Narrow boat, Regent's Canal, Islington

click photo to enlarge
For many years our visits to London involved staying in Rotherhithe by the River Thames. That great artery formed the subject of many of my photographs of the city during that time. Recently our stays in the city have centred on Islington and a different, much smaller waterway has received the attention of my camera. The Regent's Canal runs through the borough and we have come to know the stretch that passes east from Angel towards Hackney.

The canal remains a route for narrow boats and other pleasure craft and the tow path is a combined footpath and cyclepath, much used as a commuter route by pedestrians and cyclists as well as a pleasant place for a walk away from the noise and fumes of traffic. Today's photograph was taken not too far into our walk from Angel and appropriately, and not coincidentally, features a narrow boat called "Angel". I took the photograph using a bridge as a frame and also tried to capture some of the greenery that makes this part of the canal particularly pleasurable.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Narrow Boat, "Angel", on Regent's Canal, Islington
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 49mm (98mm - 35mm equiv.) crop
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/160 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Holidays, escapes and everyday life

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Have you noticed how holidays are now frequently described as an "escape"? In some journalism and advertising the two words have become synonymous. There are travel companies that actually use the word in their company's name - "Escape Holidays", "Great Escape Holidays", "Island Escape Holidays". It makes them sound like organisations dedicated to springing prisoners from their incarceration, an image that the word "getaway" in connection with holidays only reinforces. The use of such language has troubled me for a while because of what it implies; namely that the everyday life of a person, couple or family is so damnably dreary, hard, depressing or lacking in joy, that a holiday is like a release from a living hell. Moreover, tied up with this is the idea that an effective and desirable break can only be achieved by shelling out a large amount of money, jumping on an aeroplane or boat, and fleeing to some foreign, preferably hot, land. It's an approach that I liken to the notion of going to a gym because you don't get enough exercise. It seems to me self-evident that fitness (see this post for my views on the misuse of this word!) comes from building exercise and sensible eating into your daily life, not bolting it on as an afterthought designed to compensate for what is clearly lacking. Similarly, shouldn't we be trying to organise our lives in such as way that each day offers us some pleasure, achievement, satisfaction - call it what you will - that cumulatively leads to us getting enjoyment from every single day? It's difficult if you are on the breadline, but much more realisable than might be imagined if you're not. Achieve it and the idea of catharsis through an "escape" seems ridiculous.

The misuse of that word came to mind when I was looking at my photograph of the narrow boats and cruisers tied up on the River Trent in Newark, Nottinghamshire. It's a photograph taken at a time that is described as either the end of summer or the beginning of autumn. There was a time when my wife and I idly considered the purchase of such a vessel. However, it didn't take us long to work out that, for us, being restricted to navigable waterways would be too limiting. I'm sure others think this too. I'm equally sure that many people find chugging along Britain's canals and rivers a fine way to pass the time or take a holiday. For us however, it would be too confining and we'd just have to escape!

For more thoughts touching on holidays see these posts - from 2005, and from 2009.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 161mm
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.67 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Broken idyll in Newark

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For someone with an interest in architecture the Nottinghamshire town of Newark-on-Trent is a place of great fascination. It has a picturesquely sited medieval castle by the river, all the more romantic in appearance after being "slighted" in 1646 following its support of King Charles 1 during the English Civil War. The centre of the town has a fine, large medieval church - St Mary Magdalene - a member of the Greater Churches Group of large parish churches. The crowning glory of this building is its beautiful, tall spire that dominates the town. Nearby is a lovely market place surrounded by a wonderful mix of buildings including the Palladian Town Hall  of 1777-6 by John Carr of York and the White Hart Inn, a building Pevsner calls "one of the paramount examples of late C15 timber-framed architecture in England." Elsewhere, but particularly by the river, there are other buildings, old and new, industrial, commercial and domestic that attract the eye. The river itself is navigable, but has a canal-like section that was the hub of the bardge traffic that originated in Newark and brought goods to the town.

The other day, accompanied by a friend who was staying with us for a while, we visited the Nottinghamshire town. Unlike our December visit, on which the two images linked above were taken, the weather was sunny and warm. In the castle grounds - now a small park - people were sitting in the sun, eating a lunch, playing football and generally enjoying the summer day. I was taking a few shots of the architecture when I became aware of many people focussing their gaze and attention in one direction. Looking the same way I saw a column of black smoke rising into the air from not too far away, and quickly spreading over the town. What was it? In these times one's first thought can turn to a deliberate act of violence or terrorism, but that seemed unlikely in provincial Newark. I knew the town well enough to work out that it was probably coming from a scrapyard by the river. At lunch we discovered that was the case - a pile of rubbish had caught fire. What I found interesting was how the event changed the atmosphere and how the pleasant summer idyll was suddenly broken for a while. I don't always have the presence of mind to capitalise on such events with my camera, but on this occasion I fired off a quick shot of the smoke and the people's reaction to it.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 28mm
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On