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  1. Banksy's Dalmatian by Saffron Saidi: Cover of 2017 MyLondon calendar and in 2016 exhibition. “I was ecstatic, I couldn’t believe that I’d found another Banksy!” says Saffron Saidi. She asked the man who was working in the Hoxton bar near the Banksy mural of a policeman with a Poodle to hold the lead of her Dalmatian Dotdot: “Another Banksy in Southwark also has a dog with a lead. The barman said that apparently Banksy likes dogs.” Saffron moved to London from Falmouth in 1996 and lives in Brixton. “I’ve spent most of my life in care. I had a documentary made about me in the ‘90s called Who Cares Wins.” Saffron got accepted into University of Westminster photography course but had to pull out: “I was diagnosed with learning disabilities which made the academic writing on the course extremely difficult… but my talent as a photographer was never questioned as I had an unconditional offer.” She goes to Cooltan Arts, describing it as “a lifeline”. “It keeps me alive.”
  2. Out of the blue by Beatrice: June 2017 in MyLondon calendar and in 2016 exhibition. “It was a really hot day,” says Beatrice. “I liked the blue of the sky and the white of the wall. I looked around and saw the red watering can. Perfect! It was still not quite right though. I raised my hand and it cast a strong shadow on the wall, as if I was reaching for the watering can. I was finally pleased with this composition.” Beatrice has been involved with Café Art for a couple of years, as participant and volunteer, and had a winning photograph in the 2015 calendar. “Being part of the Royal Photographic Society mentoring group through this project has given me guidance and has provided me with the opportunity to meet professionals in the photographic industry.” “Working with Café Art over the last couple of years has propelled me into different unrelated exciting new projects.” As well as Café Art, Beatrice also works with SHP, Helping Hackney Health, Mary Ward Centre and the recent theatre production of You Me Bum Bum Train. “My pessimism of the past has been replaced with optimism and my ‘can't’ has been replaced with ‘can’!”
  3. Love heart bike stand by Ella Sullivan: February 2017 in MyLondon calendar and in 2016 exhibition. "I was in New Bond Street when I happened to notice this love heart bike stand and thought it would make a great picture as it was giving out a message of love and providing a safe place to lock up your bike ." Born in London, Ella Sullivan grew up in County Kerry, Ireland. She returned to London over 20 years ago and now lives in Islington. Ella says she sometimes takes photos on her phone, but doesn’t have a real camera. She goes to art sessions run by SHP near Essex Road, Islington. “I’ve been going to SHP art group for over a year now. I was having some problems with my housing so that was why I got referred to SHP. I’ve had good support from them.” She is also doing a course with the London Hairdressing Apprenticeship Academy in Camden. "I finished doing the hairdressing course last year so now I'm working on the barbering side of it doing men's haircuts."
  4. London calling by Hugh Gary: May 2017 in MyLondon calendar and in 2016 exhibition. “This is Mayfield Lavender. I was just out on a bike ride, and I thought ‘that looks pretty good, especially the phone box in the middle of a field’. There is no phone in the box – it’s just there to look pretty.” Hugh Gary is an ex-British Army serviceman and was helped into housing by the West London Mission’s Big House, a homeless hostel for ex-servicemen. “I went overseas to a few places: all over the Middle East, Australia, Canada.” In the army for 10 years, he left in 2013. “A lot of the homeless people in London are ex-service.” Hugh lives in a self-contained flat after progressing on from the Big House hostel seven months ago. “And then it’s into the big world after that. The flat is only temporary – it’s still part of the Big House. It’s so residents can get used to paying bills.” Hugh hopes to be in his current flat until he finishes a photography course with West London University.
  6. London icons by Alana Del Valle: June 2017 in MyLondon calendar and in 2016 exhibition. "I liked the way the sculpture framed the bus,” says Alana Del Valle. “The artist who created it reminds us that metal is at times liquid or as soft as butter." Alana has been homeless off and on all her life, but is currently renting privately in what she describes as “run-down housing” and suffers from depression as a result. “This competition is invaluable in raising issues of homelessness and 'hidden' homelessness, it’s one of the crises our city is currently facing, with little or no governmental solutions.” A client at the Haringey Recovery Service run by St Mungo’s, she says she is “in the very early stages of recovery”. She finds art helps as a way of expressing emotion. “It’s a useful tool for recovery. It can be quite therapeutic. We can use the camera to show our point of view, or homeless people’s points of view of London or how they see the world, the negative or the beauty.”
