A photographer has captured a series of portraits of downbeat London commuters struggling with the rush hour crush on the London Underground.
Adam Gray spent eight months travelling the Tube during the morning commute to capture the candid portraits, using nothing but his iPhone.
The revealing black and white portraits shows people from all walks of life travelling squeezed together on congested carriages.
Despite taking dozens of photographs, all the subjects in the stunning portraits had the same expression on their face – as they were crushed between fellow travellers.
Some of the commuters were pictured listening to headphones, reading their phones or staring blankly into the distance, but they all bore the same, grim expression on their faces.
Photojournalist Adam Gray spent eight months travelling the London Underground network during the morning rush hour to capture candid portraits of commuters, using nothing but his iPhone
The stunning series of black and white portraits shows people from all walks of life travelling squeezed together on congested carriages
Some of the commuters were pictured listening to headphones, reading their phones or staring blankly into the distance, but they all bore the same, grim expression on their faces
Mr Gray, 33, said of the photographs: ‘These forlorn visages show the grim daily grind, the Orwellian dystopia predicted in 1984’
The photographer added, perhaps with a hint of exaggeration: ‘Nobody has their own space – commuters are all one – and they are all miserable’
Mr Gray, who styles himself as a ‘visual storyteller’, took the photographs during a series of commutes on the London Underground
Most of the people he photographed wore blank expressions as they made their way to and from work, or leisure engagements
These images show a woman in a headscarf on a packed Tube carriage, and a man in a sports kit sitting down as the train leaves Elephant and Castle station
Many of the commuters were on their phones (right) while others held on to the supporting poles as the train made its way down the line
Offering his strikingly negative view of Tube travel, Mr Gray said: ‘Everybody travels alone, and keeps to themselves, so you can be stuck on a carriage with a hundred other people, and the only sound is the clickety-clack of the train on the tracks, or the tinny rattle of music being played excessively loud through headphones’
One of the portraits, taken last Autumn, shows a woman struggling to stand upright as she was surrounded by arms clutching on to the rails’ (left)
The photographer said: ‘It’s not uncommon to see people just surrounded by strangers’ arms, buzzing around like moths to a flame’
Two women on the London Underground who were photographed during the eight months Mr Gray spent commuting on the network
A man wearing a face mask with headphones under his hoodie and a woman holding a hand to her forehead amid a packed carriage
The striking black and white photographs were all taken on an iPhone rather than an expensive professional camera
Many of the commuters are seen staring glumly into the distance as they wait for the train to reach its final destination
Commenting on the scenes he saw, Mr Gray said: ‘Another thing that struck me as unusual about the ‘crush hour’ is that nobody speaks’
Continuing in his own words, the photographer said: ‘It’s fascinating to me that, regardless of age, race, size or gender, everybody on the London Underground looks miserable. And their expression doesn’t change with the seasons’
Exaggerating somewhat, Mr Gray compared the images of weary commuters on the London Underground to a ‘dystopia’
Some of the commuters were looking at the camera as Mr Gray took the photo, while others seemed unaware of its presence
Mr Gray said the expression of the commuters ‘didn’t change’ depending on the season, but was consistently glum