Famous "Streathamites"

Streatham has had a few famous people living within its borders, one of which paid a surprise visit to St. Leonard's recently - Samuel Johnson.

While Samuel Johnson, the author of the Dictionary of the English Language, didn’t have his own residency in Streatham he was a frequent visitor at Henry and Hester Thrale’s country house Streatham Park. Being their cherished friend he had his own apartment at his disposal and was part of the Thrale’s intellectual circle.

As a devout Anglican Samuel Johnson regularly attended church at St Leonard’s during his Streatham years between 1765 and 1781, and legend has it that after his last visit he kissed the fountain to say good bye to his beloved Streatham. To commemorate Johnson's tercentanary and his long-standing relationship with St. Leonard's church there was a re-enactment of this last visit to the church, which I had the pleasure to document.
Have a look at Samuel Johnson below!

Symbol of remembrance

Due to a holiday and being tied up with other commitments I haven’t been photographing much on Streatham High Road for a few weeks. However, with Remembrance Sunday coming up I thought that it would be good to take some portraits of people wearing poppies as this symbol of remembrance very clearly marks a particular time in the year. To my surprise there weren’t very many people at all wearing this symbolic flower on Wednesday last week, and for the first time during this project I went home with not a single portrait!

Don’t despair I thought to myself and was back at my regular portrait spot on Remembrance Sunday. This time there were at least a few more poppy wearing people out and about but for the first half hour every single one I asked declined to have their portrait taken. So, when I eventually found a person who was happy with me taking their picture I was very relieved and thankful! It is funny but often it is this first person who changes the whole dynamic- suddenly other people agree on having their picture taken as well. This time the same happened, and in the end I had several wonderful portraits of people in Streatham wearing the poppy to remember the sacrifices made by so many in times of war.

Lastly, today I also would like to say a big THANK YOU to everybody who has participated in my project - without you it would not be possible!

Victor

Carole

Ross

Dot & Pat

Andrew

Jonathan & Vicky

Transformation

A couple of weeks ago, on the other side of the Atlantic in Woodstock, NY, I showed some of the images from my Streatham High Road project to a few photographers. I was very surprised, to say the least, when a fellow photographer from Canada told me that he lived in Streatham in the 70s. I thought it was quite amazing to travel to another continent and there by coincidence I meet somebody who has a connection to Streatham!

Bill told me that he didn’t recognise Streatham when he saw my shop front pictures as a lot of things have changed over the years- the demographics have become much more diverse, shops closed down and new ones opened, and some buildings were demolished. Thinking about the transformation an area goes through over the years, I was thinking about all the changes that have happened on Streatham High Road in just the short time frame I have been doing this project- in a city like London there seems to be constant change and adjustment! To name just a few, the MI5 building was demolished (see my previous entry), the White Lion pub re-opened after a face lift, and a couple of cab offices changed their look and owner as well.

Thinking of all the changes reminded me of the role photography plays in documenting the world we live in- the images we take today are interesting now but will be increasingly fascinating as time goes by.

Airport Services

Cosy Cars becomes Southside Cars

Unexpected meanings

When taking back some prints to one of the newsagents on Streatham High Road last week, I got talking with the owner a bit more about the Road and my project. We were talking about history when I learnt that the name of his shop “Indus” was actually chosen for a reason, which had not been apparent to me.

I was utterly unaware that there is a 3,180km-long river called “Indus” which originates in the Tibetan plateau and merges into the Arabian Sea near Karachi, Pakistan. In ancient times this river was known as Sindhus river and, hence, one of the provinces along the river was given the name Sindh. Sindh is a prosperous province in the southeast of Pakistan, and historically this province is home to the Sindhis, a socio-ethnic group of people with their own language- Sindhi.

Being Sindhi and living thousands of miles away from his family and cultural roots, the name of his shop represents one of the links to Sultan’s roots and, moreover, it represents a subtle hint to the ethnic diversity of Streatham High Road.

Obstacles

This summer, it seems, Streatham High Road (SHR) has seen more than its normal share of street works. The construction site replacing worn-out Victorian mains, which slowly makes its way north from the Norbury end and the environmental improvement works between Becmead Avenue and Woodbourne Avenue have caused incredible traffic jams.

When photographing along SHR, there have always been times in the day when it was quite challenging to get a good shop front picture without a car being in the way. However, now there are some stretches on the High Road where the traffic hardly ever breaks up and taking pictures of some shops and buildings has become extremely difficult and frustrating.

I still think that SHR is more than a traffic-choked drive-thru road but there are days when I am in despair because I just don’t manage to get the shot I need.

However, all this is for a higher good I know- to reduce the leakage of water and to transform SHR to a better place for pedestrians and cyclists . Therefore, I do my best to be understanding and patient in the meantime…and please forgive me for swearing when yet another car was in the way of my perfect shot...

Thiago

When shooting on SHR one night last week I by chance ran into Thiago who is one of the street cleaners working on the High Road.