  7. After the rain by Siliana: September 2017 in MyLondon calendar and in 2016 exhibition. “It was a huge rainstorm. After the rain, the cloud was still around. It was late in the day and the sun made the colour more orange. It looked very beautiful. It represented my day,” says Siliana. Siliana squats in a church in south London, but it’s “under threat” and she’s unsure of the future. She says the squat had 30 to 40 people living in it but when they had the court papers given to them many people left. “Some people have brought family and friends. With more people it is more arguments, more conflict.” She says she’s lucky to have her own room. “When I was in the shelter, two years ago, it was worse – they put me down.” Siliana was in the calendar last year and is now active in the Café Art photography mentoring group run by volunteers from The Royal Photographic Society which meets up every two weeks to learn photography skills with digital cameras.
  8. Arcadia by Keith Norris: August 2017 in MyLondon calendar and in 2016 exhibition. This photo is of a male mannequin in a shop window with Louise Danby, a fellow member from Crisis. It was taken in Hatton Garden, “which was kind of an Arcadia of gems and arts,” says Keith who says he has done quite a lot of photography over the years. Louise has had several winning photos in previous MyLondon contests, and she was the one who encouraged him to come and pick up a contest camera at St Paul’s Cathedral. He grew up in Canonbury, Islington in the 1960s when it was quieter than today, with a lot less traffic on the roads. After several years travelling in Europe he returned to London and was homeless for several years. “I was homeless from 1984 to 1992, sleeping rough on the unused railway bridge in Shoreditch. Now it’s the Overground, but in those days it had no rails and was almost impossible to get to. To get up there you had to be fighting fit.”
  9. Rays of Colour by Geraldine Crimmins: August 2017 in MyLondon calendar and in 2016 exhibition. “This is Ray of Light, a friend of mine, who is an artist just off Brick Lane.” Ray took the photo of a Dalmatian called Mr Bond which featured on last year’s MyLondon calendar cover. A substance abuse problem cost Geraldine her house and business before she finally got clean a few years ago. “I’m from Dublin but I arrived here a long time ago and I live in a housing association now. I’ve been homeless twice. And I’ve nearly lost my home a few times because of my addiction. I went to Crisis as a volunteer. I wanted something to do with my life.” She currently helps Café Art’s calendar project in Spitalfields Market, mainly helping with mentoring new vendors to gain sales skills, which was her background. “I think the calendar has empowered a lot of people. For three years now I have seen a lot of people really change their lives.”
  10. Group stretch by Siliana: In 2016 MyLondon exhibition. “It was the first day I collected the camera. I saw people starting to gather around in Trafalgar Square. The security guard said it was going to happen ‘any minute now’ but in the end I waited four hours just for the dance. A friend of mine was with me, she told me it’s something that happens every year. A dance where people enjoy, where people of all ages dance all together. This was their warm up when they were stretching.” Siliana squats in a church in south London, but it’s “under threat” and she’s unsure of the future. She says the squat had 30 to 40 people living in it but when they had the court papers given to them many people left. Siliana was in the calendar last year and is now active in the Café Art photography mentoring group run by volunteers from The Royal Photographic Society which meets up every two weeks to learn photography skills with digital cameras.
  11. The Market by Goska Calik: In 2016 MyLondon exhibition. “It’s at the market in the morning, and that’s the place where I do shopping. It’s at the market next to Commercial Road”, says Goska Calik. “I was on the way to work and they just stopped in the middle and took out my camera. Last year Goska had the winning photo as chosen by the judges and joined the RPS photography mentoring group. She says she gains a lot from it, “especially for meeting people and taking photos.” She also enjoyed meeting people that share the same passion for photography. “Yesterday I went along with Frances to take photos. That is the most important thing to not just go home and be alone there.”
  12. Nelson's Column by Richard Riley: In 2016 MyLondon exhibition. Richard Riley took this view at sunset through an arch near Nelson’s Column, Trafalgar Square. Richard has been going to Pritchard’s Road, a day centre in Tower Hamlets, for four years and says he had not done any photography before. He enjoys running a tea bar in the day centre but he has not worked in a real café. He used to be a welder of stainless steel. He has lived in London five years, and originally comes from Leeds.
