Dr Samuel Johnson once said something along the lines of ‘when a person is tired of London, they are tired of life’. For me, London is a city that I will never tire of, I was born there and, although never actually lived in the city, I worked in its heart for 15 years or so. Now I live 300 miles away but still occasionally hanker for the bright lights and for one area in particular – Soho.
When I first started to work there Soho was still enmeshed in its grubby, seedy life; sex shops on every corner, strip clubs down every alley and postcard adverts for all kind of things in every telephone box for miles around! As an impressionable 19 years old this was (forbidden) heaven – all life was there.
And it still is as this project shows.
I’ve not been into film photography seriously for very long really, probably starting during the pandemic as something different to do, as a way of having to engage brain rather than just click. But since then I’ve amassed a smallish collection of different cameras at both 35mm and medium format and enjoy trying out and discovering new film stock. Consequently when I came across Cinestill’s 800t film with its enhanced sensitivity to red colours I knew that this was the film to try and capture the look and feel of Soho at night. It had to be at night because this is when the area comes alive, always has and always will. Recently Joshua K. Jackson published a fantastic phonebook “Sleepless in Soho” that, I thought, captured the essence and spirit of place in ways that most street photography does not. Possibly because of the digital nature of most photography nowadays images come out as too clean, and Soho is definitely not to be sanitised!
So, in February 2024 I booked myself a trip to London to spend a couple of nights wandering around Soho with an Olympus OM2n camera equipped with a Zuiko 50mm 1.8 lens and two rolls of Cinestill 800t to see what I could see. And what I got back from pounding the damp street of the big city blew me away. They were everything that I wanted from the trip, and the film did everything that strong halation promised.
Sometimes in photography there is also that serendipitous moment (or moments) when even mistakes add something to the overall. With one film I suddenly realised that I was still clicking away even though I thought that I had reached the end of the roll. I’d probably knocked the rewind button somehow and was suddenly taking multiple exposures without knowing it! But these images are actually some of my favourites from the night. The confusion that is there on the street is shown admirably in the image.
And on Instagram here
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Ibraar Hussain on Soho (Needless To Say)
Comment posted: 10/10/2024
The neon filled shots could be stills from a movie
I was born in London and spent most of my life there and still work there - have a love hate relationship with it. Loathe it enough to not want to live there, yet when I’m there I feel ‘home’ and love it, though it has changed for the worst over the last 14 years or so.
I used to go to college in Fitrovia (University College) and spent most of my student days around there with forays clubbing in and near SoHo.
Haha some fond some regretful drink and drug soaked memories
Comment posted: 10/10/2024
Greg Hammond on Soho (Needless To Say)
Comment posted: 10/10/2024
Chris Hooke on Soho (Needless To Say)
Comment posted: 10/10/2024
Peter Roberts on Soho (Needless To Say)
Comment posted: 10/10/2024
Even in its semi-sanitised persona Soho is still Soho. It always reminds me of my misspent younger days and makes me mourn for the old Marquee Club!
Steviemac on Soho (Needless To Say)
Comment posted: 10/10/2024
Geoff Chaplin on Soho (Needless To Say)
Comment posted: 11/10/2024
Nick Orloff on Soho (Needless To Say)
Comment posted: 11/10/2024
Great images!
I'm in London in a week or so, I've just added a night in Soho with CineStill T800, or maybe Portra 800, or maybe both, to my to-do list.
Marco Andrés on Soho (Needless To Say)
Comment posted: 11/10/2024