Tuesday, July 12, 2016
For wedding photography London and Hertfordshire are the two of the main areas that I work in. Although I reside in Hertfordshire now, I was actually born in London in Hackney. Traditionally this would make me a cockney, i.e. “born within the sound of Bow Bells.” Back in the 1850s the bells from the church of St. Mary-le-Bow could be heard from the City of London, right across Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and into parts of Camden, Southwark, Newham and Waltham Forest. Today with all of the ambient noise present within London the bells can only be heard in a small patch covering just the City and Shoreditch.
So yesterday after more years than I care to mention I returned to my birthplace – Hackney to meet with Ceri and Nick who had requested their pre-wedding shoot in Victoria Park. We were fortunate to be treated to a beautiful spring afternoon with plenty of sunshine. Ceri and Nick are both primary school teachers so this was part of their half term break. Victoria Park is a fair size and has some interesting features. It was opened in 1845 and is known colloquially as Vicky Park or the People’s Park and I met up with Ceri & Nick at the People’s Park Tavern. There wasn’t time to explore the whole park as it covers some 45 acres. We concentrated on the area around the Chinese Pagoda situated at the southern end of the park and finished the shoot underneath a canal bridge which was covered in graffiti making for an interesting backdrop. Ceri & Nick are getting wed at one of my favourite Hertfordshire wedding venues – Coltsfoot country retreat later this year.
