Learning New Things About London

A Book-in-Progress

Grills are a class signifier. Brixton Market, London.

By Joel Schalit

It was a first for London. That is, the London I grew up in.

Exiting a Jewish bakery in Golders Green, an elderly, Ashkenazi man in sweatpants and a New York Knicks T-shirt stopped me and asked for money, in Hebrew.

“Lo,” (No) I responded. “Enli kessef,” (I have no money,) I told him.

How he knew I was an Israeli, I’ll never figure out. Perhaps he was a tourist and couldn’t speak English. We were in a Jewish area, after all.

I chuckled as I walked away. These are exactly the sorts of cultural details I savour being able to recount, as a journalist.

This wasn’t just the first time I’d encountered an Israeli begging in the UK. It was the first time I’d encountered a Jewish person doing so in Europe.

Even though I had come to the neighbourhood to take photographs, this short exchange epitomised why I find London so rich for documentary journalism.

Despite the fact that I wasn’t looking for interviews, I knew I was going to get the photos I’d come all the way from Italy for.

Starting in my former home of Brixton and working my way north to Walthamstow, where I was staying, I captured the London I know best over four days.

My goal was to get just enough images to finish a London street photography book, part of a five-volume series I’ve been working on, about the cities I’ve lived in.

Instead, I walked away with nearly a hundred. Go to the photos section on The Battleground website. The first three pages cover London.

Revolutionary subject. Brixton Market, London.

Always a paramedic nearby. Brixton Market, London.

British high life. Brixton Market, London.

Radicalising circumstances. Brixton High Street, London.

Thank the Ukraine war. Brixton High Street, London.

God is everywhere. Brixton Market, London.

Permanent state of crisis. Brixton High Street, London.

Sainsbury’s is bad for you. Brixton Market, London.

Photographs courtesy of Joel Schalit. All rights reserved.