1994 | >Re-PHOTO

Limehouse and East India – 1994

Limehouse and East India: I spent most of Saturday 11th June 1994 wandering in the area between Limehouse, Blackwall and the former East India Docks, concentrating on making panoramas, some of which were the post Limehouse, Poplar, Blackwall and East India Panoramas – 1994 but I also took a number of black and white and colour images. You can find more of both in two Flickr albums – links at the bottom of this post – but here is some of the colour work. These pictures will have been made using an Olympus OM$ camera on Fuji film. I carried a range of lenses from 21mm to 200mm, though probably most all were taken with 28mm or 50mm lenses.

*Limehouse Link Tunnel, Aspen Way, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-55*

The eastern entrance to the Limehouse Link Tunnel which was officially opened in 1993. Both portals have decorative sculptures, this one an untitled abstract by Nigel Hall which I find it hard to find any point in. The 1.1 mile tunnel took 4 years to build and cost £293,000,000 making it the most expensive road scheme in Britain per mile.

Limehouse Link Tunnel, Three Colts St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-44

This is the Limehouse Link Eastern Service Building. With a huge volume of traffic passing through the tunnel presumably the main service needed is ventilation and those chimneys presumably are on top of huge fans for the purpose, sharing the pollution with the community.

St Dunstan's Wharf, Dunbar Wharf, Narrow St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-33 — *St Dunstan’s Wharf, Dunbar Wharf, Narrow St, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-33*

The story of Dunbar Wharf is told on the Isle of Dogs Life web site in the article Dunbar Wharf and the Remarkable Story of Duncan Dunbar, and I’ve written more about it in previous posts. Duncan Dunbar made a fortune as a brewer and wine merchant and on his death in 1825 his son, also Duncan Dunbar used this to set up a large shipping fleet, becoming one of the richest men in Britain.

As well as goods to and from the world Dunbar’s shipping line made 37 trips carrying convicts to Australia and were troopships for the Crimean War. He never married and had no children and on his death in 1862 the ships were all sold and the business closed.

The buildings here date from the mid 19th century and are Grade II listed.

*London Art Fashions, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-34*

I think this was the window of a tailor’s shop in Limehouse, but cannot recall its exact location. The caption I gave it came from the black and white poster at the back which I suspect is from the 1920s or 30s, though I’m certainly no fashion expert, while the blue framed image at lower left looks to me a little older and has an interesting lady golfer.

*Chinese Restaurant, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-23*

Limehouse and Poplar used to be London’s Chinatown before that moved to Soho, and some traces remain, rather more back in 1994 than now. On the wall is a calendar for the ‘Year of the Dog’ and a notice informing us that:

‘*WE NOW SELL
‘CHICKEN’ BALLS’ IN BATTER
PLEASE ASK STAFF
£2 A PORTION THANK YOU’

The two green hexagons floating in the centre close to the top of the picture (with some more very faint and above them to their right) are photographic artifacts, lens flare, images of the lens iris reflected from some interior lens surface from a light source just outside the frame. But I rather like the effect here.

*Hairdresser, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-24*

Looking through a window into a hairdressers with a red-edged counter and mirrors, red chairs and red towels hanging on hooks seen in the mirror. It wasn’t possible for me to get enough depth of field to make everything in the picture pin sharp, but this perhaps makes the mirrored image stand out a little more.

*East India Dock Tunnel, Aspen Way, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-51*

The lane closer to the centre of the image dives here into the East India Dock Tunnel with the red brickwork of the tunnel mouth at the right of the picture. The tunnel was opened in 1993. At the left is Canary Wharf Tower, then in isolation, in front of it the bridge and red tower of East India DLR station. The rather depressing 1990 ten-storey granite clad post-modern office blocks on the site of the main East India Dock have now been comprehensively redeveloped mainly for residential use and rebranded as ‘Republic’.

