Today is my eleventh Londonversary!
To celebrate, here's a selection of photographs I took from the London Eye back in 2012 that I finally edited over the weekend.
love letters to london: love at first sight
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 29 January 2021].
“London is a bad habit one hates to lose.”
An anonymous saying, as quoted by William Sansom in Blue Skies, Brown Studies (1961)
I first visited London as 1991 became 1992. My family took a "'round the world" trip through Europe, the UK and the US, with time spent in London and towns in Wales during the UK leg.
As a child and teenager growing up in Australia in the late 70s to the early 90s, my humour and cultural tastes were heavily shaped by British television, especially British comedy. From the various series created by The Two Ronnies to The Young Ones. From The Goodies to Yes Minister and Rumpole of the Bailey. Monty Python, Blackadder, Absolutely Fabulous, Robin's Nest and Are You Being Served? I could go on, but I won't. I'm sure you get the picture.
But my music and some of my television tastes were more focussed on America. At the time, I was a subscriber to Bop and The Big Bopper: magazines focussed on teen stars of US television and film, many of whom were named Corey. (Though I'm sure that had nothing to do with my first serious boyfriend being called Corey...) I was 13, going on 14. You have to forgive me the foibles of youth.
I'd been a fan of Bon Jovi, Poison and other American hair bands along with the 'teen dreams' of New Kids on the Block for a long time. Around the time of our trip, with the influence from my older brother, Rob, I'd started to get into the Violent Femmes, but more importantly, UK bands like The Cure and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
I had inspiring experiences in the US and in Europe while on our family trip. New Orleans, San Francisco and Los Angeles stand out in the US. And pretty much everything in Europe we saw was inspiring. But I was surprised that I found myself turning away from a (by then) more US-centric focus to a UK-centric one by the time I returned to Australia.
Over the following years, my music tastes continued to span the UK/US borders. But I found myself more and more drawn toward the UK with the advent of Britpop.
By the time I finished my Diploma of Illustrative Photography in 1997, I knew I wanted to live in the UK for a time and have the opportunity to travel within Europe. What can I say? I guess I'm a product of my parents with their itchy feet for travel and their own overseas lives in their younger days.
By 1998 I had realised the benefits of my family history. I had started saving to move to the UK in 1999. My Grandpa on my Dad's side was born in Stoke Newington in London, so I could live in the UK on an Ancestry visa with fewer restrictions than many of my friends.
About that time, I ended up becoming entwined in a relationship. Thankfully, my then-partner was a fellow Anglophile (though I'm not sure I'd describe myself that way now). And he was also eligible for an Ancestry visa through his grandmother born in Wolverhampton. Consequently, we bought one-way tickets to London in May 1999 and arrived on 1 December the same year.
We were not at all unique in our intentions in those days. Australians in their early 20s were flocking to the UK in droves in the late 90s. While the 'working holiday visa' was reasonably restrictive, it served its purpose for adventurous Aussies (and Kiwis and South Africans) that longed to experience the other hemisphere up close.
For (what we originally believed to be) financial reasons, we initially settled outside London, in Bracknell. We then 'graduated' to Reading, where we met many friends I still hold dear now. Eventually, with the impetus of one of my then partner's friends and myself, we moved to London.
When we were eventually looking to move to London, those I worked with suggested we move to suburbs full to bursting with other Australians. Areas like Earl's Court. I couldn't think of anything worse. Though I continued to live with fellow Aussies (through my relationship and friendships), I didn't come to another country to spend all my time with my fellow countrymen! What was the point of coming all this way, if not to meet and mingle with locals?!
Despite my concerns, we did end up in an area that was apparently heavily populated by Aussies. We lived near Clapham North Station, on a road that ran between Clapham High Street and Brixton Hill. I didn't realise at that time, but the area was apparently full of Aussies. Maybe it was camouflaged by the pizza place across the road that we sunk our (small) fortune into being run by a lovely gay French couple. Or maybe it was hidden by the friendly Urdu-speaking family running the off-license we lived above. I don't know. But it never ever felt like an Aussie enclave.
While I loved so much of my time in London during that period, I worked long hours in an office in Canal Reach, near Camden Town. Initially clearing a backlog of invoices, and then eventually, with my manager's permission, scanning my own photos and uploading them to my fledgeling website outside of hours. At that point, we didn't have a computer or the internet at home.
When I was at home in the evenings and on the weekends, my time was mostly spent in relaxation. At home, in pubs or clubs, attending raves or travelling. Enjoying the company of my friends and housemates and the interiors of local boozers. And trying (unsuccessfully) to pretend the Champions League and EUFA Cup wasn't a thing.
