Scottish photographer snapping London's super-rich

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Scottish photographer snapping London's super-rich

 

Dougie Wallace is an ex-Army turned street photographer. His mission is to 'shine a wee bit of a torch', or a pair of popping flash guns, on the exclusive streets of Knightsbridge, London where he snaps the ultra-affluent elite, the facelifts, the designer bags (and dogs) and the millionaire boy racers.

 

“Welcome to Harrodsburg. Home of the one per cent. Playground of the super-rich... The thing about the money is, it’s all out there. It’s all on display. It’s part of the whole show. So I’m just capturing that really.”

 

The area Dougie Wallace calls “Harrodsburg” is bounded by the luxury department store Harrods in Brompton Road, Sloane Square and the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly. It is historically one of the richest parts of the country, and Qatar-owned Harrods makes the area particularly popular with Qatari tourists, many of whom rent or own houses there, as well as Saudis and Russians.

 

Wallace says he's simply on a wealth and privilege "safari" in a world where he can "spot the facelifts from the other side of the street". The Harrodsburg project grew out of previous work which juxtaposed photographs of people in taxis and buses in Kensington and Chelsea, and in the Calton district of Glasgow close to where he grew up. The serious point in that image series, made visible by the contrasting effects of deprivation etched on subjects' faces, was male life expectancy in the London enclave is 84; in Calton it is, at 54, the lowest in the UK.

 

They come here and spend their money, it’s alright. I’m not bothered about them displacing the local residents, traditional residents, whatever you want to call them, with the mustard chinos and all that... I’m not going to bleed purple pish out my heart for them, you know what I mean? I’m just showing what’s happening, just shining a wee bit of a torch on things, you know? Don’t shoot the messenger.

 

When people go bonkers at me, the last thing I do is delete it. You just walk on. It depends, sometimes you feel like standing your ground with them. It they threaten to call the police I just say 'on you go, I’ll give you the number - 999'”

 

The area is changing – the Sloanes and the old money, they’re all dying out. And there’s a new breed coming in, and they’ve got even more money. I’m telling you - you wouldn’t believe the things you see round here... Knightsbridge is like another world... the people round here... the money. It’s unreal.

 

 

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wow some of those women look like dudes..