“I love the immediacy of unposed, spontaneous photographs and the ability of the camera to capture the serious, the funny, the sublime and the ridiculous. Despite the many wonderful pictures of the great and famous, I feel that less formal, quotidian images can often convey more of the life and spirit of the time” Shirley Baker (9 July 1932 – 21 Sept. 2014); British photographer, best known for her street photography and street portraits in working class areas of Greater Manchester. Worked as a freelance writer and photographer on various magazines, books and newspapers, and as a lecturer on photography. Most of her photography was made for her personal interest but she undertook occasional commissions. During her lifetime Baker's photographs were published in 2 books and exhibited at The Photographers' Gallery, The Lowry and Salford Museum and Art Gallery. Born in Kersal, north Salford, Lancashire, Baker was one of identical twins. They moved to Manchester when she was 2, and her sister later boarded at Penrhos Girls' School in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, from where they were evacuated during WWII to Chatsworth House, in Derbyshire Baker went on to study photography at Manchester College of Technology, and took other courses at Regent Street Polytechnic in London and the London College of Printing. Later in life she gained an MA in critical history and the theory of photography at the University of Derby in 1995. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Baker) Thought to be the only woman practicing street photography in Britain during the post-war era, Shirley Baker’s humanist documentary work received little attention throughout her 65-year career. .... It specifically focuses on her depictions of the urban clearance programs of inner city Manchester... (http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/shirley-baker-2) undefined

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