Croydon
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101 George Street, Croydon
I took this on a recent trip to Croydon, about 4 or 5 miles from where I live. The building you see here was completed only recently and in my opinion at least is the most attractive building in all of Croydon, which due to being bombed quite heavily in the second world war has for many years had a rather charmless appearance where it concerns its architecture. That is changing as it starts to regenerate itself with many high rise buildings appearing over the last 15 years to attract buyers in search of a location within easy reach of central London.
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For the last month, because I haven't been able to travel into London, I have been visiting Croydon once or twice a week, really pushing myself to find new and unseen views of Croydon, a town/city with the reputation of being one of the most unattractive and least desirable places to live in all the London boroughs. I don't live in Croydon and I'm not sure I'd want to but one thing my closer observation of the place has shown me is that it may be an ugly duckling but there are those little touches here and there that can elevate it to beautiful swan status. Well, that might be overstating it slightly but I have found some surprisingly beautiful views of the place. More to follow in the weeks and months ahead.
This was taken looking down one of the main thoroughfares that goes right through the middle of Croydon with the sun getting lower in the sky providing some beautiful light.
This is another one of Croydon's car parks. The view here is from outside and behind the structure looking at the circular ramps that vehicles use to access the various levels of the car park.
Rainbows Across Borders
While visiting London in 2022, my wife and I were fortunate enough to watch an impromptu performance by some members of Rainbows Across Borders at Croydon Unitarians, a Unitarian Universalist Church in Croydon.
Rainbows Across Borders is an association of LGBTQ+ asylees and asylum seekers in the UK who have been welcomed and embraced by Croydon Unitarians, a congregation which, I am proud to say, has my own father, Art Lester, as its minister.
If you would like to hear a performance of the song they were singing, you can see it here:
Malaika.
For more information about Rainbows Across Borders, start here:
Rainbows Across Borders.
Rainbows Across Borders
While visiting London in 2022, my wife and I were fortunate enough to watch an impromptu performance by some members of Rainbows Across Borders at Croydon Unitarians, a Unitarian Universalist Church in Croydon.
Rainbows Across Borders is an association of LGBTQ+ asylees and asylum seekers in the UK who have been welcomed and embraced by Croydon Unitarians, a congregation which, I am proud to say, has my own father, Art Lester, as its minister.
If you would like to hear a performance of the song they were singing, you can see it here:
Malaika.
For more information about Rainbows Across Borders, start here:
Rainbows Across Borders.
Just watch half the talk by Glenys Garnett on her Leeds photos she is so inspiring - makes you want to experiment
double exposure in lighten mode
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New high-rise living accommodation by East Croydon station forms the backdrop for this shot taken in Queen's Gardens. The centre of Croydon has changed beyond recognition in the last ten years or so. Shot taken at f/2, which gives unexpected starbursts. A very welcome feature!
Croydon Market - a surprise to find this magnificent fish stall (not selling a great deal either)
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At 50 stories it is the tallest 'modular' building in Europe. It includes 817 apartments and 120 affordable homes in the shorter sister tower behind it. With seven floors of amenities (gym, laundry rooms, communal kitchen/dining areas etc) there are a lot of tiny apartments squeezed in to the remaining space. I expect the views are nice though and it is handy for East Croydon Station, trams and buses. Just as well as there are no car parking facilities apart from a few disabled bays in the basement.
A bit of a revelation. It looks dreary from the outside but is a festival of light on the inside. Taken during the Open House event, which included a trip up to the belfry.
Croydon Minster has a long and distinguished history. It is believed to have been founded in Saxon times, since there is a record of “a priest of Croydon” in 960, although the first record of a church building is in Domesday Book (1086). The church has had close links with the Archbishops of Canterbury who had a Palace in Croydon. Much of that building still stands next to the Minster and is now the Old Palace of John Whitgift School. Six Archbishops of Canterbury are buried in the Minster and many more would have worshipped here. Kings and queens were regular visitors to the archbishops at Croydon – visits by Henry VII, Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I are all well documented. Ten bishops have been consecrated here and the church continues to be regularly used for ordinations and major diocesan and civic services, as well as for the daily parish worship.
