I read this post yesterday. It is a very well written account from a photographer called Sammie. She takes her analog camera everywhere to tune into the world around her and document what she sees. In this specific post, she is taking street shots, revealing what lies beneath the veneer of central London. I really enjoyed the combination of her social commentaries alongside her photographs.
Reading her made me reflect on my younger self, roaming around London, like a piece of flotsam. I observed first hand how much a big living organism such as London needs to consume. I’m not talking about the Londoners buying too much junk here – although that’s also true as seen on Sammie’s photographs – I’m talking about how much big capital cities such as London consume people – also as seen in her photographs – feeding off their life force. The vast majority of people are just surviving there. They are paid just enough to be able to live on – or under – the poverty line, but they can never quite manage to thrive, or get out of debt.
I strolled into London as a 20 something young person, my heart and my eyes wide open, ready to embrace all of the Big Smoke’s offerings…. I was listening to the Clash in loop, while floating around London on my own, taking it all in, from Camden town, to Notting Hill…