Thursday night last week I went to the launch of Mike Seaborne‘s book, ‘The Isle of Dogs: Before the big money‘ appropriately held on the Isle of Dogs in Cafe Vert at George Green’s School, a few yards from Island Gardens DLR station.
Mike is an old friend who I met not long after he was taking the pictures in this book, and we then found that we had both been photographing the area at the same time. But while I was just an occasional visitor to the area with a general interest in what was happening across London (and in across Docklands in particular), he became very much more involved in the community of this particular area, as this work shows. Of course, as you can see from his web site, he has also photographed widely across London and elsewhere.
Image Copyright Mike Seaborne
It was good to see this work published by Hoxton Mini Press, who I think have done a fine job with this volume which is a part of their series ‘Vintage Britain‘. You can judge for yourself on their web site, which shows the cover and ten double-page spreads from the work, and says:
“Now home to Canary Wharf and global finance, the Isle of Dogs was once the beating heart of industrial East London. These photographs, taken between 1982 and 1987, show the island just before the big money moved in and the area was forever transformed.”
and of course you can buy a copy on-line.
Mike began to photograph London in 1979 and until 2011 was Senior Curator of Photographs at the Museum of London. A group of photographers including Mike and myself have also organised a number of shows over the years, and you can still see work from several of these, including ‘Another London‘, on the web, and much more of Mike’s work on his own web site. Back in 2002 we set up a site together to celebrate Urban Landscape photography, featuring our own work and that of other photographers from the UK and around the world.
A few of my own pictures from the Isle of Dogs can be seen in the preview of my City to Blackwell on Blurb, the first of five books in my Docklands series. With both of us wandering around the area at about the same time, there are a few similar images. What photographer could resist this shop-front? Here is one of several pictures I took:
you can see Mike’s in his book, and also on his 80sIslandPhotos.
Mike has continued to be involved with the community he photographed back in the 80’s and this was evident at the opening, from which I’ll perhaps post a few more pictures later.
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My London Diary : London Photos : Hull : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
All photographs on this and my other sites, unless otherwise stated, are taken by and copyright of Peter Marshall, and are available for reproduction or can be bought as prints.
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