Photographer Paul Baldesare took these fabulous photos of Londoners’ underground life over three years. During that time, London Underground was an overcrowded and cramped environment, with dilapidated stations, broken lifts and escalators, patchwork renovations and overcrowded trains, and unsatisfactory service.
These pictures were taken around the time of the King’s Cross disaster, a major underground blaze that caused multiple deaths and injuries in one of London’s major underground stations. Fires are not the only safety concern; fear of violence has become a significant concern for many travelers, particularly women.
The discomfort will often show in the body and facial movements of the passengers. Traveling the underground seems to create that vacuum of mind and soul. People lie, perch, and hang to gain greater comfort from the often-stressful journey.