I took surprisingly few photos of London during my time living here in 2001-2002. Most photos were taken in Bunhill Fields Cemetery, or in and from our flat in Clapham North. The majority were taken during travels with my parents during their 2001 visit. And during trips to Europe with David and our friends.
But I developed a love for the city that didn't die when I decided I was ready to go "home". I remember looking at flight prices in November 2001 for a trip home for my birthday in April 2002 and suddenly, out of curiosity, looking at one-way flight prices. That night I went home and asked David if he was ready to go "home". He said he was and we booked our flights without telling our employers.
What I didn't know then was that about three months after my return to Australia, I would realise I had just needed a break. That a month away with family and friends in Australia, and maybe reconsidering my relationship, and finding a new job on my return, was what I really needed.
Within those three months, I knew Melbourne wasn't home. I should have stayed in London. But it took me about nine years to get back here.
I've been back in London for over ten years now, and I don't see myself leaving anytime soon. I've visited Australia twice in the past three years and both times been reminded that I love the people - my friends, my family - and aspects of the country. But it's not my home anymore.
London is my home.
From foreign correspondent, a piece I wrote while living in Melbourne in 2006:
some days my heart is in london though, or somewhere not here.
i dream of returning to londinium. two year and some months spent in the kingdom; less than half of that lived in the grand city, but daily commute from reading to camden for months before i moved. its grey, wintry, polluted streets are like a lover you know is no good for you, but you want to be held by nevertheless. it's a city to love/hate and not be able to differentiate the taste of either. moreso, i have unfinished business with her; a wish to return on my own terms with a confidence i had not before.
promise made to self that my return would be on the understanding of permanence, not fleeting. and for now, that is a commitment i am unable and unready to make. for now i love being in my rainy city, and the freedoms that affords me, that the lady would deny: such as a dwelling larger than a box of cardboard, with no need of company.
i visited blake; or rather the stone that marks an empty grave. i found him at the tate and felt myself overwhelmed by such a fantastic volume of work. dante's inferno in illustration, amongst other works.
kinfolk bred me with feet hungry for the touch of new lands. eyes wide at the unknown, thirsting for new targets for my memory-catcher.
for now i enjoy being in the present, potentially visiting the isle of the dead in summer and satisfying my taste for one destination...
P.S. I apologise for the quality of the photos in this post. I don't currently have a scanner, and I don't have a proper set-up for rephotographing prints. Previously scanned versions I have are too small to share here. Over the past 6-12 months, I've been reminded that purchasing a scanner should be one of my Patreon goals. So I can share more of my older work with you and also for creating digital collages.
P.P.S. Some images in this post have been published before on previous iterations of my website. But many of them haven't been seen except in photo albums and piles of photographs by close friends many years ago.
P.P.S. Some images in this post have been published before on previous iterations of my website. But many of them haven't been seen except in photo albums and piles of photographs by close friends many years ago.
cut out and keep
From 7 April to 15 July 2020 inclusive, I took part in The 100 Day Project for the second time.
My first time around, in 2018, was creating postcards from another’s life: a one-woman collaboration. I realised early on I’d set myself a daily project that was too intense, involved and time-consuming to be done every day for 100 days.
That hasn’t stopped me continuing that project, and I’ve now completed 19 postcards since 3 April 2018. It takes a lot of time to find the right image from both an inspirational and compositional point of view. The writing takes about 30 minutes once I have an idea in my mind. The editing of text and image takes at least the same amount of time. Getting it online on my various platforms adds more time. And for a project that I set myself to be done within a calendar day, starting at 21:00 might mean I’m posting minutes before midnight.
This year’s project - retrospectively collected under the title cut out and keep (chronological order) - was actually even more time-intensive. I had the advantage of working on it while unemployed. Obviously, that allowed me more time to dedicate to the project each day. And it’s probably the primary reason I was able to get through all 100 days of this year’s project (though some days I did cut it a bit fine, I must admit!)
Had I been employed during this year’s project, it would probably have become a long-term one like postcards… Instead, it became something of a lifeline during a time of personal and global uncertainty.
Nothing happens in isolation
I never tagged my series of collages on social media as #isolationcreation or similar. Mostly because I’d intended to do the project before coronavirus ‘happened’. Despite that, it still served to focus my mind as I faced redundancy from my day job and scrolled through the grim daily updates on the spread of the virus in my social media feeds.
It was both a personal challenge and a distraction from a global reality that performed the function of protecting my mental health during that time.
Shortly before I started the project, the UK went into lockdown. We stayed in Level 4 restrictions until about a month before I finished. Although the lockdown didn’t substantially change how I lived my life during a period of redundancy consultation and unemployment, the bigger picture obviously weighed heavily on my mind.
