London Life by Colin O’Brien

I’ve just discovered Colin O’Brien’s work and got stuck on his website for half an hour. An exhibition of the photographer’s work opened at the Hackney Museum last week, showing life in London – and O’Brien’s local Hackeny, where he has lived since 1984 – over a period of more than 60 years. It’s unclear which images will be on show and if you can’t get to Hackney anyway, here’s a selection of shots from the photographer’s own website – including a few from his great Moments In History section, which is much more community-minded than it sounds, covering occasions such as Last Day of the 38 Bus and Last Day of Smoking in Shoreditch. Some of the other shots remind me a bit of Bert Hardy’s famous photographs of the Gorbals.

last_day_of_the_38_bus_-_london_2005
gas_limited-1970's
flower_lady_-_1959
cowboy_and_girlfriend_-_1960
last_day_of_smoking_-_shoreditch_july_07
lady_in_summer_dress_-_chatsworth_road_1980's

 The exhibition runs until 6 September at Hackney Museum.

One Response to “London Life by Colin O’Brien”

  1. Fi Duke
    June 30, 2014 at 10:50 am #

    thanks for the info – will definitely try and head over to the exhibition as these photos just make you stop and look don’t they. not heard of him before but would love some of these in my home

    gorgeous – they all tell such a story 🙂

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