Archways, Bridges and Underground
I’ve always been attracted to subways, bridges and other structures designed to facilitate the passage of people. The extreme lighting conditions of these places often produce silhouettes which can emphasize both the man made structure as well as the people walking through it.
Underpass at Aldgate East, London 1988
Bridge in Central Park, New York 2005
Archway in Marrakech, 2004
Underpass in New York, 2005
Bridge linking Whitechapel Rd and Durward St, Whitechapel 1998
Stephen Watts
I could listen to Stephen Watts reading his poetry for hours. When he writes about the East End I feel he has somehow unlocked my brain, spilled the contents out on the floor and rearranged the memories into a mosaic of urban elegance. I always think of him as ‘the East End poet’. This is simply one aspect of his work as he has supported many poets from outside Europe and endevoured to get their work translated and read by a wider public. His own work has also been translated into other languages.
Stephen Watts reading his poems at the Tate Britain, 2010
Stephen has worked in many schools to introduce children to poetry. For decades he has encouraged other poets and taken his own work to many community events.
Stephen Watts, Whitechapel 2011
He is equally at home reading to an audience of hundreds at the Tate Britain as he is in a field reading his work to visitors to an urban farm.
Stephen Watts, Whitechapel 2011
When I first heard him reading his poetry at a community event many years ago I was intrigued by his appearance and put him on my list of people to photograph!
Stephen Watts, Whitechapel 2011
Stars, Sylhet and Centre Point
I photographed this man (below) staring upwards, from a Rickshaw in Sylhet. I have no idea what he was looking at but I do know he can see the Milky Way at night time which is an altogether more inspiring sight than anything I could look up at in London.
Man in Sylhet Town, Bangladesh 1991
Somehow the gaze of this man reminded me of a time I emerged from the underground at Tottenham Court Road when I was struck by the building Centre Point. A poor substitute to seeing a canopy of stars I still remember light vibrating from the building as I emerged from the artificial light of the underground. In an instant I knew I had to photograph the building just as I knew I had to photograph the man staring upwards in Sylhet Town.
Centre Point, Oxford Street London 1986
Crowds
Crowd at bus stop in Dhaka, 1991
Crowd in Brick Lane, 1999
Dhaka Noise
I recall taking the photograph below near a bus stop and remember the noise of the traffic on the road.
A passenger leans out of the window of a bus before it stops at a bus stop. Dhaka Bangladesh 1991
Drivers in Dhaka are fond of using vehicle horns to signal their presence on the road. This results in a chorus of noise which is joined by the gentler call of the bells of rickshaw drivers. This ensemble of traffic instruments has a stange predictability to it but the only thing that is absolutely certain is that it will sing without a break until late evening.
Rickshaw driver with passenger using a mobile phone, Dhaka Bangladesh 2008
