Browsing Claudia Leisinger

Steven Davies is a fishmonger. The business has been in his family for 5 generations. His son is running it now, but he still comes to the market at 5 in the morning. Instead of buying fish he now... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Breakfast through the cafe window. Tired porters eat breakfast together before heading home. London 2012 © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Colin finishes his accounts before he heads home for the day. London 2011. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

The walls of the café within Billingsgate Market is hung row after row with photographs of past porters. London 2012 © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

George Driscoll and Pikey Bill say their farewells outside an east end Pub. London 2012. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Chris Gill, fish porter for 33 years. He has worked 18 years for Roger Barton. On numerous occasions within the last year he tried to talk to Roger about his future - in vain. On April 28th 2012 Ro... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Jeff can't imagine working anywhere else. The market is all he has ever known.London 2012. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Micky and Brian have known each other a very long time and they both love to delve into amusing stories of the past, Billingsgate, London, 2011. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Business in the cafe within Billingsgate market. Its walls are lined with old photographs of porters and views onto the old fish market then located near London Bridge in the city center. Open fro... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Brett Singers has been working at Billingsgate fish market for 3 years as a shop boy. Originally wanted to become a porter like his grandfather Edwin Singers. Billingsgate Fish Market, London 2012... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Market scene at Billingsgate. London 2011. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Colin Walker, fish porter for 46 years. He started working at the old market in 1966. One of his proudest moments in life was the day, when he got his porter license. He was 18 years old. London 2011. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

A black and white photograph of a man digging a grave with a mechanical digger, as another supervises. Gravediggers Steve, Jeff and Garry inspect the grave. Its borders have to be propped up with wo... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

The body of Michael Ayotunde Dosunmu, the 15-year-old boy who was shot in his bedroom in Peckham on February 6th, is carried to his grave. He is one of the victims in the latest series of shootings pr... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Steve and Garry wait for the arrival of the mourners, sometimes a tense occasion. Some feuding families give each other hostile looks; others take their anger out on the gravediggers by demanding that... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

"The best part of work is now" Brett and Billy have a cigarette. Billingsgate Market, London, 2012. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Michael Nash is a merchant, or "governor". He works for James Nash & Sons. London 2012. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Empty market hall. Billinsgate London 2012 © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Next to the market is the building site of the new DLR station. Billingsgate fish market is located in London's east end, just next to the financial hub Canary Wharf and the newly redeveloped area... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

First day off work. These porters have come as usual still hoping there would be some work for them. Some have been offered new contracts offering less money and worse conditions, most of them on... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Steven Black, fish porter for 20 years. London 2011. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Steve Jones, fish porter for 30 years. It saddened Steve that the fish merchants and the porters did not succeed in working together to save the market, but instead fought against each other. Bill... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Nick Wilson, fish porter for 12 years. As father of two small children he is worried about the future. Billingsgate, London 2012. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

A porter transports fish to the customers waiting in the car park. Billingsgate London 2011. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

John Schofield, fish porter for 30 years. He feels very strongly that the porters have a longstanding tradition here in London. He cannot understand why the City Corporation of London and the Londo... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Three generations; Edwin Singers, porter for 53 years, his son Leigh Singers and his grandson Brett Singers. London 2012 © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Bradley Holmes, fish porter for 20 years, started working at the market straight after leaving school at 16. Now he has a family with four young children and wonders how they will manage. London 2... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Gary Simmons, a porter for 33 years smokes a cigarette. Photos of past and present porters reflected in the window looking out onto Canary Wharf, London's financial hub, in the distance. Billingsga... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Back and fro: from the cool stores to the stalls to the vans and back again. Overview onto the car park. Billingsgate Market, London 2012. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

A porter pulls a trolley of fish toward the market. Billingsgate, London 2011. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Steve Sheet, fish porter for 15 years. London 2011. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Micky Durrell fish porter for 45 years. Porters are said to be the heart and soul of the market. That particularly applies to Micky. His voice and the following laughter can be heard all over the... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Jack Preston was last porter to be licensed. He worked for 2 years before porters were officially made redundant on the 28th of April, 2012. Billingsgate fish market, London, 2012. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Gary Durden, worked as fish porter for 31 years. But his career in the market began much earlier. When he was a boy, he used to help his dad, also a fish porter, at the old market. He is distraught... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

At James Nash & Sons fish stall. Billingsgate Market, London 2012. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

After 45 years Micky still loves his job. London 2012. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Bobby Jones, fish porter for 30 years. He feels that it is a pleasure to work with people and loves the fact that there is always something to surprise him at the market.He is very disappointed and... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Martin Bicker, fish porter for 24 years. His father was a fish porter too. He explains the reasons behind the license in the first place. One only received a porter license after a successful appr... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Billingsgate fish market is located in London's east end, just next to the financial hub Canary Wharf and the newly redeveloped area for the 2012 Olympic Games. London, 2012. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Mourners don't like to see the coffin lowered into water, which has pooled in the open grave. Garry and Jeff Smith fill it up with wood chippings minutes before the funeral starts. London, Camberw... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Garry Pearson has worked as a gravedigger for 21 years. He started out as a gardener and only came into grave digging by chance while helping his boss. He says jokingly, "It sometimes feels like a dea... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

