Days Out With Colin O’Brien
In recent years, Contributing Photographer Colin O’Brien & I clocked up over fifty assignments working in partnership. His death in August has given me cause to look back over all the adventures that we had together and today I publish this small gallery of some of my favourite photographs that he took for Spitalfields Life in 2011, 2012 & 2013. Colin always said to me, ‘I’ll send you a few extra so you have a choice,’ and – invariably – more than two hundred photographs would arrive around midnight and I would spend the long hours of the night making my selection. It was an exciting process because there would be photographic gems like these to be discovered.
At the Italian Parade, Clerkenwell, June 2011
Olive Besagni, Film Editor, Clerkenwell, July 2011
Bruno Besagni, Artist in Plaster Casts, Clerkenwell, August 2011
The Fly Pitchers of Spitalfields, October, 2011
Jason Cornelius John, Street Musician, Spitalfields, October 2011
The Fly Pitchers of Spitalfields, October, 2011
Mr Gil, Street Preacher, Spitalfields, November 2011
Viscountess Boudica of Bethnal Green, November 2011
Gary Aspey, Wheel Truer, Spitalfields, December 2011
Henry Chapman, Jack of All Trades, Gina’s Restaurant, December 2011
Gina Christou of Gina’s Restaurant, Bethnal Green Rd, January 2012
Brian Welch, Gina’s Restaurant, Bethnal Green Rd, January 2012
Julia Sparks, Gina’s Restaurant, Bethnal Green Rd, January 2012
Stuart Faulkner with his sons Luke & Ben, E Pellicci, Bethnal Green December 2012
Quentin Croucher, E Pellicci, Bethnal Green, December 2012
Nevio Pellicci, E Pellicci, Bethnal Green, December 2012
Teresa Kenny, E Pellicci, Bethnal Green, December 2012
Smithfield, Christmas Eve 2012
Rodney Archer, E Pellicci Christmas Party, Bethnal Green, 2012
Clerkenwell Fire Station, February, 2013
Clerkenwell Fire Station, February 2013
Lyndsay Hooper, Hula Hoop Festival, Mile End, May 2013
Andrew Holmes, Aldgate Press, Aldgate, June 2013
Lauren Gerstal, E5 Bakehouse, London Fields, July 2013
Photographs copyright © Estate of Colin O’Brien
I will be reminiscing about my collaborations with Colin O’Brien at Unit G Gallery, 12a Collent St, Hackney, E9 6SG, on Thursday 20th October at 6:30pm as part of the current retrospective of his photography taken outside London, THIS ENGLAND.
Such great faces. You can tell that he cared about these people, and that they trusted him. R.I.P., Colin O’Brien.
These photographs are all about the subject. They are unforced and natural. It takes a special skill to achieve that.
Colin had the knack of being able to see a great subject to photograph, and in the future I believe that his photographs will be regarded as an important record of the lives and environment of this area of a sadly disappearing part of London.
The first thing I do every morning, is to look on my IPad to read and enjoy the days offering from “Spitalfield Life” to which Colin’s photography played an important part.
Thank you Colin, you will be very much missed.
Such intimate moments in other people’s lives. Thank you, I enjoyed sharing them.
Once again, thank you soo much for your wonderful caring photography..
Lovely portraits, what a great legacy
Every one of these portraits is a gem, and a tribute to Colin’s genius with people and his camera.
A treat it is to see these again.
Taking a photo of somebody is a spit second of their lives, that moment captured. This a fleeting relationship with the camera, but more essential a relationship with the photographer. Colin must have been someone that people trusted in a very short space of time. This couldn’t have been just ‘charm’ or ‘charisma’, it was more, a generous slice of human connectedness. compassion and vulnerability. Colin was an exceptional person, the photos are proof.
Wonderful photos, Colin had a great talent. Valerie
This collection of Colin’s work clearly illustrates his skill, both as a photographer and as a communicator. These pictures look easy but to get such pictures of people at ease with the camera pointing at them takes a great deal of empathy with the subject and skill with the camera. I look forward to seeing his work at Unit G very soon.
Great,will try and make it.
Great to see these portraits… love them… and the way everyone always looks so relaxed & comfortable in Colin’s work. More, please, of this lovely legacy.
What wonderful memories for you and us all. See you at the church in November for the service to a man who enriched our lives.
Tragic the toll 5 years on the streets have taken on Jason Cornelius John.