Table of contents:
- 1. Near the Old Kent Road Hotel
- 2. Accident in the city center
- 3. The accident at Clerkenwell
- 4. Night thunderstorm
- 5. Couple in love
- 6. West End, 1960
- 7. Amusement and amusement park
- 8. London, 1980
Video: The Streets of Old London: Documentary Photos by British Street Photographer Colin O'Brien
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Photography is an amazing thing that allows you to plunge into the moment of the past, even after many years. Thanks to the efforts of the master Colin O'Brien, we have a real fan of seeing what London was like in the last century, at its most rapid growth and development.
1. Near the Old Kent Road Hotel
British street photographer Colin O'Brien was born in 1940 in Carkenwell, raised in the southwestern part of the area known as Little Italy. He took his first photo at the age of eight, capturing two Italian friends with an old Kodak Brownie family camera.
2. Accident in the city center
In the 1950s, O'Brien began documenting life in London and has continued to do so for over 60 years. For long hours he wandered the streets of the British capital and filmed scenes from everyday life on black and white film, composing shots with a glance that was not devoid of irony.
3. The accident at Clerkenwell
“The mundane is so often ignored, but this is the most important thing in documenting the circumstances,” said the photographer.
4. Night thunderstorm
His photographs always retained the poetic beauty of the moment, no matter how mundane the scene was.
5. Couple in love
In the 1950s, the photographer began documenting life in London. In the 20th century, the city developed rapidly and was the capital of a large empire. Since the 1950s, immigrants have come to East London from Jamaica, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. This influenced the city, and therefore it became the most multicultural in Europe.
6. West End, 1960
In the 60s of the 20th century, London received the status of a center for youth cultures, which influenced its development until the end of the century. The youth culture of the time was driven by two factors: the musical success of British performers such as The Beatls or The Rolling Stones, as well as a significant influx of immigrants from the commonwealth countries.
7. Amusement and amusement park
The youth movements of the 60s were called Swinging London, and the name of Carnaby Street became a household name on a global scale.
8. London, 1980
Londoners attached great importance to everything modern, looked to the future with optimism and became the pioneers of the Cultural Revolution. Then there were years of calm, but since the 1980s the city has regained its former significance as a youth center.
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