Leica exhibits "London Life" at Leica Store City Gallery

November 26, 2015 | Zoltan Arva-Toth | Photographers , Events | Comment |

Leica Camera is hosting an exhibition of street photography by Colin O’Brien at its new gallery space above the Leica Store City at 18 The Royal Exchange, London. The photographs, which have been selected from O’Brien’s award-winning ‘London Life’ project, were taken over several decades on his Leica rangefinder cameras. The collection will be available to view at Leica Store City until 29 January 2016, and Colin will also be holding an illustrated lecture at the gallery on Thursday 3 December. Colin will talk through the photographs he shot on his Leica camera and the stories behind them. Attendees at the event will receive a copy of Colin's famous Clerkenwell Car Crash poster. There will also be the opportunity to purchase a signed copy of the publication, London Life.

Leica Press Release

Leica exhibits ‘London Life’ by Colin O’Brien at Leica Store City gallery

Leica Camera is hosting an exhibition of street photography by Colin O’Brien at its new gallery space above the Leica Store City at 18 The Royal Exchange. The photographs, which have been selected from O’Brien’s award-winning ‘London Life’ project, were taken over several decades on his Leica rangefinder cameras. The collection will be available to view at Leica Store City until the end of January 2016, and Colin will also be holding an illustrated lecture at the gallery on Thursday 3 December.

Colin O’Brien was born in 1940s Clerkenwell and started taking photographs at the age of eight. For most of his life, he has continued to live and work in the heart of London. His images reveal a lasting insight into the lives of ordinary people. Depicting life ‘as it used to be’, O’Brien recorded images of run-down buildings awaiting demolition, and children playing unsupervised in the street.

O'Brien's photographs of working class life in London in the 50s and 60s are reminiscent of the early photojournalist approach published by magazines such as Picture Post. For O'Brien, the street becomes his stage and the passing scene a play in which we see people talking, dancing, miming and performing to an unseen audience. O'Brien's camera in those early days was a Leica 111a with a 3.5 Elmar lens.

The photographs have resulted in numerous favourable articles and reviews in periodicals and newspapers such as the Times, Guardian, Independent, Telegraph, Plays and Players and The New Statesman. He also took the photograph used for the prize-winning cover of the first edition of the novel ‘Alfie’ by Bill Naughton.

The London Life exhibition is open for public viewing until 29 January 2016.

Exhibition venue: Leica Store City Gallery, 18 The Royal Exchange, London EC3V 3LP

Tel: 020 7283 0700

Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 10.00am – 6.00pm

Colin O’Brien illustrated lecture – Thursday 3 December, 6.30pm

Leica Store City, in collaboration with Spitalfields Life, will also be hosting an illustrated lecture by Colin O'Brien on Thursday 3 December at 6.30pm (duration approximately one hour).

Colin will talk through the photographs he shot on his Leica camera and the stories behind them. Beginning in 1948, these pictures offer a compelling photographic testimony of post-war Clerkenwell. Colin still owns the beloved Leica IIIa that he used for this series, and will be bringing it along with him.

Attendees at the event will receive a copy of Colin's famous Clerkenwell Car Crash poster. There will also be the opportunity to purchase a signed copy of the publication, London Life.

To register for this event, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/london-life-with-leica-store-city-tickets-19637990759

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