Dazeley photographing Battersea Power Station, Generator Room B side.
A born and bred Londoner, for many years I lived in an apartment overlooking the River Thames between Chelsea and Vauxhall bridges, very close to Battersea Power Station. I have witnessed this architectural icon in a sad state of decline in the hands of a succession of property developers.
Despite being used as a location for many films and TV programmes, this famous Grade II* listed building, with its wonderful iconic Art Deco interiors, was ripped apart, one wall and the roof removed and then neglected.
In 2010, after very long negotiations, my assistants and I were given access. Having donned hard hats, protective boots and fluorescent jackets, we spent a day photographing the interior. During the shoot, I realized that we were not alone, but that the site had become a sanctuary for all sorts of wildlife – thousands of pigeons, families of foxes, rats and peregrine falcons have all set up home there.
It seemed a shame that such a magnificent building had ended up in its present state, and the series of pictures gives at least a taste of its former splendour. Many photographs in this book will be the last record of a disappearing world.
I found taking these shots a stimulating experience. The pictures were well received by magazines and the Internet, and they became the starting point for a long journey of discovery, inspiring me on my mission to record hidden London, as it stands in the twenty-first century, for future generations.
The majority of the work was photographed on a Hasselblad 503CW camera, with a Leaf Aptus-II 10, 56 megapixels, digital back. I also used a Nikon D800 camera shooting on 14–24mm f2.8 lens for ultra-wide shots. Both cameras were tethered to a MacBook Pro laptop.
The locations for Unseen London were photographed over a period of four years, with access achieved through the generous help of friends and contacts made throughout my career, who were inspired by the concept. For me as a photographer it is a joy to be able to share photographs of my wonderful city.