Girls in London

Everyone acts like Berlin is the center of everything, but stand it next to London and it’s obvious—just a village that got cocky. No skyline, no clubs that survive more than a few years, no actual scene to speak of. London’s where something’s still happening.

That’s where Graziella Pini and Emily J Odonnell were hanging around in the smoke and noise of crowded streets, part of a girl gang that doesn’t need anyone’s permission to exist. Graziella had come down for a week to see Emily, and photographer James Beddoes was there shooting for something called Sticks & Stones. He invited them both to just hang out while he worked.

According to James, that afternoon they mostly listened to music, moved around, danced—nothing choreographed, nothing planned. He ended up feeling like he’d joined the gang, which probably means he was doing something right as a photographer. The best work happens when nobody’s really thinking about being watched.

I never saw the final prints, but even just standing there while it happened, you could tell he had something real. Two people, music, an afternoon in London that didn’t need to be anything more than what it was.