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Being the family photographer of the British criminal underworld isn't necessarily the easiest job in the world, but it's one that photojournalist Jocelyn Bain Hogg has made a habit of for a decade.
Hogg's latest exhibition, The Family, aims to "demystify the villain" by showing how the British mafia go about their daily lives. The show celebrates the opening of White Cloth Gallery in Leeds and displays work from Hogg's latest book.
Hogg has been capturing the lives of generations of British underworld since befriending murderer Freddie Foreman during an assignment. After being "invited round" to take photos in 1998, Hogg continued to document the mafia, often becoming friends with its members, descendants of the infamous Joey Pyle, a renowned drugs baron and gangster in 1960s London.
This exhibition is the product of three years of work, which looks towards the new generations of the Pyle family following "Big Joey's" death in 2007 and looks at how criminal heritage and empire have changed in contemporary times.
He explains to HuffPost Culture: "[The underworld] is a very British subject. And what's interesting is that the family are all British, they're all indigenous. Often, I'll speak to Europeans and they can't believe that we have a national underworld, but this history of villainy goes back a long way. The first criminal Pyle on record goes back to 1832."
A family so entrenched in criminality may not seem willing photography subjects, but Hogg says otherwise. "A long time ago one of [the gangsters] said to me, 'you can take as many photos as you like because the police know who we are.'"
And so it was "quite easy" to call up Joe Pyle Jnr a few years ago to grab a few more shots. Hogg says he is "often invited" to the events he documents. "I've known them a long time, I know when to be careful and I've always erred on the side of caution", he tells me.
One particular highlight, Hogg says, was the confirmation of 'Young Manny', the grandson of Joey Pike Snr. "It showed a very intimate side, an element of normal life along with the business side of what the underworld do."
The Family, as the name of the exhibition would suggest, is key. Although he is "quite used to it" now, Hogg says the lifestyle comprises of "moral codes and ways of behaviour which the underworld adhere to. It's just an extended family, with the importance on keeping their name out there and looking after their kids. It's about keeping the name alive."
This respect of tradition is something Hogg has tried to reflect in using black and white film to take his photos. But he notes it also has its practical sides: "My Leica and Olympus cameras are much less intrusive than professional digital cameras. They're half the size of digital cameras and they're much less noisy. Plus, nobody can look at the photos and demand you delete them!"
The Family opens at White Cloth Gallery on 19 April
Photos of a British Organized-Crime Family - NYTimes.com
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Posted: 13/04/2012 08:07 Updated: 13/04/2012 09:54