A few weeks ago, I planned another one of my trips to London where I walked from the late afternoon all the way through to the following morning, making sure to capture some interesting images that I came across. What I didn’t realise when I booked my tickets, was that the day I was going, was actually the day of London gay pride celebrations. Only finding out the day before I was going, I changed my original plans, so I could be sure to incorporate the festivities into my photo walk.
I’ve seen many images from previous pride events and knew that it would be a sight to behold. I actually bypassed the main parade, as I didn’t want to be stuck against some guard rail being penned in like some sort of sheep. Getting one angle of a passing parade doesn’t fill l me with too much enjoyment. Instead I made my way to what is described as the heart of the LGBT community, Soho.
As soon as I stepped off the train I knew I had found the place where all the action was taking place. Every direction you looked there was a sea of rainbow flags. Thank god that the streets had been cornered off because the sheer volume of people in this small one square mile was like nothing I've ever seen before. No cars were getting through this.
I followed the general direction that most people were heading and instantly regretted it. I was met by a massive wall of bodies that were crammed like sardines into this little side street. You literally could not move. There was a bar in the middle of row of shops that had a DJ at the window pumping out tunes. This is why the street was jammed packed. It took a full 15 minutes to work my way through the packed crowd to the other side. A distance of about 100m. Once I got my breath back and regained my bearings and I set off walking around soho square and the adjacent streets avoiding the massive crowds of non moving bodies, capturing the sights and going ons I saw.
The place was awash with crazy outfits, on point makeup, face paints and impeccable bodies, on all sides of the gender Spectrum. There was thousands of young people, old people, all of various ethnicities, religions and walks of life having the time of their lives, celebrating the fact that love is a Human right and should never have rules or barriers around it. I’ll look back on that day with fond memories, as I was the first time, I’ve ever been to a place that where ever you looked everyone was smiling, it felt like everyone was your friend and everyone was just there to be themselves and enjoy life.