The grave is refilled while the mourners are still present. The gravediggers describe this as the most difficult part of a funeral. The use of the mechanical digger makes it impossible not to be invas... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

The mourners stand by and watch the burial of Micheal Ayotunde Dosunmu's coffin. London, Camberwell New Cemetery, Brenchley Gardens, Southwark, SE23, Gravediggers Funeral of Micheal Ayotunde Dosunmu... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

After the job is done the gloves are hung up to dry over the radiator. London, Camberwell New Cemetery, Brenchley Gardens, Southwark, SE23, Gravediggers, 06.03.07 © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Exit sign in the garage, resting place of the shovels and stencil of a coffin on the wall. Signs are everywhere that these gravediggers have developed their own kind of humor to cope with the stress o... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

After a successful day's work, Garry relaxes in his favorite chair in the gravediggers' quarters. London, Camberwell New Cemetery, Brenchley Gardens, Southwark, SE23, Gravediggers, 23.02.07 © Claud... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Gravediggers Steve, Jeff and Garry inspect the grave. Its borders have to be propped up with wooden planks because the soil here is too wet and could otherwise collapse. Wet ground is the biggest prob... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

A black and white photograph of a man digging a grave, as another supervises. Garry Pearson 21 years as digger) takes a break from digging the grave with the mechanical digger while Steve (26 years... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

A portrait of Laura Whittall, who runs the @southnorwoodcommunitykitchen holding a box of fruit. Laura commented "We never really had the true sense of being locked down because we switched to upsc... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Kemeriya Mehammed Abduraheman "I hope that this will change people's ways. One of the things that I was very disappointed about was that right before the WHO pan... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Brian Singer "As we are over 70, we are allowed to shop an hour earlier in supermarkets. Here in the countryside, the queues are usually not too long and there ar... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of - Modern Hunter Gatherer Caterana Tonne Fleur "I used to go to the smaller corner shops at the beginning. There is a Turkish off-license, quite big and stocked with everything. But they... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Max Sprackling Max is using the time in lockdown to record his first album. He mainly sleeps during the day and works at night. © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Jennifer Keegan At first, I was so reluctant to go outside that I stayed in for three weeks until I ran out of food. I had to start counselling because it jus... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Pete Wagon holding his rhubarb and beans "The exceptional good weather during lockdown has been a huge help in dealing with the restrictive measures necessary to... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Afsha Mohamed "A friend of mine suggested in mid-March that we make emergency food packs to give to local elderly and vulnerable people. We got enough food toget... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Simon Spracking "I have been shielding, because I had a liver transplant last year. Because of me, we have to be very strict about hygiene and distancing at home... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Catherine Birkitt Cathy mainly relies on deliveries to get her necessities. Because of her knee problems, standing for a long time is too painful and damaging. Sh... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer, Camilo Castro "My wife has asthma. At the beginning we were a bit worried as this is an underlying issue, but now it seems that not many people who have died fr... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Libby Spracking Libby finished at Leeds Uni last year and spent October to January travelling in Australia, Vietnam and Thailand. During lockdown she has been mak... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Mario Lara "I believe this is happening for a reason. It is happening for us to change to a better place. For me one of the hardest things to witness was hearing... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Paul Mitchell of @southnorwoodcommunitykitchen, holding disposable cups Paul runs @southnorwoodcommunitykitchen with Laura Whittall "We never really had the t... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Penny Singer "As we are over 70, we are allowed to shop an hour earlier in supermarkets. Here in the countryside, the queues are usually not too long and there ar... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Juan Marco Giambenedetti holding tins of food My experience wasn't really good because of my living situation. Right now, I am trying to move because I don't have... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer John K with his Bicycle In the last week of March, they (social service) were trying to get me into a Holiday Inn. I stayed there for one week and then I was ask... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Francesco Paone holding his vegetables "My experience of Corona virus. I finished work when my company shut down. I went home and the following week I was recomme... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Sarah Chelsom "First, I was so scared, paranoid of catching the virus that I didn't leave my home and front garden for ten weeks. During that time, I taught my so... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Les Capen holding trays of seedlings Aged 87, Les was ordered by his daughters to stay indoors at the beginning of the lockdown. They each took it in turns to del... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Cathy Lara "Wherever possible we tried to source people who were stuck, who would otherwise supply restaurants, and we use them to deliver our fruit and veg for... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Marc Rattenbury, holding a plastic bag of groceries "It has been a real struggle and without places like this, community kitchens, soup kitchens and churches it... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Jody Nicholl & Jane Nicholl Jody: "I can't work at the moment so I thought I may as well help out by driving and delivering food for the South Norwood Community... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Dan Terminiello, standing with a tea towel tucked into his shorts. "I contracted Covid-19 in early March. I first thought I had a flu but then it got progressivel... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen

Portrait of Modern Hunter Gatherer Belen Arruz My biggest fear is that people aren't going to learn anything from this. They are going to go back to normal but that is going to be worse! Because th... © Claudia Leisinger/shotbywomen