Pensioners United

Contributing Photographer Phil Maxwell has always shown an empathy with seniors, as demonstrated by these magnificent pictures of old ladies in Whitechapel. Now he has made a film on this subject PENSIONERS UNITED produced in collaboration with Hazuan Hashim, which has its premiere at the East End Film Festival this Friday 27th April. Centenarians Max Levitas and Beattie Orwell, and nonagenarian Sophie Spielman who have been interviewed in these pages are to be seen in this feature-length documentary celebrating the contribution of seniors to society. Click here to book.

Photographing daily on the streets of Spitalfields and Whitechapel for the last thirty years, Phil Maxwell has taken hundreds of pictures of old ladies – of which I publish a small selection of favourites here today. Some of these photos of old ladies were taken over twenty years ago and a couple were taken this spring, revealing both the continuity of their presence and the extraordinary tenacity for life demonstrated by these proud specimens of the female sex in the East End. Endlessly these old ladies trudge the streets with trolleys and bags, going about their business in all weathers, demonstrating an indomitable spirit as the world changes around them, and becoming beloved sentinels of the territory.

“As a street photographer, you cannot help but take photos of these ladies.” Phil admitted, speaking with heartfelt tenderness for his subjects, “In a strange kind of way, they embody the spirit of the street because they’ve been treading the same paths for decades and seen all the changes. They have an integrity that a youth or a skateboarder can’t have, which comes from their wealth of experience and, living longer than men, they become the guardians of the life of the street.”

“Some are so old that you have an immediate respect for them. These are women who have worked very hard all their lives and you can see it etched on their faces, but what some would dismiss as the marks of old age I would describe as the beauty of old age. The more lines they have, the more beautiful they are to me. You can just see that so many stories and secrets are contained by those well-worn features.”

“I remember my darkroom days with great affection, because there was nothing like the face of an old lady emerging from the negative in the darkroom developer – it was as if they were talking to me as their faces began to appear. There is a magnificence to them.”

Photographs copyright © Phil Maxwell

You may also like to take a look at

Beattie Orwell, Centenarian

Max Levitas, Communist

Sophie Spielman, Shorthand Typist