Hill Garden is an almost secret park tucked away on the far western edge of Hampstead Heath, between Hampstead and Golders Green. What it like about it is the way it blurs into the edges of the heath with, at its heart, a dramatic pergola rising above the surrounding land.
Author Archives: Stephen Taylor
Yew Tree
This ancient Yew Tree stands in the churchyard in the village of Totteridge on the very edges of London. It is reputedly 2000 years old. What has it seen?
The People’s Stone
The People’s Stone or the Freedom of Speech Stone stands on Hampstead Heath on the climb towards Parliament Hill. I have been unable to find out much about it beyond the fact that it may have once been a place where people congregated to protest or to speak out on controversial matters, a little bit like Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park.
Martyrs
In 1833 six farm workers in the village of Tolpuddle, Dorset, seeing their living standards plummet, combined together to protect their wages. They were prosecuted and transported to Australia. Tens of thousands of protestors set off from Copenhagen Fields (the later site of this clocktower) to petition for their return. Their campaign was successful and the men were freed.
The Hardy Tree
From St Pancras International trains run to places as diverse as Luton, Sheffield and Paris. Just after they have left the station they will pass a small church standing in an old churchyard.
Space
A photograph is an artefact – a flat four sided piece of paper or image on a computer screen. How do you work within those constraints to depict three dimensional space?
Time
A photograph is a 2D representation of a 3D world; it is also an single moment trying to represent a 4D world
The Familiar
As a photographer the familiar can offer a way of exploring somewhere in depth.
“The most solemn and awfull appearance”
A ideologically driven party forms the government and starts splashing the cash on vanity projects.
The Sitter
What was it like to have your photograph in the era before selfies?