Commercial Street Photography – Lok Fu Gardens

The reason I love to shoot street photography is that I get to meet so many interesting people, visit different communities and tell the stories that are constantly happening around us, yet going unnoticed. It was a privilege to be asked by Your Housing Group to document the active street event that residents of Lok Fu Gardens in Manchester organised last month, allowing me to shoot commercial street photography, telling the story of the day.

With funding from Your Housing Group this was a partnership with Manchester City Council, MCR Active and Strong Roots. The family fun street event was planned and run by the residents of Lok Fu Gardens. The street, in Greater Manchester is self-proclaimed as the most diverse in the UK, with families from different faiths and cultures including Black Afro Caribbean, White British, South Asian, Middle Eastern, Vietnamese, and Jamaican.

With the street closed to traffic, the road was the backdrop for facepainting , bouncy castle, basketball, badminton, giant garden games and much more. The national trust were involved too, potting and giving free plants away to all! One of the residents had created a huge amount of Biryani, and a giant Lok Fu Gardens cake was the centrepiece.

I was greeted by Anver Zeria, who was on the mic during the day, making sure thanks were given to everyone involved in putting the event together. He said, “Strong Roots is a not-for-profit organisation whose aim is to provide community solutions to enhance social understanding and cohesion which is so important in places where there are diverse backgrounds coming together. They also try to reduce the fear of crime and even crime itself, by building stronger relationships between neighbours so they look out for one another more, so I am thrilled to see this event come together.”

I was warmly welcomed by all the residents. Music playing, kids having the time of their lives, it was such a positive and energetic atmosphere and a pleasure to be a part of. Everyone made sure I had the homemade Biryani and a large slice of cake – I’ll be back next year for sure!