Graffiti vandal tells how he turned his life around from tagging Tube trains at night to photographing life on the Bakerloo line

A graffiti vandal who was jailed after spraying his distinctive tag across the Tube network today tells how he turned his life around to become a photographer documenting the Bakerloo line.

Harry Finn-Conway, 29, was handed a 12 month prison sentence in 2012 over an estimated £80,000 of criminal damage.

His distinctive "Zerx" tag became notorious and an investigation found it had been plastered across buildings in the capital and the London Underground.

But since his release from prison he has become a prolific portrait photographer with a particular focus on the underground network.

He told the Standard about his progression from tagging Bakerloo line trains late at night to capturing its daily motions for a new photography book.

“Once I was released from prison, I went straight into university," he said. "I had a BA course waiting for me at the London College of Communication.

"[After] I’d finished that course, I kind of just worked dead-end jobs and I spent a lot of time going up and down the Tube.”

Finn-Conway studied photography and he said he decided to use his mundane train journeys for his next project.

He had been released from prison after serving three months of his sentence.

Finn-Conway said he immediately found new interests away from tagging through taking pictures.

“I’d left that life in the past and I’d left graffiti behind me," he said. "I didn’t have so much of an excitement for that anymore.

"Whereas, getting a film developed and seeing whose picture I’d captured, it kind of felt like Christmas.”

He has since spent three years capturing passengers on the Bakerloo line, ending up with over a thousand prints which he has edited down into a book.

Finn-Conway said he chose the Tube line as his subject because of its lasting history.

The trains are the oldest on the network, dating back to 1972. However, TfL are planning on rolling out a single design for the Piccadilly, Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo & City lines from 2024 so its iconic brown interior will change.

Finn-Conway felt it was important to capture this moment on the line before it was refurbished.

He added: "I realised that they’d be taking those trains away in a few years, it seemed like a part of London was leaving.”

“It’s not one of these shiny new carriages, with all the mod cons. It’s this dirty old train, where you can see footprints on the wall," he added.

"My main thinking was, I need to make a book out of this. I need to document London history.”

Finn-Conway has taken portraits depicting the humdrum normality of commuters pressed against each other, to the more colourful characters he has met along the way.

The book even features a photo of Noel Gallagher. "It was just one of those random encounters," he said.

"What I loved about it was that he was just sitting next to a young family that was going on their day out and it wasn’t like he had a limo or anything special."

He added: "You’re all sitting on the same dirty seats that people have put their feet all over and there is something very beautiful about that equality on the tube.

"We’re all next to each other and no-ones better than anyone, you know everyone is equal."

The photo on the front of the book shows a passenger with seven TfL tattoos – when Conway asked the man why he had inked the symbols on his body he said he “just loves the Tube”.

He said: “I can be a bit jaded about the gentrification in London but I can also see it as now is the time to document these old characters that are slowly fading from London.

"Now is the time to get them in a frame and get them in front of a camera.”

Finn-Conway produced the book following a crowdfunding campaign.

He raised £10,000 on Kickstarter, and officially launched the book at the Photographer’s Gallery.

‘Bakerloo’ is available to buy here and follow Finn-Conway's work on his Instagram.

Additional video provided by Joe Marshall.