  13. What now? by Laz Ozerden: October 2017 in MyLondon calendar and 2016 exhibition. Laz Ozerden took the shot close to Highbury & Islington Station. “For me this picture is like ‘I am nothing and I am everything.’” Begging in London is controversial and is officially illegal, with some charities encouraging people not to give money and instead give to a local homelessness organisation. Laz says, “How can I judge someone if I don’t know the story of the person?”, adding that it’s better even if you just talk to them. “Maybe they have been at war. Or maybe they were abused as a child.” Laz lives in Muswell Hill, north London, and came to London from Hungary in 2004. Due to alcoholism he was hospitalised for six months in 2012, but is now getting his life together again thanks to Haringey Recovery Service and St Mungo’s. “I lost everything. I had my own business as a painter decorator carpenter. I lost my wife, my car, my business, everything. Now I’m studying NVQ Level 3 as a social worker.”
  14. Drivers Wanted by Richard Fletcher: March 2017 in MyLondon calendar and in 2016 exhibition. Richard Fletcher was walking past a taxi company on Old Street: “First I just saw the bus and I thought ‘oh, right, interesting’ and then I saw the sign and I thought ‘Oh my goodness.’” Richard was doing landscaping in return for food and accommodation in East Grinstead. The job fell through and he came down to London last year. He sleeps rough in various places including King’s Cross St Pancras and Victoria. “During the summer it’s alright. I had a night shelter during the winter months, which I may revert back to if I’m still here come October/November.” “I met a fellow rough sleeper who knew about ART fitzrovia. I heard about the photography contest by chance. I was in a McDonald’s late one night in Holborn and this guy walks in and he saw me sketching and he was the one who told me about Café Art.”
  15. Tyre pile by Mia Lyons: In 2016 MyLondon exhibition. Mia Lyons took this photo in a car repair garage just off Truro Road, Palmers Green, London. “Maybe it’s a bit too deep but I thought about our consumerism and how much we throw away and use and that we have to become more kind as a society and kinder to the earth that we live from. But now we know and we can change our behaviour, it’s nothing negative it’s just making people more aware.” Mia is originally from Hamburg, Germany and has lived in London for six years. She says the last time she took photos was when she was 14. She teaches pottery at Haringey Recovery Centre, which she describes as a supportive environment. “I see it as my oasis. I was a client I started a dual diagnosis and I went there for counselling. My best friend was homeless and now she lives in a hostel. We have so much in common we stick together and we help each other out.”
  16. Michelle Goldberg says she “snuck up to the roof” of a building to get this shot while attending a function on Queen Victoria Street. “It’s a lovely view - a rooftop shot of St Paul’s Cathedral towers. I’ve watched fireworks on New Year’s Eve from there. I’m a Londoner and was born here. My family has been here for four generations. My grandparents worked in the East End markets and parents were in the rag trade, so I grew up in the industry” Michelle has a long-term medical condition and lives in temporary accommodation. “I’ve had four heart attacks and three strokes. My background is in the arts. I did my bachelors’ degree in fashion at Kingston School of Art and then I worked for a year at a fashion house in the West End before doing my Master’s at the Royal College of Art in Kensington.”
  17. Michelle Goldberg says she “snuck up to the roof” of a building to get this shot while attending a function on Queen Victoria Street. “It’s a lovely view - a rooftop shot of St Paul’s Cathedral towers. I’ve watched fireworks on New Year’s Eve from there. I’m a Londoner and was born here. My family has been here for four generations. My grandparents worked in the East End markets and parents were in the rag trade, so I grew up in the industry” Michelle has a long-term medical condition and lives in temporary accommodation. “I’ve had four heart attacks and three strokes. My background is in the arts. I did my bachelors’ degree in fashion at Kingston School of Art and then I worked for a year at a fashion house in the West End before doing my Master’s at the Royal College of Art in Kensington.”
  18. The coffee roaster by Leo Shaul: November 2017 in MyLondon calendar and 2016 exhibition. “This is George Constantinou in the Camden Coffee Shop, an independent coffee roaster in Delancy Street, Camden Town”, says Leo Shaul, who decided to approach George when he got the contest camera. Leo goes to the Haringey Recovery Services run in partnership with St Mungo’s, in North London. “I’m now an alcoholic who is trying to do something about it. Currently dry, getting involved in groups and seeing therapists and what have you. I seem to be getting on top of it which is important.” “I’ve really liked the project. It’s just nice that we’re all equal. We all had the same cameras and no one had the upper hand… I’m enormously proud to be a Londoner. There’s so much going on in London that you don’t have to pay any money for. Get a bus. If you have legs you can walk. There’s a lot to be seen out there. I love this city. I wouldn’t want to be from anywhere else.”
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