Photography | Face Studies | King David

It was a grey, overcast afternoon in Peckham, the kind of light that makes the brickwork of the Aylesham Centre look particularly heavy, when I first saw him. He moved with a presence that seemed to command the pavement, draped in a heavy coat and adorned with that striking, hand-wrought star that caught what little light there was. I remember feeling a bit of trepidation, but mostly a deep curiosity, as I approached him to ask if I could take his portrait. He didn't just give me a "yes"; he gave me his time. As I adjusted my lens, he began to weave the thread of his life for me—the intensity of his boxing days, the darkness of that night in 1994, and the sheer, improbable miracle of his survival. Standing there on the street corner, hearing him speak of his mission to protect the community, I realized I wasn't just capturing a man; I was documenting a living testament to resilience. When he raised his fists for the camera, it wasn't a threat—it was a statement that he was still standing. Decades later, those images still carry that same weight, and I find myself hoping for the chance to reconnect and do a follow-up, if he’s agreeable, to see how the chapters of his story have unfolded since that cloudy day in 1997.

Images of King David shot on Hasselblad 500CM + 80mm Zeiss Planar T*