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Offcamera: Daniel Meadows
His story of the iconic Factory Records photos
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Top photo: Daniel Meadows. Bottom photo: CP
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“The first Factory night I went to had I first got into photography after seeing a TV programme by a man [performance poet] John Cooper Clarke called Bruce Davidson in 1969, called and The Buzzcocks playing. Tony knew I Beautiful Beautiful. He was, at that time, was a photographer and he asked me if I’d photographing a project called East 11th do some pictures of his bands. I went to Street about people living in Harlem in photograph Vini Reilly of Durutti Column New York, and I was very moved by these and it happened that all the Joy Division pictures and I was particularly moved by gang were around at this celebrated flat in South Manchester where one of Tony’s what he told me. “He said: ‘I poise, not pose, people. cronies lived: it was a kind of meeting place People have an innate dignity and they for all the bands. “I only photographed Joy Division once will set themselves before the camera in a dignified way; they will choose what they performing and once in the studio. That was in January and February 1980, and I don’t will give.’ “I saw him doing that and I thought ‘I’d remember anything about the studio. I was much more interested quite like to have a go’, in the producer and I wasn’t any good Martin Hannet. at doing anything else. I “It was Hannet, went to art school and I did photography. He used to say to me, ‘Let’s basically, who was charge; he had a “I got involved with go and do some pictures’ in vision for what the Factory when I was music would be like working as a researcher and told them what he at Granada Television in wanted them to do. I Manchester. I started at found this fascinating, the end of ‘78 and went through to the end of ’80, and at one stage hearing the sounds back and how he mixed I found myself sharing a large open-plan them all up. office with lots of people, including Tony “I went to photograph a Joy Divison gig Wilson, who had just started Factory. They because they needed some action pictures. had a community centre in Hulme that they The conventional picture of Ian Curtis is of him doing his mad, fly dance, but I’ve rented and they had got a picture where he’s just turned to look Factory nights. “Tony was just a mate in the office; it back; he looks absolutely exhausted. At that was a time of massive over-employment in time he was getting a lot of epileptic fits – TV, so you had a lot of time sitting around it was in February and he killed himself in doing very little. He used to say to me, May. That’s a picture which I think is rather good. ‘Let’s go and do some pictures.’
Interview with Emma Davies