Recently Martin Parr took photos of many of Britain's major cities in a project for the Guardian newspaper. This project also included several pictures Leeds - they were not in a narrative form, but constitutes of much of the city - from the prison, to shopping, to Opera North and the ballet at the The Grand. The project was to show the hidden parts of the cities to the public and to document some of the life that went on there.
There are many pictures of Leeds, not by Martin Parr, showing various historic or interesting places (that seem to all be in west Leeds if they arn't in the city center). They all show a different side of Leeds - such as the Bear Keep on Cardigan Road (the castle-like building below) and the Corn Exchange in all its glory.
I quite like the picture above of the canal, but I'm not too
sure about the obvious Photoshopping. I like the lighting
effect its created, but the clumsyness of it ruins it a bit
(you can see a lighter line all round the inside of the bridge)
Many projects based on city life (that I have found) are films, made with an outsider perspective, or about the cities bars or commercial interests.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036932/New-York-City-photos-Charles-W-Cushman-reveal-1940s-life-Big-Apple.html
http://www.londonphotoproject.co.uk/blog/
http://citylifefilmproject.com/#/
http://www.magnumphotos.com/Catalogue/Martin-Parr/2008/GB-ENGLAND-Leeds-Guardian-Cities-Project-2008-NN197357.html
http://www.ntileeds.co.uk/events/creative-networks-presents-martin-parr/
http://www.tymchak.com/blog/?p=382
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2008/nov/01/photography-martin-parr
PersonX
Julian Germain created 'For every minute you are angry, you loose sixty seconds of happiness' a project made over 8 years of about Charles Snelling - an old man who lives alone. The project follows Charles round, showing parts of his life - the photo albums, the kitchen, Charles himself. The photos seem very sensitive to the man at the center of them. The photos are colour, which seem to try to show the world as it is, and to show Charles to be a colourful man (which Julian Germain mentions in the prologue with the photos)
Richard Avedon photographed people out of their natural surroundings - this lack of back-drop gave the people a staged quality, whether they were or not, and took away the supporting personality, giving them an almost 2D quality. His pictures are always taken in a studio, everything is under his control, so that the subjects act. The photographs are still trying to be sensitive to the subject, but at the same time are not.
http://www.juliangermain.com/projects/foreveryminute.php
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2011/may/12/martin-parr-floods
http://iconolo.gy/archive/great-richard-avedon/1304
Government Cuts
The recession has lead to the current government making large cuts to government spending - in education, benefits and the NHS - and increases in taxes, such as VAT. There have been a number of protests as a direct result of this - such as virtually the whole country on strike on the 30th December, the riots this summer and the university fees protests last summer.
Lack of money or government funding has been at the hart of all politically motivated art for decades, much of the satirical cartoon found in newspapers deal with the current political issues - such as If... by Steven Bell in the Guardian G2
http://www.yorkshiredailyphoto.com/2010/12/topshop-protest-leeds.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cartoon/2011/nov/13/1
