Meet the People with Love

Book excerpt: ____________ As well as being an incredible stage performer, a brilliant writer and a talented painter, Derren Brown is also a fantastic street photographer. Here, for the first time, is a selection of his work. As he writes of his passion: 'Street photography is a fitting refuge for those who look at life from a distance. It both sanctifies our remoteness (by offering the standpoint of the observer) and challenges it, insisting we approach with a spritely curiosity. It offers a safe route back into the world: the camera is an entry ticket to daunting social situations and extraordinary environments where we might otherwise feel entirely out of place. Suddenly we have a role: a reason to be present. And for those of us smitten by its appeal, it provides a means of fortifying and forgetting ourselves, while extending out into the world with a controlled compassion.'