East London Photo Stories

To mark their fifth anniversary Hoxton Mini Press are publishing a compilation book that will feature photography from the bestselling book series 'East London Photo Stories.' Appearing alongside new text and a map of East London showing where the projects were taken, each chapter of selected images captures a unique aspect of the area's colourful character: from Hackney's eccentric inhabitants and tranquil waterways to famous flower markets, 1980s Dalston and wild nightlife in Shoreditch. Featuring work by Dougie Wallace, Zed Nelson, Jenny Lewis, David Campany & Polly Braden, David George and many more.

* Columbia Road is the home to London's most iconic flower market. Come closing time, Johanna Neurath turns her lens to what is left behind - the discarded flowers, the used packaging, the buckets of water - reminding us that there is poetry to be found in the places we often ignoreEast London photographer Johanna Neurath has ventured down Hackney's Columbia Road nearly every Sunday for the past ten years to visit its flower market. Rather than depicting the obvious prettiness of people and their flowers Neurath turns her attention to the color and pattern left behind as the market clears out, focusing on strangely beautiful displays in gutters, hazy reflections in windows and the abstract forms created by cigarette butts and polystyrene cups strewn across the road. This book fuses still life and street photography to celebrate the beauty and chaos of one of East London's most famous markets.

I've Lived in East London for 86 1/2 years is the story of Joseph Markovitch, a vulnerable old man with a great sense of humour who has lived in Hoxton for his entire life. He left only once, to go to the seaside with his mother. Joe loves Nicolas Cage films, has five sugars in his tea, and he has quite bad catarrh. He is an original 'Eastender'. Dealing with quintessential subject matter such as childhood, art, work, relationships and religion in a playful but touching way, Joseph unknowingly provides a thought-provoking commentary on the state of the modern world.

Urban Swimmers is the second in the series of East London Photo Stories by Hoxton Mini Press. Each book in the series is about Hackney and its surroundings - one of the capital's most rich and diverse areas - and features the work of both emerging and established photographers. Madeleine Waller is a local East London Photographer whose work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery. The book, which includes quotes taken from interviews with the swimmers, gives a touching and humorous insight into the world of those who escape the city to swim in conditions.

This playful photo series by local photographer Mimi Mollica thrusts the viewer straight into the inspiring, frustrating, wild and living streets of east London. Abstract, colourful snapshots of people, fabrics, architecture, wildlife and everyday objects together tell a story of a vibrant, ever-changing community. Mollica's (sometimes extreme) close-ups are full of warmth and spontaneity; making us yearn for a time when close proximity to strangers was inherent in our day-to-day lives.

Nicholas Sack's black-and-white photographs of office workers capture solitary individuals and set them against the imposing architecture of modern London. The work is beautiful but also unnerving and reminds us of the alienation that can be felt in the heart of a city as well as obliquely commenting on the moral uncertainty of some of the office workers in the City. The book is accompanied by an introductory essay by Ian Sinclair.

The third in the East London Photo Stories series by Hoxton Mini Press. Each title in this series will be the same size and numbered, forming a collectable set. This is a photo documentary project that looks at the changing face of East London. Hackney, though crime-ridden, poor and dilapidated, is also now London's trendiest neighbourhood, and was home to the 2012 Olympics. Zed Nelson, a renowned photojournalist who both resides and grew up in the area, looks at some of the bizarre, often painful, contradictions caused by this rapid gentrification.