Fascinated by the human race, Mike Harvey turned his taxi into a cabinet of curiosities. Harvey moonlights as a driver to help fund his trips abroad to discover how other people live, including the passengers of his taxi in Swansea, Wales. As attentive and discreet as a therapist, he watches, observes and lets them express what makes them unique, their secrets and their suffering, emerging with a short urban philosophy in sincere black and white images that are curious and endearing.
“Working as a taxi driver for 4 years gave me great insight into the people and community of Neath, Wales . Thousands of people travelled in the small transient space of the taxi, and each journey had its own unique interaction and narrative.
I started taking photographs of the passengers, with their consent, to document the array of people that occupied the taxi space. I was fascinated by the cross section of society that was represented by the journeys – people from all walks of life, rich, poor, old and young. And the discussions I would have with the passengers themselves were of even more interest to me, it gave me an insight into people’s lives, what interests or concerns they had, their backgrounds and lifestyles.
Storing my DSLR in the glovebox, I would take it out at the end of a ride, after we’d built up a rapport, and ask if I could take their photo. In exchange I’d waive their taxi fair as a thank you. I took around 130 photographs in total over a 6-month period.
I worked as a taxi driver to fund my travels to places like Brazil, China, Egypt, India and Nepal. I would work for a few months and then travel for a few months, and then come back and repeat. It was very interesting going to, say, Delhi with the scope of life in that thriving metropolis, all of its layers, and then seeing something similar in my cab in Neath. When I travel, I hope to take photographs that get under the superficial tourist façade, and that is what inspired me to take pictures in the taxi – to reveal the real community behind the assumptions.
As a taxi driver, people would divulge aspects of their lives to me that they probably wouldn’t volunteer to any other complete stranger. The safety of the taxi space, and the knowledge that they may never see me again, encouraged people to open up. People would talk candidly about the things going well in their lives – their careers, relationships, weddings and such. But they would also impart information about things that weren’t going right – experiences of depression, break-ups, and even the contemplation of suicide. I always felt a strong responsibility to help these people just by listening, and carefully suggesting things that might encourage them to take a different view. In many ways this led to my role as driver gaining aspects of counsellor, but I was always careful about what I said, as I think that sometimes the best advice is no advice – it can all be loaded with our own hopes, dreams and fears.
Taxi driving also put me in a range of interesting predicaments, whether it be helping someone in a road traffic accident, rushing a pregnant lady to hospital, being offered drugs or sex by inebriated customers, or driving the working girls home from a local brothel. Those journeys with the working girls, whom I came to know quite well, were always interesting, and when they asked me if I’d had a busy night, I never knew if I could ask the same question back.
I think the pictures might in some way represent a tribe or type of person from Neath, but at the same time everyone is so individual and unique. The taxi photographs aren’t even fair representations of the people in them – they are a glimpse at someone, at one time, and we can only read from the visual of that moment when the shutter goes down. Our assumptions and back-stories to them might be completely wide of the mark, or actually quite accurate. We all judge and assume everyday – it’s human nature. But in a way I suppose I’m trying to avoid doing that, or stereotyping anyone – we are all a million different people to a million different people, at any one time.”
CONTRIBUTOR
Severine Morel
[email protected]
http://blinks.photography
