The small yet inspiring collection of street photography currently showing at the Museum of London is as much a commentary on our capital’s social history as of the development of photographic technique over the 20th century. While each image captures something particular about the everyday lives of London dwellers, together they form a narrative of the changing fashions, social structures and the increasingly complex diversities of this great metropolis. The exhibition is arranged with beautiful simplicity, giving maximum impact to the images and the stories behind them. Both the exhibition and the style of photography that dominates give the viewer the freedom to explore the pieces and draw from them their own insights.

The pictures are free from the pretensions of posed photographs. Instead the artists expose those details that in the fast pace on city life would be overlooked by passers-by. A prime example is ‘Bank’ (Anon), which, despite depicting a vast scene of heavy careering traffic, draws the eye in on a small boy, marching carelessly through the tumult. It is these chance meetings of camera with character that give these photographs the power to evoke wonder in the beholder.

The depth of emotion conveyed in Ben Hardy’s ‘East End Boy’, in which a wailing child hangs fearfully in his mother’s arms, terrified after a bombing raid on 28 September 1940, is perfectly mirrored in the mournful embrace of John Chase’s ‘Old Compton Street, Soho, 1999’, following David Copeland’s nail bomb attack on the Admiral Duncan pub. It is refreshing to be shown so explicitly that in a world of increasing human atomisation, those emotions that bring us together - love, care, concern - remain in times of hardship.

Where a crisp black and white image of an effigy of Hitler gives a stark insight into the galvanisation of hate and fear in 1940s London, it is the images surrounding it – a woman painting a shop front, and other portrayals of normality, despite the bombs and despite the fears - which reflect the power of the human spirit to prevail and thrive through times of hardship. In The History Boys, playwright Alan Bennett conveyed a profound idea about literature: ‘The best moments in reading are when you come across something…that you’d thought special, particular to you ... set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met. Maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out and taken yours.’ The thought equally applies to photographs. These images reflect the strength and courage shown by Londoners who braved the streets following the 7/7 bombings, and this is what makes this collection so special. The ability to recognise the strength of human nature through such simple, unimposing pieces is remarkable.

Despite our increasingly suspicious natures, street photography has seen a renaissance in the last decade, and will no doubt continue to be a feature in our cultural landscape until human curiosity becomes extinct – an unlikely eventuality to say the least.

The London Street Photography exhibition is free at the Museum of London till 4 September 2011.