Colour has always been central to the way Niall McDiarmid observes and photographs Britain. For more than fifteen years, he has travelled across the country, recording the unexpected visual relationships that emerge between people, clothing, architecture and the details of everyday surroundings.

The photographs collected in his new book, Colour, were taken predominantly in London. Together, they offer a lively and affectionate portrait of contemporary British life, shaped by bold contrasts, spontaneous harmonies and surprising encounters between individuals and the spaces they inhabit.

McDiarmid has a remarkable ability to recognise connections that might otherwise go unnoticed. A coat may echo the colour of a shopfront, while a patterned shirt responds to a wall, a sign or a piece of furniture. Elsewhere, opposing shades meet within the frame, creating images filled with energy, humour and visual tension.

His photographs move through streets, shops, cafés, pubs, museums, railway stations and interiors. These are ordinary places, yet through his eye they become vivid compositions in which colour transforms the familiar. What might initially seem mundane is revealed as expressive, theatrical and full of character.

At the heart of McDiarmid’s practice is a refined understanding of colour and composition. He makes use of the soft, even light produced by Britain’s frequently overcast skies. With few harsh shadows, the colours of clothing, signage and architecture emerge with unusual clarity, allowing each element within the image to breathe.

The resulting photographs are both documents and celebrations. They record the people and places of Britain while drawing attention to the individuality, vitality and playfulness that continue to animate everyday life.

“Look at any street these days and you will struggle to find a colourful car. Greys, whites and blacks dominate. Office blocks and housing developments are a sea of taupe and beige. Minimalism and modernism have drained the pigment from everyday life. Monochrome has taken over. So I went in search of full colour. Not just accents of colour here and there, but photographs filled from one corner to another with the brightest tones I could find. I searched street corners, shops, cafés, museums and galleries, looking for places where the most luminous shades could still be found. Colour is dynamism, strength and passion. Colour is life.”