A series celebrating the talent of our friends over in the Londonist Flickr pool. Here, they introduce themselves and share their favourite London shots. Annie Mole is well known for the excellent Going Underground blog but she's also a keen photographer; one of her shots featured in our recent Thames Barrier To Teddington exhibition. We asked her to tell us a bit more about her London and her photography.
I've lived in and around London all of my life and love the city for its extremely diverse mix of people and how the very, very old jostles with the very, very new for tourists' and Londoners' eyeballs and attention.Despite what people may think, I haven't got an all encompassing knowledge about the London Underground, I've just used it a lot and written about it a lot. I like taking shots of people on the Tube. It's an amazing setting for putting the famous, the not so famous, the rich, the poor, the sober, the drunk and just plain wacky Londoners altogether in a small space they're keen to get out of as quickly as possible.I take very few "train" shots or photos of rolling stock. Mainly because I don't find the trains themselves particularly interesting. However, the two I've included are lucky shots, that I think look quite pretty. With the one at Old Street station, I'd had a few drinks but getting the sign to show through the speeding train was completely accidental. I was flattered that Wired used it to illustrate a "Silicon Roundabout" story. My house backs onto a Tube Line, so on snowy days, I'm lucky to be able to sit in my study & idly watch the trains running past my window.Also with my favourite 'people on the Tube' shots I happen to be in the right place and the right time and get out my camera quickly enough to capture a moment. I found myself standing next to comedian Stewart Lee on the tube and it was too good an opportunity to miss a shot, even though I was rushing off at the next stop. o I asked him if it was OK and got the slightly sheepish looking shot above.It's a challenge taking pictures on the Tube as it's crowded, everyone's in a rush, the lighting's poor, you can't use a flash. Yet all of those things make for interesting challenges and make the London Underground a fascinating place for photography.Browse Annie Mole's Flickrstream and follow Going Underground's Daily Diary.