Along with stress caused by my employment within the previous year, and the emotions and stress generated through injury and family circumstances in the same period, then during the lockdown, the daily news updates, press conferences and battling the surge of friends on social media succumbing to conspiracy theories became exhausting.
An escape hatch
The project was something of an escape. It allowed me moments of lightheartedness during an otherwise tense time. And it was also a way to process how I was feeling about the situation and life in general.
In that way, it was akin to the 365 Day project I undertook in 2007/8. That project allowed me to deal with life, but also escape from my everyday life and become someone else for a few hours a day on the days when I chose to play out a role not my own.
Both projects were cathartic during troubling times. And both projects allowed me to sample what life would be like if I were an artist 24/7 (even though I was employed for much of the time it took me to complete my 365 Days project).
A new medium
Although I chose collage as the medium for my 100 Day Project, photography was always intended to be a part of it. I didn’t take new photographs but revisited old work and used previously unedited photos to complete the project.
Whether inspiration for my daily collage was an illustration, painting or my photography, how I might combine my photos with others’ art always formed part of the process.
It was always my intention to combine my photographs with others’ artworks. However, some days my photography felt like an unnecessary addition.
While I’ve long been interested in and intrigued by collage and assemblage, various factors meant physical collage wasn’t really an option this time around:
London was in lockdown, so gathering physical sources for collages was out of the question, and I didn’t already have these at my disposal.
I don’t own a scanner, and photographing collages is always hit and miss (though many of my artist friends do this well!)
I’m more confident with Photoshop than with a pair of scissors, a scalpel and a bottle of PVC glue.
Resourceful
In honesty, the ‘what’ of my project only really came to me on the day I started. It hinged heavily on me being able to find suitable public domain images to inspire and execute my collages with.
I’ll be forever grateful to the folks at Old Book Illustrations for the extensive resource they provide. As well as organisations like the Wellcome Collection, and everyone’s online go-to, Wikipedia and their Wikimedia Commons. Flickr and national institutions using their platform also had a look-in.
Obviously, I’m also forever indebted to the various artists - most long gone, some unknown - who created the various illustrations and paintings I used in my collages.
For the love of it
For me, photography is not just about the moment of capture; the action of capturing on film or in pixels what I see through my viewfinder. Nor is it just about the act of working in a physical or digital darkroom to bring the photos I’ve taken to life for myself and others to view and enjoy.
Creating these collages reinforced many things I’ve always loved about photography. And now, I guess - by extension - creating in any medium.
Fascination street
My biggest drivers for photographing something, someone or somewhere is that:
they/it intrigue or fascinate me; and/or
I find the subject aesthetically pleasing, grotesque/disturbing or both.
These drivers often lead me to try to discover new angles and new perspectives on a subject.
Creating the cut out and keep collages started with the same drivers.
Whether I had a particular phrase, song lyric or subject in my head before selecting an illustration or painting, the artwork I chose had to fit one or both of the above criteria.
Some days, the most time-consuming activity in creating a collage would be finding just the right illustration or painting to pique my interest and excite me on that particular day. Apart from a few exceptions, I usually only decided on the exact image and idea on the day of creation.
When searching for an illustration or painting for that day, I might save others for use later on. Or note a particular artist’s work to return to later. But an illustration or painting had to really gel with me in the moment. This is also the way I decide on photographs and the story I’ll tell in my postcards… series.
The thrill of discovery
Every day creating my collages felt like a day of discovery.
Photographing something/someone/somewhere lets me see the subject more clearly and in more detail. Especially when reviewing and editing the photos, as I often discover elements I was unaware of at the time of capturing the image. This is especially true when travelling and visiting new places on a tight schedule.
Working on the collages held a similar thrill for me.
Even where the collages I chose may have been from well-known stories or artists, there was always something more to discover. For example, I was familiar with Gustave Doré’s etchings of dramatic biblical scenes and Victorian-era London, but I was enchanted to discover his irreverent illustrations of Baron Munchausen.
Discovering new artists across a range of styles and subjects was also a perk of the project. Some highlights were J. J. Grandville’s irreverent, anthropomorphic narratives. And vivid and dramatic floral illustrations by various artists.
Not to mention all the inspiring, educational and enthralling art of so many unknown artists.
Do your own research
As anyone who followed my Flickrstream back in the day - and more recently, my Instagram - may be aware, I’m a bit of a stickler for correct tagging.
That may involve a quick Google search to check the correct spelling of a place name. A quick search on Google Maps to locate a street view to confirm where I took a photo, the name of a street, a building or landmark. Or it may involve an intensive Streetview search to identify a particular location on a country lane somewhere in relative obscurity.
