Britain once styled itself a "nation of house owners". This was by way of contrast with other European countries where flat (apartment) dwelling was much more common. It was always something of an overstatement, because major UK cities, in particular, always had a lot of flats, and so too did some large towns. However, there was some truth to it. But, no longer. The increasing cost of housing, the rapidly growing population, the tendency for people to live in smaller family units (or singly), and the pressure on spare land on our relatively small island have produced a real change in the past thirty or forty years. Flats have sprung up everywhere.
Even small towns have flats now, and large cities have ever increasing numbers, either newly built or converted from commercial, business or industrial premises. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in London. Today's photograph shows some of the balconies on a block of flats built on land by the Regent's Canal in Islington, London. They are unexceptional as flats go. What prompted my photograph was the way that each balcony, in some small way, appeared to tell something of the owner. I was interested in what the owners had chosen to put there out of either desire or necessity - table and chairs, bicycle, pot plants, barbecue, washing, nothing.
photograph and text © Tony Boughen
Photo Title: Flats by the Regent's Canal, Islington, London
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 52mm (104mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.5
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec
ISO:400
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On
