Tom Wood: The photographer who became Liverpool's Photie Man

Wood spent 25 years documenting the city of Liverpool and its residents, young and old

Tom Wood's striking portraits and emotive landscapes have been exhibited in London, New York, Berlin, Paris and Geneva and have earned him high acclaim.

His photographs of the reality of life and people's everyday experience have seen him become a well-known name in the art world, but in the city he most frequently captured, he is more likely to answer to a different name: "Photie Man."

The Irish photographer moved to Liverpool in 1978 and spent the next 25 years documenting Merseyside life.

Among the spots he returned to on numerous occasions was Great Homer Street Market

The 72-year-old never aimed to become such a local legend, but his technique of getting close to his subjects and his seeming ubiquity saw him easily accepted by the city.

"I went to the same places every week and people just got used to me being there with the camera," he said.

"Eventually, I just faded into the background.

"I saw the same people again and again and I became invisible really.

"I just became known as the 'Photie Man'."

Wood began by taking photos on the bus as he travelled to and from work

Wood said many of his subjects would actually approach him and "ask to have their picture taken"

It is hard to picture now, in an era where, thanks to mobile phone technology, nearly everyone carries a camera in their pocket, but it was precisely the scarcity of cameras which helped Woods find his feet in the city.

"I didn't drive, so I used to photograph from the bus going to work," he said.

"People started to ask me to take their pictures because they didn't have cameras.

"I really got to know people, mainly from going to the same places all the time.

"Nobody had phones, so you made eye contact with people, you'd chat to them.

"People would come up and talk to me, and ask to have their picture taken [and] then I'd send them on... in envelopes with 'Please Do Not Bend' on or they'd come to my house to collect them.

"It was very different then."

Wood said a retrospective of his work in the Walker Art Gallery was "my way of giving back to the city"

Wood was accepted by the city's residents, who refer to him still as simply "Photie Man"

His ability to be both visible enough to be accepted but invisible enough not to influence the behaviour of those around him saw him capture shots which sparkle with reality and honesty.

He said that came from returning to the same places over and over again and giving out prints of the pictures he had taken previously to the subjects of his work.

"I'd see the same people over years and they just knew me," he said.

"Years later, they'd say 'Tom, I'm getting married will you do the pictures'."

Wood returned to the same places over and over again and often handed out prints of his work to his subjects

He said as well as capturing their images, people would talk to him about their lives and he would learn their stories.

"There were people living very tough lives at that time," he said.

"I went every week to take pictures at Great Homer Street Market for 20 years.

"One thing I remember noticing was how much it was the women holding it all together.

"In many ways, it felt like I was looking at my own mum.

"I felt at home."

Wood's work has been exhibited across the world and has earned him awards and high acclaim

Wood said he believed he "couldn't have taken these pictures anywhere else"

A retrospective of his work has gone on show at the city's Walker Art Gallery, which includes many of his much-loved works alongside long-term studies of Birkenhead's Cammell Laird shipyard and scenes from around both the Anfield and Goodison Park stadiums.

Many of the city's residents will see it as a fitting way to celebrate a man who has been taken to their hearts.

For Woods, it is less about praising him and more about thanking his subjects, so much so that he has asked anyone who recognises themselves to get in touch so he can take a new portrait of them.

"This exhibition is my way of giving back to the city," he said.

"There is a real openness and warmness about the people in Merseyside.

"I couldn't have taken these pictures anywhere else."

Photie Man: 50 Years of Tom Wood runs at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool until 7 January 2024.

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