Sacha Lehrfreund and Heather McDonough are photographers and artists living and working in Hackney, London. The relationship to each other’s work and the local neighbourhood started as a playful conversation and led to an artistic collaboration. 

Not knowing one another, they began to follow each other’s work on Instagram and eventually recognised how they might have been in the same place only moments apart. They became aware of connections in the photographs that they were posting individually, sometimes photographing the same street in their own styles on the same night.

Sacha created rules that governed her approach: posting one picture a day. She focused on the beauty and drama of the trees illuminated at night. Heather is drawn to visual juxtapositions that recall memories, making lyrical associations using light and colour. 

They encouraged each other to discover lesser-known areas of the neighbourhood – to map and document new routes in the borough whilst walking. That original conversation formed the group Urbanlens.

Urbanlens have been running a series of night walks for the local community to come and join since 2023. The walks are aimed at promoting photographing the urban landscape in a new and unusual way, using a camera or phone. The walks encourage walking—for wellbeing and connection.