*Canary Wharf, DLR, Power Station, South Bromley, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-61-53*

Further east also looking back to Canary Wharf from underneath the DLR viaduct with the former switchgear house of Brunswick Wharf Power Station at right. Planned in 1939 but not built until after the war this was a coal fired power station on the site of the East India Export Dock. In 1948 the dock was filled in but post-war financial constraints meant the power station was only became operational in 1952, and finally completed in 1956.

In 1970 it was converted to burn oil, probably to reduce air pollution in London. Increases in oil prices later made this one of the more expensive generating stations and it was closed in 1984 and sold for redevelopment in 1987.

Most of the power station was demolished in 1989 but this building remained, I think until around 2005 when it was demolished for a large residential development, Virginia Quays, which has on the riverbank the 1951 Grade II listed Virginia Quay Settlers Monument.

My 1984 albums on Flickr:

1994 London Colour
1994 London Photos (Black and White)

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Limehouse, Poplar, Blackwall and East India Panoramas – 1994

Limehouse, Poplar, Blackwall and East India Panoramas: In June 1994 I took a walk east from Limehouse, making a new series of panoramic images as well as taking some more normal photographs. I think these images were taken on a couple of different walks, but here I’ll present them in a roughly geographical order, going east from Limehouse Basin to East India Dock Basin station and largely following the Docklands Light Railway.

Limehouse Dock, Limehouse, 1994, 94-62-32 — *Limehouse Dock, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-62-32*

Limehouse Dock in 1994 was not surrounded by flats and there was a clear view from the the council flats – John Scurr House – on the corner of Ratcliffe Lane and Branch Road – which you can see at the right.

And in 1994, as in many such blocks, there was little or no entrance security so I could simply walk in and up the stairs to take pictures such as this. The DLR viaduct runs from the left side to St Anne’s Church and the marina is almost empty, while Canary Wharf Tower in the distance is twice the height of the buildings around it, but now is surrounded by other tall towers.

*Bridge, Aspen Way, Poplar DLR, Poplar, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-65-62*

The bridge that leads across Aspen Way from the West India Docks to Poplar DLR station at the extreme right of the picture. At left you can see the DLR line from West India Quay which crosses the road in a blue bridge to join the line from Limehouse.

This picture made a rather nice album cover for the 1998 album The Limehouse Link by Mucho Macho, particularly impressive on the 12″ vinyl where it is carried across both front and back – reproduced at 24 by 12 inches, considerably larger than the CD version.

As Darryl Sterdan’s 1999 review stated “No vocals are no problem for the British DJs on their auspicious debut release” and despite its cover it made little impact.

*DLR, Canary Wharf, Blackwall, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-63-22*

I’d taken photographs in earlier years around the building of the Beckton extension of the DLR and the Limehouse Link tunnel and both had caused major changes in the area. Among which was this rather convoluted footpath leading under the road and DLR south from Blackwall Station.

*Bridge, Blackwall Tunnel Approach, Naval Row, Blackwall, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-63-62*

Parts of the Grade II listed inscription on the Northern portal of the Blackwall tunnel, built in 1897 are hard to read in my picture, so here it is in full: ‘THIS TUNNEL CONSTRUCTED BY THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL WAS OPENED BY/ HRH THE PRINCE OF WALES K.C. ON BEHALF OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA ON 22nd MAY 1897 IN THE 60th YEAR OF HER REIGN/ SIR ALEX R. BINNIE ENGINEER’

I had to wait some time back in 1994 for a train to pass across on the DLR. Services now are usually more frequent.

*Dock, DLR Station, East India, South Bromley, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-63-52*

I wandered rather a long time around East India Dock station, using the bridge across Aspen Way to photograph on both sides of the road. Here I photographed the station across an area of water which has been created in a part of the area formerly occupied by the East India Dock (Import), though I think nothing original remains. So probably I should caption this ‘water feature’ rather than ‘dock’.

