A young woman has published photographs of the time she returned to Mottingham from Wales to capture life on a council estate.

Summer Steel, 22, said she wanted to depict what happens behind closed doors in a deprived but loving area of London.

"I used to work in a bar, and you could always see Canary Wharf," Summer told News Shopper.

"That’s the main road into Mottingham and it was always shadowed by the big city.

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"Everyone I told that I lived in London thought ‘oh my god that’s amazing’ because it’s such a big city. But this is a suburban council estate that nobody knew about.

"I would tell people I live in Mottingham and they would say 'where on earth is that?'"

She added: "It is run down and people are always being tested by the government, but never from each other."

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Summer said she misses the close feel of Mottingham where neighbours look out for their own.

However, her brother’s suicide in 2015 prompted Summer to move to Wales.

She said: "It was so hard for me to go to places where he had been. I would bump into his friends and they would say how sorry there were.

"I came to Wales for a fresh start and went to university."

In her second year of Uni, Summmer went back to Mottingham for her SE9 project, which she has now published here.

Individuals photographed are friends and family of Summer.

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"It was a bit of a scary place," Summer described of growing up in Mottingham.

"It is a low-income area and it was rough. There was always police about. But it still had a community feel and my mum had so many friends.

She added: "We had such support from neighbours. I wanted to capture these people."

Summer remembered her parents’ divorce, along with other dramas like stabbings and underage sex scandals but said the council estate folk always offered sanctuary.

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The photo of a woman’s shoulder is Summer’s favourite image.

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"Her bra strap has a heart clip," Summer explained. "She has six children and they live in a three-bedroomed house.

"They all have disabilities and that woman gives so much love. She is in a wheelchair and her other strap is twisted, and it represents how twisted her life is but how much love she gives out."

The Uni graduate is now preparing for a sky dive for Survivors of Bereavement By Suicide in memory of her brother.

You can donate to her fundraiser here.

Summer said she misses living in Mottingham but visits every couple of months and stays over for Christmas time.

Browse through our gallery to look at some of the photographs Summer captured on her return home.