Sarah M
Lee

A Leica Ambassador and official BAFTA photographer, highly acclaimed Sarah M Lee is a regular contributor to The Guardian and The Observer. Focusing on portraiture and reportage – Sarah captures real people and their shared human experiences.

With a fantastic eye for anticipating movement and documenting, real, caught moments, Sarah notably shoots with a rangefinder camera for most of her work - both personal and commercial. For us, the project ‘Tender are the Night Hawkes’ perfectly encapsulates her exceptional talent for observational photography.

A local to Camden Town, Sarah lives at a pivotal point of central London, a busy intersection where the paths of the journeying ‘Night Hawkes’ cross. There’s a ‘golden hour’ in this liminal space - when the busyness calms and there’s a quiet break before the city begins to rise. The night buses provide a fascinating backdrop during this transient time, where a vast melting pot of cultures and characters meet. Capturing that final journey of the day - the London buses are homeward bound for most, but for some, the working day is only just beginning. Exploring the streets of Camden, Sarah documents those caught moments of connection between the passengers - unified through their means of transport and brought together by the rich colour palette of Sarah’s images.

With the pandemic as the unfortunate backdrop to our new friendship, we’ve had the absolute pleasure of recently getting to know Sarah. We admire her beguiling personality and inquisitive nature - she’s a true ‘photographer’s photographer.’ The beautiful series ‘Tender are the Night Hawkes’ is one of our absolute favourite projects from a standout artist, and we’re honoured to share it on our showcase.