Sips

These photos by Nick Turpin are part of a collection called On the Night Bus, photographed across three winters in London. I love how you can see droplets of water descending and leaving behind fresh trails, a bit like a super chill slug.

I love the wavy patterns left behind by condensation. But also the human side of it all. It's such tactile memorialisation. Fossilised movements of hands clearing up the night view over the city, writing silly messages or indulging in the coldness of the window. On some corners, they almost look like stretch marks to me. As Turpin calls it, "in a kind of no man's land between work and home". I feel like there is a lot of life to it - the end of the day and ways we move back to the places and people we love, and these little bits of presence we leave behind.

Ken Kawamoto described foggy windows as transient information displays, which is a delightful thought.

This is the sound of drinking a very hot cup of tea, which I think is the most comforting end to a late night bus ride.

Nick Turpin

On the Night Bus

2017

Photograph