14 Sunday Oct 2018
Posted in Diversions, London, Photography
More of that Saturday afternoon autumn light in Deptford, this time in Giffin Square just off the High Street. Today’s started as grey and damp as can be, and it’s almost impossible to imagine that the light looked like that yesterday.
All photos shot on a Fujifilm XT20 with XF35mm f1.4 lens, in case you’re interested in that kind of thing.
More of my Deptford pictures here.
02 Tuesday Oct 2018
Posted in Diversions, Down by the river, London
The Woolwich Free Ferry has been taking people across the Thames for centuries, most latterly as a key route for lorries to avoid the Blackwall tunnel. The current roll-on, roll-off boats, built in 1963, are to be taken out of service this week to be replaced by new vessels which promise hybrid diesel-electric power (check out the exhaust fumes in the picture above to see what the current boats produce), and magnetic berthing. One striking feature of the soon-to-be-redundant ferries is the large space for foot passengers under the car deck, not barely used, but a reminder of the ferry’s past role in getting dock and factory workers back and forth before containerisation and deindustrialisation arrived.
I thought I should get some pictures before these boats bow out, and went down for a trip to North Woolwich and back on a bazlingly bright late September day. See the full album ‘Last days of the old Woolwich Ferry here’.
28 Tuesday Aug 2018
Posted in Diversions, Photography
A walk to the pub on Bank Holiday Sunday evening (because you have to go out on a Bank Holiday Sunday evening, don’t you?), the rain almost stopped after pouring down all afternoon. This shot taken from Charlton Road, looking into the Springfield estate. I’d love the chance to take my camera to the top floor of one of these blocks, with their view across the river and over to Canary Wharf.
20 Monday Aug 2018
Posted in Diversions, London, Photography
Tags
Canary Wharf, East London, Fuji XT20, Fujifilm, Greenwich Park, London skyline, monochrome, National Maritime Museum, Old Royal Naval College, south east London, The Queen's House
A Sunday afternoon walk to Greenwich Park, through the flower garden, past the bandstand to say hello to my uncle playing piano with a Big Band on the bandstand, then on to the Wolfe statue for the classic view over the park looking north.
One day – one day – I’ll pull together some proper then-and-now photos taken from this spot over the last 15 years. But this is how it looks now: the grass in the park very slightly greened up and recovered after weeks without rain; the Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf stopped at this particular moment of development, a brief pause before the glass and steel buildings spread further out from Canada Square. I’ll no doubt be back there in the coming weeks – maybe I’ll try a then-and-now then.
22 Friday Jun 2018
Posted in Diversions, London, Photography
A quick look at Deptford High Street on a Saturday afternoon in June.
13 Sunday May 2018
Posted in Diversions, London, Photography
A belated look at this year’s incredible blossom display in my neighbourhood (an effect of particularly cold weather followed quickly by very hot weather? I don’t know, I’m not a scientist).
Seen on a short walk to the Vanbrugh Tavern, travelling in the hope of seeing Newcastle United beat Everton and leapfrog them in the league. It wasn’t to be, but the beer was nice and the company good.
And here’s a bonus shot of the amazing double-blossom tree at Blackheath Standard by night (is there a name for the phenomenon where a tree produces two different coloured blossoms?):
16 Thursday Nov 2017
Posted in Diversions, London, Photography
Spotted in the bridge under the railway line by Lewisham station, this struck me as quite an old-fashioned approach to graffiti these days. More like something from a 70’s British photobook than the developer-approved street art of 2017 London.
31 Monday Jul 2017
Posted in Diversions, London, Photography
There’s always something to photograph in Woolwich…
25 Saturday Feb 2017
Posted in London, Photography
A Friday morning nose around Woolwich Public Market. It’s a pretty sorry site: mostly abandoned and semi-derelict, a few stalls clinging on by the front entrance, and all ultimately awaiting demolition for the Spray Street redevelopment. There were briefly plans to turn it into a street food market in the interim, but these fell away pretty quickly; a shame, as the space (once cleaned up!) would have been perfect for it, and would have given people a much-needed reason to visit and spend money in Woolwich town centre.
Click here to see the full set of Woolwich Public Market photos.
14 Sunday Aug 2016
Posted in London, Photography
Tags
Angerstein hotel, antigallican, Charlton, East Greenwich, fire station, Frankie & Benny, Fuji X-E1, Fuji XT10, london, mirror shop, photography, photowalk, pickwicks, rose of denmark, SE London, SE7, south east London, Starbucks, woolwich road
I took my cameras for a walk along Woolwich Road between two landmark pubs, starting at the Angerstein Hotel; passing the landmark shops (‘mirror’, and ‘ass’); the unexplained shipping container of Holmwood Villas; East Greenwich fire station; Pickwick’s pub (recently closed); the motorway service station architectural vibes of Frankie & Benny’s and Starbucks; the Rose of Denmark pub; the out-of-town-shopping-centre-but-in-town incongruous mass of M&S and Sainsbury’s; Valley House (awaiting demolition); and finishing up at The Antigallican. The sun was belting hot and not particularly nice for photography, there was too much traffic, and there are far too many signposts and the like cluttering the view along there, but it was an interesting exercise; I might try it again in the winter.
