`It was the best of times it was the worst of times.' Maligned, misunderstood and fetishized the 1980's stands as the decade when post-modern life began in the west, and London was at the epicenter of this shift. An explosion of creativity took place against a backdrop of radical social change. London became a city of tribes. The vast youth culture categories of the preceding decades shattered into shards. It was the decade that sub-culture as a way of life reached it's zenith before giving way to it's inevitable scene surfing conclusion. Ridgers documented this cultural moment obsessively. Punks, post-punks, cyber-punks, gothic punks, mods, hard mods, Trojan skins, racist skins, ska, reggae, dub, early electronica, synth pop, acid house, happy hardcore, Blitz Kids, New Romantics, Hip-Hop, Rap, Electro, Break Beat, Techno, Rave - these were all sub-cultural spaces with scenes attached in London in the 1980's. Unlike now, subcultures in the 1980's were not casual playthings - they were a way of life for their participants. They inspired profound loyalty. They were a beautiful a doomed flowering of the hope for a better world. Derek Ridger's exquisite street portrait photography has captured this creative decade beautifully.

Derek Ridgers is one of the UK's foremost portrait photographers with a career spanning forty years. He is best known for his photography of music, film and club/street culture - photographing everyone from James Brown to The Spice Girls, from Clint Eastwood to Johnny Depp. During his career, Ridgers has worked for many publications, including Time Out, The Sunday Telegraph, NME, The Face, Loaded, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Independent, GQ Style and Arena.

Punk. London.1977. Most people blinked and missed it. Many spent a decade trying to catch up. Derek Ridgers stumbled across it by accident, where it was, in the beating filthy heart of the Roxy in middle of a derelict slum called Covent Garden. Stumbling through the moshpits trying to keep hold of a borrowed camera. 1977. Punk London brings you 152 pages of photography featuring the birth of the the most exciting cultural phenomenon in UK history. Currents and vibes, flows and backwash, trends and anti-trends splashing around in the cauldron of youth culture in the city of London, and the lost rebels haunting their suburban bedrooms - jumping the train uptown to get into the legendary Roxy. All converged, for one priceless moment, an outpouring of a truly original, DIY, anarchic, underground scene. Ridgers captured the first wave. Kids in the crowd, never before seen. The punks who made their own clothes because you couldn't buy punk clothes. The punks who got beaten up time and again for making themselves into targets. Rebellion before it got easy. You won't see these kids anywhere in the magazines. They weren't trying to get famous. 1977 will happen again. 1977 is happening somewhere, for someone, right now.

For some, heaven will not be a perpetual dawn but rather an endless night - an eternity of the wild hours between dusk and sunrise.The Dark Carnival is a celebration of human beings given the rare space to play out their fantasy visions of themselves, the fleeting impressions of people dressed up for the glorious night caught in all their decadent glory. A unique collection of portraits personally selected by one of the UKs foremost portrait photographers covering alternative London's unique counter-cultural history from Punks, New Romantics, Goths, Disco Queens, Soul Boys, Fetish Worshippers, Rockers, Cyberpunks, Ravers, Clubbers and Party Animals. Derek Ridgers has been a feature in the clubs and on the streets of the capital for over 50 years - indulging in his obsession for documenting the people dressed up for the glorious night.Anyone who loves street style, youth subcultures, portrait photography and the curious human penchant for playing dressing up, will find this collection a darkly fascinating celebration of both night life and decadence.Packed with images exploring DIY fashion, self-expression and the fabulous strangeness of the human animal, ravers of all kinds will spend happy hours gazing at this book, at once a piece of social history and a visual poem, an expression of the fascinations of the author, a feast of luscious crepuscular imagery.