Earlier this week, we asked you to send us your pictures of the reality of recession. You've done yourselves proud. Submissions range from the elegiac to the defiant; from closing down sales to credit crunch menus, from the quietness of closure to the exuberance of desperation, occasionally spiced with a little schadenfreude, but more often with sympathy.
The ship of fools
My favourite so far is this; a narrative study of the banking crisis, captured with wry eloquence. It helps to know that the background is Canary Wharf, London's financial district overflow.
Photograph: mgillinson at Flickr. Rights reserved
Hard times in Hampstead (one)
Marvellous bit of subvertisement, made all the better for being in Hampstead, London's leafily affluent hilltop suburb. It's at the lightest end of the vein of protest signage which runs through the photos.
Photograph: graham at Flickr. Rights reserved
Hard times in Hampstead (two)
OK, so jonanamary hasn't tagged this one up for location, so we don't know it's Hampstead. But it does show another trend in the pictures, what you might call ironic sympathy. See also: "It must be tough if people are selling off their pleasure boats."
Photograph: jonanamary at Flickr. Rights reserved
In a similar class is the best looking picture in the collection so far: this Andreas Gursky-like vision of an empty carpark at the Aston Martin showroom
Closing down
The most touching example of the most touching strand in the collection is this shot of a closing down notice in a shop at Elephant and Castle in London.
Photograph: jasminetea on Flickr. Rights reserved
Add your photographs to the pool
Do you have a better shot you can bring to the table? Perhaps you've seen a forlorn estate agent in his empty office? A "for sale" sign on an ice-cream van? Add them to the pool.
