https://spitalfieldslife.com/2026/07/14/john-claridges-french-house-portraits/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Tue, 14 Jul 2026 10:29:19 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1 https://spitalfieldslife.com/2026/07/14/john-claridges-french-house-portraits/#comment-2134130 Tue, 14 Jul 2026 10:29:19 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=207584#comment-2134130 Superb. Especially the one of Gaston.

]]> https://spitalfieldslife.com/2026/07/14/john-claridges-french-house-portraits/#comment-2133906 Tue, 14 Jul 2026 07:14:38 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=207584#comment-2133906 These are great. It’s interesting how males have a sharp focus, and women a softer, more ethereal light.
As a young woman, Soho was somewhere to pass through quickly due to frequent unsavoury comments and requests. Apart from the Buddhist restaurant, I had no reason to go there. But, like most other parts of London, it has changed. It is now a lovely place to find small, independent shops, and restaurants hidden down little streets. I think as a younger woman my experience coloured my opinions, and I probably missed the more interesting parts in my head-down rush to escape the unwanted and unsolicited offers. I do remember the little park – but it wasn’t somewhere where I would have sat and eaten my lunch, although I would do so now. However, I acknowledge that in gentrifying an area, it can lose some of its authentic self, and this is probably true of Soho too.

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