Liverpool (1972 - 2025): Photographs by Phil Maxwell

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Liverpool (1972 - 2025): Photographs by Phil Maxwell

Hazuan Hashim is organizing this fundraiser.

We're raising funds to publish the first of a series of photography books on Liverpool by Phil Maxwell. This book presents a unique collection of private photographs, many never previously published, that show views of Liverpool taken over the last half century, much of which has all but disappeared. Phil Maxwell's camera captures the people and the places of inner city Liverpool and the life that was lived by ordinary people, preserving for all time the reality of this city as it emerged from decades of deprivation and neglect.

Listen to Phil Maxwell interviewed by Tony Snell (BBC Radio Merseyside) here.

Donation rewards:

£25 ++ - Your name will be published (optional) under Acknowledgement.

£50 ++ - Your name will be published (optional) plus a signed copy of the book.

£100 ++ - All of the above plus a signed A3 print.

£500 ++ - All of the above plus a dinner with Phil Maxwell & Hazuan Hashim (book designer/editor).

From my early childhood I have been fascinated by photography.

The first camera I ever used was an old box camera with a hole at the front for the exposure of the roll of film which slipped along the back of the box. It was simplicity itself, but it had the capacity to mesmerise me. The facility to capture a moment in time was like magic for a young boy. As the years went by, my fascination changed to a passion that drew me to other photographers, and I began to explore the world and humanity through the hundreds of pictures that were waiting to be discovered in books in my local library.

Inspired by all these extraordinary images from around the world, it was during my teenage years that I began to take my own photographs. My small bedroom was no longer simply a place to retreat to and sleep, now it became a makeshift darkroom. In those days, the chemicals really smelled and caused eczema on my hands, but it was a small inconvenience compared to the miracle of watching a print appear in the developing dish!

My camera became my notebook, artistic mentor and friend.

I am fortunate to be one of the generation that has been granted greater opportunity to travel, and during my life I have been introduced to a wide variety of cultures and friends, which in turn have inspired me to travel.

I first moved to Liverpool in 1972 when I was 18 to study at what’s now Hope Uni and then taught for six years. I taught in a school that’s no longer there, off Mill Road, and I used to cycle mainly around Liverpool 8, with a large SLR camera. Kids would stop me and ask me to take their picture. At other times I would just be walking around taking photos and that’s how I learnt the art of street photography.

It was the most significant move of my life as I fell in love with the City and its people. I stayed for ten years then moved to London. I returned in 2015 and have revisited the places I photographed in the 70s and early 80s. I'm now publishing my first book of Liverpool images. I hope you'll consider supporting the book.

-PHIL MAXWELL