In its final medieval form, the Minster was mainly a Perpendicular-style structure, but this was severely damaged by fire in 1867, following which only the tower, south porch and outer walls remained. Under the direction of Sir George Gilbert Scott the church was rebuilt, incorporating the remains and essentially following the design of the medieval building, and was reconsecrated in 1870. It still contains several important monuments and fittings saved from the old church.
After putting up a picture of some newer high rise Croydon apartments in my last post it got me thinking about my many other expeditions into Croydon to shoot the architecture and so I started to look back on some of those pictures. I came across this one of an older block near the train station which I originally didn't post because there was a tram cable at the bottom of the shot. No idea why it didn't occur to me when I first edited the shot but I simply cropped off the cable and hey-ho, here it is.
Easy Hotel, Addiscombe Road, Croydon
RM93 departs Croydon with the return of the weekly Gulflander service from Croydon to Normanton.
RM93 was built at the Ipswich Railway Museum in 1950 and arrived at Normanton in 1982, where it has remained ever since.
The Normanton to Croydon rail line was built between 1888 and 1891, utilising an innovative system of submersible track with patented steel sleepers, designed to combat not only flooding water but termites that plagued the line originally.
RM93 was built at the Ipswich Railway Museum in 1950 and arrived at Normanton in 1982, where it has remained ever since.
The Normanton to Croydon rail line was built between 1888 and 1891, utilising an innovative system of submersible track with patented steel sleepers, designed to combat not only flooding water but termites that plagued the line originally.
The line initially was planned to be a transcontinental link between western Queensland and the Gulf of Carpentaria. In 1886, the link was approved for construction between Cloncurry (on the now Mount Isa line) and Normanton, however, the discovery of gold in Croydon distracted these plans. The line was then constructed (and detoured) to Croydon with the full ambition to continue it onto Cloncurry. However, the gold mine at Croydon did not maintain the anticipated success and by the early 1900s was closed and the line's fate sealed.
Today this line remains as Queensland Rail's only isolated railway, with the nearest link some 190km away from Croydon at Forsayth.
Thursday 21st July 2022
Shot at high ISO in a parking garage under Fairfield Halls in Croydon and cropped to a 16x9 aspect ratio. Shot on my Sony A7ii using a vintage lens that I’ve had for awhile but haven’t used as much as I should have, given it’s quality - a Contax Zeiss Distagon 28mm 2.8 lens from the late 70s or early 80s. The truth is shooting at 28mm is not a focal length that suits my eye particularly well. I always feel like I want to be closer which is why I shoot mostly 50mm primes. But hats off to this lens, it may have just changed my mind on that. The way it renders images is just beautiful and it was such an absolute pleasure to handle that it may just find its way onto the camera more often.
London Transport 2535 (Bombardier) in Croydon. De versmallingen in de stoep zijn nodig zodat vrachtwagens kunnen laden en lossen zonder het tramverkeer te hinderen.
2017- Boy Soldier by Tristan Schoonraad, who trades under the Banksy-style title of “Schoony”, has been set into a wall just off Surrey Street, at the entrance to Waterworks Yard, on the building next to the Crisis Centre.
insidecroydon.com/2017/06/09/council-unveils-grenade-scul...
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Well, I've had a good break from Flickr posting nothing since before Christmas but occasionally dipping in to see what my contacts are up to, which has been nice. I think I've wished everyone a happy new year already but if I missed anyone let me extend my best wishes to you all.
Croydon recently had a new addition to it's limited high rise architecture. The building at the bottom of the frame was completed a number of years ago and I've posted various shots of it over the past couple of years but nothing "looking up" like the pov you see here. The building at the top of the frame is only recently completed and stands very close by, which allowed for this pov.
www.pbctoday.co.uk/news/projects/tide-completes-europes-t....
35mm film photography
Leica R6.2
Leica Summicron-R 50/2.0
Kodak Portra 160
South African Street Artist Sonny spectacular and poignant mural for his ‘To The Bone’ Project which sets to draw awareness to as well as raise funds for endangered species around the world before it is to late. This outstanding work can be found in Fell Road and was put up with support from IFAW UK a non-profit organization dedicated to the rescuing and protecting of animals around the world.
londoncallingblog.net/2017/10/01/new-sonny-street-art-in-...
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I called into Croydon round the back of the Holiday Inn as its good for me to get lost in photographing urban areas - the plane was a bonus
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