All shots this week from Portobello Road. I know, that’s not that unusual for me as most of my shots come from there but I explain that a bit later..
What I most love about this street is the variety of people you see. You’ve still got the old school locals but you also now have the new Notting Hillbillies, and the posho Europeans who moved here, and the tourists and the Rastas and the West London fashionistas and an entire mix of cultures and communities all rubbing shoulders. There maybe a few less characters around than there used to be but it is very rare I do not spot someone on my daily walk that is not worth capturing.
As I have walked down Portobello almost every day for the last 20 years and taken squillions of shots ( yes, I know, it’s a lot) I am starting to think has anyone taken more photos along this one road for a longer period than me? Maybe I’m the Portobello photo guy?
This guy who you see with the old fashioned camera in the shot above possibly thinks that as well. In a somewhat ironic moment he actually stopped me and asked if he could take my picture. I said, sure, I just took yours.
Last year when I was ill I had to stay local so my neighbourhood became my world. I could just about get to Portobello and back and I remember thinking, well if this is it and I can’t get further than this one road, it might as well be this one.
Portobello has a vibe and an energy to it unlike any other street I know and although it’s not as busy as it used to be and the demographic of the people who frequent it has massively changed since I have been here it still has a real buzz to it, especially on Saturdays which feels like a mini festival every weekend.
Additional:
I wrote this before the Ukrainian invasion yesterday and now when I look at these shots today I just see people going about their daily lives, going shopping, going to work, hanging out, living a normal life, just as they would have been doing over there, and then in a single instant they are plunged into total chaos and horror. Their lives are now under threat and they will have to fight for their very survival. It is no different to if it happened here to us. We must see that. We must support them. We cannot abandon them to this fate.