Bush fire on Wanstead Flats
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Bush fire on Wanstead Flats
Bush fire on Wanstead Flats
The London Perambulator rambles on with a screening at Curzon Soho on Wednesday 14th July at 7.45pm. What a life the film is having after we let it loose last April.
I’m writing this now sat on a sofa in the lobby of a hotel in New York – I’ll arrive back in London the morning of the screening so be interesting to see how I handle the Q&A with jet-lag.
Bizarrely I’ve had to go away for work before almost every screening of the film. I don’t even go away that much but whenever a screening looms I get the call to fly off somewhere to work for a week, or this case 4 days.
I can’t help thinking there’s a message in this – lord knows what it is and considering that travel stopped me from attending the Brighton Film Festival and Bethnal Green Working Mens Club screenings maybe the message is to leave Nick Papadimitriou alone to do the Q&A (I know that’s what Nick thinks).
Hopefully some of you reading this will be able to make it along Wednesday – and if you do you’ll know why I’m yawning.
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I saw some of the brilliant photos from this book when Peter Marshall did a presentation at Invisible Cities. They really resonated with me as that was the year I first moved to London as a scruff-bag student.
Here’s the blurb for the book:
‘1989’ claims to be Chapter 1 of a book based on the notes made by the photographer on a walk through the streets of northeast London with a well-known author of ‘psycho-geographical’ works.
But the author is entirely fictional, and the notes, written in 2005, after his death and sixteen years after the pictures were taken are in part a gentle spoof on psycho-geography but more importantly a reflection on photography and the documentary process.
Peter Marshall has been photographing London since the 1970s and had his first one-person museum show more than 25 years ago. His work is in various collections including the Museum of London.
From 1999-2007 he became known around the world for his critical writing about photography as the ‘About.com’ Photography guide.
He set up his first web site in 1995 and has continued to have a high profile with web sites of his work on the ‘Lea Valley’, ‘London’s Industrial Heritage’, ‘The Buildings of London’ and ‘My London Diary’ as well as the ‘>Re:PHOTO’ blog.
I almost literally stumbled upon these curious posts when walking back across Wanstead Flats the other week. I’m fairly certain that they were used to tether the barrage balloons that were part of the air defences based on the Flats during the Second World War. The foundations of the communications hut can still be seen in Long Wood.
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“… it is often in those awkward-shaped parcels of ground – left over like a hem when the surrounding areas have been sewn up – called ‘marginal land’. These seem to be multiplying with the piecemeal extension of built-up areas: a sliver left over between two strictly rectangular factories, a disused car dump, the surrounds of an electricity sub-station”
– p.38 The Unofficial Countryside (1978), by Richard Mabey
Lamb’s Conduit Street
On the way to Coram’s Field yesterday we decided to stop by the cheapo chain supermarket in Lamb’s Conduit Street to pick up some carrots to feed the animals. Instead of the usual consumerist nightmare we found this brilliant community owned and run co-operative in its place. We chatted to the lovely smiley lady behind the counter about the store – staffed and run by members who volunteer a small number of hours per year.
I remember reading about a similar scheme in Brooklyn, NY – great to see it taking off here.
More info here
And some photos here
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The Sheepwalk Leytonstone
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