Digging in the Archives

As this website is essentially still under construction I’ve been taking a look back through my external hard drives which are loaded with images, looking for pictures I’ve already taken that I can put into the Photo Albums.

I quite liked this one of some musicians in Brick Lane (again!), taken this past June. In the middle background there is smoke rising from the barbecue that runs through summer in the Vibe Bar’s garden. I haven’t had one of their burgers so no comment there, but what a lovely accordion don’t you think?

Exploring London’s Boroughs

This is a used furniture shop in Brick Lane. I took the photograph while shooting a project I worked on last summer which involved seven days of wandering around London keeping a photo diary. The picture has been exhibited twice in group shows.

I like the image because it demonstrates subtleties about East End sensibilities and activities happening in Brick Lane. It’s also a general portrait of a quirky but true and straightforward ‘British’ scene.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about photographing communities. In the past year I have worked on two very focused community-based projects; one study of women in New York City’s Chinatown (Women in Mott Street), and another study of regulars in a London heavy metal bar!

Strangely this idea for The London Album came to me in a dream very recently. At the moment I have a very broad idea to document the places in each of London’s 33 boroughs, and more specifically to tell something about the communities of people that bring these areas to life. In every borough there’s got to be a visual story to tell, so starting now I’ll write about where I go wandering and share some photographs from the journey. It could take a while!