Back to Hackney Wick

It had been a while since I wanted to do a shoot in Hackney Wick, but there was always something getting in the way. So, when our staff and alumni awayday brought me back to the area, I found myself once again wandering through its charm on a summer evening and knew I had to finally give East London a first go, before summer — and whatever free time I have from academic life — disappeared.
And I was lucky to find Kat, a brilliant aerial dancer, who brought the physical dialogue with the place to another level. She was tireless, completely committed, and very quickly outpaced me with a succession of extraordinary — and at times seriously demanding — moves and poses.
We weren’t planning to shoot here; we were simply passing through on our way to another spot. But the colours, the light and the mood on the bridge made me stop. Kat immediately took hold of the bridge beam like this and held her pose for a few seconds, until the awkward angle and the rough metal surface became too much.
It was windy on the bridge, so I couldn’t keep the umbrella on the light stand, and the pavement was too narrow to find the right spot for the light in the rush of the moment. And among all the extraordinary poses Kat gave me that day, this was hardly the most spectacular. Yet somehow, it is this image that stays with me. Perhaps because of that fleeting smile and the sense of something genuine in that moment, high above the River Lee Navigation. 
Maybe this is what keeps bringing me back to photographing people — the chance to notice something genuine when it happens. To be present, to observe, to connect. The rest should come secondary.

From the series Here We Are.
With Kat at Hackney Wick, London, July 2026.