The magazine of the photo-essay
February 2020 issue
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film maker
East London in the 70s was raw and vivid: bombed-out houses, kids playing in
the streets, factories abuzz with workers. These images taken by a local
photographer, Neil Martinson, while he was still at school take us on a journey
through workshops, street markets and council homes to capture a time and
place before technology and gentrification changed local lives forever.
“Hackney was a place to leave, with its crumbling council estates and high
unemployment... Yet there was vitality and resilience among local people... Few
people owned their own homes, there were no gated communities and no
gastro-pubs. Students, radicals and artists started to move into Hackney. It was
an exciting time to be a photographer and activist.” – Neil Martinson
by Neil Martinson
Hoxton Mini Press
