A new blog billing itself as 'a cafe window for Manchester' and showing off the city's people in all their many forms and guises, is building up a gradual, detailed portrait of the place and those who live here.
The Mancorialist consists mostly of street portraits interspersed with a few more candid 'snatched' shots of urban life. The emphasis is clearly on fashion and the name itself is a nod to - indeed a poke at - The Sartorialist, Scott Schuman's catalogue of beautiful people on the streets of the world's fashion capitals.
But while Schuman's models all seem to have just sashayed off the end of the runway, The Mancorialist wants to represent the oddballs, down-and-outs and alternatives of Manchester as well as those given a nice nose or legs by genetics or God.
It's all to do with people-watching, and there aren't many of us who don't enjoy a spot of that. It may be passers-by from the window of a cafe or your cousin's friend's boyfriend's Facebook album pics; whatever, there is something irresistible about watching others go about their business; and who hasn't marveled at the sheer range of humanity on display on the average urban street.
Television cottoned on to this fascination a good bit since and set about turning it into cash via the likes of Big Brother. For a while, the process seemed to satisfy the urge to observe others and be puzzled and outraged by their behaviour, to sympathise or condemn. But the artifice of such programmes soon wore thin.
The attraction of the homespun, DIY, real thing lies in knowing that the person we're looking at is where they are because that's (more or less) where they want to be, not because their mates call them 'wacky' and they're hoping to go on to make a career out of switching on the Cheadle Hulme Christmas lights.
The range and diversity observed in the process is what The Mancorialist hopes that it's getting right. A dude in a well-cut double breasted suit and fedora appears alongside the messianically-bearded face of a Big Issue in the North seller. The anarchist with "F**K THE SYSTEM" tattooed across a good third of his torso vies with a striking blonde with defensively crossed arms and a direct stare. Only two people out of hundreds have declined either to be photographed or to have the picture put online.
The blog has decided to take a photo of anyone who catches its contributors' eyes and makes no apology for being subjective. Most of its subjects look directly into the camera, sometimes a little baffled, often slightly self-conscious, occasionally downright cheeky and, in one case, apparently writhing in pleasure. There's none of the cruelty of patronising fly-on-the-wall photographers, however. Most shots have a sense of neutrality.
That neutrality is slightly misleading, though. The photographer has left it
to the viewer to judge. If we admire or deride an outfit, we are in a small
way, admiring or deriding it's wearer. Who doesn't know the little frisson
of outrage when we see a too-short skirt? Are thigh tattoos sexy or just
weird? Would you rather f**k the system or doff your fedora?
The overriding feeling of The Mancorialist is one of tribute to the city. There is affection throughout and sometimes an elegance not always associated with our town. If it continues to grow at the pace set thus far, things look promising. Eat your heart out, New York and Milan.
The Mancorialist is also on Twitter here. Allan Russell is involved in the project which may in time widen out to add other photographers' portraits to the gallery.
All photographs courtesy of The Mancorialist where there are many more.
