49 witty photos of London life from Michael Goldrei

The photographer: 'I’m Michael Goldrei, a London-based street photographer. I borrowed a friend’s digital SLR three years ago and signed up to the first course I saw, which happened to be in street photography. The adrenaline rush of taking the photos, as well as the entrancing images that can result, had me hooked instantly.'

The setup: 'Up until a few months ago I was using a Canon 550D but I now have a Canon 5D Mark III. I use this with an EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM kit lens and an EF 50mm f/1.8 II prime lens. I use Photoshop to edit the raw files.'
The work: 'My aim is to take photos that capture the zeitgeist and that I hope will be interesting not just now, but in decades to come. If there’s a humorous side I can show to things, that’s a bonus - I hope it comes through that it’s a case of "laughing with" and not "at" when this is the case.'

'In May I was fortunate enough to be selected by a jury from Vogue Italia and Burn Magazine for a place on a Magnum Photos masterclass in Reggio Emilia. There were a number of Magnum photographers running these classes and I chose Jonas Bendiksen as my teacher as I find his work particularly different, both in terms of subject matter and style. Eating pizza and gelato with world famous photographers was quite an experience! My photos from the event are here.'

'I tend to keep moving when I'm out taking photos, partly to maintain variety and partly to avoid being noticed and influencing the shot. That said, thanks to feedback on the Magnum class I am now experimenting more with using one location as a subject and staying relatively still! My favourite places to shoot are Shoreditch, markets, unusual events, and parts of London I haven’t previously explored.'

Love these photos? Find more from Michael on his Flickr, Twitter, website, Instagram and mailing list.