PHOTOGRAPHER Eric Latham went back to his roots to capture the changing face of Manchester.

Eric, 43, who grew up in Beswick, is an author, photographer and a lecturer in design at Manchester Metropolitan University.

He has been taking pictures around the streets of his home town since the 1970s and used many of his archive snaps along with a fresh set of images to produce a new book, On Class Street.

Beswick was once the home to factories and a burgeoning manufacturing industry and was revitalised when it became the centre for Manchester's 2002 Commonwealth Games.

The book looks at key landmarks in the area and records the working and home lives of several of its residents.

As well as recording new buildings and signs of regeneration, some of the photographs show abandoned cars and run-down streets.

Stereotypes

Eric said: "I'm interested in challenging stereotypes. A lot of people make assumptions about the type of people who come from Beswick and I try to change their views and about working class people generally.

"I think a lot of the changes have been welcomed, but it is still harder for working class people to fully access education and there are a lot of barriers to getting good jobs.

"I can still remember when there were a lot of people and a lot of jobs in the area, which comes across in some of my work. Things now are still a far cry from then."

As part of the process of writing the 80-page book, which is his first, Eric held a number of photography workshops with teenagers in city schools and youth centres.

Click on the gallery above to see some of Eric's pictures.