Liverpool : 1972 – 2025 Volume 1
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Capturing Everyday Life in East London Through the Years
I used to see this man regularly in and around Brick Lane in the 1980s. On this occasion he’s absorbed in a book, seated on a discarded fruit box outside a closed shop.
Taken during the Sunday market, he has created his own private bubble despite the bustle around him—a moment of calm and introspection amid the everyday life of Brick Lane in the mid-1980s. As public spaces feel less public these days and people are expected to keep moving, I wonder what he would make of what Brick Lane has become?
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Snapshots of East London’s Evolving Public Spaces
This candid moment inside an underground carriage was captured as I was sitting down, looking up, and about to alight at Whitechapel station. The two men appear detached from their surroundings, both looking down at their smartphones. Even though people are physically close in a crowded space, they are mentally elsewhere, reflecting a common modern phenomenon: digital absorption in public spaces.
When I first started travelling on the Underground in 1982, passengers would read newspapers or books. Generally, people would avoid eye contact, stare at the advertising, or have a snooze. Visitors from outside London often find this behaviour a bit strange. It’s certainly different from travelling on a bus in Liverpool.
You can buy a signed copy of my latest photo book here
Today is International Women’s day. These photographs celebrate women the world over. I hope they challenge the idea that progress is largely brought about by men. We still have a long way to go before injustice based purely on a persons sex is eradicated. “Women’s freedom is the sign of social freedom.” – Rosa Luxemburg.
You can buy a signed copy of my latest photo book here
Memorable Moments with People in East London
The Sclater Street flea market has now all but disappeared. It was always full of interesting characters, and in this image I was pleased to capture a man pushing a shopping trolley, dressed in a formal coat and hat, his beard neatly kept. He stands in quiet contrast to the rough, temporary atmosphere of the market around him, and to the Burger Bar trailer behind.
I photographed this market regularly over several decades, and it never disappointed. Each time I walked it I found something visually compelling—an endless supply of small, enticing moments waiting to be captured.
2006.
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Exploring Spitalfields: A Photographic Journey
I remember taking the photograph above because, at the time, it was so unusual to see anyone carrying a mobile phone. I had the impression the man was holding it almost as an accessory — a statement about who he was, perhaps even an attempt to impress the woman he was walking with. Back then, mobile phones were extremely expensive.
Today, mobile phones are ubiquitous and almost invisible; in this image, the device is conspicuous and slightly awkward in scale. It captures a moment of technological transition — the early appearance of portable communication in everyday urban life.
In retrospect, the photograph documents the beginning of a shift that would eventually lead to smartphones becoming one of the most dominant objects in modern life.
For my first exhibition in London, at the Montefiore Community Education Centre in Spitalfields, I printed a huge image of the phone. I laminated the print and displayed it on the floor. People were able to walk over it.
You can buy a signed copy of my latest photo book here
