Tube, Lines and Tranquility

http://www.londonphotonow.com/

Photography by Mark Paulda

Tube; a hollow, usually cylindrical body of metal, glass, rubber, or other material, used especially for conveying

 or contains liquid or gases.

The 1863 the first tube opened in London, the District and circle line. Now it runs like an artery through length and breadth of London. The above Dictionary description describes it well ‘conveying or containing liquids or Gases‘ A smell and special dirt all of it own and a heating system all of it own. Artists have often taken influence in the underground Photographer George Rodger to the Sculpture work of Henry Moore with his cramped twisted torso of blitz sheltering families. I stumbled upon Mark Paulda’s work on Twitter. The collection of his work in London is totally breathtaking. Mark captures the grit and inner beauty of the growl of London. His underground work however for me stands on the merits of it own two feet. You can almost hear The Jam’s Down in a tube station at midnight playing in these images ” the dissident echos of far away voice boarding far away trains”.

The image I have picked to look before you check out his site was a difficult choice. However the relevance of the image was all the square tiles on the wall for me. They made me think about all the information that passes through and around us a we move. Card Transactions emails phone calls… The use of infinity in the images shows the endless struggle of life on the commute. A sense of isolation and tranquility are also captured in the image. It also captures the distortion that can find while sat on the train and thinking ‘oh i can change at this stop’ and 10 mins later you are still walking in the control of the underground…