May 18, 2004
Maps and Legends

The Guardian features photos of people lost in London here.

For the next three weeks, Weekend will publish extracts from Field Studies, starting today with this series of pictures of people who are lost in London. See how - as they consult their maps - they turn slightly inwards, to face a wall or a doorway.

The photographer has his own site, and he seeks models! (Yikes.)(He's not to be confused with this guy, however.) Here's one of my faves from his site.

The article also includes this fascinating tidbit about London mapmaking:

The people in Stephen's photographs have a woman called Phyllis Pearsall to thank if their A-Zs prove helpful to them. Before she came along, most London maps were designed thematically, rather than practically. There were maps pointing out cholera and plague hot spots, and so on. But Pearsall changed all that. Throughout the mid-1930s, she woke up at 5am and walked for 18 miles a day, drawing maps of her route along the way. A buyer for WH Smith was beguiled by her work, and the A-Z was born.

Posted at May 18, 2004 08:33 PM