Park life: photos of London in lockdown

Taking the air — As the coronavirus crisis gears up, photographer Theo McInnes documents how the city’s outdoor spaces are changing.

The UK has been in lockdown for the last three weeks. During that time, our lives have changed dramatically, with many of us now limited to just a single outing a day.

South London photographer Theo McInnes has been documenting these brief, government-mandated excursions. “I’ve been walking around my local green space, Kennington Park,” he says. “It takes on new forms every day, rain or shine, with people setting up miniature gyms or walking with loved ones – anything to catch a small break from being confined to our own homes.”

The ongoing project, shot on medium format black and white film, aims to capture how our outdoor world is responding to the coronavirus crisis.

“I think it’s really interesting looking at these spaces and the vital role they play in alleviating the inevitable and sometimes taxing symptoms of cabin fever,” he explains. “People often refer to London’s parks as the city’s lungs, and I think now more than ever they are playing a crucial role in giving people that very much needed breath of fresh air.”

“There’s also definitely still an energy present in the parks – they stood out to me as these little oases surrounded by all the deserted streets and shut up shops, which made me think that our little green spaces would be a really interesting thing to document and photograph.”

See more of the project below.