I feared I’d never take a picture again after my heart operation, says man who made front page | London Evening Standard

I feared I’d never take a picture again after my heart operation, says man who made front pageDramatic: Deaf photographer Ian Lawrence who took the pictures of the moped hammer-wielding robbersNIGEL HOWARD

The photographer whose images of London’s moped crime epidemic made front page news feared he would never take another picture after undergoing open-heart surgery, he revealed today.

Ian Lawrence, who is deaf, was outside Broadcasting House in the West End when robbers roared past on two bikes, snatching valuables from passers-by.

He took a string of dramatic frames and made the front page of Friday’s Standard.

Mr Lawrence, 43, said: “It was just instinct - take pictures now, ask questions later.”

Front page: Ian Lawrence's picture

In 2013 he had open-heart surgery after a mystery illness left him bed-ridden at his Hertfordshire home for a year.

“It took me 16 months before I could pick up a camera again”, he said. “I never thought I would be back on the street again.”