Journeys through London – from the bus
I’ve had a rather enduring obsession with observing London from the vantage point of the top deck of the bus. It all began when I started taking the bus from my home in North London to work in West London to escape being enclosed in a crowded narrow metal tube hurtling 60km underground. I thought I would read the newspapers or do some work on the way, but as I peered out of the misty windows I was presented with a view that I was drawn to ⏤ and my journey took on a new purpose. This is how my series from the London bus commenced.
Initially I envisaged making a series of my commute on one bus route ⏤ but ultimately I abandoned this approach and decided to explore the London streetscape from multiple routes at different times of the day. This variegated journey created a composite portrait of London streets and became An Elevated View.
I thought that was the end of bus projects, but several years after finishing an Elevated View I started commuting on the bus again and returned to the original focus of the commute. So just one route and delineated by going to the office and returning home each day. This led to two new projects, A London Commute, followed by Action or Extinction.
So what has kept me on the bus? Well firstly I like the constraints of framing being determined by where I sit on the bus and when and where it stops and what transpires below. The only control I have is to observe and react to what I see. It can be a moment that passes quickly or one that remains for longer ⏤ and all the time the trajectory of the bus determines what comes together in the frame.