Throwback Thursday... 01/04/2021

Unreliably Dark Tales from a below average Tabloid Photographer 1988/89.

London Transport

It seemed to me when working in London in the late 80s that everything was constantly crashing. Cars, trains, Dust Bin Lorries, London seemed like the wild west, and I was quite often dispatched to photograph the carnage. see more below

DustCart, Bad Day

Derailment in South London.

Thankfully not everything that I photographed was tragic, but I did spend a lot of time working on the aftermath of events such as Kings Cross Fire and the Clapham rail disaster, following up stories and collecting photos of people who were sadly involved, always the worst job. These were tragic and horrible events that were quite stressful to work on, you had to be quite cut throat if you wanted to get that exclusive photo, something I wasn't great at. I did have to photograph one poor chap who was caught up in the Kings Cross fire. He had terrible burns to his face and his hands, life changing injuries. What made thise story even more tragic was that he was a talented musician who would now struggle to make a living in the business he loved, or ever play guitar again. He was a lovely guy and I was asked to photograph him holding, well almost cuddling his white Stratocaster guitar (the same colour/guitar brand that I now own). He was thankfully happy to do this, and with his hands covered in bandages it made quite a striking image. The tabloid mag that ran the story, placed my pics next to photos of him taken at the hospital, with a blackened and scarred face, and also placed next to photos of the interior of Kings Cross taken the day after the disaster. It was quite a striking layout. Unfortunately he hated the story, he'd been hoping the story would be used in one of the quality broadsheets, but alas, the tabloids were the only ones interested at this time (around a year after). He was on the road to recovery though, and I hope the piece helped him at least in his bid to get proper compensation . Although I have the magazine and photos I don't feel comfortable publishing them here, but here are a few of the other photos that I took and had published.