Chris Moxey goes to Oxford Street every week not to shop but to take photographs of the passers-by. She talks to Nick Elvin

With shoppers, workers and tourists rushing to and fro, Oxford Circus is one of London’s busiest places, so for a photographer looking for interesting human subjects it is the ideal location.

For Chris Moxey’s first solo exhibition, West End Boys and West End Girls, she is presenting images she has captured of some of the people who have passed through that area during the last two years.

When asked why she chose that part of London, Chris says: “It kind of chose me. So many different people pass through there every day, it’s a bit like a stage. There are so many interesting faces. I don’t ever stand in one spot. I tend to wander the streets. I go there in the morning and just go round scanning for faces.”

With so many people to photograph, there must be occasions when individuals have objected to having a camera pointed at them. “I don’t tend to hang around once I’ve taken the photo. Because it’s the West End there are lots of tourists there, it’s quite natural for people to be taking photos.

“One thing that’s changed is when I started off taking pictures of people I didn’t want them to see me, partly because I was nervous about it, but I also wanted to get them when they were contemplative. Now I like to get that moment when they spot me.”

Chris started taking photos in the 1970s, but didn’t pursue the hobby for long. She took it up again three years ago when she took early retirement as a web producer from the BBC.

She now combines work as a counsellor with photography, and she goes to the West End two or three times a week to take pictures.

Other subjects she enjoys photographing include the British coast, the Californian desert and buildings, especially 1930s Modernist architecture.

Chris wants viewers of West End Boys and West End Girls to imagine what the people in the photos are thinking or doing.

“I hope that I don’t put ideas into people’s minds,” she says. “I prefer them to draw their own conclusions.”

Lauderdale House, Highgate, Tuesday, May 25 until Sunday, June 6. Details: 020 8348 8716, www.lauderdalehouse.co.uk