Two Metres – just an arbitrary measure of distance; it does not really have any meaning because it could be 1 metre or 1.55 metre. Yet in March 2020 in the UK Two Metres became a new proscribed social distance we had to abide by. During multiple lockdowns during Covid-19 I documented my walks and the changing environment that this time brought.
Journeys Through London and Paris: Insights from Recent Projects
Over the last 12 months I have slowly started to add some new London projects to the site. Action or Extinction is another London bus project to complement An Elevated View. A Journey Along the Lea is my third project exploring London’s second river. The Not so Silent Line continues the transport theme but in Paris.
Transforming Digital Projects into Photo Books
Over the last few years I have been exploring how to translate some of my projects into book form, here are some examples
Borderlands
Borders define the spaces in-between — the crossing points from one place to another. Following the course of London’s second river, the Lea, I’ve discovered the series of edgelands — real, historical and mythological that occur along it’s path.
An Elevated View
This is a commuter’s perspective of London – a passing view of the city defined by the top deck of a London bus. It’s a familiar streetscape caught in a series of momentary glances as the bus lurches and sways to its destination.
Meandering along the Lea
While we may know the Thames, the Lea, London’s second river is perhaps less familiar. Yet it has its own history and identity – walking along its towpaths you discover a constantly managed space that has been re-constructed and diverted since the 12th Century.
Regents Canal the linear London village
The Regents Canal in London runs from Paddington in the west to the Limehouse basin in the east, taking in a broad microcosm of London. At the western edge are the grand houses and mansion blocks of the established affluence of Little Venice and the splendour of Regents Park. As we move to Islington and Hackney, new housing developments, old council estates and a decaying industrial landscape define an urban landscape that is rapidly transforming. The old canal-side living of the narrowboat is being replaced by apartment blocks that crowd the canal path and define a new urban district for London.
London Southbank – a random walk
The Southbank is a great public square along the Thames. From the London Eye to Tower bridge you can follow the course of the river and the concert halls, galleries and cinemas that line it’s path. At low tide the beaches emerge from the river and close to Tower Bridge is a flotilla of boats arranged in a square, facing the luxury flats along both sides of the river.
What I see from the London bus
I’ve been continuing to explore London streets from the viewpoint of the bus – what started as a bit of a distraction from my occassional commutes to west central london from my north london home has grown. I’ve been taking other routes and watching the London landscape pass by. Some of the more recent images are along Holloway Road
Kings Cross Journeys
From 67 acres of post-industrial landscape around Kings Cross station a new district is arising from the detritus of of the ‘railway lands’ that were built in the 1850s and 60s. New streets and public squares are being created as well as thousands of new homes, and a university campus. Granary square is host to the new campus for the University of the Arts, social housing and the Global Generation Skip Garden – which uses the symbol of re-construction, the skip, to provide a new home for a garden in a landscape of cranes and barriers as the ‘railway lands’ are re-born for a new purpose.
Random London
Through my journeys across London I often come across a rather random collection of images that interest me but don’t really fit into a larger group. So here we have a somewhat fragmented collection . Its a combination of parks, re-develevelopment sites and high streets, reflecting the changing urban landscape in London.