photographs | bob meador

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In August of 2001 I stayed in London for 10 days with my cousin David, who lives in Notting Hill. I was still shooting film then, and ended up with 13 rolls of black and white. Five years passed without me seeing the inside of a darkroom. Recently I rented a film scanner and scanned these as yet unprinted negatives. This is the Frog & Firkin in Notting Hill. Matt and Magnus at the Frog & Firkin. Matt was personal chef for the owner of a chain of hotels. Magnus was from Sweden. I started experimenting with subtly color-toning the black & white images. I feel it gives them more depth - like adding another dimension of contrast. In this image I added reddish purple to the dark tones, blue to the midtones and yellow to the highlights. The Notting Hill Carnival happens every August, celebrating the music and culture of the huge Jamaican immigrant population with a nonstop line of trucks converted to rolling music stages (and nonstop consumption of liquor on every streetcorner). I met this man at Starbucks (the only place to get a decent latte) the day before the Carnival began. A Belgian shows me his national identity card. Musician in the subway, woman exiting. Number 10, Downing Street - offices of the Prime Minister. Outside the World War II-era Cabinet War Rooms. Please do not pick at the sandbags. Amusing the Danish tourists with his beer-drinking snake Guard at the Tower of London David and I share a beer sampler at a Soho bar. The walls are larger-than-life images of people engaged in sunny, happy activities, but with horrified looks on their faces. Mummy and onlookers in the British Museum Busts at the British Museum Atrium in the British Museum Washing the atrium roof Danielle worked at a restaurant/bar in Soho. I camped out at a table outside and photographed the street and people as the night grew dark. Danielle & friend In another Soho bar The girl claimed to be a model from Sweden; she was crashing at the flat of her London friend. Another musician in the Underground Train station This girl was sitting on the sidewalk, looking over contact sheets of headshots that she'd just gotten back from the photographer. Cousin Elizabeth and Malcolm in the street Cafe in Soho Riding the tube The landing in cousin David's flat Malcolm and the tv On the tube