Posts Tagged ‘South Chingford’

1995 Colour Part 6 – Waltham Forest

Tuesday, February 18th, 2025

1995 Colour Part 6 – Waltham Forest: Continuing my series of colour pictures I made in 1995. The previous post, Part 5 – Waltham Forest looked at panoramic images I made in that London Borough, but I also made images in colour using one of my Olympus OM4 cameras with a normal aspect ratio.

Shop, LCC Flats, 32, Hatch Lane, Chingford Hatch, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c03-345
Shop, LCC Flats, 32, Hatch Lane, Chingford Hatch, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c03-345

Most of these images were made with wide-angle lenses , 21mm, 28mm and 35mm shift, but I also had a 50mm standard lens and a short telephoto. They were taken on various Fuji colour negative films but in the days before digital there was no EXIF data to record focal lengths or exposure details. Occasionally the 21mm revealed itself by recording one of my fingers in the right hand lower corner of the frame, a mistake rather too easy to make!

Walthamstow Stadium, Chingford Road, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c03-342
Walthamstow Stadium, Chingford Road, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c03-342

You can see larger versions of all these pictures and others from the same year in my Flickr album 1995 London Colour – from which the images in this post are embedded.

Walthamstow Stadium, Chingford Road, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c03-341
Walthamstow Stadium, Chingford Road, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c03-341

Some years later I covered a protest at Walthamstow Stadium against its demolition. The final race had been held in 2008 and planning permission was given in 2012 for its replacement by almost 300 homes, but the Grade II listed facade in my pictures here was retained.

Lea Valley Motor Company, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c03-352
Lea Valley Motor Company, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c03-352
Keith Little, Turf Accountants, 81, Station Road, Chingford, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c03-362
Keith Little, Turf Accountants, 81, Station Road, Chingford, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c03-362

I imagine this shop window in Chingford may have been inspired by the races at Walthamstow Stadium.

95c03-231-Edit
Cuddles Creche, The Drive, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c03-231

The illustration very much reflects the multicultural nature of London and I liked the name ‘Cuddles’. It was probably at times rather noisy inside and perhaps needed as the notice by the door stated you knock on the door rather than ring the bells between 12.30 and 2 pm.

Shops, Chingford Rd, Chingford Mount, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c02-224
Shops, Chingford Rd, Chingford Mount, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c02-224
Artist, Shop Window, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c02-223
Artist, Shop Window, Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c02-223

There was quite a lot of fine work in shop windows in London, particularly in areas in the north east with large Greek, Turkish, Kurdish or Cypriot heritage communities.

Southend Rd, North Circular Rd, Walthamstow Ave, South Chingford, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c02-335
Southend Rd, North Circular Rd, Walthamstow Ave, South Chingford, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c02-335

The North Circular Road runs across the borough and is a significant barrier to movement with relatively few bridges crossing it. Getting to places just over the road can mean a significant detour for people on foot. This fine 1930s building was a dairy company which delivered milk over a wide area. It has now lost its green tiles and is a Holiday Inn.

More in a later post. You can also find black and white pictures I took in the same area in 1995, starting on page 5 of my album 1995 London Photos.

1995 London Colour


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1995 Colour Part 5 – Waltham Forest

Saturday, February 8th, 2025

1995 Colour Part 5 – Waltham Forest: My Greenwich Meridian project had taken me into North London as far as Pole Hill in Chingford, but I also wandered more widely in the London Borough of Waltham Forest and even strayed into its neighbouring borough of Redbridge, photographing both with a panoramic camera and my ”normal’ pair of Olympus OM4s on black and white and colour.

Pond, Epping Forest, Whipps Cross, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p03-262
Pond, Epping Forest, Whipps Cross, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p03-262

Most of the pictures taken with these OM4s were made with the Olympus 35mm shift lens which could slide vertically and horizontally in its mount, particularly useful for photographing tall buildings when it by shifting it up I could keep holding the camera level and place the horizon close to the bottom of the image, so avoiding converging verticals or including large foreground areas.

Leisure Centre, New Road, Chingford, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p03-441
Leisure Centre, New Road, Chingford, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p03-441
Leisure Centre, New Road, Chingford, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95-3o-23, 1995, 95c03-335
Leisure Centre, New Road, Chingford, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95-3o-23, 1995, 95c03-335

But often I had the shift on a camera loaded with black and white film, with the 28mm on the OM4 with colour in it. I also carried an ultra-wide 21mm, a 50mm and a short telephoto lens for use when needed.

Houses, Sunset Ave, Woodford Green, Redbridge, 1995, 95p03-142
Houses, Sunset Ave, Woodford Green, Redbridge, 1995, 95p03-142

And just occasionally I photographed the same subject both with the swing lens panoramic and with one or other of the Olympus cameras – and I’ll include a couple of examples in this post. All of these pictures were made in February or March 1995.

Lee Valley Viaduct, North Circular Rd, South Chingford, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p02-251
Lee Valley Viaduct, North Circular Rd, South Chingford, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p02-251
Southend Rd, North Circular Rd, South Chingford, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p01-233
Southend Rd, North Circular Rd, South Chingford, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p01-233
Recreation Ground, Higham Hill, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p01-263
Recreation Ground, Higham Hill, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p01-263
Sandpiper Close, Higham Hill, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p02-122
Sandpiper Close, Higham Hill, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p02-122
Sandpiper Close, Higham Hill, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c02-352
Sandpiper Close, Higham Hill, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95c02-352

For these Sandpiper Close pictures I think the added angle of view of the panoramic greatly improves the image and gives for me a much more powerful impression of what I saw and felt standing there and looking down into the Lea Valley.

Riverhead Close, Higham Hill, Waltham Forestm 1995, 95p02-113
Riverhead Close, Higham Hill, Waltham Forest, 1995, 95p02-113

Although the two pictures of the Leisure Centre where only taken a few feet apart, they are very different images. Standing further back for the panoramic gives a better overall view of the site, but moving closer concentrates on the foreground. The slight colour difference between the two images – neither of them quite right – also complicates the issue. Colour balancing many of these old negatives is often very tricky.

Clicking on any of the images above will take you to a larger version on Flickr. You can also find some of the black and white pictures I took on the same walks in my album 1995 London Photos beginning at this picture. My next post in this series will look at more of the non-panoramic images from Waltham Forest.


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All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.