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WorkPhotography

Searing street photographs taken during the financial crisis cast a critical eye over the City of London

Published to mark the 10th anniversary of the 2008 global financial crash, The Crash is a new book containing street photographs of city workers in London that studies one of the most crucial locations for the world economy.

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All images courtesy of the artist and Hoxton Mini Press. Via Creative Boom submission.

All images courtesy of the artist and Hoxton Mini Press. Via Creative Boom submission.

Documenting the crash and its aftermath, photographer Stephen McLaren worked quickly and quietly, capturing these surreal and tense times with a critical and satirical eye.

The series is split into four chapters, each telling the story as it unfolds. From "The City in Meltdown" where we see the news hit the streets and the panic that inevitably followed to "Death in the City: Suicides" – the sad end to some city workers.

Stephen McLaren is a photographer, writer and curator specialising in documentary photography. He co-wrote the best-selling Thames & Hudson book Street Photography Now, among other titles. Born in Scotland and now based in Los Angeles, McLaren has exhibited his own work numerous times in the UK and has curated exhibitions in LA and San Francisco.

The Crash is published by Hoxton Mini Press. Priced at £14.95. Discover more at hoxtonminipress.com. Or visit Stephen McLaren's website: stephenmclaren.co.uk.

A man in a dark suit lies on a wooden bench in a sunlit urban plaza, surrounded by other pedestrians and buildings from Stephen McLaren's The Crash series
Elderly woman holding copies of the Evening Standard newspaper with Black Friday shares crash headline on a London street
A man in a bright red jacket reads a newspaper whilst sitting on a step beside a uniformed police officer standing in a doorway on a London street
A person in a dark suit walks past a puddle on a London street that reflects their distorted silhouette, creating an unsettling shadow effect
White curved reception desk with shadowy hand silhouettes projected on the wall behind it in an empty modern interior space
Man in black tie and tuxedo walking through a London street lined with neoclassical buildings during the 2008 financial crisis
Three businessmen in suits walk through a busy London street during the 2008 financial crisis, from Stephen McLaren's The Crash series
Businessman in dark suit walking past a weathered concrete wall, his shadow cast across the textured surface
Bronze statues of figures enclosed in a blue barrier stand in a city plaza whilst three suited men walk past on the pavement
Two suited businessmen viewed from behind walking through a busy London street during the financial crisis
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