Londonist Behind The Lens: Mark Massey

A series celebrating the talent of our friends in the Londonist Flickr pool. Each week we ask a photographer to share their favourite city shots and tell us about their photography and their London. This week, meet Mark Massey, who has been commuting to London for the past 13 years.

"I concentrate on street photography as it's something I can pursue in odd moments as I go about my daily routine. It’s quite therapeutic to wander around during lunch breaks, camera in hand, just taking pictures for myself. I carry my camera around with me as often as possible, as you never know what you will come across, especially in London.

I love exploring the streets of London, and as it’s such a walkable city it’s much better on foot than by Underground — there's such a wide variety of people and architecture. My favourite area is the East End, especially around Spitalfields. I'm interested in the history of the area and the juxtaposition with the City.

I like to think about the placement of elements within the frame, and a lot of my shots have clean, simple compositions. So I hope I am developing my own natural style.

I use a DSLR and my preferred lens is a fixed 24mm f/2.8. I don’t like "sneaky shots" on the street so I am always up front and obvious about what I am doing.

Recently I've been working on a couple of street photography projects in London - one is about the erosion of public space and the rise of private space, and the other is about the graphic annotations you often see on the pavements and which symbolise the constant development of the city.

I shoot for my own pleasure, so I am free to shoot what interests me. I constantly look for little themes and series so that I can pair or group images rather than having lots of random shots."

Take a look at Mark Massey's street photography projects on his website or browse his Flickrstream.

Have a rifle through the Behind the Lens archives and meet more great London photographers.