I set off down Stoke Newington High Street about 10pm and walked through Dalton and Shoreditch before turning around on Brick Lane in the early hours. The man with the white beak seemed to be following me around which was a bit of a concern but turned out to be quite handy as it took me three goes to get him in focus.
I’m tidying up the archive and found some fairly recent London street pictures. I don’t remember taking quite a few of them but the usual subjects are covered and a lot of it’s wonky so they must be mine.
The train down to London on Saturday had those rare sliding windows in the doors. I noticed this as we approached King’s Cross and took a few slow-shutter pictures out into the night. We passed industrial buildings, homes, offices, trees, trains, the Arsenal stadium and the last few East Coast Main Line stations.
I went to Brighton on Wednesday to take pictures for some new Lifeboats ads. I arrived at London Bridge station much earlier than I needed to for my 07:12 train so wandered round outside for a bit taking these pictures. The first one sadly at 05:17 and the last, through the train window, at 07:41 as the sun came up over cars parked at Gatwick Airport.
The pavements are suddenly busy now I’m back in London. Bicycles weave in and out and dogs run in packs as well as on their own.
Most of these pictures were shot over the last couple of weeks on Kingsland Road between the City and Stoke Newington. There’s a few from Clissold Park and some on the south bank of the Thames. What felt like one very long walk from Spitalfields to Soho is also featured.
Pictures from my travels towards the end of 2015, through London, West Yorkshire and the United Arab Emirates.
The bleeding man eventually sat up and was flown away in a helicopter ambulance (I have no idea how he was injured). The prostrate boy in the bagel shop looked like he was messing about but you never know.
On Friday I photographed a friend’s wedding in Dubai on the shores of the Persian Gulf. The day after, the celebrations were to continue in an executive box at the Emirates Rugby Sevens tournament just outside the city and they kindly invited me along.
Being neither much of a rugby fan, or particularly sociable when it comes to corporate hospitality, I applied for a photographers pass before leaving the UK and packed my 600mm as well as my suncream with the intention of watching the action through the lens pitchside.
The wedding day was a long one and my phone pedometer reckoned I’d walked 13 miles. Much of this was desperately trying to find angles where the two video cameramen weren’t in shot. I eventually got to bed at 3am on the Saturday morning and my alarm went off almost immediately four and half hours later.
The photo pass for the rugby now seemed like a very bad idea but I was committed so off I went.
As soon as I got into the stadium and dropped my bags behind the goals I was hemmed in by the Canadian team which had just come out for the warm-up. The players were enormous, intense and impressive in the light and heat and a different proposition to the footballers I’m used to seeing at such close quarters. Over the next few hours, I mostly had my back to the match action and concentrated instead on the details of the other teams’ preparations for the short, sharp 14 minute games coming thick and fast.
I also snapped the occasional cross-dressing or twin-hatted fan as they caught my eye.
 
Simon Mooneyphoto 