David Hoffman
photographer
David Hoffman has specialised in photographing social issues since the mid ‘70s. Resolutely independent, he primarily shoots stock for his own photo library, rather than working to commissions. David Hoffman’s photographs focus on the increasingly visible control that the state exerts over our lives and choices. His subjects include racial and social conflict, policing, homelessness, drugs, poverty and social exclusion, often seen through outbreaks of violent protest. David Hoffman is vice chairman of the British Photographic Council, a founding member of Editorial Photographers UK, The NUJ London Photographers’ Branch and of Photo-Forum London with a critical interest in issues around press freedom and policing as well as copyright and intellectual property, David is actively engaged on the frontline of his beleaguered profession.
Notting Hill Carnival 27 August 1979. Late on the night of Bank Holiday Monday police moved along Ladbroke Grove attacking isolated groups of late night revelers and sparking counter attacks.
Unemployed youth hanging out on North Peckham council housing estate, London.
Stop the City, an Anti Economic anarchist demo to bring the City of London to a halt. Disorganised and massive it was surprisingly successful for most of the day. This PC is strangling a protester who had photographed him strangling a protester. It was that sort of day. City of London. Thursday 29 September 1983
Reclaim the Streets and Liverpool Dockers March for Social Justice ended with a dance in Trafalgar Square which was attacked and broken up by police. © David Hoffman phone 0181 981 5041, fax 0181 980 2041, email [email protected]
Poll Tax riots, London 31 March '90. The death blow for the discredited Thatcher government. More than 100,000 gathered in central London to protest against the tax. After repeated police charges on the crowd riots erupted, shops were looted, police vehicles & government property was attacked, buildings were burned. The total cost ran into 100s of millions of pounds.
The day that finished Thatcherism. Poll Tax riot in Trafalgar Square, London '90. A series of small riots and protests swept the country culminating in a mass march on Downing Street. Pushed up to Trafalgar Square and repeatedly attacked by police on horseback & in vehicles the protesters dispersed through the West End shopping areas starting fires and causing tens of millions of pounds damage. Hand coloured version. © David Hoffman phone 0181 981 5041, email [email protected] NUJ & BAPLA recommended terms & conditions apply. Moral rights asserted under Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988. Full terms and conditions for digital and traditional use available on request. Credit is required. No part of this photo to be stored, reproduced, manipulated or transmitted by any means without permission.
The second Battle of Trafalgar. Poll tax riots in Trafalgar Square and surrounding area on 31 March 1990 which holed the Thatcher government below the water line.
Kingsmead Estate, Hackney. This sink estate has been ignored by successive corrupt borough housing administrations. Now infested with rats and cockroaches, asbestos leaking from broken insulation and ducts, it has become one of the worst places in Britain to live. © David Hoffman phone 020 8981 5041, fax 020 8980 2041, email [email protected] NUJ & BAPLA recommended terms & conditions apply. Moral rights asserted under Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988. Full terms and conditions for digital and traditional use available on request. Credit is required. No part of this photo to be stored, reproduced, manipulated or transmitted by any means without permission.
Children play with an abandoned car in Fieldgate Mansions, Whitechapel. Scheduled for demolition in 1972 it was squatted by homeless people, artists & Bengali immigrants preventing destruction until taken over by a community housing trust in 1980 & modernised. © David Hoffman phone +44 (0)20 8981 5041, fax +44 (0)20 8980 2041, email [email protected] NUJ & BAPLA recommended terms & conditions apply. Moral rights asserted under Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988. Full terms and conditions for digital and traditional use available on request. Credit is required. No part of this photo to be stored, reproduced, manipulated or transmitted by any means without permission.
Homeless man sleeps in the street as businessmen pass. Waterloo, London. Hnad coloured version. © David Hoffman phone 020 8981 5041, email [email protected] NUJ & BAPLA recommended terms & conditions apply. Moral rights asserted under Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988. Full terms and conditions for digital and traditional use available on request. Credit is required. No part of this photo to be stored, reproduced, manipulated or transmitted by any means without permission.
Police officer covers my lens with his hand while his colleagues prevent TV crew from filming police assaults on striking Liverpool Dockers & Reclaim the Streets protesters in Trafalgar Square, London 1997.
Reclaim the Streets and Liverpool Dockers March for Social Justice ended with a dance in Trafalgar Square which was attacked and broken up by police. 12 April 1997. © David Hoffman phone 020 8981 5041, fax 020 8980 2041, email [email protected] NUJ & BAPLA recommended terms & conditions apply. Moral rights asserted under Copyright Designs & Patents Act 1988. Full terms and conditions for digital and traditional use available on request. Credit is required. No part of this photo to be stored, reproduced, manipulated or transmitted by any means without permission.
Railton Road, Brixton - the Frontline. Rioting overwhelmed police after a man was stabbed during the deliberately oppressive Swamp 81 operation targetting black youth.
Claiming to be a non racist political movement he English Defence League form up in Bishopsgate to march to the mosque in Tower Hamlets. This was clearly intended as a provocation towards the largely Muslim population. In an echo of Mosely's march to Cable Street some 75 years earlier local residents of all colours and religions united in their opposition, forcing a ban on the march. Despite being banned by the Home Office the EDL marched from Liverpool Street to Aldgate where a strong police presence held them back outside the borough boundary. September 3, 2011
English Defence League (EDL) march through Westminster in a "Ban the Burka" protest against mosque building and sharia courts. London 31 July 2010.
World Naked Bike Ride 2010 Naked cyclists ride through major cities across the world to publicise environmental issues in celebration and jubilation to deliver a vision of a cleaner, safer, body-positive world.
Climate Rush demo, organised by anti-airport expansion campaigners. Hundreds of activists chanting "Words not deeds" stormed Parliament to demand urgent action on the environment. The protest was timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Suffragettes’ rush on Parliament to demand the right to vote.
Party on the London Underground circle line on the eve of the new London Mayor Boris Johnson's alcohol ban. 31 May 2006.
