London Calling: Popular Peterborough photographer Chris Porsz takes on the Capital for his latest book

Whether in his home city of Peterborough, or further afield, Chris’ lens has captured so many stories in his books.

Now his latest tome has been released – a love story to London.

The book, titled London Calling, features some of the thousands of pictures he took over a year long period, making more than 60 visits to the city.

Chris said: “I vowed, after ten photography books, that Click! Land’s End to John o’ Groats would be my last! Then, quite unexpectedly, a speech by President Trump in December 2025 persuaded me otherwise and my love letter to London was born. How very dare he denigrate my most favourite city in the world as ‘crime infested and unsafe, with terrible people’ such as Mayor Sadiq Khan.I certainly felt much safer here than I ever did taking pictures for my book Streets of America."

The 73-year-old sadly lost his wife, Lesley, after a battle with cancer – and his previous career also inspired his work.

He said: “Losing Lesley, the love of my life, seeing old friends depart early and what I had witnessed during my paramedic career, gave me an added sense of urgency to take on ‘The Big Smoke.’ It would be a great motivator and challenge, providing a constant source of inspiration for me to get creative and to indulge in my passion for the magic of photography. As Dr Samuel Johnson in 1777 put it “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.Unlike my travels for previous books Peterborough is under an hour away and I could cross the capital in minutes. I made around sixty visits, got hopelessly lost and walked hundreds of miles searching for that elusive and ‘Decisive Moment.’”

When asked what he was looking for when capturing some of the incredible images, Chris said: “London is a photographers paradise and I took thousands of images but have deleted the vast majority and only included those which I consider to have earned their place.

"Frustratingly, and just like fishing, I often returned home without a bite. I roamed the obvious tourist hotspots but I also wanted to capture the lesser seen places that are often overlooked. How do you capture those iconic London scenes that have been photographed billions of times, but in a different way? ‘All the world’s a stage’ and so I just wait for that character who stands out from the ‘madding crowd’.

“I cannot claim here that London Calling represents our great capital as it can only ever be a quick snapshot but I will let my photographs speak for themselves and you can decide what they say to you about London. The acid test for me is always, do you like the picture? If some raise a smile, in our troubled world, then I am very happy with that. I have shined a light, warts and all, but predominately it is a positive reflection of our diverse and multicultural capital.”

London Calling costs £27 and is available from Amazon and his website www.chrisporsz.com.