PHOTOGRAPHY BY JULIEANNE SAVAGE : Street

Street Galleries

Candid London :

Welcome to a lifetime of pain : As a West Ham United fan.

I did a photo search for 'West Ham fans' and a guy had written "If you're a West Ham fan, then welcome to a lifetime of pain" - it seemed a very appropriate comment to me. My in-laws are from East London and are all die hard Hammers, so most of them know something of how that feels.

I have always loved football since I was a teenager. My first job was even reporting on football for the local rag. For some reason I got bored of it for a number of years - probably because I had no money, and going to a Southend United game was a rare treat; also because I spent years not being well enough to even consider going to somewhere as huge as Upton Park. It wasn't until a few years ago when I borrowed my friend's WH season ticket for two months that the sense of passion and excitement I'd had for the great British game as a teenager came flooding back and I was like - 'I let this go?'

I have met some great people at the Hammers and made some great friends. It's not just about the scoreline for me (although that helps) - but the whole routine of the thing: the pre-match build up, the camaraderie, the coach trips to this country's nether regions that previously existed only in myth (like Wigan). Even meeting my mates at the best chippy in the world before a game is just what I did when I was a teenager.

Plus as a photographer - I find the emotions on the faces of the people who attend these games truly fascinating. Hammers are a rollercoaster of emotions and results and one thing I have found over the last few years is that their fighting spirit is irrepressible.

Welcome to a lifetime of pain? Indeed.

Welcome to a lifetime of pain

The people of Southend-on-Sea : First came to Southend-on-Sea for a job interview in 1997. Moved here in April 2000.

The people of Southend-on-Sea

Match day Brisbane Road : New project. November 2012 onwards.

Okay, so maybe I am having some sort of midlife crisis, but if you have a Saturday without a home game at West Ham, there's this sense of 'WTF shall we do now then?' and this void like Khazad-dûm that needs to be filled with 'something'.

One of my best mates supports Leyton Orient and contrary to popular belief - I discovered from my first visit to Brisbane Road - that he actually wasn't the only Os fan on the planet.

Things here are very different. There's no streets of tat sellers or people behind trestle tables mouthing off about the board or the Olympic Stadium, there's no crazy preachers shouting "West Ham for Jesus" or an hour long queue to even get on the tube. At 5pm when you come out of the game with four thousand other Orient fans and wave the coach load of twelve visiting fans goodbye as it pulls out of Brisbane, there's no Met on horses cajoling you to walk half a mile in the wrong direction; and suddenly all of those four thousand fans simply merge into the gathering dusk and disappear like they were never even there.

Good atmosphere down here and lots of recognisable characters. Only been to three games, but had a blast - especially when the club play 'Rockin' all over the World' after a win.

Ongoing.

Match day Brisbane Road

People unposed : Pictures of people in the street not in Southend.

Smoking :

Pavement cruisers :

Pavement cruisers

Martin Parr tribute :

Martin Parr tribute

Brighton :

The Great British summer fete :

The Great British summer fete

Reasons to be cheerful :

Reasons to be cheerful

Ice-cream eaters :

Ice-cream eaters

What time is it? : These people should know, seeing as they've got a right clock on 'em.

What time is it?