These are stories in progress and ideas that I am presently working on. I may be unsure of the actual direction of the story as I feel my way into the idea. It’s just intended as a sketch pad for me to refer to every now and then.

 

I've started to shoot pictures at the BB Café as part of my ongoing project about the Lea Bridge Road. The café is a hub for the community and many claim it’s the best café around. BB stands for Big Brother and it’s owned by Ahmet and Mustafa Pektas who have been serving up much loved food for over 20 years.
On the junction of Lea Bridge Road and Church Road is Potters House, a former Savoy cinema built in 1928, where hundreds of members of the Christian Fellowship Church now come to worship. Not only does the church offer local people a place to worship but some travel from far and wide to attend the services. Central to my story is the work carried out by Pastor Chris, but it’s also about the impact the church has on the local community and the people who attend services. Click on the picture to see more.

The Lea Bridge Road (A104) extends from the Whipps Cross roundabout in Waltham Forest down to the Lea Bridge roundabout in Clapton, Hackney, London. It crosses over the River Lea which was first bridged in 1745. Today a journey down the Lea Bridge Road offers a visual wealth of diverse culture, food, social change, industry, commerce, migration, fashion and leisure. It also offers 20mph speed limits, traffic jams, bus and cycle lanes, parking restrictions and dozens of cameras to enforce all of these. I am using black and white film in a vintage Rolleiflex to shoot this project as I have found that people are attracted to this camera and often approach me to ask me what I am doing. They are more intrigued than threatened by my presence as a photographer. Many of the pictures from this ongoing story are on exhibition on the fencing outside the Lea Bridge Library from August 3rd 2025. Click on the picture above for the story in full.

As part of the Lea Bridge Road project, I try to give everyone I photograph a print of the black and white picture and then photograph them with it in colour. If nothing else happens to the whole project at least each person has a print and I get to see their smiles.

In a converted disused carpet factory hundreds of people come to worship in the Jamia Masjid Ghousia Mosque. The building has been lovingly converted to suit its new purpose.  Some local shops are closed temporarily with a ‘gone to pray’ sign as people take time to worship. The mosque is sited almost halfway along the Lea Bridge Road and is central to the community. This is a story about the people who attend those who work there and the impact their work has on the community. Click on the picture to see more.

 
 
 
 
 
All Rights Russell Boyce