This is an ongoing portrait study of Londoners on the move in the London Underground and Overground by Frode Hegland & Enamul Hoque.
It is a look at the melting pot of humanity that makes up the populations of London as they go about their daily lives, on their way to work, to home, to meet friends, to meet lovers and so on.
We started shooting this project in 2012, the year The Olympics came to London, as a dedication to this great city we call home, and we started this site in 2018.
A sample of earlier photographs are available. Enamul passed away in 2022 and Frode Hegland continues this work in his memory and honour.
‘All my personal feelings about London has been put into flux since the Brexit vote in 2016. I have seen the mainstream narrative change dramatically of London and of the UK as a whole. It has raised a lot of personal questions about my own identity, belonging, how and where we belong as children of migrants and of the wider diaspora community’
Enamul Hoque
‘London is my home and it is the heart of what I move through. Since London is such a melting pot with such strong international connections, it now looks like London is leaving Britain more than it is leaving the EU, and I hope we can re-integrate over time, and get along and recognise ourselves in those sitting opposite us as we move through life.’
Frode Hegland
Initially photographs were only taken of someone seated naturally opposite, we do not sit down with the express purpose of taking a photograph, nor do we travel with the only purpose of taking pictures.
Starting late 2023 permission was asked–and always given (so far)–and photographs are no longer of every person I sit opposite, only when the subject and moment makes sense.
All pictures are taken with a professional camera, there are no ‘sneak’ pictures using a smartphone. As such, these are all high quality photographs which can be printed large for display, barring a few of the very early ones. The current camera is a Leica Q2. Photographs are uploaded in rough chronological order.
To follow this on Instagram, along with Frode Hegland’s Fleeting Moment series of works: www.instagram.com/frodehegland
Contact frode@hegland.com to request a high resolution picture of yourself if you find yourself here,
or to ask me to take your picture down if you prefer.