Pause. London in lockdown

photobook by Jan Enkelmann

“A chance to see the city in a way few of us would have experienced before.”
— Glen Wilson, Southbank Centre

“Instilling a mood of architectural grandeur and alien isolation in a breathtakingly cinematic way.”
– Robin Titchener, Art Photobook Reviews

On the 23rd of March 2020, the evening the lockdown was announced in the UK, I was on my exercise round, cycling through an already deserted London. I was experiencing the city as I had never seen it in the 20 years I have been living here.

I decided that taking the camera on my nightly cycling tours was a safe way to document different parts of the city without endangering myself or others.

Initially, I felt compelled to document the lack of crowds in places that are usually buzzing with people. It was just such an astonishing and unusual sight.

But looking at the images I have made, I sense they have taken on a life of their own. I feel my photos are less about the lack of human presence, but rather about the stillness of a city being allowed a breather, to reveal a beauty that usually goes unnoticed.

• Second edition, April 2021
• Hardcover
• 148 pages/90 colour plates
• 22.0 x 29.0cm
• English
• Printed litho with varnish
• Finishing: Thread Sewn, Case Bound
• Edition of 500