Being from Brazil originally, Thiago has been in London for about a year. He has a degree in history from a Brazilian university and came to London to do a masters in Biblical Archaeology. While improving his English and waiting for the paper work for the course to be completed he, like most of us, needs to earn a living. So, when somebody told him that street cleaners are in short supply that is the job he went for. Hence, Thiago is one of the street cleaners team now, and several days of the week you find him being out there in his uniform, looking after the cleanliness of the High Road, being happy and cheerful.

Appreciation

Streatham High Road has several quite distinct sections one of which has a strong African influence with the majority of people working in the shops here and living in the flats above being from Somalia and Algeria. This stretch of road is characterised by small and independent shops- many with a colourful shop front.

To thank people for their participation in the project I usually take prints back after taking their portrait or after taking pictures of their shops. Doing this I have noticed that particularly in this area of the High Road the shop owners and/or the people working in the shops are very happy and proud of their shop when they look at the pictures I give them - often they keep the print(s) in a visible location in the shop. When taking back pictures there are sometimes also small surprises such as Lal kindly offering a few pieces of fruit from his shop as a sign of appreciation for the prints – a very nice gesture indeed.

Top Secret

Looking like a very ordinary British high road at first sight, Streatham High Road has its fair share of surprises when looking a little closer. One of these surprises is a building, which isn’t anymore - 512-522 Streatham High Road. According to locals and www.secret-bases.co.uk this used to be the address of MI5’s car servicing depot for many years, “hidden” in the very public and ordinary surroundings of Streatham High Road. However, the days of Streatham’s “top secret” building are over and in June 2009 the building was demolished. The new development will be a very ordinary one indeed- a Self Storage facility. One could say the secrets remain – this time of a more personal kind rather than the government…

Why?

When shooting on Streatham High Road many people ask me: “Why? Why are you doing a project on Streatham High Road?”

People seem to be astonished and surprised and some even paranoid as to what I am doing. While you can read about my predominant reason for doing a project on Streatham High Road in my first blog entry, I also realized at one point that by doing the project on Streatham High Road (SHR) Streatham began to feel much more like my community- a place where I recognise people, say “hello”, smile and have a brief chat with one or the other person. To me this comes as a bit of a surprise in a big city such as London but it shows that in fact the majority of people around us are very approachable and that in a way we are all the same. Hence, coming out of ones shell and engaging with our surroundings no matter where we live is very much worthwhile - it makes our neighbourhood a friendlier and more positive place to be.

Have a look below at some of the wonderful people I have met on SHR!

Selina

Isabelle

Lawson
Dean and Tom
Alfie
Sylvia and Barbara
Nevel
Mbark
Yvonne
David
Bruce
Phoebe
Andy
Iqra and Ama
Mr and Mrs Patel
Michelle
Arthur
Jasmina and Adam
Yvette
Adnan and Sevengul
Sheila

Streatham Ice Rink

When photographing on Streatham High Road I, for the most part, prefer blue skies and sun in the early morning or evening hours in order to bring out the colours and texture of the shop fronts and buildings. Unfortunately, the weather forecasts have proven to be not exactly something one can call accurate. Thus, I have had to be a bit more spontaneous with the planning- i.e. set the alarm-clock at an early hour and look out of the window to see what is happening with the weather.

One building I wanted to capture in the early morning sun is Streatham Ice Rink. So, when I woke up at 5:30am on Friday morning and spotted a blue sky I jumped out of bed, got on my bike and spent a couple of hours photographing the ice rink.

Streatham Ice Rink is a fine Art Deco building, which was designed by Robert Cromie and opened its doors on 26 February 1931. It is the second oldest ice arena in London. However, its days seem to be numbered as there is a multimillion-pound regeneration scheme planned to create a new ice rink, leisure centre and housing development (www.sisag.org .uk).

Summer afternoon

It was a sunny and hot summer afternoon on Streatham High Road (SHR) yesterday.

When cycling along SHR it seemed as if most people were enjoying their weekend with activities other than shopping- at the Streatham Festival on Streatham Common (http://www.streathamfestival.com), in front of the local pub having a beer or by having a picnic or BBQ in the park or garden...which left shop owners with a slow afternoon. Such as these two show, all there was to do was to take it easy and keep each other company in the attempt to make time until closing time pass somehow.

The Streatham High Road Project

Streatham High Road is located in the South London borough of Lambeth, and it is what is locally believed to be the longest High Road in the UK and a contestant to be the longest High Road in Europe. In addition, it was voted as Britain's Worst Street in a 2002 poll by CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment).

Being part of the A23 from London to Brighton, Streatham High Road for many seems to be just a traffic choked drive-thru road on their way to their final destination, and a road with little appeal. However, by slowing down to observe, experience, and capture this part of London with my photography, I am hoping to show that it is, in fact, a perfect microcosm of multicultural Britain where an incredible mix of ethnicities share their living space.

You are very welcome to post any feedback and comments you have on this blog- I am curious to read about it! I hope you enjoy my blog about the neighbourhood I live in!