I’m still in the midst of my project with Hannah, far from ready to conclude it, but her circumstances and location make it hard to arrange shoots together and I can feel myself getting rusty. I needed an excuse. A premise on which to build a reason for shooting people that has meaning beyond them just being there when I lifted my camera and opened the shutter.
In his book ‘Lights Out for the Territory’ Iain Sinclair co-opted the psychogeography movement that emphasised interpersonal connections to places and arbitrary routes. The book is built around a series of long walks across London which provide an opportunity to explore these interpersonal connections.
What better premise to build a photo walk on?
I started planning. Having consumed most of my free weekends with high energy but ultimately feckless and fruitless dating, I was now motivated to do something different. Be happy being single, be happy walking, be happy with interpersonal connections to places and arbitrary routes that give rise to human interactions like Brownian Motion, random but still so full of purpose and consequence; the entropic arrangement of energy states converting photons to silver halide crystals on emulsion and thus to expressive reminders of our humanity.
My target was to start in Walthamstow or thereabouts and walk down the Lea Valley to Lower Clapton, then head west to Stoke Newington and Stamford Hill, where I spent my mid to late 20s, and from there to Finsbury Park, Highgate and ultimately Parliament Hill for the golden hour. All in it was going to be about 18 miles, a solid effort.
Black Horse Road to Parliament Hill: 18 miles
The route was set. Boots were cleaned, provisions purchased. A neat flask with a broad opening designed to facilitate the ingress of food rather than drink meant a good meal of fresh pasta would keep me going. Plenty of water; some fruit, an almond croissant (regarded as de facto breakfast), sunglasses, pain killers (for my feet) a box of Portra 160, a light meter (because I still don’t trust the one in the newly acquired Mamiya 7II), said camera, camera strap, phone, battery pack, sun screen and a waterproof (because you can just never know).
Feeling like a true adventurer I managed to get to Black Horse Road tube at 10.30am from my home in Horsham, no mean feat that required a 7am start. The sun was already high and shining brightly; I would need to be creative with finding natural shade.
The next posts will all follow the route and the people I met along the way. All were simply short lived but hugely rewarding connections. Fleeting moments of human interaction that remind you of your connection to the world.