*East India DLR Station, South Bromley, Tower Hamlets, 1994, 94-64-52*

Framed at the centre of this image are two towers, Canary Wharf and the much closer tower in Naval Row of the mid 19th century Italianate East India Dock Pumping Station, Grade II listed and one of the few relics of that dock, along with some listed walls and steps and the areas of water. The two towers are a similar shape but actually very different in size and detail.

More pictures from these June walks later.

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East Finchley & Mill Hill -1994

East Finchley & Mill Hill: Pictures I took in May 1994 on walks around these areas of North London. I made relatively few colour pictures but you can find many more black and white images in my Flickr album 1994 London Photos.

I was amused by the contrast between the large image on the wall and the view out of the window. Then the ashtray on every table was the norm. There is a second picture on Flickr with a foreground table and ashtray

*Mural, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-41*

The mural on the shed in what I think was a school reflects the multi-ethnic nature of much of London, but not really of Mill Hill. According to the 1991 census only 18% of the population of the London Borough of Barnet belonged to non-white ethnic groups, with 12% Asian and only 6% black; and 2021, 57.7% of Barnet’s population still identified as White. The borough does have a large Chinese origin population and is home to London’s largest Jewish community.

*Shop Window, Travel Agent, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-43*

What attracted me to this window was undoubtedly the three very different women it portrays (though the SALLY in large print was only a ferry firm operating out of Ramsgate.)

Perhaps deliberately, though I doubt it, the closest image of a woman is out of focus. I find her rather disturbing , partly because of her blue tint (cyan fades much slower than yellow or magenta inks) but also because of the rigid symmetry of her face and the ridiculous thing at the neck of her top.

*Mag-it, Fishing Bait Machine, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-45*

Not only a machine selling maggots, but one which offers you a choice of Red, White and Bronze maggots, mixed maggots, giant maggots, red worms and casters. All apparently frozen and needing to be left in a normal bait box for 60 minutes to recover.

I don’t think there is anywhere in Mill Hill where it is worth fishing.

*University of London Observatory, Watford Way, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-46*

Since 2015 this had been called the UCL Observatory as although built for the whole of London University UCL have managed it since 1951, using it as a hands-on teaching observatory. On their web site it states:

“The Observatory building was designed by Mr L. Rome Guthrie and constructed by Messrs Leslie and Co.; construction commenced in July 1928 and was completed in 1929. The Observatory was opened by the then Astronomer Royal, Sir Frank Dyson, on 1929 October 8.”

I’d often looked out of a train window going north from King’s Cross and been surprised as we flashed past this building in an Intercity 125, and wasn’t quite convinced it was real amd not a folly or some figment of my imagination. Who I thought would build an observatory here given London’s weather?

*Bunns Lane Car Cleaning Services, Bunns Lane, Mill Hill, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-35*

Rather to my surprise you can still get your car washed and valeted on Bunns Lane, though I suspect its days are numbered, along with the adjoining Mill Hill Industrial Estate. The bridge carries the M1 over Bunns Lane and beyond that is a bridge for the main East Coast rail line.

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A Puzzle and More North London -1994

A Puzzle and More North London: My post today from my colour work in May 1994 begins with a plea for help. I’ve spent ages trying to find the location of this first picture and hope someone will recognise it and let me know.

As you can see it shows a street with some impressive houses beside a pond. Unfortunately the only information I recorded back in 1994 was on the back of the contact sheet containing this and a dozen other images:

Bounds Green / New Southgate
Hendon
Barnet
Vauxhall : 28 May 1994

On the film this frame comes between one which I think is from Barnet and some which are clearly at Vauxhall suggesting that this may also be in or around Barnet. But I don’t know Barnet at all well and other pictures taken there at the same time do not include a duck pond like this or any of the houses here.

Although my black and white work was fairly well organised at the time – and I was selling some and putting work into libraries, colour was then simply personal projects. At the time I was also working in south London, and this picture could possibly have been taken there. I’d like to know.

*Hobart Corner, New Southgate, Enfield, 1994, 94-53-62*

Henlys were a major car dealer in the UK mainly for British Leyland, but here they were selling Vauxhall. The New Southgate Gas Works were first built in 1859 and closed in 1972 and this gasholder was a landmark on the North Circular Road until it was demolished in 2014. It was the largest of three on the site and had been built in 1912. It was still in use in 1994 and was only decommissioned in 2001.

Planning permission was given in 2021 for tower blocks with 182 homes on the site but the developer has now dropped these and it is expected to remain empty for several more years.

*Chinese Restaurant, Edgware, 1994, 94-54-62*

Chinese Restaurant, Edgware, 1994, 94-54-64 — *Chinese Restaurant, Station Road, Edgware, 1994, 94-54-64*

I made several pictures of this Chinese Restaurant in the centre of Edgware. The reflection in the window shows the building on the corner of Manor Park Road and Station Road.

*Northway House, High Road, Whetstone, Barnet, 1994, 94-54-66*

Northway House was built in 1968-70 and was a landmark office tower development on the High Road in suburban Whetstone. Back in 1994 it still appeared well-used and in good condition but by 2015 much of it had become empty and dilapidated.

Planning permission was granted to a developer working closely with Barnet Council on a “mixed use residential led mixed use development” which retained and renovated the original building and was completed in August 2025.

Goldies, pub, 58, Regents Park Road Finchley, 1994, 94-54-51 — *Goldies, pub, 58, Regents Park Road, Finchley, 1994, 94-54-51*

Formerly known as the Golden Eagle, this pub was demolished in 2002. In its place, just north of the North Circular Road is now Holiday Inn Express London – Golders Green.

There was a pub on this site in the 1930s, built by Charringtons but I think this building dated from the 1950s or 1960s. Possibly it was rebuilt following war damage or because of the conversion of the road to a much wider double carriageway

North and South – London, May 1994

North and South – London: In May 1994 I was mainly photographing around Enfield, the most northerly of London Boroughs, but in the middle of one film there are a few pictures from Morden, the southern end of the Northern Line. I can’t remember why I made the trip there, possibly on a visit to a friends or perhaps on a family outing to Morden Park on the River Wandle.

*Chimes, pub, 510, Hertford Road, Enfield Wash, Enfield, 1994, 94-05-1-26*

This pub or club seems to have had an unusually large number of changes over the years and was also at various times Club X Zone’, Bar FM’, ‘Bell’, ‘Hotshots’, ‘Texas Cantina’, and more. Now a restaurant.

*Shop Window, Bush Hill Park, Enfield, 1994, 94-52-61*

A strange assortment of clothing on some rather odd two dimensional figures of women with holds in their heads and a line of children’s toys at the bottom of the window.

*The Flower Box, Bush Hill Park, Enfield, 1994, 94-52-62*

A colourful building though I was sad that parts of the mural below the windows was was obscured by almost empty display stands, one made from milk crates.

*The Flower Box, Bush Hill Park, Enfield, 1994, 94-52-65*

A small section of the mural from the previous picture shows a wedding couple striding across the fields.

*Shops, London Rd, Morden, Merton, 1994, 94-52-44*

A fairly typical suburban shopping street with a Boots, Abbey National, Holland & Barrett and at right ‘A NEW FORCE ON THE HIGH STREET’ which I’ve never heard of. The sun is clearly shining but there are ominous clouds above.

*Merton Civic Centre, London Rd, Morden, Merton, 1994, 94-52-46*

These buildings are still there on the corner of London Road and Crown Lane close to Morden Underground Station and are still Merton’s Civic Centre.

*Shops, Merton Civic Centre, Crown Rd, Crown Lane, Morden, Merton, 1994, 94-52-32*

The Civic centre is in a triangle of land surrounded by busy roads. This view seems now largely unchanged except for the names of the shops.

*Morden Court Parade, London Rd, Morden, Merton, 1994, 94-52-34*

Morden Court Parade is still there a little to the south on London Road from the Civic Centre and looks in rather better condition now. But sadly those 1930s windows have been replaced by fatter plastic double glazing which although greatly more comfortable for the residents both for keeping warm and reducing traffic noise from busy A24 dual carriageway rather spoil the appearance of the building. There are also some new balconies which fit in fairly well with the building and although it has lost than ‘MORDEN COURT PARADE’ from the frontage it has been replaced rather larger on the roof.

Back to North London in my next post from 1994.

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More Colour from 1994 in Enfield

More Colour from 1994 in Enfield: In More Ponders End, Enfield Wash, Palmers Green & Brimsdown 1994 I posted a set of pictures made in the first three months of the year. This post includes some more taken in March 1994 mainly along by the Lea Navigation in the London Borough of Enfield and ends with a couple taken in April or May.

My archives from back then are a little disorganised but I’ll try hard not to post any that I’ve previously posted, although a one here is from a site where I’ve previously posted a panoramic images.

*Factory, Lea Navigation, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-2-45*

The Lea Valley was an important industrial area of London well into the 20th century and had been the source of some key inventions, including the start of the electronics industry. Some of the factories were along the river, perhaps originally on sites that had made use of its wharves, but now all reliant on road transport, with all of Brimsdown between the railway and the canal being huge industrial estates off Mollinson Avenue.

*Factory, Lea Navigation, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-2-21*

Here the separation of industry from the canal was emphasized with a concrete fence, now rather decaying at the edge of the bank and tell fence topped with barbed wire at an angle to keep intruders from the canal out of the site.

I don’t remember exactly where at Brimsdown this factory was, but like the rest of the industry here it will since have been demolished, replaced by large distribution sheds, some set well back from the water and almost hidden by trees and bushes growing unfettered along the water’s edge.

*Hairdressers, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-2-42*

There are houses and a few shops at Brimsdown on the other side of the railway line in what is perhaps part of Enfield Wash, which then included this hairdressers. The Sun’s March 1994 topless ‘Page 3 girl‘ in the calendar (also part reflected in the mirror at right) confirms the date of the picture.

*Columbia Wharf, Ponders End, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-2-24*

In a previous article I posted a panoramic view of Columbia Wharf looking down from the Lee Valley Road. Here from a little further East on that road with the navigation in the foreground you see the wharf and background the Ponders End Flour Mills, the gas holder and four tower blocks in Ponders End.

Much redevelopment has gone on in Ponders End and only one to those towers remains and there is no gas holder. But the shed at the wharf is still there and in use although Abbey Stainless Components Ltd are no longer there, nor is that large crane and the van boasting ‘NORTH LONDON’S CARRIER PIGEONS IN TRANSIT has long flown the coop.

*Ponders End, Enfield, 1994, 94-05-1-53*

A more pastoral panorama of Ponders End with Wright’s Flour Mills and the four towers in the background.

*Hair Fashion, Ponders End, Enfield, 1994, 94-05-1-21*

Lady Jayne remains a well known brand in the Ladies hair trade. I think this shop was probably in the High Street, much of which has now been redeveloped.

Tyre & Exhaust Centre, Ponders End, Enfield, 1994, 94-05-1-24 — *Tyre & Exhaust Centre, Ponders End, Enfield*

Tyre Services Tyre & Exhaust Centre at 151 High Street on the corner with Stonehorse Road, a short ‘No Through Road’ off the High Street. This building was still there in 2022 but had became HiQ and then National Tyres and Autocare – a Halfords company and was by then permanently closed. I expect its days were numbered. Much of the area of the High Street around it was redeveloped around ten years ago.

More colour pictures from 1994 to follow in later posts.

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More Ponders End, Enfield Wash, Palmers Green & Brimsdown 1994

More Ponders End, Enfield Wash, Palmers Green & Brimsdown: Back in 1994 my main focus was on black and white images, some of which I was selling or putting into libraries. I was taking colour on colour negative film and my work was all ‘personal’, with a few being printed for exhibitions.

*Hairdressers, Enfield Wash, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-1-52*

So while I kept fairly careful records of the black and white images, keeping a diary and annotating the contact prints I made far less documentation for the colour work. Images were filed in sheets which were numbered often for the month I developed them rather than when they were taken and there was no urgency to develop colour film, doing so in batches sometimes covering film from several months.

*Shop Window, Palmers Green, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-1-36*

Here I’ve tried to present the images in the order they were taken. They come from a whole set of walks around parts of Enfield in the early months of 1994, though I think the first may haven been taken in December 1993.

*Mural, Palmers Green, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-1-21*

The previous post, Ponders End, Brimsdown, Enfield Wash & Waltham Cross – 1994, included some pictures from the same months, including a panorama made at the same place as one of the images here. I think these pictures speak for themselves so I’ll write nothing more about them.

*Back to the Future, Bus, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-1-23*

Cable Drums, Factory, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-2-64 — *Fuel Pumps, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-1-26*

*Builders Mate, Builders Merchants, The Arena, Mollison Avenue, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-2-55*

Another post of pictures from the London Borough of Enfield later.

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Ponders End, Brimsdown, Enfield Wash & Waltham Cross – 1994

In March 1994 I spent some time photographing in the London Borough of Enfield, and going a little beyond its borders into Waltham Cross. Mostly I was taking black and white pictures – some of which you can see on Flickr in the album 1994 London Photos – but I did also take some in colour, including a few colour panormas.

*Builders Mate, Builders Merchants, The Arena, Mollison Avenue, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-3-53*

Mollison Avenue in Brimsdown is a busy road running roughly parallel to and between a railway line and the Lea Navigation with the area between these crammed with industrial and commercial sites. Now much of it is occupied by delivery centres and I think there are rather more fences than in 1994.

This was a picture largely about shapes and as with many olds getting the colours to look natural is a problem – as you can see particulary in the foliage here.

Bridge, Pipe Bridge, Lea Navigation, Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-3-31 — *Bridge, Pipe Bridge, Lea Navigation,* Brimsdown, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-3-31

The colour is rather better in this image of a large pipe bridge, possibly carrying gas, over the navigation. The view here looks rather rural, but as usual there is a line of tall pilons.

Here I made use of the curvature from the swing-lens camera – as well as the obvious pipe there is a second interlocking curve with the bridge, the grass bank and the towpath.

Columbia Wharf, Ponders End, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-3-23

Columbia Wharf was now a wharf in name only, with lorries now delivering carpets. This is now a part of ‘Ponders End Waterfront’. I think this picture was taken from Wharf Road.

Launderette, Enfield Wash, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-1-63

Enfield Wash is close to Enfield Lock station which I used several times to walk around the area. I have a small suspicion that this launderette may really have been in an area that locals would call Enfield Lock, but I decided given the subject that Enfield Wash was more appropriate.

Launderette, Enfield Wash, Enfield, 1994, 94-03-1-64

I still can’t decide whether I preferred the landscape or portrait version of this launderette interior – taken through the window when it was closed.

Shops and Cross, Waltham Cross, Broxbourne, 1994, 94-03-1-61

From Enfield Lock Station a short walk took me to the Lee Navigation towpath which is also the Lea Valley Walk and a couple of kilometres north uder the M25 I was out of Greater London and in Waltham Cross. At right is the Eleanor Cross, one of twelve built to the orders of King Edward I to mark the overnight resting places of his wife Eleanor of Castile who died near Lincoln in 1290 as her body was en route to Westminster Abbey.

Much restored it now sits in the pedestrianised shopping centre, one of only 3 surviving Eleanor Crosses. The one in front of Charing Cross Station is a Victorian 1865 recreation.

Rainham, Purfleet, Thurrock & Ponders End – 1993

Rainham, Purfleet, Thurrock & Ponders End: On Saturday 11th December 1993 I took a train from Fenchurch Street to Rainham and then walked along by the river to Coldharbour Point. There the path stopped and I returned to Rainham and took the train to Purfleet where I could pick up the riverside path again and walk on to Grays. Probably I walked about 9 miles in all and by the time I finished it I think the light would have been fading, with sunset at around 4pm.

Tilda Rice, Purfleet, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-64 — *Tilda Rice, Rainham, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-64*

On this walk I made a little over 200 black and white images, a selection of which you can find on Flickr in my 1993 London album beginning here.

*Waste Paper, Purfleet, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-51*

There are more colour images from this walk, including a number of panoramas, mixed with pictures from other occasions starting here on the final two pages of my Flickr album of colour pictures from 1993.

*Notices on Fence, Purfleet, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-53*

But today I found some more pictures from that walk at the start of my album 1994 London Colour and I’ll share these in this post. They will have come from a cassette of film which I took in 1993 but only developed a month or so later in 1994.

*Waste Paper, Purfleet, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-56*

Works, Purfleet, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-46

*QEII Bridge, Dartford Bridge, Pipeline, River Thames, West Thurrock, Thurrock, 1993, 94-01-1-11*

The final image in today’s post is something completely different on the same film, a shop window in Ponders End which I found it strangely weird. As it is on the same film as the others I think it was probably also taken in December 1993 although my caption stated 1994.

*Shop Window, Ponders End, Enfield, 1994, 94-01-1-14*

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1995 Colour – Part 1

1995 Colour – Part 1: The first of a series of posts on my colour work, mainly in London, from 1995, 35 years ago and when I’d been working extensively with colour negative film for ten years, though still continuing to work with black and white.

Although I’d always taken both colour and black and white photographs since I began in photography, black and white had dominated my work. It was still the serious side of photography in the 1970s; almost all gallery shows then were black and white, and most publications were still only printed in monochrome, including photographic magazines, although some occasionally had a few colour pages.

And back then, almost all professional colour was taken using colour slide film such as Ektachrome and Kodachrome. Films were mainly sold inclusive of processing and you sent away your exposed film and a few days later s box of slides came back through the post. Professionals might use Ektachrome and take it to a lab for processing, but that worked out more expensive, though you could get the results in an hour or so.

I was interested in colour but in the early years took far fewer colour images, largely because of the cost, though I did cut this down by buying colour film in bulk and home processing, though this needed much tighter control of time and temperature than black and white and the results were not always quite as they should have been.

Most photographers at the time felt that colour negative film was only for amateurs, but two things changed that for me. One was my frustration with transparency film which simply could not handle many of the high contrast scenes I was interested in, giving impenetrable shadows where I wanted detail and the second was seeing some prints produced by another photographer, printed on Fuji paper.

There was a clarity about the colours that this paper gave when compared with Kodak, Agfa and the others, but the other great advantage was that there was little or no colour shift with exposure. This meant that I could dodge and burn prints with a similar creative control to working with black and white.

*Chinese Takeaway, Hoe St, Walthamstow, 1994, 95c01-155*

Some time early in 1985 I made the decision to switch entirely from transparency to negative for all of my personal colour work.

This post is the first of a number which will show some of my colour images from 1995.

These pictures were all made in December 1994 or January 1995 with some 1994 images only being processed in January 1995.

*War Memorial, Callender’s Cables, Church Manorway, Belvedere, Bexley, 1994, 95c01-165*

I’ll publish more in later posts, perhaps also including some of the colour panoramas I made. There is much more of my colour work on film in a number of Flickr albums.

Flickr – Facebook – My London Diary – Hull Photos – Lea Valley – Paris
London’s Industrial Heritage – London Photos