Finding the specific photo location (if not evident at the time) or more information about the location/building/monument/plant often informs my choice of title. It also lets the viewer know more about the image and where it was captured. And it allows me to understand more about what I may have seen but not had time to take in; the connections to other people, places or objects it may provide.
In confirming or researching these things, I’ve learnt more about tangential subjects and discovered how the subject I’ve photographed intersects with others I’ve taken or my other interests. It can shed light on concepts, languages, personalities and more that may influence:
how I approach the image
how I title the work
my future work
future projects
planning
For me, part of the pay-off of my photography - and creating any artwork, or writing a story - is what I learn along the way.
I love learning new things, making new connections, finding coincidences and synchronicities. Being reminded there is much more still to learn about art, artists, history, culture, technology, literature, countries, people and more.
Audience participation
Creating art and photography, and writing are things I would do even without an audience.
Despite that, it gave me a lot of joy to share the collages each day and see a selection of friends’ and contacts’ engagement with them once they were launched upon the world.
For those 100 days, it felt like the collages created greater active engagement between me and others. I saw this with my 365 Days project, which also fostered numerous now long-lasting friendships.
If creating a collage made me giggle - especially with my love of puns and the absurd - I got another buzz seeing the humorous responses to it. Or the ‘love’ reaction - not just a ‘like’ - on the post on Facebook. When that happened, it felt like I’d hit the mark with what I created. Not just for me but for those engaging with the work.
Whether the response to my art is joy, disgust, adoration, or utter bewilderment along the lines of ‘why on earth would you…?’, seeing how people respond is always interesting.
Top of the pops
With that in mind, I decided to tally up the likes/reactions across my Instagram and Facebook posts to work out the top 10 most popular collages from the project:
#28 - after the deluge
#99 - bathing beauties
#37 - the boatman’s call
#13 - insectation
#46 - she’s electric
#25 - new growth
(a tie!) #06 - from the moment you’re born you’re dying / #20 - flowers in the attic
What do you think? Is your favourite here?
If not, which is your favourite collage from the project?
Keep it to yourself
If you enjoyed the project, you can now take a collage home for yourself or buy one for a friend!
I decided to make a selection of the collages available as postcards, greeting cards and more on RedBubble. I’m still in the process of adding the work to my shop, so if you don’t see the one you’re after, please keep checking back for new uploads.
If you’re interested in buying a signed C-type print of one of the collages you can contact me to find out if it’s available and if so, the size and price.
Unfortunately, some collages may not be available due to the size and quality of the illustration used. Or because the photograph used was taken at a location that doesn’t allow for me to sell the work commercially (e.g. an English Heritage property or Highgate Cemetery).
Commission a collage
Want to commission me to create a collage?
You might have a particular subject, title, illustration or painting in mind or a combination of any of the above.
If you already have an illustration or painting in mind to incorporate, please send me a link to it/them (not just the image file), and we can discuss. Feel free to refer to my list of resources below as a starting point for possible illustrations and paintings.
There are a couple of minor restrictions for the painting or illustration:
It must be in the public domain. A link to the artwork will allow me to see artist and publication information, confirm it's in the public domain, and credit the work correctly.
It needs to be a good quality file. 72dpi is fine if it's large enough to print. Feel free to suggest an illustration or painting even if you're unsure. I might be able to find a higher resolution file.
If you’ve perused my cut out and keep project, you’ll likely have an idea of what type of illustrations/paintings work best, but I’m happy to work with you to create a custom collage!
Get in touch with me to discuss if this idea takes your fancy!
Some great resources for public domain illustrations and paintings:
Do it yourself
Want to try your hand at digital collages?
Here’s my quick guide:
Find one or more illustrations in the public domain that tickle your fancy on any given day. Refer to my list of resources above as a starting point.
Download the image/s at the largest size available.
Select element/s you want from the image using the magic wand and other Photoshop tools.
(Optional) Select a photo from your own collection and edit it, if you haven't already.
Resize and/or rotate the illustration/s, as necessary.
Align the illustration/s and the photograph and/or other images.
Use the eraser tool in Photoshop, if necessary, to get rid of elements you don't need.
Decide if you're happy with it or not. (Hopefully, you are!)
Save, flatten, save a flattened copy, save various versions for web, as appropriate.
Share on your social media profiles and hope others enjoy them as much as you do!
And lastly...
... a shout-out to my friend, David Jackmanson, for introducing me to Diogenes recently. He served as inspiration for the collage I created to go with this post: in search of an honest man.
Illustrations: