London photographer Anne Clements meets the neighbors
London is a fertile ground for street photography, but there are times when I want to venture behind closed doors and meet its inhabitants. Every time I walk by a home that catches my eye, I wonder what kind of person lives there. I’ve lived in Camden for twenty years, and one of the downsides is that it’s not easy to get to meet your neighbours. So I decided to go knocking on strangers’ doors. I invited the inhabitants to pose for me outside their homes with something they loved. Not surprisingly, I met with some negative responses. But one of the advantages of being a woman is that people felt less threatened, so I was often met with an unexpected positive reaction. Inviting strangers to wear, or choose something they cherished to pose with, broke the ice with many willing participants, who consequently felt less inhibited and more involved. As a result I have managed to get to know many new neighbours.
Anne Clements is from Ireland but lives in London. She has a BA in Photography from the University of Westminster and has just finished an MA in Photography at the London College of Communication. Her practice is multi-disciplinary and includes street photography, video stories and audio.