This post is a tiny bit late in being published, seeing as Photo London 2025 was back in May and it is almost July. But life happens. Never mind, we are here now 🙂

I booked tickets and a hotel to stay in London for the full weekend, which in the end, turned out to be fortuitous.

As I arrived a little too early to enter the show, I sat outside and perused the area and saw an exhibition across the road. I saw some amazing photos in the lower-floor windows of a hotel. So I wandered in and spent my first £45 on a book before the weekend had even begun. Thanks Bryan Adams.

Then I went to the London Photo Show proper. I wandered around, looking at all the photos. There were some by artists I knew, like Salgado, one of my favourites.

Then I saw this photo, and I was mesmerised. I stood looking at it for ages.

I loved the cheeky grin. I looked around that section, hosted by Chini Gallery, and I was drawn to all of the images. I couldn’t see any books for sale, and the prints would have been way out of my price range. There was just one book on a table. It was beautifully made with a range of images on the same theme as the framed print.

I took a photo and went to sit down, have a drink and see if I could find the book online or at the very least, some information. The image of the boy was from a series called Wild Aspirations: The Yellow Sheep River Project; the others on display were from a series called Animal Farm. They were made by a Taiwanese photographer, Chou Ching-Hui. At the time, I had trouble finding any information as my phone seemed to be blocking the content, but that isn’t the case with my computer as I write this now. Anyway, at the time, I could not find any information online and certainly no books to buy, so I moved on.

I noticed a book section of the show and got talking to a seller. I told her about the photo and the one publication I had seen. She said, Go back and ask if you can buy it, what have I got to lose? I said, Sure, I can, but even if that one book was for sale, it would be way out of my price range…how do you know? she said. Fair enough. So off I trundled back to the exhibit.

This time, I approached the art handler for that gallery. She was lovely and said, Yes, that was the only copy they had brought with them from Taiwan, so they need it for the show. I asked if it would be available after the show or if there was a place I could buy a copy. I was drawn to images, given that I was a teacher, and these photos featured children surrounded by their artwork. Also….how much would it be? I am sure it would be out of my price range anyway. I rambled a bit, and I wasn’t haggling very well.

She came back with £300 🙁 Oh, that was way more than I could afford, but what I expected 🙁 So I prepared to walk away. Wait, she said, if you can come back at the end of the show tomorrow, we won’t need it any more and it will be used. We could do a discount. Let me talk to the gallery owner.

So off she went to make a phone call. When she came back, she offered it at half price. Weirdly, without thinking, I said YES. It would be the most expensive book I had ever bought. There was another issue, it would mean staying in London until after 6:30 pm before heading home. I was hoping to leave way before then, as it was a four-hour drive home and I had work the next day. But I said yes to everything, paid my money and headed on my way. Thank goodness I had decided to stay over.

The next morning, I headed to Highgate Cemetery, which I will write about in another post. It deserves a space for itself. After that, I headed to The Tate Modern to a zine festival of sorts. I was overwhelmed by the number of people and the choices, so unlike me, I gave up and wandered the actual gallery. And there it was…

I loved this sculpture. I had seen one in Tokyo. So once again, I searched online and bought yet another book, this time by Louise Bourgeois. So far, I had spent over £250 on books, jeez, I would have to eat noodles for a month.

Totally broke now, I headed back to Somerset House for another look at Photo London and to finally pick up the ‘special one’.

When I got there, I was in for a surprise. The gallery representative said the photographer was there and he had a present for me. FOR ME!!! REALLY!!!!

Yeap, he had another exhibition guide which he signed, and said we would take our photo in front of the image that started it all.

It made my weekend and it was a great weekend. Then I rushed home and put the book on my new photo book shelf next to my new rocking chair 🙂

And done!