I’ve always had a bit of a thing about photographing nature ravaged by industry or, for that matter, industry ravaged by nature. This old gas works in east London has attracted my attention before but now, with the trees in winter plumage, I thought it worth another look.
It is not that simple though. The site is on the opposite side of a tidal river and an electrified railway line. Despite my well-built, over-generous height of 6’ 3 ¾”, I’m not tall enough. Serious, industrial-grade fencing stops me from getting closer and composing a clean shot.
I could probably get a better angle from a riverside towpath outside the compound I’m working in. I won’t bother to try, though; in this area anyone carrying a camera would be seen as easy meat, a quick source of readies for the next fix or a few more bottles of amber nectar. So I’m stuck with clambering up and down steps and odd bits of equipment in the somewhat futile attempt to make something of what is, to me, a rich source of imagery.
In my business, a little bit of foliage in the foreground is known as ‘dingle’; it adds interest, leading the eye to the main subject. Usually there would be a lot less of it than shown above. Perhaps this array of bare branches would be better called ‘thicket’.
Incidentally, it may appear a bit pedantic, and even pretentious, that I’ve insisted on specifying my height to the nearest ¼ inch. It’s just that I had my height measured recently for the first time in about thirty-five years. To my surprise, I’m ¾” taller than I was in my twenties. I thought I’d better make the most of it before I begin shrinking into senility.
3 comments:
If you want accuracy in height measurements you can't go past the local peninsular newspaper. When metrication was introduced all sorts of people had difficulties with units. A story that referred to a house 'about a mile' down the road would become 'about 1.609 kilometres' down the road. About. Anyway, the newspaper tried to convert 6'2" to metric and opted to convert the two figures separately, quoting a crime suspect as about "1.829m 50.800mm" tall. As the average human hair is about 0.07mm in thickness, this was quite impressive accuracy.
now see, when I say "dingle or thicket" out loud it begs to be repeated and then I hear a train going by, or I'm on one, going from car to car, and the tracks flashing by, oh the sense of excitement and danger, and my mother's hand, guiding. which has nothing to do with gas works. but it's pleasant nonetheless.
Lee, I would expect nothing less in Australia.
Shara - brilliant! I hadn't heard the train until I tried it. Now I've got an alternative to 'tiddley dyke'.
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