I go through Stevenage High Street pretty much every day, and have recently been looking a bit more carefully as I wonder how I’m going to approach people and persuade them to come on board and be involved with this project. How am I going to explain what I want to do? And why I want to do it?
And who, exactly, am I going to approach? I went for a stroll today simply to make a list of all the business that seem to have a public ‘shopfront’ on the High Street. It’s way more than I would have estimated: I counted 126 different businesses, comprising the following:
Stevenage High Street
20 restaurants/cafes/coffeeshops
11 takeaway food shops
9 hairdressers/barbers
9 estate agents
8 pubs
7 legal/financial places (banks, solicitors, etc)
6 health/beauty services
4 undertakers (well, okay, 3 and a stonemason)
4 gift/card shops
3 florists
3 dentists
3 pharmacies
3 newsagents
3 clothes shops
3 betting shops
2 supermarkets
2 charity shops
2 jewellers
1 fireplace suppliers
1 library
1 dry cleaner
1 picture framer
1 motorbike shop
1 cake decorating and fancy dress shop
1 computer shop
1 bridal outfitter
1 optician
1 printshop
1 trophy engraver
1 hardware shop
1 carpet shop
1 guitar shop
1 camera shop
1 photo processor
1 cobbler
1 model shop
1 kitchen worktop shop
1 (temporary) fireworks shop
1 taxi office
1 hotel
And looking at them all, I was pleasantly surprised to see that a good majority of them (99 to 27) appear to be independent places, not part of a large chain. (For anyone reading this from outside the area, it’s worth mentioning that the High Street is part of the Old Town of Stevenage which has a distinct character from the Town Centre where all the household names are.)
But analysing all this opens up questions. How wide-ranging and expansive do I want this project to be? The plan I have in my head is to focus on the ‘individual’ shops, especially those that seem to have been there forever, but there are a lot of them. And do I include things that aren’t really ‘shops’? Of course the other big unknown is how many will want to be involved. I’m planning to pop in to visit one tomorrow. One who I’ve learned is a key player in the Old Town trader’s association (not sure if that’s what they call themselves.) I just feel like he’d be a good person to mention it to with the hope that he’ll be able to offer suggestions of who to approach and how to go about it.
Question is: do I describe myself as a “student photographer”? I think not.
The Comfort Zone 