London Bridge Commuters

Thousands of Londoners crossing London Bridge on their way to work — suits, overcoats, hats, the great anonymous tide of a city in motion. This is London in the 1960s, caught in a moment of unknowing transition.

What makes this series remarkable is what the people in these photographs could not have known. The very bridge beneath their feet was already sinking. Engineers had discovered in 1962 that the 19th century granite structure was subsiding into the Thames, unable to bear the weight of modern traffic. By 1968 it would be sold — all 10,000 tons of it — to an American entrepreneur who dismantled it stone by stone and shipped it to the Arizona desert, where it still stands today. Construction of the current London Bridge began that same year.

These photographs therefore capture something that no longer exists — a bridge, a city and a way of life all simultaneously on the cusp of change. Shot with the instinct of a documentarian who understood that the everyday is worth preserving, they are a remarkable record of ordinary London life at an extraordinary moment in the city's history.

Each made to order print is produced using archival giclée printing on Canson Baryta gloss paper - a premium fine art paper favoured by professional photographers for its exceptional detail, rich tonal range, and long-lasting colour. Your print arrives with a certificate of authenticity, personally included with every order.

Photograph © Trevor Rogers. All rights reserved.