Market Trader
This is the late Bernie Saunders photographed in 1989 in Brushfield Street.
Bernie Saunders in Brushfield Street, 1989
For many years Bernie sold fruit and vegetables from a stall in Middlesex Street (Petticoat Lane). The close proximity of the Spitalfields fruit and vegetable market enabled him to provide fresh food of a high quality.
Bernie Saunders in Brushfield Street, 1989
Bernie was assisted on his stall by his daughter and other family members. In addition to his market business he devoted a great deal of time to his work as a local Councillor in Tower Hamlets.
Lighter Seconds
The boy in these photographs is selling lighters. The four frames below cover a few seconds where he sees me and decides I am a target for his sales skills.
Boy selling lighters, Spitalfields 1986
Boy selling lighters, Spitalfields 1986
It is at this point that the boy decides that he will try to sell me a lighter or two.
Boy selling lighters, Spitalfields 1986
Boy selling lighters, Spitalfields 1986
Brick Lane Dogs and Sheep
Brick Lane is full of the unexpected. The junction of Brick Lane and Quaker Street seems to attract unusual compositions. What is now a clothes shop called ‘Religion’ used to be a coffee shop and before that a pub. The sheep (below) is from Spitalfields farm. The photograph was taken from Quaker Street looking into Brick Lane.
Sheep on Brick Lane & Quaker Street junction, 2002
About twenty years earlier I photographed the boy with the stick (below) from the opposite angle in Brick Lane. He is standing where the sheep is in the 2002 photograph.
Boy with a stick outside a pub on Brick Lane, 1983
Below is a translucent window facing Brick Lane photographed from inside the pub.
Brick Lane pub window advertising Trumans Brewery, 1983
The appearance of this man and his dogs on Brick Lane in 2003 excited my attention. After following him for some time on the other side of the road I was able to cross over and get the shot below. The incongruity of it all is what appealed to me.
Man walking dogs on Brick Lane, 2003
At the time I was preparing twenty years of Brick Lane photographs for an exhibition which was launched in the Brick House in Brick Lane. The man and his dogs made it into the show at the last minute and subsequently brought the dogs into the exhibition!
Opening of 'Brick Lane' at the Brick House, 2003
The dogs (below) had their own private view a week after the launch of the exhibition.
Dogs at the Brick Lane exhibition, 2003
Pub Tales
At one time you could find a pub on virtually every corner of the East End. Changing demography and the conversion of many pubs into luxury housing has diminished the number of drinking houses dramatically. My ‘local’ for many years was the Alma in Spellman Street run by the late Steve Kane. It now has a different use far removed from the serious business of consuming alcohol.
Tour guide in the Alma pub, 1989
As the licensee and owner of the Alma Steve Kane was always looking for ways of improving business during hard economic times. By organising historical walks he was able to attract coach loads of unsuspecting tourists into his bar at the end of their tour around historic Spitalfields. In reality they were Jack the Ripper tours but for various reasons they were never advertised as such. The two gentlemen photographed (above & below) were the tour guides who were attired in Victorian clothes.
Tour guide in the Alma pub, 1989
The ban on smoking has resulted in drinkers leaving their beer for a cigarette outside the pub. This has facilitated the following photographs taken on Commercial Street where a number of pubs still trade.
Smoker outside a pub in Commercial Street, 2008
Smoker outside a pub in Commercial Street, 2008
The George Tavern on Commercial Street is housed in a Grade II listed building. The pub holds regular live music, exhibitions and theatrical productions. Below is the conclusion of a performance consisting originally of a number dancers with skipping ropes.
Performance artist in the George Tavern, 2008
Through the window
This shop window on Brick Lane attracts the attention of Hazuan who has become illuminated by light reflected from the mannequin in the window.
Brick Lane shop window, 1998
These two children (below) spend most of their day in and around the railway station in Chittagong. They survive by persuading passengers to let them carry their bags in exchange for a few Takas and collecting recyclable rubbish. Smiles disguise a very vulnerable life which also means sleeping rough near the station. Their family are the other children who share their dangerous life.
Chittagong railway children, 2008
The man (below) sitting in the window of a Brick Lane cafe supports his arm on the chair back and contemplates the world. His silhouette is flamboyantly nourished and framed by a combination of bold letters and decorative border curves.
Silhouette of a man sitting in the window of a cafe in Brick Lane, 1983
View of the City looking west from Whitechapel, 1988
The photograph above really tells two stories. Firstly it was shot from the top window of the former ragged school behind Whitechapel station. Like most Victorian buildings in the East End it has since been turned into gated private housing. A bit of a shame really considering the need for social housing and the rising level of homelessness. Secondly the City is without the resplendent Gherkin and other office blocks; you can still even see St Paul’s cathedral.
Mobile phone shop, Dhaka 2009
Globalisation is great at selling mobile phones and providing shops that are the same all over the world but not that good at addressing the underlying causes of poverty and inequality.
Carved face in rock. Temple in Cambodia 2009
The timeless magnificence of a face carved in rock greeted me as I emerged from a temple in Cambodia. It left me with a lot more to contemplate than the display of mobile phones in Dhaka.
