A Lovely Bunch of Londoners

As someone who spent the first 23 years of her life in a small suburb upstate New York where people make small talk with strangers, chat with their neighbours and smile at everyone in the streets (and possibly utter a “good morning” in passing), one of the biggest challenges I had when I moved to London back in 2007 was adapting to the people.

They’re really a warm bunch when you get to know them, but being a big city of some 8 million faces from hundreds of countries, the need to carve out a personal bubble is understandable. You get used to it after a while, though, this lack of eye contact, the awkward closeness on the tube, the reluctance to speak to strangers.

Despite this, for me, the people are the greatest part of London – the languages and accents, the diversity in every sense of the word, the fashion, the expressions of creativity, etc. When someone lets you into their bubble, as people do when I interview them for LLO, you get a real sense of what this city is made of and what you find is something truly inspiring.

Other times, it’s fun to sit back and observe life in action. It’s been a while since I’ve posted a series images of Londoners from the Flickr pool. I’ve missed picking out my favourite shots as well as sharing the talent of London’s fabulous street photographers. So that’s what I’m going to do now:

Photo: Matching nicely by John Kortland

Photo: Rows and rows by John Kortland

Photo: Sensible shoes by John Kortland

Photo: Black and white in colour by John Kortland

Photo: Yami Gautam, Bollywood Actress by John Kortland

Photo: For richer, for poorer by John Kortland

Photo: Happy face by John Kortland

Photo: People of Soho: The fashion retailer, Lorna, in Bridle Lane by Pete Zelewski

Photo: Exhaust fumes by John Kortland

Photo: Tahnee-Barbican by Becky Frances

Photo: People of Soho, the celebrity hairdresser – with a client list that includes Sienna Miller, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kiera Knightley and Johnny Depp it’s hairdresser Johnnie Sapong in Marylebone Passage by Pete Zelewski