Photo Booth
The couple in this image exude excitement. There is a degree of expectancy over the print about to be issued by the booth. Its as if the booth holds secrets about the couple until the photograph is handed over. Even after the strip of images emerge care needs to be taken to allow the image to dry as air is pumped over it in the ‘exit tray’.
A couple await their photographs from the photo booth. Whitechapel station, London 1982
The photographs produced by this booth have a special status as they are “passport approved”. I have an image in my head whereby the booth emits people from around the world holding onto their “passport approved” photos.
‘A Decade of Achievement’
The London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) held a tenth anniversary awards dinner in July 1991 to celebrate the policies of the Tory Government in the docklands area. A range of policies were applied to ‘enterprise zones’. Big business ensured that small scale industries – a vital source for local employment – could not compete given the rise in land prices.
A table set for the 'decade of achievement' LDDC dinner, 1991.
Guests were treated with a selection of fine wines and free BT phone cards. Local communities opposed the LDDC as they viewed it as a vehicle designed to benefit business. In all, there was a net loss of jobs and housing. There was nothing for local people in terms of jobs or housing whereas big business was able to use the enterprise zones to avoid planning restrictions and tax.
Protest opposite the 10th anniversary dinner. Docklands, 1991
Protesters make their point in the rain (above) as Michael Heseltine looks onto the dining room (below) where awards were later given out to various businesses.
LDDC anniversary dinner 1991
The rhetoric of regeneration always promises opportunities for the local population. The promise of jobs and decent homes has accompanied the development of Olympic sites but failed to convince locals.
East End Couples
Couple outside Whitechapel station. Whitechapel 1987
Couple in Stepney. Off Commercial Rd, 1987
Sam and his partner. Spitalfields 1986
Couple off Brick Lane 1984
Old Montague Street. Spitalfields 1992
Sky High
Tower Block. Mile End, London 1997
Sky scraper reflection. New York 2005
Sky scraper reflection. New York 2005
Sky scraper reflection. New York 2005
Canary Wharf Station. London 1997
Spitalfield’s Jugglers
Lone Juggler. Spitalfields market 1995
Lone Juggler. Brick Lane 1998
