Scenes from East and West

Back in the 1950s, two young, black photographers were busy documenting colour-flushed London after the docking of the Empire Windrush.

In West London, 1960s freelance photographer Charlie Phillips snapped friends and family between assignments for Stern, Harpers Bazaar and Life.

And across London, in the East an amateur, Nigerian Bandele 'Tex' Ajetunmobi, shot his adoptive home from the early 1950s to the late 1970s. When he died, he left a basement full of negative stock, and possibly the earliest collection of photographs by a black British photographer.

In Through London's Eyes, Phillips's suit is slick but samey. His portraits are compositionally perfect, if scripted.

A Jamaican woman barters for her veg bombastically in a street that looks positively stage-lit, while scenes like Pisshouse Pub smack of snap-then-scarper photography.

In contrast, Ajetunmobi was a neighbourhood fixture for whom post-match, pre-pub residents would smooth cowlicks, tuck in shirts and dutifully pose.

Tales From A Lonely Londoner shows an excitable, charged London. One where East End bruisers and Rastas ape for the camera at their local, and newly unchaperoned Bengali teens kiss and wear bad paisley.

Ajetunmobi, 'in' with the community and with a keen eye for a shot, captured a whole lost, undocumented chapter in black history.

Through London's Eyes, until Oct 31, Museum Of London, EC2, Mon to Sat 10am to 5.30pm, Sun midday to 5.30pm, free.

Tales From A Lonely Londoner, until Nov 3, Spitz Gallery, E1, Mon to Sun midday to 5pm, free.