: young, wild and free.

Emerging in a coincidental political setting, this weekend Punk Weekender hits the Photographers’ Gallery as a celebration of personal identity and expression – including a special gig from punk legends, The Raincoats. Featuring subculture field-players from the 70s and 80s, Ridgers’ work – shown together with fellow photographer Anita Corbin’s – captured the creatures of the night, characters with avant-garde outward expression and anarchic visions found within Soho’s underground club scene.

On the outside looking in, Ridgers immersed himself in punk through photography, separate from the crowd, but at one with the culture. His invisibility surfaced, he became recognised as the man behind the camera, and in 2016, finds himself “as fired up about photography as [he] ever was”, not to mention a greatly respected photographer. We got a head start before Punk Weekender and spoke with Derek Ridgers about politics, his memories and what he’s up to now.

Fiona Hope McDowall: How did you first get involved in the punk movement?
Derek Ridgers: I was actually never a punk myself. At 25 or 26 I thought I was too old. Initially, I was simply a music fan with a camera that I’d borrowed from my job at an advertising agency in Camden Town called Maisey Mukerjee Russell. I started pretending to be a photographer in order to get nearer to the musicians I loved – the Rolling Stones, Betty Davis, Eric Clapton, The Kursaal Flyers, Vinegar Joe, Labelle, Kokomo and many others.

But very gradually I started to develop a bit of an interest in the photos I was taking. Then towards the end of 1976, punk happened and the audience became as photogenic as the bands, in some cases more so. So I swung my camera away from the stage and started to photograph the punks too.

“The attitude was, “Bollocks to you mate, we’ll do it our way.”  Or, “If we can’t do it, we’ll just make it up.” Many of the original punk bands couldn’t really play but somehow they pulled it off.”

FHM: It was a very multi-faceted scene, which aspect particularly piqued your interest?
DR: I think it was the attitude, but this was what informed the music and the fashion too.  The attitude was, “Bollocks to you mate, we’ll do it our way.”  Or, “If we can’t do it, we’ll just make it up.” Many of the original punk bands couldn’t really play but somehow they pulled it off.

FHM: You said before in an interview that social media has a lot to do with subcultures dying off. Can you explain this to us in a bit more detail?
DR: From the 40s through to the early 80s, youth subcultures were allowed to gestate away from the critical gaze of the naysayers. So that before most people found out about biker gangs, beatniks and teddy boys, they had some shape and some strength in numbers.

But if anything interesting happens today, because of social media, by this evening the whole world will know about it and by tomorrow the negativity will be out, the keyboard cowboys will be slagging it off and possibly something new and interesting could get squashed. It’s like a little sapling that sometimes forces it’s way up through a crack in some neglected patch of concrete.  If it’s unseen or left alone, it may grow strong enough to become a tall tree that can’t be then be trodden on or kicked over.

“Whilst young people want to go out, go dancing, express themselves, get wasted and hook up, it’s never going to be the end of nightclubbing. Nowadays London is so full of vibrant, colourful young people from all over the world.”

FHM: As well as your work photographing the punk movement, you have also documented the UK club scene. How do you see today’s club scene reflecting contemporary societal values?
DR: These days the focus of society seems to be split between the idolatry of celebrities and the pursuit of monetary profit. But a great club doesn’t take a lot of money to set up and it doesn’t need the attendance of film stars and celebrities. This is why clubs that go down that route are usually so dull.

FHM: With many London clubs having to shut down due to ever-increasing rent, do you feel the end for the London underground club scene or do you believe that people will always find a way around things such as this?
DR: Yes, creative, imaginative people will always find a way. Whilst young people want to go out, go dancing, express themselves, get wasted and hook up, it’s never going to be the end of nightclubbing. Nowadays London is so full of vibrant, colourful young people from all over the world. I’m very excited and optimistic about what’s going on right now and about what might happen in the future.

“The harder life gets for young people and the more resources are taken from them, the more likely something like punk will happen again.”

FHM: Would you personally like to see the government do more to encourage diverse nightlife within the city?
DR: No, I would prefer not like to see this government at all. And all the current alternatives are just as bad, if not worse. But how can it come from the government anyway? These things always happen in spite of government plans not because of them, and that is how it should be. Some local councils might make a difference, they could tax people who buy flats as an investment and spend the money on community projects. They could temporarily give abandoned, crumbling and disused properties over to artists and in months those artists will get people flocking into the area and the place will be rocking. This is because artists are usually motivated by everything the government is not motivated by.

FHM: Politics obviously played a crucial part in the punk movement.  In reference to the upcoming EU referendum, do you see this having as large an impact as Thatcher’s winter of discontent did back in the late 70s?
DR: No, I think most people’s view on Remain vs. Brexit is a plague on both their houses. The one thing I would say is that the harder life gets for young people and the more resources are taken from them, the more likely something like punk will happen again. For the simple reason that they will have precious little else.

FHM: Do you have a favourite memory from your days shooting the punk scene?
DR: Yes I think I do, but it’s not so much of a memory any more. People often ask me what some of my old subjects are doing now and through the magic of Facebook I’m able, more and more, to tell them.  Sometimes the stories are happy, sometimes not. But the mystery of who the very pretty fourteen year old punk girl on the front of the Photographers Gallery Punk Weekender flyer is solved. I had no idea who she was when the flyer was published,  I hadn’t met Beth Cinamon – for it is she – for 38 years. In truth, I’d hardly met her when I photographed her, as I only shot two frames and I’d long ago lost my notes from that day.

But, via a Facebook friend who’d been to school with her, I was able to invite her to the Sonos Studio show. She came along and had hardly changed at all.  Still very pretty, still very lively and there’s still a little bit of a punk there still.

FHM: What do you tend to photograph nowadays?
DR: People are obsessed with the recent past and because I’ve now become known for my documentary portraiture of the 70s and 80s, they want me to do it all over again for them. Unfortunately, whereas once there was only a few of us doing this kind of photography in the UK (Daniel Meadows, Jeanette Beckman, Mr Harnett, Chris Killip), nowadays there are thousands. Worldwide, maybe hundreds of thousands, and many, let’s be honest, are a lot better than those of my generation. So, in some ways, my USP is now lacking a U.

But I’m as fired up by photography as I ever was and busier than I’ve been for fifteen years. I’m currently shooting a lot of fashion and some very layered nudes which will be be rendered as large silkscreen prints. It’s a collaboration the with award winning printer Danny Flynn.

FHM: How have you seen your aesthetic evolve over the years?
DR: It really hasn’t evolved at all. I’ll explain it thus: If you could be invisible and walk down the street, would you take a little more notice of people around you? Maybe stare a bit more than is either polite or wise? Maybe stare at a woman in a low cut top? Or a skinhead with a tattooed faced or a muscular biker in a leather jacket and tight jeans?  Maybe a couple snogging against a bus stand? This is my aesthetic. But I don’t have to be invisible to do this, I have a camera.

Punk Weekender runs from 23rd June–26th June at The Photographer’s Gallery.

Follow Fiona Hope McDowall on Twitter @fionahope_